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Climate Change in the Anthropocene

Kieran D. Ohara
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CLIMATE CHANGE IN
THE ANTHROPOCENE
CLIMATE CHANGE IN
THE ANTHROPOCENE

KIERAN D. O’HARA
University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, United States
Elsevier
Radarweg 29, PO Box 211, 1000 AE Amsterdam, Netherlands
The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, United Kingdom
50 Hampshire Street, 5th Floor, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States

Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any


means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information
storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Details on
how to seek permission, further information about the Publisher’s permissions policies
and our arrangements with organizations such as the Copyright Clearance Center and the
Copyright Licensing Agency, can be found at our website: www.elsevier.com/permissions.

This book and the individual contributions contained in it are protected under copyright
by the Publisher (other than as may be noted herein).

Notices
Knowledge and best practice in this field are constantly changing. As new research and
experience broaden our understanding, changes in research methods, professional
practices, or medical treatment may become necessary.

Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in
evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described
herein. In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety
and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility.

To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors, contributors, or
editors, assume any liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a
matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any
methods, products, instructions, or ideas contained in the material herein.

ISBN: 978-0-12-820308-8

For Information on all Elsevier publications visit our website at


https://www.elsevier.com/books-and-journals

Publisher: Candice Janco


Acquisitions Editor: Marisa LaFleur
Editorial Project Manager: Jose Paolo Valeroso
Production Project Manager: Bharatwaj Varatharajan
Cover Designer: Christian J. Bilbow

Typeset by Aptara, New Delhi, India


CONTENTS

Preface ix

PART I 1
1 Our globally changing climate 3
1.1 Introduction 3
1.2 Global temperature 4
1.3 Land surface temperature 5
1.4 Sea surface temperature 6
1.5 Global surface temperature 7
1.6 Trends in global temperatures 7
1.7 Trends in global precipitation 8
1.8 Extreme weather events 9
1.9 Changes in the cryosphere 10
1.10 Changes in sea level 14
1.11 Changes in land processes 14
References 16

2 Physical drivers of climate change 19


2.1 The global radiation budget 19
2.2 The greenhouse effect 19
2.3 Radiation forcing 22
2.4 Global warming potential 24
2.5 Greenhouse gases 25
2.6 Aerosols 29
2.7 Climate response 30
2.8 Feedbacks 32
2.9 Albedo feedbacks 34
2.10 Ocean chemistry, ecosystems, and circulation 35
2.11 Permafrost 38
References 38

3 Evaluation of climate model performance 41


3.1 Introduction 41
3.2 Model types 42
3.3 Model improvements 43

v
vi Contents

3.4 Model evaluation 44


3.5 Ensemble approach to evaluation 45
3.6 Model intercomparisons 45
3.7 Results 46
3.8 The ocean 48
3.9 Carbon cycle 52
3.10 The Paris Accords 53
3.11 Representative climate pathways 53
3.12 Near-term climate projections 54
3.13 Long-term projections 57
References 60

4 Paleoclimates 63
4.1 Introduction 63
4.2 Preindustrial external radiative forcings 65
4.3 High CO2 worlds 67
4.4 Pleistocene glacial-interglacial dynamics 69
4.5 The CLIMAP Project 71
4.6 Holocene climate 73
References 76

PART II 79
5 Climate impacts: US sectors and regions 81
5.1 Introduction 81
5.2 Key sectors 81
5.3 Regional climate impacts 95
References 101

6 Adaptation 105
6.1 Introduction 105
References 121

7 Mitigation 123
7.1 Introduction 123
7.2 GHG emission trends 125
7.3 Emission drivers 127
7.4 Carbon intensity of energy 129
7.5 Sectors 130
7.6 Buildings 136
Contents vii

7.7 Shared socioeconomic pathways – quantifying the paths 137


7.8 Comparison of SSP1 and SSP3 138
7.9 SSP5. Fossil fuel development 139
References 140

PART III 143


o o
8 1.5 C versus 2.0 C warming 145
8.1 Introduction 145
8.2 1.5o C and 2.0o C warming 147
8.3 Natural systems 149
8.4 Human systems 153
References 155

9 Getting to net zero by 2050 157


9.1 Introduction 157
9.2 The current situation (2021) 158
9.3 Road to net-zero emissions 2050 160
9.4 Population and GDP 161
9.5 Energy and CO2 prices 161
9.6 CO2 emissions 162
9.7 Total energy supply 162
9.8 Economic sectors 163
9.9 Conclusions 164
References 164

10 Climate engineering 167


10.1 Introduction 167
10.2 Solar radiation management 168
10.3 Aerosol injection into the stratosphere 169
10.4 Albedo enhancement of low-level marine clouds 174
10.5 Surface albedo enhancement 176
10.6 Carbon dioxide removal 176
10.7 Discussion 183
References 184

Index 187
Preface

The Greek word for human kind is anthropos. The term Anthropocene
was proposed over two decades ago by Paul Crutzen (atmospheric scientist
and Nobel laureate) and Eugene Stoermer (biologist) to indicate a new
geological epoch in which the intensity of human activity strongly impacted
Earth Systems, thereby marking the end of the current Holocene epoch,
and justifying a new epoch. The Anthropocene has not been formalized
as a new geologic epoch and even the boundary between it and the earlier
Holocene has not yet been agreed upon,but the term nevertheless has gained
widespread currency in both the scientific and popular literature.
This book follows the original suggestion that the Industrial Revolu-
tion marks the beginning of the Anthropocene, marked by the transition
from a pastoral lifestyle to an industrial one largely based in cities (circa
1800 AD). This time frame corresponds to an increase in burning of coal
and increased emissions of greenhouse gases,especially carbon dioxide.Based
on ice cores, the preindustrial atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide
was about 280 ppm (compared to ∼420 ppm in 2020) and is commonly
used as a reference point when discussing climate change. By 2017, the
global mean surface temperature had increased by 1.0°C (± 0.2) (1.8°F) since
preindustrial times, and both of these reference frames are used throughout
the book.
The concept of the Anthropocene provides a lens through which insight
into man’s effects on the environment can be viewed in a structured histor-
ical fashion. It is worth noting that the geological community on altering
the geological time scale moves at a glacial pace: in 1878, Charles Lapworth,
proposed the Ordovician Period to be placed between the younger Silurian
Period and the older Cambrian Period; the proposal was formally accepted
in 1976.
This book is to a large extent based on the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) reports. The World Meteorological Organization
(WMO) together with the United Nations provides the basis for these
reports which are published approximately every five or six years. The
United States Government’s Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4,
2017), with input from 13 government agencies, is also heavily relied upon
and its conclusions agree closely with those of the IPCC reports. The fifth
IPCC report (IPCC-AR5) was published in 2013–2014 and the latest report

ix
x Preface

(IPCC-AR6) was published in August of 2021, having been delayed by the


global pandemic of 2020. Report volumes are divided into three working
groups (WG1, II, III), and each chapter commonly has twenty or more
international expert authors and each volume is weighty, often at a thousand
pages or more per volume. The peer review process of these reports has
several rounds and is extensive and lengthy. This book is largely a summary
of these reports.
Following Caesar’s Gaul, the book is divided into three parts. Part I
addresses the physical science basis of climate change and is largely based
on IPCC-AR5 (2013). Chapter 1 addresses the basic observations indicating
climate change, followed by the drivers of this change in chapter 2. Chapter
3 examines computer climate models and chapter four looks at paleoclimate
reconstructions. Part II examines climate impacts in various regions of the
USA (based on NCA4, 2017), followed by adaptation and mitigation sce-
narios. Part III looks at the difference between 1.5 and 2.0°C warming risks
(based on IPCC Special Report, 2018) followed by the road map to net-zero
emissions by 2050 (based on the International Energy Agency 2021 report).
The final chapter examines climate engineering (or geoengineering), which
is widely regarded as a last resort option, and this chapter is based on the
current scientific literature.
Although Anthropos applies to all humanity, it is clear that, based on
geography and socioeconomic status, the impacts of climate change are
related to social inequities and the impacts are not and will not be distributed
evenly– the developing countries and the poor will be most affected. The
Paris Agreement of 2015 recognized this fact but whether the developed
countries will fulfill their monetary promises to developing nations remains
in doubt. The United States re-entered the Paris agreement in 2020. The
United Nations climate summit of November 2021 (COP 26), held in
Glascow, agreed to reduce methane emissions (by 30%) by 2030 and also
to eliminate deforestation by the same date. No agreement to a coal ban was
reached, as China, India and Russia did not sign on.
PART I

1. Our globally changing climate 3


2. Physical drivers of climate change 19
3. Evaluation of climate model performance 41
4. Paleoclimates 63
CHAPTER 1

Our globally changing climate


1.1 Introduction
The Earth sciences study a multitude of processes that shape the spatial and
temporal character of our environment (Fig. 1.1). Modern day observations,
archives of past climates, climate model projections, and statistical tools,
can all be used to yield significant insight into climate change, resulting
in conclusions that have variable levels of confidence from high to low
(see Cubasch et al., 2013). The Earth’s climate system is powered by solar
radiation about half of which is in the visible and ultraviolet range of the
electromagnetic spectrum. The sun provides its energy primarily to the
tropics, which is redistributed to higher latitudes by atmosphere and ocean
transport processes. The relatively cool temperature of the Earth’s surface
means it reradiates energy in the long wavelength part of the spectrum
(infrared) and much of this radiation is absorbed by gases in the atmosphere
such as water vapor, CO2 , CH4 , and N2 O as well as halocarbons – this is the
greenhouse effect. Given the Earth has had a near constant temperature over
the past few centuries the incoming solar energy must nearly balance the
outgoing energy to space, and clouds play an important role in this energy
balance. About 30% of the shortwave radiation is reflected back to space
by clouds, causing cooling. On the other hand, some clouds, depending
on elevation, trap long wave radiation, heating the surface, and the lower
atmosphere.
Climate is average weather over a prolonged period, commonly taken
as three decades or longer, and climate change refers to a change in
the state of the climate (based on statistical tests), such as temperature,
precipitation, or drought. For example, during the last glaciation, stadial,
and interstadial periods were characterized by cold/dry climates (stadials)
alternating with warm/wet climates (interstadials), on a millennial time scale
(O’Hara, 2014). Fig. 1.1 summarizes several key elements of the climate
system; elements interact with one another in complex ways involving both
positive and negative feedbacks (see Chapter 2). This chapter summarizes
several indicators that our planet is currently warming. The warming dates
back to the beginning of the anthropocene, where the mean temperature
over the period 1850–1900 is taken as the reference period.
Climate Change in the Anthropocene. Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-820308-8.00005-2 All rights reserved. 3
4 Climate change in the anthropocene

Figure 1.1 Summary of major drivers of climate change. (Source with permission:
Cubasch et al., 2007.)

1.2 Global temperature


The fourth IPCC assessment report (LeTreut et al., 2007) provides a history
of early attempts at constructing a global temperature time series for the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The global average temperature is one
of the most important variables in the study of climate change as it correlates
with other variables such as ice melting, sea level rise, precipitation, and
because it has the most robust record over time. The concept of a global
average temperature is simple in principle but its calculation is far from trivial
(Vose et al., 2012). Although the thermometer was invented as early as the
1600s it was not until the 1900s that different global estimates of average land
temperature began to agree with one other.
The German climatologist W. Köppen (1846–1940) was one of the first
to recognize the major problems involved in the global average temperature
estimates namely, access to data in usable form, quality control to remove
erroneous data, standardization to ensure fidelity of data, and area averaging
in areas of substantial data gaps. Köppen averaged annual observations from
100 stations into latitude belts to produce a near global time series as early as
the late nineteenth century. The International Meteorological Organization
(IMO) formed in 1873, and its successor the World Meteorological Orga-
nization (WMO), still work to promote and standardize observations. The
Our globally changing climate 5

World Weather Records (WWR), formed by the IMO in 1923, provided


monthly data for temperature (and also pressure and precipitation) estimates
from hundreds of stations in the early twentieth century with data beginning
in the early 1800s. Callendar (1938) used these data to provide one of the first
modern land-based global average temperature time series. As mentioned in
the Preface, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) together with
the United Nations today provides the basis for the IPCC scientific reports
on climate change and on which this book is largely based.
Today,three research groups study global sea and land-based temperatures
put together from piecemeal records (Vose et al.,2012):the National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration’s National Climatic Data Center (NOAA-
NCDC), the National Aeronautic and Space Administration’s Goddard
Institute for Space Studies (NASA-GISS) and the Met Office Hadley
Center and Climatic Research Unit (HadCRUT). Each group uses some-
what different input datasets and they also analyze the data with different
methodologies. For example, GISS makes extensive use of satellite data,
whereas NCDC uses it in a limited capacity and HasCRUT makes no use of
satellite data. Similarly, GISS and NCDC provide temperature estimates in
unsampled areas (using interpolation), whereas HasCRUT does not. Despite
these differences all three groups reach a similar conclusion: since 1900 the
global average surface temperature increase has been about 0.8 ± 0.2°C. The
fifth Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC-AR5, 2013) and
the US government’s Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4, 2017)
reports both agree with this conclusion with a high level of confidence.
These reports also project that by the end of this century (2100) the global
average temperature increase will be between 2.0°C and 5.0°C, depending
on greenhouse gas emissions and population and economic growth among
other variables (see Chapter 6).

1.3 Land surface temperature


The dataset used by NCDC consists of historical monthly data going back
a century from over 7000 surface weather stations. The data set is reviewed
for quality assurance and spatial inconsistencies. Land surface temperatures
require adjustments due to a variety of causes such as station relocation,
change in instrumentation (e.g., automation), urbanization (the city heat
effect) and land use, and microclimate changes. Such changes typically
produce an abrupt jump relative to its neighbor stations. These artifacts
are indentified automatically by comparing surrounding stations pair wise.
Reno Nevada, for example, required an adjustment of 2°C after the station
6 Climate change in the anthropocene

was moved from down town to the airport (Thorne, 2016). The transition
to electronic sensors in the US in the late twentieth century required an
adjustment of about 0.25°C nationwide (Vose et al., 2012). Averaged over
the globe, however, these adjustments have only a minor impact on the long-
term LST record.
The temperature series is also standardized to account for elevation,
latitude, coastal proximity, and season. A mean temperature is calculated for
each station relative to the reference period (1961–1990) and then this mean
is subtracted from each temperature value at that station. The resulting values
are referred to as anomalies and this is the most common way the results are
presented in graphic form. This standardization procedure reduces much of
the variability in the original dataset.
The uneven spatial distribution of stations is taken into account by
averaging measurements in 5-degree longitude and latitude grid boxes. A
single average temperature is calculated for each box on a monthly and
annual basis and this helps prevent high-density measurement boxes to have
undue influence.Today land coverage is about 90% and areas of low coverage
include forests, deserts and the poles. Satellite data affords global coverage but
the data must be calibrated with ground measurements; in addition, because
an infrared spectrometer is used for temperature measurements, the skies
must be cloud-free.

1.4 Sea surface temperature


The sea surface temperature dataset is primarily from marine meteorological
observations from buoys and ships integrated from numerous historical
sources. Buoys can be either drifting or moored; buoy observations are
given about six times the weight from ships on account of the noise in
the latter observations (e.g., mistakes in navigation, instrument calibration,
data transcription). Ship temperature measurements show a change in
practice over time. In pre-World War II times wooden or canvas buckets
(some insulated, some not) were hauled on deck for measurement. These
measurements require adjustments for several variables: type of bucket,
height of deck, etc. Evaporative cooling, especially in high winds, requires
adjustments of about 0.2°C (Thorne, 2016). Later on, the measurements
were made at the engine’s cool water intake, or sensors were placed on the
ship’s hull. Globally, a smaller grid box (compared to the LSTs) of 2 × 2
degrees is used. Each box value is an average of measurements over a month
and the mean value for a reference time period (197 –1990) is subtracted
from each temperature measurement, as in the case for LSTs.
Our globally changing climate 7

1.5 Global surface temperature


Before merging the LST and SST anomalies they are processed separately
because there are fundamental differences between the two datasets (Vose
et al., 2012). First, the spatial coverage over the oceans is substantially less
than that over land (Thorne, 2016) and secondly, the density of ocean
measurements is substantially lower than land measurements. In addition,
the time and space scales of temperature variability over land are shorter
compared to the ocean,due to the higher specific heat of water and its slower
speed of advection. Before merging the datasets, low frequency variations
that occur over longer periods and high frequency variations that occur
over shorter periods are identified and smoothed, then both components are
added together. The LST and SST datasets are merged after the SST grid
boxes (2o x 2o ) are averaged into 5o x 5o boxes. The reference time period
over the ocean (1971–2000) is converted to the same time period as the land
measurements (1961–1990). Other adjustments are described in more detail
in Vose et al. (2012). The global yearly and monthly averages are simply the
average of all boxes having a value in that year and month. The annual global
average temperature is simply the arithmetic mean of 12 monthly averages.

1.6 Trends in global temperatures


Fig. 1.2 shows the NCA4 annual (top) and decadal (bottom) average global
temperatures over land and ocean for the period 1880–2016, relative to
the reference period 1901–1960 (Wuebbles et al., 2017). The global annual
average temperature has increased by 0.7°C (1.2°F) for the period 1986–
2016. Year to year fluctuations are due to natural variations such as El Niños
and La Niñas and volcanic eruptions. On a decadal scale (bottom diagram)
these fluctuations are smoothed out and every decade since 1966-1975
has been warmer than the previous decade. Recent decades show greater
warming due to accelerating greenhouse gas emissions. Sixteen of the 17
warmest years since the late 1800s occurred in the period from 2001 to 2016.
In general, winter is warming faster than summer and nights are warming
faster than days.
Fig. 1.3 shows the global surface temperature (°F) increase for the
period 1986–2015 referenced to the 1901–1960 time frame. Note the
oceans show less warming compared to the continents on account of their
higher heat capacity. On the continents the largest increases are seen in
Eurasia, northwest North America, central South America, and northwest
Africa.
8 Climate change in the anthropocene

Figure 1.2 Annual (top) and decadal (bottom) combined ocean and land temperatures
for the period 1880–2010. (Source with permission: Wuebbles et al., 2017.)

1.7 Trends in global precipitation


The Clausius-Clapeyron relation describes the water liquid-vapor equilib-
rium as a function of pressure and temperature. Global atmospheric water
vapor should increase by about 6%/°C to 7%/°C and satellite data over the
oceans agree with this estimate (Santer et al., 2007); increases in water vapor
should lead to increased precipitation. Global time series of precipitation
Our globally changing climate 9

Figure 1.3 Global surface temperature for the period 1986–2015 relative to the 1901–
1960 mean. (Source: NOAA.)

over the past century show a slight rise but are not statistically significant
because of the sparsity of data in the early record (Wuebbles et al., 2017). The
global distribution map shows increased precipitation at higher latitudes and
lower precipitation at lower latitudes due to Hadley cell circulation. Deficits
in precipitation are notable in Africa, the Tibetan plateau and southern
China, western USA, and eastern Australia; as expected the Amazon rain
forest basin shows higher precipitation.

1.8 Extreme weather events


The distribution of extreme weather events can be approximated by a
Normal distribution where extreme events (hot or cold) are rare and
correspond to the tails of the distribution (Fig. 1.4). In a warming world
the mean of the distribution can be expected to shift to the right giving
rise to more extreme hot events and also fewer cold events. Fig. 1.5 shows
decreasing number of cold nights and days (top two insets) and increasing
number of warms nights and days (bottom two insets) for the period 1950–
2010 relative to the reference time period 196–1990. The patterns are similar
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And when peace comes I will come for you.”
But Jennie’s face an arch smile wore,
As she said, “There’s a lad in Putnam’s Corps,
Who told me the same, long time ago;
You two would never agree, I know.
I promised my love to be true as steel,”
Said good, sure-hearted Jennie McNeal.

—From “Centennial Rhymes.”

CHRISTMAS AT SEA
By Robert Louis Stevenson

The sheets were frozen hard, and they cut the naked hand;
The decks were like a slide, where a seaman scarce could stand;
The wind was a nor’wester, blowing squally off the sea;
And cliffs and spouting breakers were the only things a-lee.

They heard the surf a-roaring before the break of day;


But ’twas only with the peep of light we saw how ill we lay.
We tumbled every hand on deck instanter, with a shout,
And we gave her the maintops’l, and stood by to go about.

All day we tacked and tacked between the South Head and the
North;
All day we hauled the frozen sheets, and got no further forth;
All day as cold as charity, in bitter pain and dread,
For very life and nature we tacked from head to head.

We gave the South a wider berth, for there the tide-race roared;
But every tack we made we brought the North Head close aboard:
So’s we saw the cliffs and houses, and the breakers running high,
And the coastguard in his garden, with his glass against his eye.

The frost was on the village roofs as white as ocean foam;


The good red fires were burning bright in every ’longshore home;
The windows sparkled clear, and the chimneys volleyed out;
And I vow we sniffed the victuals as the vessel went about.

The bells upon the church were rung with a mighty jovial cheer;
For it’s just that I should tell you how (of all days in the year)
This day of our adversity was blessed Christmas morn,
And the house above the coastguard’s was the house where I was
born.

O well I saw the pleasant room, the pleasant faces there,


My mother’s silver spectacles, my father’s silver hair;
And well I saw the firelight, like a flight of homely elves,
Go dancing round the china-plates that stand upon the shelves.

And well I knew the talk they had, the talk that was of me,
Of the shadow on the household and the son that went to sea;
And O the wicked fool I seemed, in every kind of way,
To be here and hauling frozen ropes on blessed Christmas Day.

They lit the high sea-light, and the dark began to fall.
“All hands to loose topgallant sails,” I heard the captain call.
“By the Lord, she’ll never stand it,” our first mate, Jackson, cried,
... “It’s the one way or the other, Mr. Jackson,” he replied.

She staggered to her bearings, but the sails were new and good,
And the ship smelt up to windward just as though she understood.
As the winter’s day was ending, in the entry of the night,
We cleared the weary headland, and passed below the light.

And they heaved a mighty breath, every soul on board but me,
As they saw her nose again pointing handsome out to sea;
But all that I could think of, in the darkness and the cold,
Was just that I was leaving home and my folks were growing old.

THE REVENGE
By Alfred, Lord Tennyson

At Flores in the Azores Sir Richard Grenville lay,


And a pinnace, like a flutter’d bird, came flying from far away:
“Spanish ships of war at sea! we have sighted fifty-three!”
Then sware Lord Thomas Howard: “’Fore God I am no coward;
But I cannot meet them here, for my ships are out of gear,
And the half my men are sick. I must fly, but follow quick.
We are six ships of the line; can we fight with fifty-three?”

Then spake Sir Richard Grenville: “I know you are no coward;


You fly them for a moment to fight with them again.
But I’ve ninety men and more that are lying sick ashore.
I should count myself the coward if I left them, my Lord Howard,
To these Inquisition dogs and the devildoms of Spain.”

So Lord Howard pass’d away with five ships of war that day,
Till he melted like a cloud in the silent summer heaven;
But Sir Richard bore in hand all his sick men from the land
Very carefully and slow,
Men of Bideford in Devon,
And we laid them on the ballast down below;
For we brought them all aboard,
And they blest him in their pain, that they were not left to Spain,
To the thumb-screw and the stake, for the glory of the Lord.

He had only a hundred seamen to work the ship and to fight,


And he sailed away from Flores ’til the Spaniard came in sight,
With his huge sea-castles heaving upon the weather bow.
“Shall we fight or shall we fly?
Good Sir Richard, tell us now,
For to fight is but to die!
There’ll be little of us left by the time this sun be set.”
And Sir Richard said again: “We be all good Englishmen.
Let us bang these dogs of Seville, the children of the devil,
For I never turn’d my back upon Don or devil yet.”

Sir Richard spoke and he laugh’d and we roar’d a hurrah, and so


The little Revenge ran on sheer into the heart of the foe,
With her hundred fighters on deck, and her ninety sick below;
For half of their fleet to the right and half to the left were seen,
And the little Revenge ran on through the long sea-lane between.

Thousands of their soldiers look’d down from their decks and


laugh’d.
Thousands of their seamen made mock at the mad little craft
Running on and on, till delay’d
By their mountain-like San Philip that, of fifteen hundred tons,
And up-shadowing high above us with her yawning tiers of guns,
Took the breath from our sails, and we stay’d.

And while now the great San Philip hung above us like a cloud,
Whence the thunderbolt will fall
Long and loud,
Four galleons drew away
From the Spanish fleet that day,
And two upon the larboard and two upon the starboard lay,
And the battle-thunder broke from them all.

But anon the great San Philip, she bethought herself and went,
Having that within her womb that had left her ill content;
And the rest they came aboard us, and they fought us hand to hand,
For a dozen times they came with their pikes and musqueteers,
And a dozen times we shook ’em off as a dog that shakes his ears
When he leaps from the water to the land.

And the sun went down, and the stars came out far over the summer
sea,
But never a moment ceased the fight of the one and the fifty-three.
Ship after ship, the whole night long, their high-built galleons came,
Ship after ship, the whole night long, with her battle-thunder and
flame;
Ship after ship, the whole night long, drew back with her dead and
shame.
For some were sunk and many were shatter’d, and so could fight us
no more—
God of battles, was ever a battle like this in the world before?

For he said, “Fight on! fight on!”


Tho’ his vessel was all but a wreck;
And it chanced that, when half of the short summer night was gone,
With a grisly wound to be drest he had left the deck,
But a bullet struck him that was dressing it suddenly dead,
And himself he was wounded again in the side and the head,
And he said, “Fight on! fight on!”

And the night went down, and the sun smiled out far over the
summer sea,
And the Spanish fleet with broken sides lay round us all in a ring;
But they dared not touch us again, for they fear’d that we still could
sting,
So they watch’d what the end would be.
And we had not fought them in vain,
But in perilous plight we were,
Seeing forty of our poor hundred were slain,
And the half of the rest of us maim’d for life
In the crash of the cannonades and the desperate strife;
And the sick men down in the hold were most of them stark and cold,
And the pikes were all broken or bent, and the powder was all of it
spent;
And the masts and the rigging were lying over the side;
But Sir Richard cried in his English pride:
“We have fought such a fight for a day and a night
As may never be fought again!
We have won great glory, my men!
And a day less or more
At sea or ashore,
We die—does it matter when?
Sink me the ship, Master Gunner—sink her, split her in twain!
Fall into the hands of God, not into the hands of Spain!”

And the gunner said, “Ay, ay,” but the seamen made reply:
“We have children, we have wives,
And the Lord hath spared our lives,
We will make the Spaniard promise, if we yield, to let us go;
We shall live to fight again, and to strike another blow.”
And the lion there lay dying, and they yielded to the foe.
And the stately Spanish men to their flagship bore him then,
Where they laid him by the mast, old Sir Richard caught at last,
And they praised him to his face with their courtly foreign grace;
But he rose upon their decks, and he cried:
“I have fought for Queen and Faith like a valiant man and true;
I have only done my duty as a man is bound to do.
With a joyful spirit I, Sir Richard Grenville, die!”
And he fell upon their decks, and he died.

And they stared at the dead that had been so valiant and true,
And had holden the power and glory of Spain so cheap
That he dared her with one little ship and his English few;
Was he devil or man? He was devil for aught they knew,
But they sank his body with honor down into the deep,
And they mann’d the Revenge with a swarthier alien crew,
And away she sailed with her loss and long’d for her own;
When a wind from the lands they had ruin’d awoke from sleep,
And the water began to heave and the weather to moan,
And or ever that evening ended a great gale blew,
And a wave like the wave that is raised by an earthquake grew,
Till it smote on their hulls and their sails and their masts and their
flags,
And the whole sea plunged and fell on the shot-shatter’d navy of
Spain,
And the little Revenge herself went down by the island crags
To be lost evermore in the main.

THE BALLAD OF THE EAST AND WEST


By Rudyard Kipling

Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat;
But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,
When two strong men stand face to face, though they come from the
ends of the earth.
Kamal is out with twenty men to raise the Border-side,
And he has lifted the Colonel’s mare that is the Colonel’s pride.
He has lifted her out of the stable door between the dawn and the
day,
And turned the calkins upon her feet, and ridden her far away.
Then up and spoke the Colonel’s son that led a troop of the Guides:
“Is there never a man of all my men can say where Kamal hides?”

Then up and spoke Mahommed Khan, the son of the Ressaldar:


“If ye know the track of the morning mist, ye know where his pickets
are.
At dusk he harries the Abazai—at dawn he is into Bonair;
But he must go by Fort Bukloh to his own place to fare.
So if ye gallop to Fort Bukloh as fast as a bird can fly,
By the favor of God, ye may cut him off ere he win the tongue of
Jagai.
But if he be passed the tongue of Jagai, right swiftly turn ye then—
For the length and breadth of that grisly plain is sown with Kamal’s
men.
There is rock to the left, and rock to the right, and low lean thorn
between,
And ye may hear a breech-bolt snick where never a man is seen.”

The Colonel’s son has taken a horse, and a raw rough dun was he,
With the mouth of a bell, and the heart of hell, and the head of a
gallows-tree.
The Colonel’s son to the Fort has won; they bid him stay to eat—
Who rides at the tail of a Border thief, he sits not long at his meat.
He’s up and away from Fort Bukloh as fast as he can fly,
Till he was aware of his father’s mare, with Kamal upon her back,
And when he could spy the white of her eye, he made the pistol
crack.
He has fired once, he has fired twice, but the whistling ball went
wide.
“Ye shoot like a soldier,” Kamal said. “Show now if ye can ride.”

It’s up and over the tongue of Jagai, as blown dust-devils go—


The dun he fled like a stag of ten, but the mare like a barren doe.
The dun he leaned against the bit, and slugged his head above,
But the red mare played with the snaffle bars like a maiden plays
with her love.
There was rock to the left, and rock to the right, and low lean thorn
between,
And thrice he heard a breech-bolt snick, though never a man was
seen.

They have ridden the low moon out of the sky, their hoofs drum up
the dawn—
The dun he went like a wounded bull, but the mare like a new roused
fawn.
The dun he fell at a water-course—in a woeful heap fell he,
And Kamal has turned the red mare back, and pulled the rider free.

He has knocked the pistol out of his hand—small room was there to
strive—
“’Twas only by favor of mine,” quoth he, “ye rode so long alive:
There was not a rock for twenty mile, there was not a clump of tree,
But covered a man of my own men with his rifle cocked on his knee.
If I had raised my bridle-hand as I have carried it low,
The little jackals that flee so fast were feasting all in a row:
If I had bowed my head on my breast, as I have held it high,
The kite that whistles above us now were gorged till she could not
fly.”

Lightly answered the Colonel’s son: “Do good to bird and beast,
But count who comes for the broken meats before thou makest a
feast.
If there should follow a thousand swords to carry my bones away,
Belike the price of a jackal’s meal were more than a thief could pay.
They will feed their horse on the standing crop, their men on the
garnered grain;
The thatch of the byres will serve their fires when all the cattle are
slain.
But if thou thinkest the price be high, in steer and gear and stack,
Give me my father’s mare again, and I’ll fight my own way back!”
Kamal has gripped him by the hand and set him upon his feet.
“No talk shall be of dogs,” said he, “when wolf and gray wolf meet.
May I eat dirt if thou hast hurt of me in deed or breath;
What dam of lances brought thee forth to jest at the dawn with
Death?”

Lightly answered the Colonel’s son: “I hold by the blood of my clan:


Take up the mare for my father’s gift—by God she has carried a
man!”
The red mare ran to the Colonel’s son, and nuzzled against his
breast.
“We be two strong men,” said Kamal then, “but she loveth the
younger best.
So shall she go with a lifter’s dower, my turquoise-studded rein,
My broidered saddle and saddle-cloth, and silver stirrups twain.”
The Colonel’s son a pistol drew and held it muzzle-end.
“Ye have taken the one from a foe,” said he; “will ye take the mate
from a friend?”
“A gift for a gift,” said Kamal straight; “a limb for the risk of a limb.
Thy father hath sent his son to me—I’ll send my son to him!”
With that he whistled his only son, that dropped from a mountain
crest—
He trod the links like a buck in Spring, and he looked a lance in rest.

“Now here is thy master,” Kamal said, “who leads a troop of the
Guides,
And thou must ride at his left side, as shield on shoulder rides.
Till death or I cut loose the tie at camp, and board and bed,
Thy life is his—thy fate to guard him with thy head.
So thou must eat the White Queen’s meat, and all her foes are thine,
And thou must harry thy father’s hold for the peace at the Borderline;
And thou must make a trooper tough and hack thy way to power—
Belike they will raise thee to Rassaldar when I am hanged in
Peshawur.”
They have looked each other between the eyes, and there they
found no fault;
They have taken the Oath of the Brother-in-Blood on fire and fresh-
cut sod.
On the hilt and the haft of the Khyber knife, and the wond’rous
Names of God.
The Colonel’s son he rides the mare, and Kamal’s boy the dun,
And two have come back to Fort Bukloh where there went forth but
one.
And when they drew to the quarter-guard, full twenty swords flew
clear—
There was not a man but carried his feud with the blood of the
mountaineer.
“Ha’ done! ha’ done!” said the Colonel’s son. “Put up the steel at
your sides!
Last night ye had struck at a Border thief—to-night ’tis a man of the
Guides.”

Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently at God’s great Judgment Seat;
But there is neither East nor West, Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,
When two strong men stand face to face, though they come from the
ends of the Earth.

THE BRAVEST BATTLE


By Joaquin Miller
The bravest battle that ever was fought;
Shall I tell you where and when?
On the maps of the world you will find it not;
It was fought by the mothers of men.

Nay, not with cannon or battle shot,


With sword or nobler pen;
Nay, not with eloquent word or thought,
From mouths of wonderful men,

But deep in a walled-up woman’s heart—


Of woman that would not yield,
But patiently, silently bore her part—
Lo! there in that battlefield.

No marshaling troop, no bivouac song;


No banner to gleam and wave;
And oh! these battles they last so long—
From babyhood to the grave!

Yet, faithful still as a bridge of stars,


She fights in her walled-up town—
Fights on and on in the endless wars,
Then silent, unseen—goes down.

O ye with banners and battle shot


And soldiers to shout and praise,
I tell you the kingliest victories fought
Are fought in these silent ways.

O spotless woman in a world of shame!


With splendid and silent scorn,
Go back to God as white as you came,
The kingliest warrior born.

—Copyright by Harr Wagner Co., San Francisco, and used by kind


permission.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN WALKS AT MIDNIGHT
[IN SPRINGFIELD, ILL.]
By Nicholas Vachel Lindsay

It is portentous, and a thing of state


That here at midnight, in our little town
A mourning figure walks, and will not rest,
Near the old courthouse pacing up and down.

Or by his homestead, or in shadowed yards


He lingers where his children used to play,
Or through the market, on the well-worn stones
He stalks until the dawn-stars burn away.

A bronzed, lank man! His suit of ancient black,


A famous high-top hat and plain worn shawl
Make him the quaint great figure that men love,
The prairie lawyer, master of us all.

He can not sleep upon his hillside now,


He is among us—as in times before!
And we who toss and lie awake for long
Breathe deep, and start, to see him pass the door.

His head is bowed. He thinks on men and kings,


Yea, when the sick world cries, how can he sleep?
Too many peasants fight, they know not why,
Too many homesteads in black terror weep.

The sins of all the war-lords burn his heart,


He sees the dreadnoughts scouring every main.
He carries on his shawl-wrapped shoulders now
The bitterness, the folly and the pain.

He can not rest until a spirit-dawn


Shall come—the shining hope of Europe free;
The league of sober folk, the Workers’ Earth,
Bringing long peace to Cornland, Alp and Sea.
It breaks his heart that kings must murder still,
That all his hours of travail here for men
Seem yet in vain. And who will bring white peace
That he may sleep upon his hill again?

CORONATION
By Helen Hunt Jackson

At the king’s gate the subtle noon


Wove filmy yellow nets of sun;
Into the drowsy snare too soon
The guards fell one by one.

Through the king’s gate unquestioned then,


A beggar went, and laughed, “This brings
Me chance, at last, to see if men
Fare better, being kings.”

The king sat bowed beneath his crown,


Propping his face with listless hand;
Watching the hour glass sifting down
Too slow its shining sand.

“Poor man, what wouldst thou have of me?”


The beggar turned, and pitying,
Replied, like one in dream, “Of thee,
Nothing. I want the king.”

Up rose the king, and from his head


Shook off the crown, and threw it by.
“O man, thou must have known,” he said,
“A greater king than I.”

Through all the gates, unquestioned then,


Went king and beggar hand in hand.
Whispered the king, “Shall I know when
Before his throne I stand?”
The beggar laughed. Free winds in haste
Were wiping from the king’s hot brow
The crimson lines the crown had traced.
“This is his presence now.”

At the king’s gate, the crafty noon


Unwove its yellow nets of sun;
Out of their sleep in terror soon
The guards waked one by one.

“Ho here! Ho there! Has no man seen


The king?” The cry ran to and fro;
Beggar and king, they laughed, I ween,
The laugh that free men know.

On the king’s gate the moss grew gray;


The king came not. They called him dead;
And made his eldest son one day
Slave in his father’s stead.

—Copyright by Little, Brown & Co., Boston, Mass., and used by


kind permission.

A PRAYER IN KHAKI
By Robert Garland

O Lord, my God, accept my prayer of thanks


That Thou hast placed me humbly in the ranks
Where I can do my part, all unafraid—
A simple soldier in Thy great crusade.

I pray thee, Lord, let others take command;


Enough for me, a rifle in my hand;
Thy blood-red banner ever leading me
Where I can fight for liberty and Thee.

Give others, God, the glory; mine the right


To stand beside my comrades in the fight,
To die, if need be, in some foreign land—
Absolved and solaced by a soldier’s hand.

O Lord, my God, pray harken to my prayer


And keep me ever humble, keep me where
The fight is thickest, where, ’midst steel and flame
Thy sons give battle, calling on Thy name.

—From the Outlook.

THE YANKEE MAN OF WAR


Anonymous

’Tis of a gallant Yankee ship that flew the stripes and stars,
And the whistling wind from the west-nor’-west blew through the
pitch-pine spars;
With her starboard tacks aboard, my boys, she hung upon the gale;
On an autumn night we raised the light on the old Head of Kinsale.

It was a clear and cloudless night, and the wind blew, steady and
strong,
As gayly over the sparkling deep our good ship bowled along;
With the foaming seas beneath her bow the fiery waves she spread,
And bending low her bosom of snow, she buried her lee cat-head.

There was no talk of short’ning sail by him who walked the poop,
And under the press of her pond’ring jib, the boom bent like a hoop!
And the groaning water-ways told the strain that held her stout main-
tack,
But he only laughed as he glanced aloft at a white and silvery track.

The mid-tide meets in the Channel waves that flow from shore to
shore,
And the mist hung heavy upon the land from Featherstone to
Dunmore,
And that sterling light in Tusker Rock where the old bell tolls each
hour,
And the beacon light that shone so bright was quench’d on
Waterford Tower.

What looms upon our starboard bow? What hangs upon the breeze?
’Tis time our good ship hauled her wind abreast the old Saltees,
For by her ponderous press of sail and by her consorts four
We saw our morning visitor was a British man-of-war.

Up spake our noble Captain then, as a shot ahead of us past—


“Haul snug your flowing courses! lay your topsail to the mast!”
Those Englishmen gave three loud hurrahs from the deck of their
covered ark
And we answered back by a solid broadside from the decks of our
patriot bark.

“Out booms! out booms!” our skipper cried, “out booms and give her
sheet,”
And the swiftest keel that was ever launched shot ahead of the
British fleet,
And amidst a thundering shower of shot, with stun’sails hoisting
away,
Down the North Channel Paul Jones did steer just at the break of
day.

WARREN’S ADDRESS
By John Pierpont

Stand! The ground’s your own, my braves!


Will ye give it up to slaves?
Will ye look for greener graves?
Hope ye mercy still?
What’s the mercy despots feel?
Hear it in that battle peal!
Read it on yon bristling steel!
Ask it—ye who will.

Fear ye foes who kill for hire?


Will ye to your homes retire?
Look behind you!—they’re afire!
And, before you, see
Who have done it! From the vale
On they come!—and will ye quail?
Leaden rain and iron hail
Let their welcome be!

In the God of battles trust!


Die we may—and die we must;
But, oh, where can dust to dust
Be consign’d so well
As where heaven its dews shall shed
On the martyr’d patriot’s bed,
And the rocks shall raise their head
Of his deeds to tell?

THE FLAG GOES BY


By Henry Holcomb Bennett

Hats off!
Along the street there comes
A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums,
A flash of color beneath the sky:
Hats off!
The flag is passing by!

Blue and crimson and white it shines,


Over the steel-tipped ordered lines.
Hats off!
The colors before us fly;
But more than the flag is passing by:

Sea fights and land fights, grim and great,


Fought to make and to save the state;
Weary marches and sinking ships;
Cheers of victory on dying lips;

Days of plenty and years of peace;


March of a strong land’s swift increase;
Equal justice, right and law,
Stately honor and reverend awe;

Sign of a nation, great and strong,


To ward her people from foreign wrong;
Pride and glory and honor—all
Live in the colors to stand or fall.

Hats off!
Along the street there comes
A blare of bugles, a ruffle of drums;
And loyal hearts are beating high:
Hats off!
The flag is passing by!

“HE LIFTETH THEM ALL TO HIS LAP”


By Robert McIntyre

Dago and Sheeny and Chink,


Greaser and Nigger and Jap.
The Devil invented these terms, I think,
To hurl at each hopeful chap
Who comes so far o’er the foam
To this land of his heart’s desire,
To rear his brood, to build his home,
And to kindle his hearthstone fire.
While the eyes with joy are blurred,
Lo! we make the strong man shrink
And stab the soul with the hateful word—
Dago and Sheeny and Chink.
Dago and Sheeny and Chink,
These are the vipers that swarm
Up from the edge of Perdition’s brink
To hurt, and dishearten, and harm.
O shame! when their Roman forbears walked
Where the first of the Cæsars trod.
O shame; where their Hebrew fathers talked
With Moses and he with God.
These swarthy sons of Life’s sweet drink
To the thirsty world, which now gives them
Dago and Sheeny and Chink.

Dago and Sheeny and Chink,


Greaser and Nigger and Jap.
From none of them doth Jehovah shrink;
He lifteth them all to His lap;
And the Christ, in His kingly grace,
When their sad, low sob he hears
Puts His tender embrace around our race
As He kisses away its tears,
Saying, “O least of these, I link
Thee to Me for whatever mayhap:”
Dago and Sheeny and Chink,
Greaser and Nigger and Jap.

UNDER THE TAN


By Lewis Worthington Smith

Italians, Magyars, aliens all—


Human under the tan—
Eyes that can smile when their fellows call,
A spike-driver each, but a man.
Rumble and roar! On the tracks they lay,
We ride in our parlor car.
Spades on their shoulders, they give us way,
Lords of the near and the far.
Polack and Slav and dark-browed Greek—
Human under the tan—
Up go their hands, and their faces speak,
Saluting us, man and man.
Cushioned seats and our souls at ease,
Dainty in food and fare,
We are the masters their toil must please,
Or face gaunt-cheeked despair.

Russian and Irishman, Croat and Swede—


Human under the tan—
Giving us homage while making us speed,
As only the generous can.
Riding and riding, hats in our hands,
Something warm in the eye.
Fellows, in spite of your skins and lands,
We greet you, rushing by.

—In the New York Evening Post.

MY LOST YOUTH
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Often I think of the beautiful town


That is seated by the sea;
Often in thought go up and down
The pleasant streets of that dear old town,
And my youth comes back to me.
And a verse of a Lapland song
Is haunting my memory still:
“A boy’s will is the wind’s will,
And the thoughts of youth are long, long thoughts.”

I can see the shadowy lines of its trees,


And catch, in sudden gleams,
The sheen of the far-surrounding seas,

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