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diff --git a/old/65775-0.txt b/old/65775-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 44338c8..0000000 --- a/old/65775-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,31223 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Cry for Justice, by Various - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The Cry for Justice - An Anthology of the Literature of Social Protest - -Author: Various - -Editor: Upton Sinclair - -Contributor: Jack London - -Release Date: July 5, 2021 [eBook #65775] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: MFR, Splendid Geryon and the Online Distributed Proofreading - Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from - images generously made available by The Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRY FOR JUSTICE *** - -[Illustration: THE HEAVY SLEDGE - -MAHONRI YOUNG - -(_American sculptor, born 1877_)] - - - - - THE CRY FOR JUSTICE - - An Anthology of the Literature - of Social Protest - - THE WRITINGS OF PHILOSOPHERS, POETS, NOVELISTS, - SOCIAL REFORMERS, AND OTHERS WHO HAVE - VOICED THE STRUGGLE AGAINST - SOCIAL INJUSTICE - - _SELECTED FROM TWENTY-FIVE LANGUAGES_ - Covering a Period of Five Thousand Years - - Edited by - UPTON SINCLAIR - _Author of "Sylvia," "The Jungle," Etc._ - - With an Introduction by - JACK LONDON - _Author of "The Sea Wolf," "The Call of the Wild," - "The Valley of the Moon," Etc., Etc._ - - _ILLUSTRATED WITH REPRODUCTIONS - OF SOCIAL PROTEST IN ART_ - - PUBLISHED BY - UPTON SINCLAIR - NEW YORK CITY AND PASADENA, CALIFORNIA - - - - -Dr. John R. Haynes, of Los Angeles, very generously purchased -from the publishers the plates and copyright of this book, in -order to make possible the issuing of this edition. I asked -Dr. Haynes if he would let me make acknowledgment to him in -the book, and he answered: "Dedicate the book to those unknown -ones, who by their dimes and quarters keep the Socialist -movement going; to the poor and obscure people who sacrifice -themselves in order to bring about a better world, which they -may never live to see. Write this as eloquently as you can, -and it will be the best possible dedication to 'The Cry for -Justice'." - -I decided, after thinking it over, to combine my own idea with -the idea of Dr. Haynes. - - - Copyright, 1915, by - THE JOHN C. WINSTON CO. - - - - -Introduction by Jack London - - -This anthology, I take it, is the first edition, the first -gathering together of the body of the literature and art of the -humanist thinkers of the world. As well done as it has been -done, it will be better done in the future. There will be much -adding, there will be a little subtracting, in the succeeding -editions that are bound to come. The result will be a monument -of the ages, and there will be none fairer. - -Since reading of the Bible, the Koran, and the Talmud has -enabled countless devout and earnest right-seeking souls to be -stirred and uplifted to higher and finer planes of thought and -action, then the reading of this humanist Holy Book cannot fail -similarly to serve the needs of groping, yearning humans who -seek to discern truth and justice amid the dazzle and murk of -the thought-chaos of the present-day world. - -No person, no matter how soft and secluded his own life has -been, can read this Holy Book and not be aware that the -world is filled with a vast mass of unfairness, cruelty, and -suffering. He will find that it has been observed, during -all the ages, by the thinkers, the seers, the poets, and the -philosophers. - -And such person will learn, possibly, that this fair world -so brutally unfair, is not decreed by the will of God nor by -any iron law of Nature. He will learn that the world can be -fashioned a fair world indeed by the humans who inhabit it, by -the very simple, and yet most difficult process of coming to -an understanding of the world. Understanding, after all, is -merely sympathy in its fine correct sense. And such sympathy, -in its genuineness, makes toward unselfishness. Unselfishness -inevitably connotes service. And service is the solution of -the entire vexatious problem of man. - -He, who by understanding becomes converted to the gospel of -service, will serve truth to confute liars and make of them -truth-tellers; will serve kindness so that brutality will -perish; will serve beauty to the erasement of all that is not -beautiful. And he who is strong will serve the weak that they -may become strong. He will devote his strength, not to the -debasement and defilement of his weaker fellows, but to the -making of opportunity for them to make themselves into men -rather than into slaves and beasts. - -One has but to read the names of the men and women whose -words burn in these pages, and to recall that by far more -than average intelligence have they won to their place in -the world's eye and in the world's brain long after the dust -of them has vanished, to realize that due credence must be -placed in their report of the world herein recorded. They were -not tyrants and wastrels, hypocrites and liars, brewers and -gamblers, market-riggers and stock-brokers. They were givers -and servers, and seers and humanists. They were unselfish. They -conceived of life, not in terms of profit, but of service. - -Life tore at them with its heart-break. They could not escape -the hurt of it by selfish refuge in the gluttonies of brain -and body. They saw, and steeled themselves to see, clear-eyed -and unafraid. Nor were they afflicted by some strange myopia. -They all saw the same thing. They are all agreed upon what they -saw. The totality of their evidence proves this with unswerving -consistency. They have brought the report, these commissioners -of humanity. It is here in these pages. It is a true report. - -But not merely have they reported the human ills. They have -proposed the remedy. And their remedy is of no part of all -the jangling sects. It has nothing to do with the complicated -metaphysical processes by which one may win to other worlds -and imagined gains beyond the sky. It is a remedy for this -world, since worlds must be taken one at a time. And yet, that -not even the jangling sects should receive hurt by the making -fairer of this world for this own world's sake, it is well, for -all future worlds of them that need future worlds, that their -splendor be not tarnished by the vileness and ugliness of this -world. - -It is so simple a remedy, merely service. Not one ignoble -thought or act is demanded of any one of all men and women in -the world to make fair the world. The call is for nobility of -thinking, nobility of doing. The call is for service, and, such -is the wholesomeness of it, he who serves all, best serves -himself. - -Times change, and men's minds with them. Down the past, -civilizations have exposited themselves in terms of power, of -world-power or of other-world power. No civilization has yet -exposited itself in terms of love-of-man. The humanists have no -quarrel with the previous civilizations. They were necessary -in the development of man. But their purpose is fulfilled, and -they may well pass, leaving man to build the new and higher -civilization that will exposit itself in terms of love and -service and brotherhood. - -To see gathered here together this great body of human beauty -and fineness and nobleness is to realize what glorious humans -have already existed, do exist, and will continue increasingly -to exist until all the world beautiful be made over in their -image. We know how gods are made. Comes now the time to make a -world. - - HONOLULU, March 6, 1915. - - - - -Acknowledgments - - -The editor has used his best efforts to ascertain what material -in the present volume is protected by copyright. In all such -cases he has obtained the permission of author and publisher -for the use of the material. Such permission applies only to -the present volume, and no one should assume the right to make -any other use of it without seeking permission in turn. If -there has been any failure upon the editor's part to obtain a -necessary consent, it is due solely to oversight, and he trusts -that it may be overlooked. The following publishers have to be -thanked for the permissions which they have kindly granted; the -thanks applying also to the authors of the works. - - -MITCHELL KENNERLEY - -Patrick MacGill, "Songs of the Dead End." Harry Kemp, "The -Cry of Youth." Charles Hanson Towne, "Manhattan." Hjalmar -Bergström, "Lynggaard & Co." Donald Lowrie, "My Life in -Prison." John G. Neihardt, "Cry of the People." Frank Harris, -"The Bomb." Vachel Lindsay, "The Eagle that is Forgotten" and -"To the United States Senate." Frederik van Eeden, "The Quest." -Edwin Davies Schoonmaker, "Trinity Church." Walter Lippman, "A -Preface to Politics." L. Andreyev, "Savva." J. C. Underwood, -"Processionals." Bliss Carman, "The Rough Rider." Percy Adams -Hutchison, "The Swordless Christ." - - -DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO. - -Frank Norris, "The Octopus." Helen Keller, "Out of the Dark." -Frederik van Eeden, "Happy Humanity." Bouck White, "The Call of -the Carpenter." Alexander Irvine, "From the Bottom Up." John -D. Rockefeller, "Random Reminiscences." G. Lowes Dickinson, -"Letters from a Chinese Official." Ben B. Lindsey and Harvey -J. O'Higgins, "The Beast." Franklin P. Adams, "By and Large." -Edwin Markham, "The Man with the Hoe and Other Poems." Gerald -Stanley Lee, "Crowds." Woodrow Wilson, "The New Freedom." - - -HOUGHTON MIFFLIN CO. - -William Vaughn Moody, "Poems." Vida D. Scudder, "Social -Ideals." Florence Wilkinson Evans, "The Ride Home." Peter -Kropotkin, "Mutual Aid" and "Memoirs of a Revolutionist." Helen -G. Cone, "Today." T. B. Aldrich, "Poems." T. W. Higginson, -"Poems." - - -CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS - -H. G. Wells, "A Modern Utopia." Björnstjerne Björnson, "Beyond -Human Power." Edith Wharton, "The House of Mirth." John -Galsworthy, "A Motley." Maxim Gorky, "Fóma Gordyéeff." J. M. -Barrie, "Farm Laborers." Walter Wyckoff, "The Workers." - - -THE MACMILLAN CO. - -John Masefield, "Dauber" and "A Consecration." Jack London, -"The People of the Abyss" and "Revolution." Robert Herrick, "A -Life for a Life." Israel Zangwill, "Children of the Ghetto." -Albert Edwards, "A Man's World" and "Comrade Yetta." Walter -Rauschenbusch, "Christianity and the Social Crisis." Winston -Churchill, "The Inside of the Cup." Rabindranath Tagore, -"Gitanjali." Thorstein Veblen, "The Theory of the Leisure -Class." Edward Alsworth Ross, "Sin and Society." W. J. Ghent, -"Socialism and Success." Vachel Lindsay, "The Congo." Wilfrid -Wilson Gibson, "Fires." Percy Mackaye, "The Present Hour." -Robert Hunter, "Violence and the Labor Movement." Ernest Poole, -"The Harbor." - - -THE CENTURY CO. - -Louis Untermeyer, "Challenge." Richard Whiteing, "No. 5 John -Street." George Carter, "Ballade of Misery and Iron." James -Oppenheim, "Songs for the New Age." H. G. Wells, "In the Days -of the Comet." Alex. Irvine, "My Lady of the Chimney Corner." -Edwin Björkman, "Dinner à la Tango." - - -SMALL, MAYNARD & CO. - -Charlotte P. Gilman, "In this Our World" and "Women and -Economics." Finley P. Dunne, "Mr. Dooley." - - -BRENTANO - -G. Bernard Shaw, "Preface to Major Barbara" and "The Problem -Play." Eugene Brieux, "The Red Robe." W. L. George, "A Bed of -Roses." - - -DUFFIELD & CO. - -Elsa Barker, "The Frozen Grail." H. G. Wells, "Tono-Bungay." - - -B. W. HUEBSCH - -James Oppenheim, "Pay Envelopes." Gerhart Hauptmann, "The -Weavers." Maxim Gorky, "Tales of Two Countries." - - -G. P. PUTNAM SONS - -Antonio Fogazzaro, "The Saint." J. L. Jaurès, "Studies in -Socialism." - - -GEORGE H. DORAN CO. - -Will Levington Comfort, "Midstream." Charles E. Russell, "These -Shifting Scenes." - - -FREDERICK A. STOKES CO. - -Robert Tressall, "The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists." -Wilhelm Lamszus, "The Human Slaughter House." Olive Schreiner, -"Woman and Labor." Alfred Noyes, "The Wine Press." - - -MCCLURE PUBLISHING CO. - -Dana Burnet, "A Ballad of Dead Girls." Lincoln Steffens, "The -Dying Boss" and "The Reluctant Grafter." - - -THE "MASSES" - -John Amid, "The Tail of the World." Dana Burnet, "Sisters of -the Cross of Shame." Carl Sandburg, "Buttons." J. E. Spingarn, -"Heloise sans Abelard." Louis Untermeyer, "To a Supreme Court -Judge." - - -JAMES POTT & CO. - -David Graham Phillips, "The Reign of Gilt." - - -BARSE & HOPKINS - -R. W. Service, "The Spell of the Yukon." - - -UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS - -August Bebel, "Memoirs." - - -CHARLES H. SERGEL CO. - -Verhaeren, "The Dawn: Translation by Arthur Symons." - - -ALBERT AND CHARLES BONI - -Horace Traubel, "Chants Communal." - - -A. C. MCCLURG & CO. - -W. E. B. du Bois, "The Souls of Black Folk." - - -MOTHER EARTH PUBLISHING CO. - -A. Berkman, "Prison Memories of an Anarchist." Voltairine de -Cleyre, "Works." Emma Goldman, "Anarchism." - - -MOFFAT, YARD & CO. - -Reginald Wright Kauffman, "The House of Bondage." - - -JOHN LANE - -Anatole France, "Penguin Island." William Watson, "Poems." - - -BOBBS-MERRILL CO. - -Brand Whitlock, "The Turn of the Balance." - - -E. P. DUTTON & CO. - -Patrick MacGill, "Children of the Dead End." - - -CHARLES H. KERR CO. - -"When the Leaves Come Out." - - -HILLACRE BOOKHOUSE - -Arturo Giovannitti, "The Walker." - - -HENRY HOLT & CO. - -Romain Rolland, "Jean-Christophe." - - -RICHARD G. BADGER (_Poet Lore_) - -Andreyev, "King Hunger." Gorky, "A Night's Lodging." - - -MRS. ARTHUR UPSON - -Poems by Arthur Upson. - - -_New York Times_ - -Elsa Barker, "Breshkovskaya." - - -_Collier's Weekly_ - -Herman Hagedorn, "Fifth Avenue, 1915." - - -_Poetry: A Magazine of Verse_ - -F. Kiper Frank, "A Girl Strike Leader." - - -_Life_ - -Max Eastman, "To a Bourgeois Litterateur." - - -WALTER SCOTT PUBLISHING CO. - -(P. P. SIMMONS CO., New York) - -Joseph Skipsey, "Mother Wept." Jethro Bithell's translation of -Verhaeren in "Contemporary Belgian Poetry" and of Dehmel in -"Contemporary German Poetry." Rimbaud's "Waifs and Strays" in -"Contemporary French Poetry." - - -ELKIN MATHEWS & CO. - -William H. Davies, "Songs of Joy." - - -CONSTABLE & CO. - -Harold Monro, "Impressions." - - -DUCKWORTH & CO. - -Hilaire Belloc, "The Rebel." - - -SWAN, SONNENSCHEIN & CO. - -Edward Carpenter, "Towards Democracy." - - * * * * * - -Acknowledgments have also to be made to the following artists, -who have kindly consented to have their works used in the -volume: Mahonri Young, Wm. Balfour Ker, Ryan Walker, Charles A. -Winter, Abastenia Eberle, John Mowbray-Clarke, Isidore Konti, -Walter Crane, and Will Dyson. Also to _Life_ Publishing Co. and -the _New Age_, London, for permission to use a drawing from -their files. - - - - -Contents - - - BOOK PAGE - - I. TOIL 27 - - II. THE CHASM 73 - - III. THE OUTCAST 121 - - IV. OUT OF THE DEPTHS 179 - - V. REVOLT 227 - - VI. MARTYRDOM 289 - - VII. JESUS 345 - - VIII. THE CHURCH 383 - - IX. THE VOICE OF THE AGES 431 - - X. MAMMON 485 - - XI. WAR 551 - - XII. COUNTRY 593 - - XIII. CHILDREN 637 - - XIV. HUMOR 679 - - XV. THE POET 725 - - XVI. SOCIALISM 783 - - XVII. THE NEW DAY 835 - - - - -List of Illustrations - - - THE HEAVY SLEDGE, _Mahonri Young_ Frontispiece - - PAGE - - THE MAN WITH THE HOE, _Jean François Millet_ 32 - - THE VAMPIRE, _E. M. Lilien_ 33 - - KING CANUTE, _William Balfour Ker_ 93 - - THE HAND OF FATE, _William Balfour Ker_ 92 - - WITHOUT A KENNEL, _Ryan Walker_ 136 - - THE WHITE SLAVE, _Abastenia St. Leger Eberle_ 137 - - COLD, _Roger Bloche_ 200 - - THE PEOPLE MOURN, _Jules Pierre van Biesbroeck_ 201 - - THE LIBERATRESS, _Theophile Alexandre Steinlen_ 233 - - OUTBREAK, _Käthe Kollwitz_ 232 - - THE END, _Käthe Kollwitz_ 297 - - THE SURPRISE, _Ilyá Efímovitch Repin_ 296 - - ECCE HOMO, _Constantin Meunier_ 368 - - DESPISED AND REJECTED OF MEN, _Sigismund Goetze_ 369 - - "TO SUSTAIN THE BODY OF THE CHURCH, IF YOU - PLEASE," _Denis Auguste Marie Raffet_ 392 - - CHRIST, _John Mowbray-Clarke_ 393 - - THE DESPOTIC AGE, _Isidore Konti_ 456 - - "COURAGE, YOUR MAJESTY, ONLY ONE STEP MORE!" 457 - - MARRIAGE À LA MODE, _William Hogarth_ 489 - - MAMMON, _George Frederick Watts_ 488 - - WAR, _Arnold Böcklin_ 584 - - LONDON, _Paul Gustave Doré_ 585 - - A CITIZEN LOST, _Ryan Walker_ 649 - - "OLIVER TWIST ASKS FOR MORE," _George Cruikshank_ 648 - - THE COAL FAMINE, _Thomas Theodor Heine_ 680 - - MY SOLICITOR SHALL HEAR OF THIS, _Will Dyson_ 681 - - THE MILITANT, _Charles A. Winter_ 744 - - THE DEATH OF CHATTERTON, _Henry Wallis_ 745 - - ONCE YE HAVE SEEN MY FACE YE DARE NOT MOCK 808 - - JUSTICE, _Walter Crane_ 809 - - - - -Editor's Preface - - -When the idea of this collection was first thought of, it was -a matter of surprise that the task should have been so long -unattempted. There exist small collections of Socialist songs -for singing, but apparently this is the first effort that has -been made to cover the whole field of the literature of social -protest, both in prose and poetry, and from all languages and -times. - -The reader's first inquiry will be as to the qualifications of -the editor. Let me say that I gave nine years of my life to a -study of literature under academic guidance, and then, emerging -from a great endowed university, discovered the modern movement -of proletarian revolt, and have given fifteen years to the -study and interpretation of that. The present volume is thus -a blending of two points of view. I have reread the favorites -of my youth, choosing from them what now seemed most vital; -and I have sought to test the writers of my own time by the -touchstone of the old standards. - -The size of the task I did not realize until I had gone too -far to retreat. It meant not merely the rereading of the -classics and the standard anthologies; it meant going through a -small library of volumes by living writers, the files of many -magazines, and a dozen or more scrap-books and collections of -fugitive verse. At the end of this labor I found myself with -a pile of typewritten manuscript a foot high; and the task of -elimination was the most difficult of all. - -To a certain extent, of course, the selection was -self-determined. No anthology of social protest could omit -"The Song of the Shirt," and "The Cry of the Children," -and "A Man's a Man for A' That"; neither could it omit the -"Marseillaise" and the "Internationale." Equally inevitable -were selections from Shelley and Swinburne, Ruskin, Carlyle -and Morris, Whitman, Tolstoy and Zola. The same was true of -Wells and Shaw and Kropotkin, Hauptmann and Maeterlinck, Romain -Rolland and Anatole France. When it came to the newer writers, -I sought first their own judgment as to their best work; and -later I submitted the manuscript to several friends, the best -qualified men and women I knew. Thus the final version was the -product of a number of minds; and the collection may be said -to represent, not its editor, but a whole movement, made and -sustained by the master-spirits of all ages. - -For this reason I may without suspicion of egotism say what I -think about the volume. It was significant to me that several -persons reading the manuscript and writing quite independently, -referred to it as "a new Bible." I believe that it is, quite -literally and simply, what the old Bible was--a selection -by the living minds of a living time of the best and truest -writings known to them. It is a Bible of the future, a Gospel -of the new hope of the race. It is a book for the apostles of a -new dispensation to carry about with them; a book to cheer the -discouraged and console the wounded in humanity's last war of -liberation. - -The standards of the book are those of literature. If there has -been any letting down, it has been in the case of old writings, -which have an interest apart from that of style. It brings us -a thrill of wonder to find, in an ancient Egyptian parchment, -a father setting forth to his son how easy is the life of the -lawyer, and what a dog's life is that of the farmer. It amuses -us to read a play, produced in Athens two thousand, two hundred -and twenty-three years ago, in which is elaborately propounded -the question which thousands of Socialist "soap-boxers" are -answering every night: "Who will do the dirty work?" It makes -us shudder, perhaps, to find a Spaniard of the thirteenth -century analyzing the evil devices of tyrants, and expounding -in detail the labor-policy of some present-day great -corporations in America. - -Let me add that I have not considered it my function to act -as censor to the process of social evolution. Every aspect of -the revolutionary movement has found a voice in this book. -Two questions have been asked of each writer: Have you had -something vital to say? and Have you said it with some special -effectiveness? The reader will find, for example, one or two -of the hymns of the "Christian Socialists"; he will also find -one of the parodies on Christian hymns which are sung by the -Industrial Workers of the World in their "jungles" in the Far -West. The Anarchists and the apostles of insurrection are also -represented; and if some of the things seem to the reader the -mere unchaining of furies, I would say, let him not blame the -faithful anthologist, let him not blame even the writer--let -him blame himself, who has acquiesced in the existence of -conditions which have driven his fellow-men to the extremes of -madness and despair. - -In the preparation of this work I have placed myself under -obligation to so many people that it would take much space to -make complete acknowledgments. I must thank those friends who -went through the bulky manuscript, and gave me the benefit of -their detailed criticism: George Sterling, Max Eastman, Floyd -Dell, Clement Wood, Louis Untermeyer, and my wife. I am under -obligation to a number of people, some of them strangers, who -went to the trouble of sending me scrap-books which represented -years and even decades of collecting: Elizabeth Balch, -Elizabeth Magie Phillips, Frank B. Norman, Frank Stuhlman, J. -M. Maddox, Edward J. O'Brien, and Clement Wood. Among those -who helped me with valuable suggestions were: Edwin Björkman, -Reginald Wright Kauffman, Thomas Seltzer, Jack London, Rose -Pastor Stokes, May Beals, Elizabeth Freeman, Arthur W. -Calhoun, Frank Shay, Alexander Berkman, Joseph F. Gould, Louis -Untermeyer, Harold Monro, Morris Hillquit, Peter Kropotkin, Dr. -James P. Warbasse, and the Baroness von Blomberg. The fullness -of the section devoted to ancient writings is in part due to -the advice of a number of scholars: Dr. Paul Carus, Professor -Crawford H. Toy, Professor William Cranston Lawton, Professor -Charles Burton Gulick, Professor Thomas D. Goodell, Professor -Walton Brooks McDaniels, Rev. John Haynes Holmes, Professor -George F. Moore, Prof. Walter Rauschenbusch, and Professor -Charles R. Lanman. - -With regard to the illustrations in the volume, I endeavored -to repeat in the field of art what had been done in the field -of literature: to obtain the best material, both old and new, -and select the most interesting and vital. I have to record -my indebtedness to a number of friends who made suggestions -in this field--Ryan Walker, Art Young, John Mowbray-Clarke, -Martin Birnbaum, Odon Por, and Walter Crane. Also I must thank -Mr. Frank Weitenkampf and Dr. Herman Rosenthal of the New -York Public Library, and Dr. Clifford of the Library of the -Metropolitan Museum of Art. To the artists whose copyrighted -work I have used I owe my thanks for their permission: as -likewise to the many writers whose copyrighted books I have -quoted. Elsewhere in the volume I have made acknowledgments to -publishers for the rights they have kindly granted. Let me here -add this general caution: _The copyrighted passages used have -been used by permission, and any one who desires to reprint -them must obtain similar permission._ - -One or two hundred contemporary authors responded to my -invitation and sent me specimens of their writings. Of these -authors, probably three-fourths will not find their work -included--for which seeming discourtesy I can only offer the -sincere plea of the limitations of space which were imposed -upon me. I am not being diplomatic, but am stating a fact -when I say that I had to leave out much that I thought was of -excellent quality. - -What was chosen will now speak for itself. Let my last word be -of the hope, which has been with me constantly, that the book -may be to others what it has been to me. I have spent with -it the happiest year of my lifetime: the happiest, because -occupied with beauty of the greatest and truest sort. If the -material in this volume means to you, the reader, what it has -meant to me, you will live with it, love it, sometimes weep -with it, many times pray with it, yearn and hunger with it, -and, above all, resolve with it. You will carry it with you -about your daily tasks, you will be utterly possessed by it; -and again and again you will be led to dedicate yourself to the -greatest hope, the most wondrous vision which has ever thrilled -the soul of humanity. In this spirit and to this end the book -is offered to you. If you will read it through consecutively, -skipping nothing, you will find that it has a form. You will -be led from one passage to the next, and when you reach the -end you will be a wiser, a humbler, and a more tender-hearted -person. - - - - -A Consecration - -BY JOHN MASEFIELD - - - Not of the princes and prelates with periwigged charioteers - Riding triumphantly laurelled to lap the fat of the years, - Rather the scorned--the rejected--the men hemmed in with the spears; - - The men of the tattered battalion which fights till it dies, - Dazed with the dust of the battle, the din and the cries, - The men with the broken heads and the blood running into their eyes. - - Not the be-medalled Commander, beloved of the throne, - Riding cock-horse to parade when the bugles are blown, - But the lads who carried the koppie and cannot be known. - - Not the ruler for me, but the ranker, the tramp of the road, - The slave with the sack on his shoulders pricked on with the goad, - The man with too weighty a burden, too weary a load. - - The sailor, the stoker of steamers, the man with the clout, - The chantyman bent at the halliards putting a tune to the shout, - The drowsy man at the wheel and the tired lookout. - - Others may sing of the wine and the wealth and the mirth, - The portly presence of potentates goodly in girth;-- - Mine be the dirt and the dross, the dust and scum of the earth! - - Theirs be the music, the color, the glory, the gold; - Mine be a handful of ashes, a mouthful of mould. - Of the maimed, of the halt and the blind in the rain and the cold-- - - Of these shall my songs be fashioned, my tale be told. - AMEN. - - - - -BOOK I - -_Toil_ - -The dignity and tragedy of labor; pictures of the actual -conditions under which men and women work in mills and -factories, fields and mines. - - -The Man With the Hoe[A] - -[A] By permission of Doubleday, Page & Co. - -BY EDWIN MARKHAM - - (This poem, which was written after seeing Millet's world-famous - painting, was published in 1899 by a California school-principal, and - made a profound impression. It has been hailed as "the battle-cry of - the next thousand years") - - Bowed by the weight of centuries he leans - Upon his hoe and gazes on the ground, - The emptiness of ages in his face, - And on his back the burden of the world. - Who made him dead to rapture and despair, - A thing that grieves not and that never hopes, - Stolid and stunned, a brother to the ox? - Who loosened and let down this brutal jaw? - Whose was the hand that slanted back this brow? - Whose breath blew out the light within this brain? - - Is this the thing the Lord God made and gave - To have dominion over sea and land; - To trace the stars and search the heavens for power; - To feel the passion of Eternity? - Is this the dream He dreamed who shaped the suns - And marked their ways upon the ancient deep? - Down all the stretch of Hell to its last gulf - There is no shape more terrible than this-- - More tongued with censure of the world's blind greed-- - More filled with signs and portents for the soul-- - More fraught with menace to the universe. - - What gulfs between him and the seraphim! - Slave of the wheel of labor, what to him - Are Plato and the swing of Pleiades? - What the long reaches of the peaks of song, - The rift of dawn, the reddening of the rose? - Through this dread shape the suffering ages look; - Time's tragedy is in that aching stoop; - Through this dread shape humanity betrayed, - Plundered, profaned and disinherited, - Cries protest to the Judges of the World, - A protest that is also prophecy. - - O masters, lords and rulers in all lands, - Is this the handiwork you give to God, - This monstrous thing distorted and soul-quenched? - How will you ever straighten up this shape; - Touch it again with immortality; - Give back the upward looking and the light; - Rebuild in it the music and the dream; - Make right the immemorial infamies, - Perfidious wrongs, immedicable woes? - - O masters, lords and rulers in all lands, - How will the Future reckon with this Man? - How answer his brute question in that hour - When whirlwinds of rebellion shake the world? - How will it be with kingdoms and with kings-- - With those who shaped him to the thing he is-- - When this dumb Terror shall reply to God, - After the silence of the centuries? - - -Country Life - -(_From "The Village"_) - -BY GEORGE CRABBE - -(One of the earliest of English realistic poets, 1754-1832; -called "The Poet of the Poor") - - Or will you deem them amply paid in health, - Labor's fair child, that languishes with wealth? - Go then! and see them rising with the sun, - Through a long course of daily toil to run; - See them beneath the dog-star's raging heat, - When the knees tremble and the temples beat; - Behold them, leaning on their scythes, look o'er - The labor past, and toils to come explore; - See them alternate suns and showers engage, - And hoard up aches and anguish for their age; - Through fens and marshy moors their steps pursue, - Where their warm pores imbibe the evening dew; - Then own that labor may as fatal be - To these thy slaves, as thine excess to thee. - - -An Aged Laborer - -BY RICHARD JEFFERIES - -(English essayist and nature student, 1848-1887) - -For weeks and weeks the stark black oaks stood straight out -of the snow as masts of ships with furled sails frozen and -ice-bound in the haven of the deep valley. Never was such a -long winter. - -One morning a laboring man came to the door with a spade, -and asked if he could dig the garden, or try to, at the risk -of breaking the tool in the ground. He was starving; he had -had no work for six months, he said, since the first frost -started the winter. Nature and the earth and the gods did not -trouble about him, you see. Another aged man came once a week -regularly; white as the snow through which he walked. In summer -he worked; since the winter began he had had no employment, but -supported himself by going round to the farms in rotation. He -had no home of any kind. Why did he not go into the workhouse? -"I be afeared if I goes in there they'll put me with the rough -'uns, and very likely I should get some of my clothes stole." -Rather than go into the workhouse, he would totter round in -the face of the blasts that might cover his weak old limbs -with drift. There was a sense of dignity and manhood left -still; his clothes were worn, but clean and decent; he was -no companion of rogues; the snow and frost, the straw of the -outhouses, was better than that. He was struggling against age, -against nature, against circumstances; the entire weight of -society, law and order pressed upon him to force him to lose -his self-respect and liberty. He would rather risk his life in -the snow-drift. Nature, earth and the gods did not help him; -sun and stars, where were they? He knocked at the doors of the -farms and found good in man only--not in Law or Order, but in -individual man alone. - - -Farm Laborers - -BY JAMES MATTHEW BARRIE - -(English poet, playwright and novelist, born 1860) - -Grand, patient, long-suffering fellows these men were, up at -five, summer and winter, foddering their horses, maybe, hours -before there would be food for themselves, miserably paid, -housed like cattle, and when rheumatism seized them, liable -to be flung aside like a broken graip. As hard was the life -of the women: coarse food, chaff beds, damp clothes their -portion, their sweethearts in the service of masters who were -loath to fee a married man. Is it to be wondered that these -lads who could be faithful unto death drank soddenly on their -one free day; that these girls, starved of opportunities for -womanliness, of which they could make as much as the finest -lady, sometimes woke after a holiday to wish that they might -wake no more? - - -Helotage - -(_From "Sartor Resartus"_) - -BY THOMAS CARLYLE - -(One of the most famous of British essayists, 1795-1881; -historian of the French Revolution, and master of a vivid and -picturesque prose-style) - -It is not because of his toils that I lament for the poor: we -must all toil, or steal (howsoever we name our stealing), which -is worse; no faithful workman finds his task a pastime. The -poor is hungry and athirst; but for him also there is food -and drink: he is heavy-laden and weary; but for him also the -Heavens send sleep, and of the deepest; in his smoky cribs, a -clear dewy haven of rest envelops him, and fitful glitterings -of cloud-skirted dreams. But what I do mourn over is, that -the lamp of his soul should go out; that no ray of heavenly, -or even of earthly, knowledge should visit him; but only, in -the haggard darkness, like two spectres, Fear and Indignation -bear him company. Alas, while the body stands so broad and -brawny, must the soul lie blinded, dwarfed, stupefied, almost -annihilated!, Alas, was this too a Breath of God; bestowed in -heaven, but on earth never to be unfolded!--That there should -one Man die ignorant who had capacity for Knowledge, this I -call a tragedy, were it to happen more than twenty times in the -minute, as by some computations it does. The miserable fraction -of Science which our united Mankind, in a wide universe of -Nescience, has acquired, why is not this, with all diligence, -imparted to all? - -[Illustration: THE VAMPIRE - -E. M. LILIEN - -(_Contemporary German illustrator_)] - - -[Illustration: - - THE MAN WITH THE HOE - - JEAN FRANÇOIS MILLET - - (_French painter of peasant life, 1814-75_) -] - - -Played Out - -(_From "Songs of the Dead End"_) - -BY PATRICK MACGILL - - (A young Irishman, called the "Navvy poet"; born 1890. From the age of - twelve to twenty a farm laborer, ditch-digger and quarry-man. As this - work goes to press, he is fighting with his regiment in Flanders) - - As a bullock falls in the crooked ruts, he fell when the day was o'er, - The hunger gripping his stinted guts, his body shaken and sore. - They pulled it out of the ditch in the dark, as a brute is pulled - from its lair, - The corpse of the navvy, stiff and stark, with the clay on its - face and hair. - - In Christian lands, with calloused hands, he labored for others' good, - In workshop and mill, ditchway and drill, earnest, eager, and rude; - Unhappy and gaunt with worry and want, a food to the whims of fate, - Hashing it out and booted about at the will of the goodly and great. - - To him was applied the scorpion lash, for him the gibe and the goad-- - The roughcast fool of our moral wash, the rugous wretch of the road. - Willing to crawl for a pittance small to the swine of the tinsel sty, - Beggared and burst from the very first, he chooses the ditch to die-- - ... Go, pick the dead from the sloughy bed, and hide him from - mortal eye. - - He tramped through the colorless winter land, or swined in the - scorching heat, - The dry skin hacked on his sapless hands or blistering on his feet; - He wallowed in mire unseen, unknown, where your houses of - pleasure rise, - And hapless, hungry, and chilled to the bone, he builded the edifice. - - In cheerless model[A] and filthy pub, his sinful hours were passed, - Or footsore, weary, he begged his grub, in the sough of the - hail-whipped blast, - So some might riot in wealth and ease, with food and wine be crammed, - He wrought like a mule, in muck to his knees, dirty, dissolute, damned. - - [A] A "model" is an English resort for wayfarers, maintained by - charity. - - Arrogant, adipose, you sit in the homes he builded high; - Dirty the ditch, in the depths of it he chooses a spot to die, - Foaming with nicotine-tainted lips, holding his aching breast, - Dropping down like a cow that slips, smitten with rinderpest; - Drivelling yet of the work and wet, swearing as sinners swear, - Raving the rule of the gambling school, mixing it up with a prayer. - - He lived like a brute as the navvies live, and went as the cattle go, - No one to sorrow and no one to shrive, for heaven ordained it so-- - He handed his check to the shadow in black, and went to the - misty lands, - Never a mortal to close his eyes or a woman to cross his hands. - - _As a bullock falls in the rugged ruts - He fell when the day was o'er, - Hunger gripping his weasened guts, - But never to hunger more_-- - - _They pulled it out of the ditch in the dark, - The chilling frost on its hair, - The mole-skinned navvy stiff and stark - From no particular where._ - - -Rounding the Horn[A] - -[A] By permission of the Macmillan Co. - -(_From "Dauber"_) - -BY JOHN MASEFIELD - - (An English poet who has had a varied career as sailor, laborer and - even bartender upon the Bowery, New York. Born 1873, his narrative - poems of humble life made him famous almost over night) - - Then came the cry of "Call all hands on deck!" - The Dauber knew its meaning; it was come: - Cape Horn, that tramples beauty into wreck, - And crumples steel and smites the strong man dumb. - Down clattered flying kites and staysails: some - Sang out in quick, high calls: the fair-leads skirled, - And from the south-west came the end of the world.... - - "Lay out!" the Bosun yelled. The Dauber laid - Out on the yard, gripping the yard, and feeling - Sick at the mighty space of air displayed - Below his feet, where mewing birds were wheeling. - A giddy fear was on him; he was reeling. - He bit his lip half through, clutching the jack. - A cold sweat glued the shirt upon his back. - - The yard was shaking, for a brace was loose. - He felt that he would fall; he clutched, he bent, - Clammy with natural terror to the shoes - While idiotic promptings came and went. - Snow fluttered on a wind-flaw and was spent; - He saw the water darken. Someone yelled, - "Frap it; don't stay to furl! Hold on!" He held. - - Darkness came down--half darkness--in a whirl; - The sky went out, the waters disappeared. - He felt a shocking pressure of blowing hurl - The ship upon her side. The darkness speared - At her with wind; she staggered, she careered, - Then down she lay. The Dauber felt her go; - He saw her yard tilt downwards. Then the snow - - Whirled all about--dense, multitudinous, cold-- - Mixed with the wind's one devilish thrust and shriek, - Which whiffled out men's tears, defeated, took hold, - Flattening the flying drift against the cheek. - The yards buckled and bent, man could not speak. - The ship lay on her broadside; the wind's sound - Had devilish malice at having got her downed.... - - How long the gale had blown he could not tell, - Only the world had changed, his life had died. - A moment now was everlasting hell. - Nature an onslaught from the weather side, - A withering rush of death, a frost that cried, - Shrieked, till he withered at the heart; a hail - Plastered his oilskins with an icy mail.... - - "Up!" yelled the Bosun; "up and clear the wreck!" - The Dauber followed where he led; below - He caught one giddy glimpsing of the deck - Filled with white water, as though heaped with snow. - He saw the streamers of the rigging blow - Straight out like pennons from the splintered mast, - Then, all sense dimmed, all was an icy blast - - Roaring from nether hell and filled with ice, - Roaring and crashing on the jerking stage, - An utter bridle given to utter vice, - Limitless power mad with endless rage - Withering the soul; a minute seemed an age. - He clutched and hacked at ropes, at rags of sail, - Thinking that comfort was a fairy-tale - - Told long ago--long, long ago--long since - Heard of in other lives--imagined, dreamed-- - There where the basest beggar was a prince. - To him in torment where the tempest screamed, - Comfort and warmth and ease no longer seemed - Things that a man could know; soul, body, brain, - Knew nothing but the wind, the cold, the pain. - - -Insouciance in Storm - -(_From "The Cry of Youth"_) - -BY HARRY KEMP - -(A young American poet who has wandered over the world as -sailor, harvest hand and tramp; born 1883) - - Deep in an ore-boat's hold - Where great-bulked boilers loom - And yawning mouths of fire - Irradiate the gloom, - - I saw half-naked men - Made thralls to flame and steam, - Whose bodies, dripping sweat, - Shone with an oily gleam. - - There, all the sullen night, - While waves boomed overhead - And smote the lurching ship, - The ravenous fires they fed; - - They did not think it brave: - They even dared to joke! - I saw them light their pipes - And puff calm rings of smoke! - - I saw a Passer sprawl - Over his load of coal-- - At which a Fireman laughed - Until it shook his soul: - - _All this in a hollow shell - Whose half-submerged form - On Lake Superior tossed - 'Mid rushing hills of storm!_ - - -FROM THE SAILORS' CATECHISM - - Six days shalt thou labor and do all thou art able, - The seventh, holystone the deck and scrub the cable. - - -Stokers[A] - -[A] By permission of the Macmillan Co. - -(_From "The Harbor"_) - -BY ERNEST POOLE - -(American playwright and novelist, born 1880) - -We crawled down a short ladder and through low passageways, -dripping wet, and so came into the stokehole. - -This was a long narrow chamber with a row of glowing furnace -doors. Wet coal and coal-dust lay on the floor. At either end a -small steel door opened into bunkers that ran along the sides -of the ship, deep down near the bottom, containing thousands of -tons of soft coal. In the stokehole the fires were not yet up, -but by the time the ship was at sea the furnace mouths would -be white hot and the men at work half naked. They not only -shovelled coal into the flames, they had to spread it as well, -and at intervals rake out the "clinkers" in fiery masses on the -floor. On these a stream of water played, filling the chamber -with clouds of steam. In older ships, like this one, a "lead -stoker" stood at the head of the line and set the pace for the -others to follow. He was paid more to keep up the pace. But on -the big new liners this pacer was replaced by a gong. - -"And at each stroke of the gong you shovel," said Joe. "You do -this till you forget your name. Every time the boat pitches the -floor heaves you forward, the fire spurts at you out of the -doors, and the gong keeps on like a sledge-hammer coming down -on top of your mind. And all you think of is your bunk and the -time when you're to tumble in." - -From the stokers' quarters presently there came a burst of -singing. - -"Now let's go back," he ended, "and see how they're getting -ready for this." - -As we crawled back, the noise increased, and swelled to a roar -as we entered. The place was pandemonium. Those groups I had -noticed around the bags had been getting out the liquor, and -now at eight o'clock in the morning half the crew were already -well soused. Some moved restlessly about. One huge bull of -a creature with limpid shining eyes stopped suddenly with a -puzzled stare, and then leaned back on a bunk and laughed -uproariously. From there he lurched over the shoulder of a -thin, wiry, sober man who, sitting on the edge of a bunk, was -slowly spelling out the words of a newspaper aeroplane story. -The big man laughed again and spit, and the thin man jumped -half up and snarled. - -Louder rose the singing. Half the crew was crowded close around -a little red-faced cockney. He was the modern "chanty man." -With sweat pouring down his cheeks and the muscles of his neck -drawn taut, he was jerking out verse after verse about women. -He sang to an old "chanty" tune, one that I remembered well. -But he was not singing out under the stars, he was screaming at -steel walls down here in the bottom of the ship. And although -he kept speeding up his song, the crowd were too drunk to wait -for the chorus; their voices kept tumbling in over his, and -soon it was only a frenzy of sound, a roar with yells rising -out of it. The singers kept pounding each other's backs or -waving bottles over their heads. Two bottles smashed together -and brought a still higher burst of glee. - -"I'm tired!" Joe shouted. "Let's get out!" - -I caught a glimpse of his strained frowning face. Again it came -over me in a flash, the years he had spent in holes like this, -in this hideous rotten world of his, while I had lived joyously -in mine. And as though he had read the thought in my disturbed -and troubled eyes, "Let's go up where _you_ belong," he said. - -I followed him up and away from his friends. As we climbed -ladder after ladder, fainter and fainter on our ears rose that -yelling from below. Suddenly we came out on deck and slammed an -iron door behind us. And I was where _I_ belonged. - -I was in dazzling sunshine and keen, frosty autumn air. I -was among gay throngs of people. Dainty women brushed me by. -I felt the softness of their furs, I breathed the fragrant -scent of them and of the flowers that they wore, I saw their -trim, fresh, immaculate clothes. I heard the joyous tumult of -their talking and their laughing to the regular crash of the -band--all the life of the ship I had known so well. - -And I walked through it all as though in a dream. On the dock -I watched it spell-bound--until with handkerchiefs waving and -voices calling down good-byes, that throng of happy travellers -moved slowly out into midstream. - -And I knew that deep below all this, down in the bottom of the -ship, the stokers were still singing. - - -Caliban in the Coal Mines - -(_From "Challenge"_) - -BY LOUIS UNTERMEYER - -(American poet, born 1885) - - God, we don't like to complain-- - We know that the mine is no lark-- - But--there's the pools from the rain; - But--there's the cold and the dark. - - God, You don't know what it is-- - You, in Your well-lighted sky, - Watching the meteors whizz; - Warm, with the sun always by. - - God, if You had but the moon - Stuck in Your cap for a lamp, - Even You'd tire of it soon, - Down in the dark and the damp. - - Nothing but blackness above, - And nothing that moves but the cars-- - God, if You wish for our love, - Fling us a handful of stars! - - -The Fertilizer Man - -(_From "The Jungle"_) - -BY UPTON SINCLAIR - -(A novel portraying the lives of the workers in the Chicago -stockyards; published in 1906) - -His labor took him about one minute to learn. Before him was -one of the vents of the mill in which the fertilizer was being -ground--rushing forth in a great brown river, with a spray of -the finest dust floating forth in clouds. Jurgis was given a -shovel, and along with half a dozen others it was his task to -shovel this fertilizer into carts. That others were at work he -knew by the sound, and by the fact that he sometimes collided -with them; otherwise they might as well not have been there, -for in the blinding dust-storm a man could not see six feet in -front of his face. When he had filled one cart he had to grope -around him until another came, and if there was none on hand he -continued to grope till one arrived. In five minutes he was, -of course, a mass of fertilizer from head to feet; they gave -him a sponge to tie over his mouth, so that he could breathe, -but the sponge did not prevent his lips and eyelids from caking -up with it and his ears from filling solid. He looked like a -brown ghost at twilight--from hair to shoes he became the color -of the building and of everything in it, and for that matter -a hundred yards outside it. The building had to be left open, -and when the wind blew Durham and Company lost a great deal of -fertilizer. - -Working in his shirt-sleeves, and with the thermometer at over -a hundred, the phosphates soaked in through every pore of -Jurgis' skin, and in five minutes he had a headache, and in -fifteen was almost dazed. The blood was pounding in his brain -like an engine's throbbing; there was a frightful pain in -the top of his skull, and he could hardly control his hands. -Still, with the memory of his four jobless months behind him, -he fought on, in a frenzy of determination; and half an hour -later he began to vomit--he vomited until it seemed as if his -inwards must be torn into shreds. A man could get used to the -fertilizer-mill, the boss had said, if he would only make up -his mind to it; but Jurgis now began to see that it was a -question of making up his stomach. - -At the end of that day of horror, he could scarcely stand. He -had to catch himself now and then, and lean against a building -and get his bearings. Most of the men, when they came out, -made straight for a saloon--they seemed to place fertilizer -and rattlesnake poison in one class. But Jurgis was too ill to -think of drinking--he could only make his way to the street -and stagger on to a car. He had a sense of humor, and later -on, when he became an old hand, he used to think it fun to -board a street-car and see what happened. Now, however, he was -too ill to notice it--how the people in the car began to gasp -and sputter, to put their handkerchiefs to their noses, and -transfix him with furious glances. Jurgis only knew that a man -in front of him immediately got up and gave him a seat; and -that half a minute later the two people on each side of him -got up; and that in a full minute the crowded car was nearly -empty--those passengers who could not get room on the platform -having gotten out to walk. - -Of course Jurgis had made his home a miniature fertilizer-mill -a minute after entering. The stuff was half an inch deep in his -skin--his whole system was full of it, and it would have taken -a week not merely of scrubbing, but of vigorous exercise, to -get it out of him. As it was, he could be compared with nothing -known to man, save that newest discovery of the savants, a -substance which emits energy for an unlimited time, without -being itself in the least diminished in power. He smelt so that -he made all the food at the table taste, and set the whole -family to vomiting; for himself it was three days before he -could keep anything upon his stomach--he might wash his hands, -and use a knife and fork, but were not his mouth and throat -filled with the poison? - -And still Jurgis stuck it out! In spite of splitting headaches -he would stagger down to the plant and take up his stand once -more, and begin to shovel in the blinding clouds of dust. And -so at the end of the week he was a fertilizer-man for life--he -was able to eat again, and though his head never stopped -aching, it ceased to be so bad that he could not work. - - -Pittsburgh - -BY JAMES OPPENHEIM - -(American poet and novelist; born 1882) - - Over his face his gray hair drifting hides his Labor-glory in smoke, - Strange through his breath the soot is sifting, his feet are buried - in coal and coke. - By night hands twisted and lurid in fires, by day hands blackened - with grime and oil, - He toils at the foundries and never tires, and ever and ever his - lot is toil. - - He speeds his soul till his body wrestles with terrible tonnage -and terrible time, - Out through the yards and over the trestles the flat-cars clank -and the engines chime, - His mills through windows seem eaten with fire, his high cranes -travel, his ingots roll, - And billet and wheel and whistle and wire shriek with the -speeding up of his soul. - - Lanterns with reds and greens a-glisten wave the way and the -head-light glares, - The back-bent laborers glance and listen and out through the -night the tail-light flares-- - Deep in the mills like a tipping cradle the huge converter -turns on its wheel - And sizzling spills in the ten-ton ladle a golden water of -molten steel. - - Yet screwed with toil his low face searches shadow-edged fires -and whited pits, - Gripping his levers his body lurches, grappling his irons he -prods and hits, - And deaf with the roll and clangor and rattle with its sharp -escaping staccato of steam, - And blind with flame and worn with battle, into his tonnage he -turns his dream. - - The world he has builded rises around us, our wonder-cities and -weaving rails, - Over his wires a marvel has found us, a glory rides in our -wheeled mails, - For the Earth grows small with strong Steel woven, and they -come together who plotted apart-- - But he who has wrought this thing in his oven knows only toil -and the tired heart. - - -The Navvy[A] - -[A] By permission of E. P. Dutton & Co. - -(_From "Children of the Dead End"_) - -BY PATRICK MACGILL - -(See page 32) - -At that time there were thousands of navvies working at -Kinlochleven waterworks. We spoke of waterworks, but only the -contractors knew what the work was intended for. We did not -know, and we did not care. We never asked questions concerning -the ultimate issue of our labors, and we were not supposed to -ask questions. If a man throws red muck over a wall today and -throws it back again tomorrow, what the devil is it to him if -he keeps throwing that same muck over the wall for the rest -of his life, knowing not why nor wherefore, provided he gets -paid sixpence an hour for his labor? There were so many tons -of earth to be lifted and thrown somewhere else; we lifted -them and threw them somewhere else; so many cubic yards of -iron-hard rocks to be blasted and carried away; we blasted and -carried them away, but never asked questions and never knew -what results we were laboring to bring about. We turned the -Highlands into a cinder-heap, and were as wise at the beginning -as at the end of the task. Only when we completed the job, and -returned to the town, did we learn from the newspapers that we -had been employed on the construction of the biggest aluminium -factory in the kingdom. All that we knew was that we had gutted -whole mountains and hills in the operations.... - -Above and over all, the mystery of the night and the desert -places hovered inscrutable and implacable. All around the -ancient mountains sat like brooding witches, dreaming on their -own story of which they knew neither the beginning nor the end. -Naked to the four winds of heaven and all the rains of the -world, they had stood there for countless ages in all their -sinister strength, undefied and unconquered, until man, with -puny hands and little tools of labor, came to break the spirit -of their ancient mightiness. - -And we, the men who braved this task, were outcasts of the -world. A blind fate, a vast merciless mechanism, cut and shaped -the fabric of our existence. We were men despised when we were -most useful, rejected when we were not needed, and forgotten -when our troubles weighed upon us heavily. We were the men -sent out to fight the spirit of the wastes, rob it of all its -primeval horrors, and batter down the barriers of its world-old -defences. Where we were working a new town would spring up some -day; it was already springing up, and then, if one of us walked -there, "a man with no fixed address," he would be taken up and -tried as a loiterer and vagrant. - -Even as I thought of these things a shoulder of jagged rock -fell into a cutting far below. There was the sound of a scream -in the distance, and a song died away in the throat of some -rude singer. Then out of the pit I saw men, red with the muck -of the deep earth and redder still with the blood of a stricken -mate, come forth, bearing between them a silent figure. Another -of the pioneers of civilization had given up his life for the -sake of society.... - -The plaintive sunset waned into a sickly haze one evening, and -when the night slipped upwards to the mountain peaks never a -star came out into the vastness of the high heavens. Next -morning we had to thaw the door of our shack out of the muck -into which it was frozen during the night. Outside the snow -had fallen heavily on the ground, and the virgin granaries of -winter had been emptied on the face of the world. - -Unkempt, ragged, and dispirited, we slunk to our toil, the -snow falling on our shoulders and forcing its way insistently -through our worn and battered bluchers. The cuttings were full -of slush to the brim, and we had to grope through them with our -hands until we found the jumpers and hammers at the bottom. -These we held under our coats until the heat of our bodies -warmed them, then we went on with our toil. - -At intervals during the day the winds of the mountain put their -heads together and swept a whirlstorm of snow down upon us, -wetting each man to the pelt. Our tools froze until the hands -that gripped them were scarred as if by red-hot spits. We -shook uncertain over our toil, our sodden clothes scalding and -itching the skin with every movement of the swinging hammers. -Near at hand the lean derrick jibs whirled on their pivots -like spectres of some ghoulish carnival, and the muck-barrows -crunched backwards and forwards, all their dirt and rust hidden -in woolly mantles of snow. Hither and thither the little black -figures of the workers moved across the waste of whiteness like -shadows on a lime-washed wall. Their breath steamed out on the -air and disappeared in space like the evanescent and fragile -vapor of frying mushrooms.... - -When night came on we crouched around the hot-plate and told -stories of bygone winters, when men dropped frozen stiff in the -trenches where they labored. A few tried to gamble near the -door, but the wind that cut through the chinks of the walls -chased them to the fire. - -Outside the winds of the night scampered madly, whistling -through every crevice of the shack and threatening to smash all -its timbers to pieces. We bent closer over the hot-plate, and -the many who could not draw near to the heat scrambled into -bed and sought warmth under the meagre blankets. Suddenly the -lamp went out, and a darkness crept into the corners of the -dwelling, causing the figures of my mates to assume fantastic -shapes in the gloom. The circle around the hot-plate drew -closer, and long lean arms were stretched out towards the -flames and the redness. Seldom may a man have the chance to -look on hands like those of my mates. Fingers were missing from -many, scraggy scars seaming along the wrists or across the -palms of others told of accidents which had taken place on many -precarious shifts. The faces near me were those of ghouls worn -out in some unholy midnight revel. Sunken eyes glared balefully -in the dim unearthly light of the fire, and as I looked at them -a moment's terror settled on my soul. For a second I lived in -an early age, and my mates were the cave-dwellers of an older -world than mine. In the darkness, near the door, a pipe glowed -brightly for a moment, then the light went suddenly out and the -gloom settled again. - - -The Song of the Wage Slave - -(_From "The Spell of the Yukon"_) - -BY ROBERT W. SERVICE - -(Canadian poet, born 1876. His poems of Alaska and the great -Northwest have attained wide popularity) - - When the long, long day is over, and the Big Boss gives me my pay, - I hope that it won't be hell-fire, as some of the parsons say. - And I hope that it won't be heaven, with some of the parsons I've met-- - All I want is just quiet, just to rest and forget. - Look at my face, toil-furrowed; look at my calloused hands; - Master, I've done Thy bidding, wrought in Thy many lands-- - Wrought for the little masters, big-bellied they be, and rich; - I've done their desire for a daily hire, and I die like a dog -in a ditch.... - I, the primitive toiler, half naked and grimed to the eyes, - Sweating it deep in their ditches, swining it stark in their styes; - Hurling down forests before me, spanning tumultuous streams; - Down in the ditch building o'er me palaces fairer than dreams; - Boring the rock to the ore-bed, driving the road through the fen, - Resolute, dumb, uncomplaining, a man in a world of men. - Master, I've filled my contract, wrought in Thy many lands; - Not by my sins wilt Thou judge me, but by the work of my hands. - Master, I've done Thy bidding, and the light is low in the west, - And the long, long shift is over.... Master, I've earned it--Rest. - - -Manhattan - -BY CHARLES HANSON TOWNE - -(American poet, born 1877) - - Here in the furnace City, in the humid air they faint, - God's pallid poor, His people, with scarcely space for breath; - So foul their teeming houses, so full of shame and taint, - They cannot crowd within them for the frightful fear of Death. - - Yet somewhere, Lord, Thine open seas are singing with the rain, - And somewhere underneath Thy stars the cool waves crash and beat; - Why is it here, and only here, are huddled Death and Pain, - And here the form of Horror stalks, a menace in the street! - - The burning flagstones gleam like glass at morning and at noon, - The giant walls shut out the breeze--if any breeze should blow; - And high above the smothering town at midnight hangs the moon, - A red medallion in the sky, a monster cameo. - - Yet somewhere, God, drenched roses bloom by fountains draped with mist - In old, lost gardens of the earth made lyrical with rain; - Why is it here a million brows by hungry Death are kissed, - And here is packed, one Summer night, a whole world's fiery pain! - - -A Department-Store Clerk - -(_From "The House of Bondage"_) - -BY REGINALD WRIGHT KAUFFMAN - -(American novelist, born 1877) - -Katie Flanagan arrived at the Lennox department store every -morning at a quarter to eight o'clock. She passed through the -employees' dark entrance, a unit in a horde of other workers, -and registered the instant of her arrival on a time-machine -that could in no wise be suborned to perjury. She hung up -her wraps in a subterranean cloak-room, and, hurrying to the -counter to which she was assigned, first helped in "laying -out the stock," and then stood behind her wares, exhibiting, -cajoling, selling, until an hour before noon. At that time -she was permitted to run away for exactly forty-five minutes -for the glass of milk and two pieces of bread and jam that -composed her luncheon. This repast disposed of, she returned to -the counter and remained behind it, standing like a war-worn -watcher on the ramparts of a beleaguered city, till the store -closed at six, when there remained to her at least fifteen -minutes more of work before her sales-book was balanced and -the wares covered up for the night. There were times, indeed, -when she did not leave the store until seven o'clock, but those -times were caused rather by customers than by the management of -the store, which could prevent new shoppers from entering the -doors after six, but could hardly turn out those already inside. - -The automatic time-machine and a score of more annoying, and -equally automatic, human beings kept watch upon all that she -did. The former, in addition to the floor-walker in her section -of the store, recorded her every going and coming, the latter -reported every movement not prescribed by the regulations -of the establishment; and the result upon Katie and her -fellow-workers was much the result observable upon condemned -assassins under the unwinking surveillance of the Death Watch. - -If Katie was late, she was fined ten cents for each offense. -She was reprimanded if her portion of the counter was -disordered after a mauling by careless customers. She was -fined for all mistakes she made in the matter of prices and -the additions on her salesbook; and she was fined if, having -asked the floor-walker for three or five minutes to leave the -floor in order to tidy her hair and hands, in constant need of -attention through the rapidity of her work and the handling of -her dyed wares, she exceeded her time limit by so much as a few -seconds. - -There were no seats behind the counters, and Katie, whatever -her physical condition, remained on her feet all day long, -unless she could arrange for relief by a fellow-worker during -that worker's luncheon time. There was no place for rest -save a damp, ill-lighted "Recreation Room" in the basement, -furnished with a piano that nobody had time to play, magazines -that nobody had time to read, and wicker chairs in which -nobody had time to sit. All that one might do was to serve the -whims and accept the scoldings of women customers who knew too -ill, or too well, what they wanted to buy; keep a tight rein -upon one's indignation at strolling men who did not intend to -buy anything that the shop advertised; be servilely smiling -under the innuendoes of the high-collared floor-walkers, in -order to escape their wrath; maintain a sharp outlook for the -"spotters," or paid spies of the establishment; thwart, if -possible, those pretending customers who were scouts sent from -other stores, and watch for shop-lifters on the one hand and -the firm's detectives on the other. - -"It ain't a cinch, by no means"--thus ran the departing Cora -Costigan's advice to her successor--"but it ain't nothin' -now to what it will be in the holidays. I'd rather be dead -than work in the toy-department in December--I wonder if the -kids guess how we that sells 'em hates the sight of their -playthings?--and I'd rather be dead _an'_ damned than work in -the accounting department. A girl friend of mine worked there -last year,--only it was over to Malcare's store--an' didn't get -through her Christmas Eve work till two on Christmas morning, -an' she lived over on Staten Island. She overslept on the -twenty-sixth, an' they docked her a half-week's pay. - -"An' don't never," concluded Cora, "don't never let 'em -transfer you to the exchange department. The people that -exchange things all belong in the psychopathic ward at -Bellevue--them that don't belong in Sing Sing. Half the goods -they bring back have been used for days, an' when the store -ties a tag on a sent-on-approval opera cloak, the women wriggle -the tag inside, an' wear it to the theatre with a scarf draped -over the string. Thank God, I'm goin' to be married!" - - -A Cry from the Ghetto - -(_From the Yiddish of Morris Rosenfeld_) - - (The poet of the East Side Jews of New York City, born 1861. His poems - appeared in Yiddish newspapers and leaflets, and are the genuine voice - of the sweat-shop workers. The following translation is by Charles - Weber Linn) - - The roaring of the wheels has filled my ears, - The clashing and the clamor shut me in; - Myself, my soul, in chaos disappears, - I cannot think or feel amid the din. - Toiling and toiling and toiling--endless toil. - For whom? For what? Why should the work be done? - I do not ask, or know. I only toil. - I work until the day and night are one. - - The clock above me ticks away the day, - Its hands are spinning, spinning, like the wheels. - It cannot sleep or for a moment stay, - It is a thing like me, and does not feel. - It throbs as tho' my heart were beating there-- - A heart? My heart? I know not what it means. - The clock ticks, and below I strive and stare. - And so we lose the hour. We are machines. - - Noon calls a truce, an ending to the sound, - As if a battle had one moment stayed-- - A bloody field! The dead lie all around; - Their wounds cry out until I grow afraid. - It comes--the signal! See, the dead men rise, - They fight again, amid the roar they fight. - Blindly, and knowing not for whom, or why, - They fight, they fall, they sink into the night. - - -Trousers[A] - -[A] By permission of Charles Scribner's Sons. - -(_From "A Motley"_) - -BY JOHN GALSWORTHY - -(English novelist and dramatist, born 1867) - -She held in one hand a threaded needle, in the other a pair -of trousers, to which she had been adding the accessories -demanded by our civilization. One had never seen her without a -pair of trousers in her hand, because she could only manage to -supply them with decency at the rate of seven or eight pairs -a day, working twelve hours. For each pair she received seven -farthings, and used nearly one farthing's worth of cotton; -and this gave her an income, in good times, of six to seven -shillings a week. But some weeks there were no trousers to be -had and then it was necessary to live on the memory of those -which had been, together with a little sum put by from weeks -when trousers were more plentiful. Deducting two shillings -and threepence for rent of the little back room, there was -therefore, on an average, about two shillings and ninepence -left for the sustenance of herself and husband, who was -fortunately a cripple, and somewhat indifferent whether he -ate or not. And looking at her face, so furrowed, and at her -figure, of which there was not much, one could well understand -that she, too, had long established within her such internal -economy as was suitable to one who had been "in trousers" -twenty-seven years, and, since her husband's accident fifteen -years before, in trousers only, finding her own cotton.... He -was a man with a round, white face, a little grey mustache -curving down like a parrot's beak, and round whitish eyes. In -his aged and unbuttoned suit of grey, with his head held rather -to one side, he looked like a parrot--a bird clinging to its -perch, with one grey leg shortened and crumpled against the -other. He talked, too, in a toneless, equable voice, looking -sideways at the fire, above the rims of dim spectacles, and now -and then smiling with a peculiar disenchanted patience. - -No--he said--it was no use to complain; did no good! Things -had been like this for years, and so, he had no doubt, they -always would be. There had never been much in trousers; not -this common sort that anybody'd wear, as you might say. Though -he'd never seen anybody wearing such things; and where they -went to he didn't know--out of England, he should think. Yes, -he had been a carman; ran over by a dray. Oh! yes, they had -given him something--four bob a week; but the old man had died -and the four bob had died too. Still, there he was, sixty years -old--not so very bad for his age.... - -They were talking, he had heard said, about doing something for -trousers. But what could you do for things like these, at half -a crown a pair? People must have 'em, so you'd got to make 'em. -There you were, and there you would be! _She_ went and heard -them talk. They talked very well, she said. It was intellectual -for her to go. He couldn't go himself owing to his leg. He'd -like to hear them talk. Oh, yes! and he was silent, staring -sideways at the fire as though in the thin crackle of the -flames attacking the fresh piece of wood, he were hearing the -echo of that talk from which he was cut off. "Lor' bless you!" -he said suddenly. "They'll do nothing! Can't!" And, stretching -out his dirty hand he took from his wife's lap a pair of -trousers, and held it up. "Look at 'em! Why you can see right -throu' 'em, linings and all. Who's goin' to pay more than 'alf -a crown for that? Where they go to I can't think. Who wears -'em? Some institution I should say. They talk, but dear me, -they'll never do anything so long as there's thousands like us, -glad to work for what we can get. Best not to think about it, I -says." - -And laying the trousers back on his wife's lap he resumed his -sidelong stare into the fire. - - -The Song of the Shirt - -BY THOMAS HOOD - -(Popular English poet and humorist; 1799-1845) - - With fingers weary and worn, - With eyelids heavy and red, - A woman sat, in unwomanly rags, - Plying her needle and thread,-- - Stitch! stitch! stitch! - In poverty, hunger, and dirt; - And still with a voice of dolorous pitch - She sang the "Song of the Shirt!" - - "Work! work! work! - While the cock is crowing aloof! - And work--work--work - Till the stars shine through the roof! - It's O! to be a slave - Along with the barbarous Turk, - Where woman has never a soul to save, - If this is Christian work! - - "Work--work--work - Till the brain begins to swim! - Work--work--work - Till the eyes are heavy and dim! - Seam, and gusset, and band, - Band, and gusset, and seam,-- - Till over the buttons I fall asleep, - And sew them on in a dream! - - "O Men, with sisters dear! - O Men, with mothers and wives! - It is not linen you're wearing out, - But human creatures' lives! - Stitch--stitch--stitch - In poverty, hunger, and dirt,-- - Sewing at once, with a double thread, - A shroud as well as a Shirt! - - "But why do I talk of Death-- - That phantom of grisly bone? - I hardly fear his terrible shape, - It seems so like my own-- - It seems so like my own - Because of the fasts I keep; - O God! that bread should be so dear, - And flesh and blood so cheap! - - "Work--work--work! - My labor never flags; - And what are its wages? A bed of straw, - A crust of bread--and rags. - That shattered roof--and this naked floor-- - A table--a broken chair-- - And a wall so blank my shadow I thank - For something falling there! - - "Work--work--work! - From weary chime to chime! - Work--work--work - As prisoners work for crime! - Band, and gusset, and seam, - Seam, and gusset, and band, - Till the heart is sick and the brain benumbed, - As well as the weary hand. - - "Work--work--work - In the dull December light! - And work--work--work - When the weather is warm and bright! - While underneath the eaves - The brooding swallows cling, - As if to show me their sunny backs - And twit me with the Spring. - - "O! but to breathe the breath - Of the cowslip and primrose sweet-- - With the sky above my head, - And the grass beneath my feet! - For only one short hour - To feel as I used to feel, - Before I knew the woes of want, - And the walk that costs a meal! - - "O! but for one short hour-- - A respite however brief! - No blessed leisure for Love or Hope, - But only time for Grief! - A little weeping would ease my heart; - But in their briny bed - My tears must stop, for every drop - Hinders needle and thread!" - - With fingers weary and worn, - With eyelids heavy and red, - A woman sat, in unwomanly rags, - Plying her needle and thread-- - Stitch! stitch! stitch! - In poverty, hunger, and dirt; - And still, with a voice of dolorous pitch, - Would that its tone could reach the rich!-- - She sang this "Song of the Shirt!" - - -A London Sweating Den[A] - -[A] By permission of the Macmillan Co. - -(_From "The People of the Abyss"_) - -BY JACK LONDON - -(California novelist and Socialist; born 1876. The story of his -life will be found on p. 732. For the work here quoted London -lived among the people whose misery he describes) - -A spawn of children cluttered the slimy pavement, for all the -world like tadpoles just turned frogs on the bottom of a dry -pond. In a narrow doorway, so narrow that perforce we stepped -over her, sat a woman with a young babe, nursing at breasts -grossly naked and libelling all the sacredness of motherhood. -In the black and narrow hall behind her we waded through a -mess of young life, and essayed an even narrower and fouler -stairway. Up we went, three flights, each landing two feet by -three in area, and heaped with filth and refuse. - -There were seven rooms in this abomination called a house. -In six of the rooms, twenty-odd people, of both sexes and -all ages, cooked, ate, slept, and worked. In size the rooms -averaged eight feet by eight, or possibly nine. The seventh -room we entered. It was the den in which five men sweated. It -was seven feet wide by eight long, and the table at which the -work was performed took up the major portion of the space. -On this table were five lasts, and there was barely room for -the men to stand to their work, for the rest of the space was -heaped with cardboard, leather, bundles of shoe uppers, and a -miscellaneous assortment of materials used in attaching the -uppers of shoes to their soles. - -In the adjoining room lived a woman and six children. In -another vile hole lived a widow, with an only son of sixteen -who was dying of consumption. The woman hawked sweetmeats on -the street, I was told, and more often failed than not to -supply her son with the three quarts of milk he daily required. -Further, this son, weak and dying, did not taste meat oftener -than once a week; and the kind and quality of this meat cannot -possibly be imagined by people who have never watched human -swine eat. - -"The w'y 'e coughs is somethin' terrible," volunteered my -sweated friend, referring to the dying boy. "We 'ear 'im 'ere, -w'ile we're workin', an' it's terrible, I say, terrible!" - -And, what of the coughing and the sweetmeats, I found another -menace added to the hostile environment of the children of the -slums. - -My sweated friend, when work was to be had, toiled with -four other men in his eight-by-seven room. In the winter a -lamp burned nearly all the day and added its fumes to the -over-loaded air, which was breathed, and breathed, and breathed -again. - -In good times, when there was a rush of work, this man told -me that he could earn as high as "thirty bob a week."--"Thirty -shillings! Seven dollars and a half! - -"But it's only the best of us can do it," he qualified. "An' -then we work twelve, thirteen, and fourteen hours a day, just -as fast as we can. An' you should see us sweat! Just runnin' -from us! If you could see us, it'd dazzle your eyes--tacks -flyin' out of mouth like from a machine. Look at my mouth." - -I looked. The teeth were worn down by the constant friction of -the metallic brads, while they were coal-black and rotten. - -"I clean my teeth," he added, "else they'd be worse." - -After he had told me that the workers had to furnish their own -tools, brads, "grindery," cardboard, rent, light, and what not, -it was plain that his thirty bob was a diminishing quantity. - -"But how long does the rush season last, in which you receive -this high wage of thirty bob?" I asked. - -"Four months," was the answer; and for the rest of the year, -he informed me, they average from "half a quid" to a "quid," -a week, which is equivalent to from two dollars and a half to -five dollars. The present week was half gone, and he had earned -four bob, or one dollar. And yet I was given to understand that -this was one of the better grades of sweating. - - -_The Hop-pickers_ - -So far has the divorcement of the worker from the soil -proceeded, that the farming districts, the civilized world -over, are dependent upon the cities for the gathering of the -harvests. Then it is, when the land is spilling its ripe wealth -to waste, that the street folk, who have been driven away from -the soil, are called back to it again. But in England they -return, not as prodigals, but as outcasts still, as vagrants -and pariahs, to be doubted and flouted by their country -brethren, to sleep in jails or casual wards, or under the -hedges, and to live the Lord knows how. - -It is estimated that Kent alone requires eighty thousand of the -street people to pick her hops. And out they come, obedient -to the call, which is the call of their bellies and of the -lingering dregs of adventure-lust still in them. Slums, stews, -and ghetto pour them forth, and the festering contents of -slums, stews, and ghetto are undiminished. Yet they overrun -the country like an army of ghouls, and the country does not -want them. They are out of place. As they drag their squat, -misshapen bodies along the highways and byways, they resemble -some vile spawn from underground. Their very presence, the fact -of their existence, is an outrage to the fresh, bright sun -and the green and growing things. The clean, upstanding trees -cry shame upon them and their withered crookedness, and their -rottenness is a slimy desecration of the sweetness and purity -of nature. - -Is the picture overdrawn? It all depends. For one who sees and -thinks life in terms of shares and coupons, it is certainly -overdrawn. But for one who sees and thinks life in terms of -manhood and womanhood, it cannot be overdrawn. Such hordes -of beastly wretchedness and inarticulate misery are no -compensation for a millionaire brewer who lives in a West End -palace, sates himself with the sensuous delights of London's -golden theatres, hobnobs with lordlings and princelings, and is -knighted by the king. Wins his spurs--God forbid! In old time -the great blonde beasts rode in the battle's van and won their -spurs by cleaving men from pate to chin. And, after all, it is -finer to kill a strong man with a clean-slicing blow of singing -steel than to make a beast of him, and of his seed through the -generations, by the artful and spidery manipulation of industry -and politics. - - -Environment - -(_From "Merrie England"_) - -BY ROBERT BLATCHFORD - - (This book is probably the most widely-circulated of Socialist books - in English. Over two million copies have been sold in Great Britain, - and probably a million in America. The author is the editor of the - London _Clarion_; born 1851) - -Some years ago a certain writer, much esteemed for his graceful -style of saying silly things, informed us that the poor remain -poor because they show no efficient desire to be anything else. -Is that true? Are only the idle poor? Come with me and I will -show you where men and women work from morning till night, -from week to week, from year to year, at the full stretch of -their powers, in dim and fetid dens, and yet are poor--aye, -destitute--have for their wages a crust of bread and rags. -I will show you where men work in dirt and heat, using the -strength of brutes, for a dozen hours a day, and sleep at -night in styes, until brain and muscle are exhausted, and -fresh slaves are yoked to the golden car of commerce, and the -broken drudges filter through the poor-house or the prison to -a felon's or a pauper's grave! I will show you how men and -women thus work and suffer and faint and die, generation after -generation; and I will show you how the longer and the harder -these wretches toil the worse their lot becomes; and I will -show you the graves, and find witnesses to the histories of -brave and noble and industrious poor men whose lives were lives -of toil, _and_ poverty, and whose deaths were tragedies. - -And all these things are due to sin--but it is to the sin of -the smug hypocrites who grow rich upon the robbery and the ruin -of their fellow-creatures. - - -Work and Pray - -BY GEORG HERWEGH - -(German poet, 1817-1875; took part in the attempt at revolution -in Baden in 1848) - - Pray and work! proclaims the world; - Briefly pray, for Time is gold. - On the door there knocketh dread-- - Briefly pray, for Time is bread. - - And ye plow and plant to grow. - And ye rivet and ye sow. - And ye hammer and ye spin-- - Say, my people, what ye win. - - Weave at loom both day and night, - Mine the coal to mountain height; - Fill right full the harvest horn-- - Full to brim with wine and corn. - - Yet where is thy meal prepared? - Yet where is thy rest-hour shared? - Yet where is thy warm hearth-fire? - Where is thy sharp sword of ire? - - -Conventional Lies of Our Civilization - -BY MAX NORDAU - -(A Hungarian Jewish physician, born 1849, whose work, -"Degeneration," won an international audience) - -The modern day laborer is more wretched than the slave of -former times, for he is fed by no master nor any one else, and -if his position is one of more liberty than the slave, it is -principally the liberty of dying of hunger. He is by no means -so well off as the outlaw of the Middle Ages, for he has none -of the gay independence of the free-lance. He seldom rebels -against society, and has neither means nor opportunity to take -by violence or treachery what is denied him by the existing -conditions of life. The rich is thus richer, the poor poorer -than ever before since the beginnings of history. - - -The Failure of Civilization - -BY FREDERIC HARRISON - -(English essayist and philosopher, born 1831; President of the -Positivist Society) - -I cannot myself understand how any one who knows what the -present manner is can think that it is satisfactory. To me, at -least, it would be enough to condemn modern society as hardly -an advance on slavery or serfdom, if the permanent condition -of industry were to be that which we behold; that ninety per -cent of the actual producers of wealth have no home that they -can call their own beyond the end of the week; have no bit of -soil, or so much as a room that belongs to them; have nothing -of value of any kind, except as much old furniture as will go -in a cart; have the precarious chance of weekly wages, which -barely suffice to keep them in health; are housed for the -most part in places that no man thinks fit for his horse; are -separated by so narrow a margin from destitution that a month -of bad trade, sickness or unexpected loss brings them face -to face with hunger and pauperism. In cities, the increasing -organization of factory work makes life more and more crowded, -and work more and more a monotonous routine; in the country, -the increasing pressure makes rural life continually less -free, healthful and cheerful; whilst the prizes and hopes of -betterment are now reduced to a minimum. This is the normal -state of the average workman in town or country, to which we -must add the record of preventable disease, accident, suffering -and social oppression with its immense yearly roll of death -and misery. But below this normal state of the average workman -there is found the great band of the destitute outcasts--the -camp-followers of the army of industry, at least one-tenth of -the whole proletarian population, whose normal condition is -one of sickening wretchedness. If this is to be the permanent -arrangement of modern society, civilization must be held to -bring a curse on the great majority of mankind. - - - - -BOOK II - -_The Chasm_ - -The contrast between riches and poverty; the protest of common -sense against a condition of society where one-tenth of the -people own nine-tenths of the wealth. - - -Wat Tyler - -BY ROBERT SOUTHEY - - (One of the so-called "Lake School" of English poets, which included - Wordsworth and Coleridge; 1774-1843. Poet-Laureate for thirty years. - The refrain of this song was the motto of Wat Tyler's rebels, who - marched upon London in 1381) - - "When Adam delved and Eve span, - Who was then the gentleman?" - - Wretched is the infant's lot, - Born within the straw-roof'd cot; - Be he generous, wise, or brave, - He must only be a slave. - Long, long labor, little rest, - Still to toil, to be oppress'd; - Drain'd by taxes of his store, - Punish'd next for being poor: - This is the poor wretch's lot, - Born within the straw-roof'd cot. - - While the peasant works,--to sleep, - What the peasant sows,--to reap, - On the couch of ease to lie, - Rioting in revelry; - Be he villain, be he fool, - Still to hold despotic rule, - Trampling on his slaves with scorn! - This is to be nobly born. - - "When Adam delved and Eve span, - Who was then the gentleman?" - - -The Poor-Slave Household - -(_From "Sartor Resartus"_) - -BY THOMAS CARLYLE - -(See page 31) - -"The furniture of this Caravanserai consisted of a large iron -Pot, two oaken Tables, two Benches, two Chairs, and a Potheen -Noggin. There was a Loft above (attainable by a ladder), upon -which the inmates slept; and the space below was divided by -a hurdle into two apartments; the one for their cow and pig, -the other for themselves and guests. On entering the house we -discovered the family, eleven in number, at dinner; the father -sitting at the top, the mother at the bottom, the children on -each side, of a large oaken Board, which was scooped out in -the middle, like a trough, to receive the contents of their -Pot of Potatoes. Little holes were cut at equal distances to -contain Salt; and a bowl of Milk stood on the table; all the -luxuries of meat and beer, bread, knives and dishes, were -dispensed with." The Poor-Slave himself our Traveller found, -as he says, broad-backed, black-browed, of great personal -strength, and mouth from ear to ear. His Wife was a sun-browned -but well-featured woman; and his young ones, bare and chubby, -had the appetite of ravens. Of their Philosophical or Religious -tenets or observances, no notice or hint. - -But now, secondly, of the _Dandiacal Household_: - -"A Dressing-room splendidly furnished; violet-colored curtains, -chairs and ottomans of the same hue. Two full-length Mirrors -are placed, one on each side of a table, which supports the -luxuries of the Toilet. Several Bottles of Perfume, arranged -in a peculiar fashion, stand upon a smaller table of -mother-of-pearl; opposite to these are placed the appurtenances -of Lavation richly wrought in frosted silver. A Wardrobe of -Buhl is on the left; the doors of which, being partly open, -discover a profusion of Clothes; Shoes of a singularly small -size monopolize the lower shelves. Fronting the wardrobe a door -ajar gives some slight glimpse of the Bathroom. Folding-doors -in the background.--"Enter the Author," our Theogonist in -person, "obsequiously preceded by a French Valet, in white silk -Jacket and cambric Apron." - - * * * * * - -Such are the two sects which, at this moment, divide the more -unsettled portion of the British People; and agitate that -ever-vexed country. To the eye of the political Seer, their -mutual relation, pregnant with the elements of discord and -hostility, is far from consoling. These two principles of -Dandiacal Self-worship or Demon-worship, and Poor-Slavish or -Drudgical Earth-worship, or whatever that same Drudgism may -be, do as yet indeed manifest themselves under distant and -nowise considerable shapes: nevertheless, in their roots and -subterranean ramifications, they extend through the entire -structure of Society, and work unweariedly in the secret depths -of English national Existence; striving to separate and isolate -it into two contradictory, uncommunicating masses. - -In numbers, and even individual strength, the Poor-Slaves or -Drudges, it would seem, are hourly increasing. The Dandiacal, -again, is by nature no proselytizing Sect; but it boasts of -great hereditary resources, and is strong by union; whereas the -Drudges, split into parties, have as yet no rallying-point; -or at best only co-operate by means of partial secret -affiliations. If, indeed, there were to arise a _Communion -of Drudges_, as there is already a Communion of Saints, what -strangest effects would follow therefrom! Dandyism as yet -affects to look down on Drudgism; but perhaps the hour of -trial, when it will be practically seen which ought to look -down, and which up, is not so distant. - -To me it seems probable that the two Sects will one day -part England between them; each recruiting itself from the -intermediate ranks, till there be none left to enlist on either -side. These Dandiacal Manicheans, with the host of Dandyizing -Christians, will form one body; the Drudges, gathering round -them whosoever is Drudgical, be he Christian or Infidel Pagan; -sweeping-up likewise all manner of Utilitarians, Radicals, -refractory Potwallopers, and so forth, into their general mass, -will form another. I could liken Dandyism and Drudgism to two -bottomless boiling Whirlpools that had broken-out on opposite -quarters of the firm land; as yet they appear only disquieted, -foolishly bubbling wells, which man's art might cover-in; -yet mark them, their diameter is daily widening; they are -hollow Cones that boil-up from the infinite Deep, over which -your firm land is but a thin crust or rind! Thus daily is the -intermediate land crumbling-in, daily the empire of the two -Buchan-Bullers extending; till now there is but a foot-plank, -a mere film of Land between them; this too is washed away; and -then--we have the true Hell of Waters, and Noah's Deluge is -outdeluged! - -Or better, I might call them two boundless, and indeed -unexampled Electric Machines (turned by the "Machinery of -Society"), with batteries of opposite quality; Drudgism the -Negative, Dandyism the Positive; one attracts hourly towards it -and appropriates all the Positive Electricity of the nation -(namely, the Money thereof); the other is equally busy with the -Negative (that is to say the Hunger) which is equally potent. -Hitherto you see only partial transient sparkles and sputters; -but wait a little, till the entire nation is in an electric -state; till your whole vital Electricity, no longer healthfully -Neutral, is cut into two isolated portions of Positive and -Negative (of Money and of Hunger); and stands there bottled-up -in two World-Batteries! The stirring of a child's finger -brings the two together; and then--What then? The Earth is but -shivered into impalpable smoke by that Doom's-thunderpeal; the -Sun misses one of his Planets in Space, and thenceforth there -are no eclipses of the Moon. - - -BY CHARLES MAURICE DE TALLEYRAND - -(French bishop and statesman, 1754-1838) - -Society is divided into two classes; the shearers and the -shorn. We should always be with the former against the latter. - - -The Lotus Eaters - -BY ALFRED TENNYSON - -(Probably the most popular of English lyrical poets; 1809-1892. -Made Poet-laureate in 1850, and a baron in 1884) - - Let us swear an oath, and keep it with an equal mind, - In the hollow Lotos-land to live and lie reclined - On the hills like Gods together, careless of mankind. - For they lie beside their nectar, and the bolts are hurl'd - Far below them in the valleys, and the clouds are lightly curl'd - Round their golden houses, girdled with the gleaming world: - Where they smile in secret, looking over wasted lands, - Blight and famine, plague and earthquake, roaring deeps and -fiery sands, - Clanging fights and flaming towns, and sinking ships, and -praying hands. - But they smile, they find a music centred in a doleful song - Steaming up, a lamentation and an ancient tale of wrong, - Like a tale of little meaning tho' the words are strong; - Chanted from an ill-used race of men that cleave the soil, - Sow the seed, and reap the harvest with enduring toil, - Storing yearly little dues of wheat, and wine and oil; - Till they perish and they suffer--some, 'tis whisper'd--down in hell. - - -Yeast - -BY CHARLES KINGSLEY - - (English clergyman and novelist, 1819-1875; founder of the Christian - Socialist movement. In the scene here quoted, a young University man - is taken by a game-keeper to see the degradation of English village - life) - -"Can't they read? Can't they practice light and interesting -handicrafts at home, as the German peasantry do?" - -"Who'll teach 'em, sir? From the plough-tail to the -reaping-hook, and back again, is all they know. Besides, sir, -they are not like us Cornish; they are a stupid pig-headed -generation at the best, these south countrymen. They're -grown-up babies who want the parson and the squire to be -leading them, and preaching to them, and spurring them on, and -coaxing them up, every moment. And as for scholarship, sir, -a boy leaves school at nine or ten to follow the horses; and -between that time and his wedding-day he forgets every word -he ever learnt, and becomes, for the most part, as thorough a -heathen savage at heart as those wild Indians in the Brazils -used to be." - -"And then we call them civilized Englishmen!" said Lancelot. -"We can see that your Indian is a savage, because he wears -skins and feathers; but your Irish cotter or your English -laborer, because he happens to wear a coat and trousers, is to -be considered a civilized man." - -"It's the way of the world, sir," said Tregarva, "judging -carnal judgment, according to the sight of its own eyes; always -looking at the outsides of things and men, sir, and never much -deeper. But as for reading, sir, it's all very well for me, -who have been a keeper and dawdled about like a gentleman with -a gun over my arm; but did you ever do a good day's farm-work -in your life? If you had, man or boy, you wouldn't have been -game for much reading when you got home; you'd do just what -these poor fellows do--tumble into bed at eight o'clock, hardly -waiting to take your clothes off, knowing that you must turn -up again at five o'clock the next morning to get a breakfast -of bread, and, perhaps, a dab of the squire's dripping, and -then back to work again; and so on, day after day, sir, week -after week, year after year, without a hope or chance of being -anything but what you are, and only too thankful if you can -get work to break your back, and catch the rheumatism over." - -"But do you mean to say that their labor is so severe and -incessant?" - -"It's only God's blessing if it is incessant, sir, for if it -stops, they starve, or go to the house to be worse fed than -the thieves in gaol. And as for its being severe, there's many -a boy, as their mothers will tell you, comes home night after -night, too tired to eat their suppers, and tumble, fasting, to -bed in the same foul shirt which they've been working in all -the day, never changing their rag of calico from week's end to -week's end, or washing the skin that's under it once in seven -years." - -"No wonder," said Lancelot, "that such a life of drudgery makes -them brutal and reckless." - -"No wonder, indeed, sir: they've no time to think; they're born -to be machines, and machines they must be; and I think, sir," -he added bitterly, "it's God's mercy that they daren't think. -It's God's mercy that they don't feel. Men that write books -and talk at elections call this a free country, and say that -the poorest and meanest has a free opening to rise and become -prime minister, if he can. But you see, sir, the misfortune is, -that in practice he can't; for one who gets into a gentleman's -family, or into a little shop, and so saves a few pounds, fifty -know that they've no chance before them, but day-laborer born, -day-laborer live, from hand to mouth, scraping and pinching to -get not meat and beer even, but bread and potatoes; and then, -at the end of it all, for a worthy reward, half-a-crown-a-week -of parish pay--or the work-house. That's a lively hopeful -prospect for a Christian man!" ... - -Into the booth they turned; and as soon as Lancelot's eyes -were accustomed to the reeking atmosphere, he saw seated at -two long temporary tables of board, fifty or sixty of "My -brethren," as clergymen call them in their sermons, wrangling, -stupid, beery, with sodden eyes and drooping lips--interspersed -with more girls and brazen-faced women, with dirty flowers in -their caps, whose sole business seemed to be to cast jealous -looks at each other, and defend themselves from the coarse -overtures of their swains. - -Lancelot had been already perfectly astonished at the foulness -of language which prevailed; and the utter absence of anything -like chivalrous respect, almost of common decency, towards -women. But lo! the language of the elder women was quite as -disgusting as that of the men, if not worse. He whispered a -remark on the point to Tregarva, who shook his head. - -"It's the field-work, sir--the field-work, that does it all. -They get accustomed there from their childhood to hear words -whose very meanings they shouldn't know; and the elder teach -the younger ones, and the married ones are worst of all. It -wears them out in body, sir, that field-work, and makes them -brutes in soul and in manners...." - -Sadder and sadder, Lancelot tried to listen to the conversation -of the men round him. To his astonishment he hardly understood -a word of it. It was half articulate, nasal, guttural, made up -almost entirely of vowels, like the speech of savages. He had -never before been struck with the significant contrast between -the sharp, clearly defined articulation, the vivid and varied -tones of the gentleman, or even of the London street-boy, when -compared with the coarse, half-formed growls, as of a company -of seals, which he heard round him. That single fact struck -him, perhaps, more deeply than any; it connected itself with -many of his physiological fancies; it was the parent of many -thoughts and plans of his after-life. Here and there he could -distinguish a half sentence. An old shrunken man opposite him -was drawing figures in the spilt beer with his pipe-stem, and -discoursing of the glorious times before the great war, "when -there was more food than there were mouths, and more work than -there were hands." "Poor human nature!" thought Lancelot, as he -tried to follow one of those unintelligible discussions about -the relative prices of the loaf and the bushel of flour, which -ended, as usual, in more swearing, and more quarrelling, and -more beer to make it up--"Poor human nature! always looking -back, as the German sage says, to some fancied golden age, -never looking forward to the real one which is coming!" - -"But I say, vather," drawled out some one, "they say there's -a sight more money in England now, than there was afore the -war-time." - -"Eees, booy," said the old man; "_but it's got into too few -hands_." - -"Well," thought Lancelot, "there's a glimpse of practical -sense, at least." And a pedler who sat next him, a bold, -black-whiskered bully from the Potteries, hazarded a joke-- - -"It's all along of this new sky-and-tough-it farming. They used -to spread the money broad cast, but now they drills it all in -one place, like bone-dust under their fancy plants, and we poor -self-sown chaps gets none." - -This garland of fancies was received with great applause; -whereat the pedler, emboldened, proceeded to observe, -mysteriously, that "donkeys took a beating, but horses kicked -at it; and that they'd found out that in Staffordshire long -ago. You want a good Chartist lecturer down here, my covies, to -show you donkeys of laboring men that you have got iron on your -heels, if you only knowed how to use it...." - -Blackbird was by this time prevailed on to sing, and burst out -as melodious as ever, while all heads were cocked on one side -in delighted attention. - - "I zeed a vire o' Monday night, - A vire both great and high; - But I wool not tell you where, my boys, - Nor wool not tell you why. - The varmer he comes screeching out, - To zave 'uns new brood mare; - Zays I, 'You and your stock may roast, - Vor aught us poor chaps care.' - -"Coorus, boys, coorus!" - -And the chorus burst out-- - - "Then here's a curse on varmers all - As rob and grind the poor; - To re'p the fruit of all their works - In ---- for evermoor-r-r-r. - - "A blind owld dame come to the vire, - Zo near as she could get; - Zays, 'Here's a luck I warn't asleep, - To lose this blessed hett. - They robs us of our turfing rights - Our bits of chips and sticks, - Till poor folks now can't warm their hands, - Except by varmers' ricks.' - - "Then, etc." - -And again the boy's delicate voice rang out the ferocious -chorus, with something, Lancelot fancied, of fiendish -exultation, and every worn face lighted up with a coarse laugh, -that indicated no malice--but also no mercy.... - -Lancelot almost ran out into the night--into a triad of fights, -two drunken men, two jealous wives, and a brute who struck -a poor, thin, worn-out woman, for trying to coax him home. -Lancelot rushed up to interfere, but a man seized his uplifted -arm. - -"He'll only beat her all the more when he getteth home." - -"She has stood that every Saturday night for the last seven -years, to my knowledge," said Tregarva; "and worse, too, at -times." - -"Good God! is there no escape for her from her tyrant?" - -"No, sir. It's only you gentlefolks who can afford such -luxuries; your poor man may be tied to a harlot, or your poor -woman to a ruffian, but once done, done for ever." - -"Well," thought Lancelot, "we English have a characteristic -way of proving the holiness of the marriage tie. The angel of -Justice and Pity cannot sever it, only the stronger demon of -Money." - - -Alton Locke - -BY CHARLES KINGSLEY - -(See page 78) - -"What!" shriek the insulted respectabilities, "have we not -paid him his wages weekly, and has he not lived upon them?" -Yes; and have you not given your sheep and horses their daily -wages, and have they not lived on them? You wanted to work -them; and they could not work, you knew, unless they were -alive. But here lies your iniquity; you have given the laborer -nothing but his daily food--not even his lodgings; the pigs -were not stinted of their wash to pay for their sty-room, the -man was; and his wages, thanks to your competitive system, -were beaten down deliberately and conscientiously (for was it -not according to political economy, and the laws thereof?) -to the minimum on which he could or would work, without the -hope or the possibility of saving a farthing. You know how to -invest your capital profitably, dear Society, and to save money -over and above your income of daily comforts; but what has he -saved?--what is he profited by all those years of labor? He -has kept body and soul together--perhaps he could have done -that without you or your help. But his wages are used up every -Saturday night. When he stops working, you have in your pocket -the whole profits of his nearly fifty years' labor, and he has -nothing. And then you say that you have not eaten him! - - -Looking Backward - -BY EDWARD BELLAMY - -(One of the classics of the Socialist movement, this book -sold over four hundred thousand copies in the first years of -its publication. Its author was an American school-teacher, -1850-1898) - -By way of attempting to give the reader some general impression -of the way people lived together in those days, and especially -of the relations of the rich and poor to one another, perhaps -I cannot do better than compare society as it then was to a -prodigious coach which the masses of humanity were harnessed to -and dragged toilsomely along a very hilly and sandy road. The -driver was hunger, and permitted no lagging, though the pace -was necessarily very slow. Despite the difficulty of drawing -the coach at all along so hard a road, the top was covered with -passengers who never got down, even at the steepest ascents. -The seats on top were very breezy and comfortable. Well up out -of the dust their occupants could enjoy the scenery at their -leisure, or critically discuss the merits of the straining -team. Naturally such places were in great demand and the -competition for them was keen, every one seeking as the first -end in life to secure a seat on the coach for himself and to -leave it to his child after him. By the rule of the coach a -man could leave his seat to whom he wished, but on the other -hand there were many accidents by which it might at any time -be wholly lost. For all that they were so easy, the seats were -very insecure, and at every sudden jolt of the coach persons -were slipping out of them and falling to the ground, where they -were instantly compelled to take hold of the rope and help to -drag the coach on which they had before ridden so pleasantly. -It was naturally regarded as a terrible misfortune to lose -one's seat, and the apprehension that this might happen to them -or their friends was a constant cloud upon the happiness of -those who rode. - -But did they think only of themselves? you ask. Was not their -very luxury rendered intolerable to them by comparison with -the lot of their brothers and sisters in the harness, and -the knowledge that their own weight added to their toil! Had -they no compassion for fellow beings from whom fortune only -distinguished them? Oh, yes; commiseration was frequently -expressed by those who rode for those who had to pull the -coach, especially when the vehicle came to a bad place in -the road, as it was constantly doing, or to a particularly -steep hill. At such times, the desperate straining of the -team, their agonized leaping and plunging under the pitiless -lashing of hunger, the many who fainted at the rope and were -trampled in the mire, made a very distressing spectacle, which -often called forth highly creditable displays of feeling on -the top of the coach. At such times the passengers would call -down encouragingly to the toilers of the rope, exhorting them -to patience, and holding out hopes of possible compensation -in another world for the hardness of their lot, while others -contributed to buy salves and liniments for the crippled and -injured. It was agreed that it was a great pity that the coach -should be so hard to pull, and there was a sense of general -relief when the specially bad piece of road was gotten over. -This relief was not, indeed, wholly on account of the team, for -there was always some danger at these bad places of a general -overturn in which all would lose their seats. - -It must in truth be admitted that the main effect of the -spectacle of the misery of the toilers at the rope was to -enhance the passengers' sense of the value of their seats -upon the coach, and to cause them to hold on to them more -desperately than before. If the passengers could only have -felt assured that neither they nor their friends would ever -fall from the top, it is probable that, beyond contributing to -the funds for liniments and bandages, they would have troubled -themselves extremely little about those who dragged the coach. - - -Rich and Poor - -BY LEO TOLSTOY - -(Russian novelist and reformer, 1828-1910) - -The present position which we, the educated and well-to-do -classes, occupy, is that of the Old Man of the Sea, riding on -the poor man's back; only, unlike the Old Man of the Sea, we -are very sorry for the poor man, very sorry; and we will do -almost anything for the poor man's relief. We will not only -supply him with food sufficient to keep him on his legs, but we -will teach and instruct him and point out to him the beauties -of the landscape; we will discourse sweet music to him and give -him abundance of good advice. - -Yes, we will do almost anything for the poor man, anything but -get off his back. - - -A Tale of Two Cities - -BY CHARLES DICKENS - -(Celebrated English novelist, 1812-1870. The novel here quoted -deals with the French Revolution, and the scene narrates how -one of Monseigneur's guests drives away from the palace) - -Not many people had talked with him at the reception; he had -stood in a little space apart, and Monseigneur might have been -warmer in his manner. It appeared under the circumstances, -rather agreeable to him to see the common people dispersed -before his horses, and often barely escaping from being run -down. His man drove as if he were charging an enemy, and the -furious recklessness of the man brought no check into the face, -or to the lips, of the master. The complaint had sometimes made -itself audible, even in that deaf city and dumb age, that, -in the narrow streets without footways, the fierce patrician -custom of hard driving endangered and maimed the mere vulgar in -a barbarous manner. But few cared enough for that to think of -it a second time, and, in this matter, as in all others, the -common wretches were left to get out of their difficulties as -they could. - -With a wild rattle and clatter, and an inhuman abandonment -of consideration not easy to be understood in these days, -the carriage dashed through streets and swept round corners, -with women screaming before it, and men clutching each other -and clutching children out of its way. At last, swooping at -a street corner by a fountain, one of its wheels came to a -sickening little jolt, and there was a loud cry from a number -of voices, and the horses reared and plunged. - -But for the latter inconvenience, the carriage probably would -not have stopped; carriages were often known to drive on, and -leave their wounded behind, and why not? But the frightened -valet had got down in a hurry, and there were twenty hands at -the horses' bridles. - -"What has gone wrong?" said Monsieur, calmly looking out. - -A tall man in a nightcap had caught up a bundle from among the -feet of the horses, and had laid it on the basement of the -fountain, and was down in the mud and wet, howling over it like -a wild animal. - -"Pardon, Monsieur the Marquis!" said a ragged and submissive -man, "it is a child." - -"Why does he make that abominable noise? Is it his child?" - -"Excuse me, Monsieur the Marquis--it is a pity--yes." - -The fountain was a little removed; for the street opened, where -it was, into a space some ten or twelve yards square. As the -tall man suddenly got up from the ground, and came running at -the carriage, Monsieur the Marquis clapped his hand for an -instant on his sword-hilt. - -"Killed!" shrieked the man, in wild desperation, extending both -arms at their length above his head, and staring at him. "Dead!" - -The people closed round, and looked at Monsieur the Marquis. -There was nothing revealed by the many eyes that looked at him -but watchfulness and eagerness; there was no visible menacing -or anger. Neither did the people say anything; after the first -cry, they had been silent, and they remained so. The voice of -the submissive man who had spoken, was flat and tame in its -extreme submission. Monsieur the Marquis ran his eyes over them -all, as if they had been mere rats come out of their holes. - -He took out his purse. - -"It is extraordinary to me," said he, "that you people cannot -take care of yourselves and your children. One or the other of -you is for ever in the way. How do I know what injury you have -done my horses. See! Give him that." - -He threw out a gold coin for the valet to pick up, and all the -heads craned forward that all the eyes might look down at it as -it fell. The tall man called out again with a most unearthly -cry, "Dead!" - - -Paris - -BY ÉMILE ZOLA - - (French novelist, 1840-1902, founder of the school of "Naturalism." - The present is one of his later works, in which he indicates his hope - of the regeneration of French society. The hero is a Catholic priest - who first attempts to reform the Church, and then leaves it) - -Pierre remembered that frightful house in the Rue des Saules, -where so much want and suffering were heaped up. He saw again -the yard filthy like a quagmire, the evil-smelling staircases, -the sordid, bare, icy rooms, the families fighting for messes -which even stray dogs would not have eaten; the mothers, with -exhausted breasts, carrying screaming children to and fro; the -old men who fell in corners like brute beasts, and died of -hunger amidst filth. And then came his other hours with the -magnificence or the quietude or the gaiety of the _salons_ -through which he had passed, the whole insolent display of -financial Paris, and political Paris, and society Paris. And -at last he came to the dusk, and to that Paris-Sodom and -Paris-Gomorrah before him, which was lighting itself up for the -night, for the abominations of that accomplice night which, -like fine dust, was little by little submerging the expanse -of roofs. And the hateful monstrosity of it all howled aloud -under the pale sky where the first pure, twinkling stars were -gleaming. - -A great shudder came upon Pierre as he thought of all that -mass of iniquity and suffering, of all that went on below amid -wealth and vice. The _bourgeoisie_, wielding power, would -relinquish naught of the sovereignty which it had conquered, -wholly stolen; while the people, the eternal dupe, silent so -long, clenched its fists and growled, claiming its legitimate -share. And it was that frightful injustice which filled the -growing gloom with anger. From what dark-breasted cloud would -the thunderbolt fall? For years he had been waiting for that -thunderbolt, which low rumbles announced on all points of the -horizon. And if he had written a book full of candour and hope, -if he had gone in all innocence to Rome, it was to avert that -thunderbolt and its frightful consequences. But all hope of -the kind was dead within him; he felt that the thunderbolt was -inevitable, that nothing henceforth could stay the catastrophe. -And never before had he felt it to be so near, amidst the happy -impudence of some, and the exasperated distress of others. It -was gathering, and it would surely fall over that Paris, all -lust and bravado, which, when evening came, thus stirred up its -furnace. - -[Illustration: THE HAND OF FATE - -WILLIAM BALFOUR KER - -(_Contemporary American illustrator_) - -_Copyright by J. A. Mitchell._] - -[Illustration: - - _Copyright by J. A. Mitchell_ - -KING CANUTE] - - -King Hunger - -BY LEONID ANDREYEV - - (Russian novelist and dramatist of social protest; born 1871. In this - grim symbolical drama is voiced the despair of Russia's intellectuals - after the tragic failure of the Revolution. In the first scene King - Hunger is shown inciting the starving factory-slaves to revolt; in the - second, he presides over a gathering of the outcasts of society, who - meet in a cellar to discuss projects of ferocious vengeance upon the - idlers in the ball-room over their heads, but break up in a drunken - brawl instead. In the present scene, King Hunger turns traitor to - his victims, and presides as a judge passing sentence upon them. - The leisure class attend as spectators in the court-room, the women - in evening gowns and jewels, "the men in dress coats and surtouts, - carefully shaven and dressed at the wig-makers") - -KING HUNGER:--Show in the first starveling. - -(_The first starveling, a ragged old man with lacerated feet, -is conducted into the court-room. A wire muzzle encases his -face._) - -KING HUNGER:--Take the muzzle off the starveling. What's your -offense, Starveling? - -OLD MAN (_speaking in a broken voice_):--Theft. - -KING HUNGER:--How much did you steal? - -OLD MAN:--I stole a five-pound loaf, but it was wrested from -me. I had only time to bite a small piece of it. Forgive me, I -will never again---- - -KING HUNGER:--How? Have you acquired an inheritance? Or won't -you eat hereafter? - -OLD MAN:--No. It was wrested from me. I only chewed off a small -piece---- - -KING HUNGER:--But how won't you steal? Why haven't you been -working? - -OLD MAN:--There's no work. - -KING HUNGER:--But where's your brood, Starveling? Why don't -they support you? - -OLD MAN:--My children died of hunger. - -KING HUNGER:--Why did you not starve to death, as they? - -OLD MAN:--I don't know. I had a mind to live. - -KING HUNGER:--Of what use is life to you, Starveling? - -(_Voices of Spectators._) - ---Indeed, how do they live? I don't comprehend it. - ---To work. - ---To glorify God and be confirmed in the consciousness that -life-- - ---Well, I don't suppose they exalt Him. - ---It were better if he were dead. - ---A rather wearisome old fellow. And what style of trousers! - ---Listen! Listen! - -KING HUNGER (_rising, speaks aloud_):--Now, ladies and -gentlemen, we will feign to meditate. Honorable judges, I beg -you to simulate a meditative air. - -(_The judges for a brief period appear in deep thought--they -knit their brows, gaze up at the ceiling, prop up their noses, -sigh and obviously endeavor to think. Venerable silence. Then -with faces profoundly solemn and earnest, silent as before, -the judges rise, and simultaneously they turn around facing -Death. And all together they bow low and lingering, stretching -themselves forward._) - -KING HUNGER (_with bent head_):--What is your pleasure? - -DEATH (_swiftly rising, wrathfully strikes the table with his -clenched fist and speaks in a grating voice_):--Condemned--in -the name of Satan! - -(_Then as quickly he sits down and sinks into a malicious -inflexibility. The judges resume their places._) - -KING HUNGER:--Starveling, you're condemned. - -OLD MAN:--Have mercy! - -KING HUNGER:--Put the muzzle over him. Bring the next -starveling.... - -(_The next starveling is led into the room. She is a graceful, -but extremely emaciated young woman, with a face pallid and -tragic to view. The black, fine eyebrows join over her nose; -her luxuriant hair is negligently tied in a knot, falling down -her shoulders. She makes no bows nor looks around, is as if -seeing nobody. Her voice is apathetic and dull._) - -KING HUNGER:--What's your offense, Starveling? - -YOUNG WOMAN:--I killed my child. - -(_Spectators._) - ---Oh, horrors! This woman is altogether destitute of motherly -feelings. - ---What do you expect of them? You astonish me. - ---How charming she is. There's something tragical about her. - ---Then marry her. - ---Crimes of infanticide were not regarded as such in ancient -times, and were looked upon as a natural right of parents. Only -with the introduction of humanism into our customs---- - ---Oh, please, just a second, professor. - ---But science, my child---- - -KING HUNGER:--Tell us, Starveling, how it happened. - -(_With drooping hands and motionless, the woman speaks up dully -and dispassionately._) - -YOUNG WOMAN:--One night my baby and I crossed the long bridge -over the river. And since I had long before decided, so then -approaching the middle, where the river is deep and swift, I -said: "Look, baby dear, how the water is a-roaring below." She -said, "I can't reach, mamma, the railing is so high." I said, -"Come, let me lift you, baby dear." And when she was gazing -down into the black deep, I threw her over. That's all. - -KING HUNGER:--Did she grip you? - -YOUNG WOMAN:--No. - -KING HUNGER:--She screamed? - -YOUNG WOMAN:--Yes, once. - -KING HUNGER:--What was her name? - -YOUNG WOMAN:--Baby dear. - -KING HUNGER:--No, her name. How was she called? - -YOUNG WOMAN:--Baby dear. - -KING HUNGER (_covering his face, he speaks in sad, quivering -voice_):--Honorable judges, I beg you to simulate a meditative -air. (_The judges knit their brows, gaze on the ceiling, chew -their lips. Venerable silence. Then they rise and gravely bow -to Death._) - -DEATH:--Condemned--in the name of Satan! - -KING HUNGER (_rising, speaks aloud, extending his hands to the -woman, as if veiling her in an invisible, black shroud_):-- -You're condemned, woman, do you hear? Death awaits you. In -blackest hell you will be tormented and burnt on everlasting, -slakeless fires! Devils will rack your heart with their iron -talons! The most venomous serpents of the infernal abyss will -suck your brain and sting, sting you, and nobody will heed your -agonizing cries, for you'll be silenced. Let eternal night be -over you. Do you hear, Starveling? - -YOUNG WOMAN:--Yes. - -KING HUNGER:--Muzzle her. - -(_The starveling is led away. King Hunger addresses the -spectators in a frank and joyous manner._) Now, ladies and -gentlemen, I propose recess for luncheon. Adjudication is -a fatiguing affair, and we need to invigorate ourselves. -(_Gallantly._) Especially our charming matrons and the young -ladies. Please! - -(_Joyful exclamations._) - ---To dine! To dine! - ---'Tis about time! - ---Mamma dear, where are the bonbons? - ---Your little mind is only on bonbons! - ---Which--is tried? (_Waking up._) - ---Dinner is ready, Your Excellency. - ---Ah! Why didn't you wake me up before? - -(_Everything assumes at once a happy, amiable, homelike -aspect. The judges pull off their wigs, exposing their bald -heads, and gradually they lose themselves in the crowd, shake -hands, and with feigned indifference they look askance, -contemplating the dining. Portly waiters in rich liveries, with -difficulty and bent under the weight of immense dishes, bring -gigantic portions; whole mutton trunks, colossal hams, high, -mountain-like roasts. Before the stout man, on a low stool, -they place a whole roasted pig, which is brought in by three. -Doubtful, he looks at it._) - ---Would you assist me, Professor? - ---With pleasure, Your Excellency. - ---And you, Honorable Judge? - ---Although I am not hungry--but with your leave-- - ---I may, perhaps, be suffered to--(_the Abbot modestly speaks, -his mouth watering._) - -(_The four seat themselves about the pig and silently they -carve it greedily with their knives. Occasionally the eyes of -the Professor and of the Abbot meet, and with swollen cheeks, -powerless to chew, they are smitten with reciprocal hatred and -contempt. Then choking, they ardently champ on. Everywhere -small groups eating. Death produces a dry cheese sandwich -from his pocket and eats in solitude. A heavy conversation of -full-crammed mouths. Munching._) - - -London - -BY HEINRICH HEINE - -(German poet and essayist, one of the most musical and most -unhappy of singers; 1797-1856) - -It is in the dusky twilight that Poverty with her mates, Vice -and Crime, glide forth from their lairs. They shun daylight the -more anxiously, the more cruelly their wretchedness contrasts -with the pride of wealth which glitters everywhere; only Hunger -sometimes drives them at noonday from their dens, and then they -stand with silent, speaking eyes, staring beseechingly at the -rich merchant who hurries along, busy and jingling gold, or at -the lazy lord who, like a surfeited god, rides by on his high -horse, casting now and then an aristocratically indifferent -glance at the mob below, as though they were swarming ants, or, -at all events, a mass of baser beings, whose joys and sorrows -have nothing in common with his feelings.... - -Poor Poverty! how agonizing must thy hunger be where others -swell in scornful superfluity! And when some one casts with -indifferent hand a crust into thy lap, how bitter must the -tears be wherewith thou moistenest it! Thou poisonest thyself -with thine own tears. Well art thou in the right when thou -alliest thyself to Vice and Crime. Outlawed criminals often -bear more humanity in their hearts than those cold, blameless -citizens of virtue, in whose white hearts the power of evil -is quenched; but also the power of good. I have seen women on -whose cheeks red vice was painted, and in whose hearts dwelt -heavenly purity. - - -London - -BY WILLIAM BLAKE - -(English poet and painter of strange and terrible visions. -1757-1827) - - I wander through each chartered street, - Near where the chartered Thames does flow; - A mark in every face I meet, - Marks of weakness, marks of woe. - - In every cry of every man, - In every infant's cry of fear, - In every voice, in every ban, - The mind-forged manacles I hear: - - How the chimney-sweeper's cry - Every blackening church appals, - And the hapless soldier's sigh - Runs in blood down palace-walls. - - But most, through midnight streets I hear - How the youthful harlots curse - Blasts the new-born infant's tear, - And blights with plagues the marriage-hearse. - - -A Life for a Life[A] - -[A] By permission of the Macmillan Co. - -BY ROBERT HERRICK - - (American novelist, professor in the University of Chicago; born - 1868. In this novel a young American, hungering for success and about - to marry the daughter a great captain of industry, is taken by a - strange man, "the bearded Anarch," and shown the horrors of American - industrialism) - -And thus this strange pilgrimage, like another descent into -purgatory and even unto hell, continued,--the shabby bearded -Anarch leading his companion from factory, warehouse, and mill -to mine and railroad and shop, teaching him by the sight of his -own eyes what life means to the silent multitude upon whose -bent shoulders the fabric of society rests,--what that "life, -liberty and the pursuit of happiness"--brave aspirations of -the forefathers--has brought to the common man in this land of -destiny and desire. - -The wanderer breathed the deadly fumes of smelter and glass -works, saw where men were burned in great converters, or torn -limb from limb upon the whirling teeth of swift machines,--done -to death in this way and that, or maimed and cast useless upon -the rubbish heap of humanity,--waste product of the process. - -"For," as his guide repeated, "in this country, where Property -is sacred, nothing is cheaper than human life. For, remember, -the supply of raw labor is inexhaustible." - -He recalled the words of a sleek and comfortable man of -business, at the end of the day, with his good dinner -comfortably in his belly and a fat cigar between his lips: -"There's too much sentimentalism in the air. Some religion less -effeminate than Christ's is needed to fit the facts of life. -In the struggle the weak must go under, and it is a crime to -interfere with natural law." The weak must go under! Surely if -that were the law, any religion that would offer an anodyne to -the hopeless were a blessing. But again and again the question -rose unanswered to his lips,--who are the weak? And the sleek -one with his cigar said, "Those who go under!" ... - -So they passed on their way through squalid factory towns -reeking with human vice and disease, through the network of -railroad terminals crowded with laden cars rolling forth to -satisfy desires. They loitered in busy city stores, in dim -basement holes where bread and clothes were making, in filthy -slaughter-houses where beasts were slain by beasts.... - -At sunset of a glowing day the two sat upon an upper ridge of -the hills. All the imperial colors of the firmament dyed the -western heavens among the broken peaks of the mountains. Below -in the lonely valleys were the excoriations of the mines, the -refuse, the smudged stains of the rough surface of the earth. -The guide pointed into the distance where the huge smelter of -Senator Dexter's mine sent a yellow cloud upward. - -"Near that is the charred debris where the miners blew up the -old works. Below the brow of yonder hills lies that stockade -where miners, with their women and children, were penned for -weeks like wild animals, guarded by the troops of the nation. -Beyond is the edge of the great desert, into whose waterless -waste others were driven to their death. Of these I was one -that escaped. Men were shot and women raped. But I tell over -old tales known to all. In this place it has been truly a life -for a life according to the primitive text--but more honest -than the cunning and hidden ways of the law. Here the eaten is -face to face, at least, with the eater." - -The twilight came down like a curtain, hiding the scars of -man's dominion over the earth. The two sat in silent thought. -This was the apex of their journey together, and the end. -Behind this lofty table-land of the continent began the grim -desert, not yet subdued by man, and beyond came other fertile -valleys and other mountains, and finally another ocean. Thither -had been carried the same civilization, the same spirit of -conquest and greed, and that noble aspiration after "life, -liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" bore the same fruit in -the blood of man. Wherever the victorious race had forced its -way, it sowed the seeds of hate and industrial crime. And the -flower must bloom, early or late, upon the lonely cattle ranch, -in the primeval forest, the soft southern grove, or the virgin -valley of the "promised land." - -Thus spoke the Anarch. - -In the glimmering twilight the fierce eyes of the bearded one -rested upon the wanderer. - -"Have you seen enough?" - -"Enough! God knows." - -"So at last you understand the meaning of it all!" - -"Not yet!" And from the depth of his being there flashed the -demand, "Why have you shown me the sore surface of life? What -have you to do with it? And what have I?" - -His guide replied, "So you still long for the smooth paths -of prosperity? You would like to shield your eyes from the -disagreeable aspects of a world that is good to you? You would -still have your comfort and your heart's desire? Your ambitious -fancy still turns to the daughter of privilege, dainty and -lovely and sweet to the eyes?" - - * * * * * - -(The young man returns to the rich woman whom he had meant to -marry.) - -He knelt and taking the hem of her garment held it in his hands. - -"See!" He crushed the soft fabric in his hand. "Silk with -thread of gold. It is the tears! See!" He touched her girdle -with his hands. "Gold and precious stones. They are the groans! -See!" He put his fingers upon the golden hair. "A wreath of -pure gold! Tears and groans and bloody sweat! You are a tissue -of the lives of others, from feet to the crown upon your -hair.... See!" His hot hands crushed the orchids at her breast. -"Even the flower at your breast is stained with blood.... I see -the tears of others on your robe. I hear their sighs in your -voice. I see defeated desires in the light of your eyes. You -are the Sacrifice of the many--I cannot touch!" - - -Isabella, or The Pot of Basil - -BY JOHN KEATS - -(One of the loveliest of English poets, 1795-1821; a chemist's -assistant, who lived unrecognized and died despairing) - - With her two brothers this fair lady dwelt, - Enrichèd from ancestral merchandise, - And for them many a weary hand did swelt - In torchèd mines and noisy factories, - And many once proud-quiver'd loins did melt - In blood from stinging whip,--with hollow eyes - Many all day in dazzling river stood, - To take the rich-ored driftings of the flood. - - For them the Ceylon diver held his breath, - And went all naked to the hungry shark; - For them his ears gushed blood; for them in death - The seal on the cold ice with piteous bark - Lay full of darts; for them alone did seethe - A thousand men in troubles wide and dark; - Half-ignorant, they turn'd an easy wheel, - That set sharp wracks at work, to pinch and peel. - - -The Sons of Martha - -BY RUDYARD KIPLING - - (Under this title the English poet has written a striking picture - of the social chasm. He figures the world's toilers as the "Sons of - Martha," who, because their mother "was rude to the Lord, her Guest," - are condemned forever to unrequited toil. "It is their care in all the - ages to take the buffet and cushion the shock." The poem goes on to - tell of the ignorance and torment in which they live--while the Sons - of Mary, who "have inherited that good part," live in ease upon their - toil.) - - "They sit at the Feet--and they hear the Word--they see how -truly the promise runs. - They have cast their burdens upon the Lord, and--the Lord He -lays them on Martha's sons." - - On the other hand the sons of Martha have to face reality. - - "They do not preach that their God will rouse them an hour -before the nuts work loose, - They do not teach that His pity allows them to leave their work -when they damn-well choose." - - The entire poem may be found in the 1918 Collected Edition of Mr. - Kipling's poems. - - -Reflections Upon Poverty - -(_From "The New Grub Street"_) - -BY GEORGE GISSING - - (Novelist of English middle-class life, 1857-1903. Few have ever - equalled him in the portrayal of the sordid, every-day realities of - poverty. The story of his own tragic life is told in a novel called - "The Private Life of Henry Maitland," by Morley Roberts) - -As there was sunshine Amy accompanied her husband for his walk -in the afternoon; it was long since they had been out together. -An open carriage that passed, followed by two young girls on -horseback, gave a familiar direction to Reardon's thoughts. - -"If one were as rich as those people. They pass so close to -us; they see us, and we see them; but the distance between -is infinity. They don't belong to the same world as we poor -wretches. They see everything in a different light; they have -powers which would seem supernatural if we were suddenly -endowed with them." - -"Of course," assented his companion with a sigh. - -"Just fancy, if one got up in the morning with the thought that -no reasonable desire that occurred to one throughout the day -need remain ungratified! And that it would be the same, any day -and every day, to the end of one's life! Look at those houses; -every detail, within and without, luxurious. To have such a -home as that!" - -"And they are empty creatures who live there." - -"They do _live_, Amy, at all events. Whatever may be their -faculties, they all have free scope. I have often stood staring -at houses like these until I couldn't believe that the people -owning them were mere human beings like myself. The power of -money is so hard to realize, one who has never had it marvels -at the completeness with which it transforms every detail of -life. Compare what we call our home with that of rich people; -it moves one to scornful laughter. I have no sympathy with the -stoical point of view; between wealth and poverty is just the -difference between the whole man and the maimed. If my lower -limbs are paralyzed I may still be able to think, but then -there is no such thing in life as walking. As a poor devil I -may live nobly; but one happens to be made with faculties of -enjoyment, and those have to fall into atrophy. To be sure, -most rich people don't understand their happiness; if they did, -they would move and talk like gods--which indeed they are." - -Amy's brow was shadowed. A wise man, in Reardon's position, -would not have chosen this subject to dilate upon. - -"The difference," he went on, "between the man with money and -the man without is simply this: the one thinks, 'How shall I -use my life?' and the other, 'How shall I keep myself alive?' -A physiologist ought to be able to discover some curious -distinction between the brain of a person who has never given -a thought to the means of subsistence, and that of one who has -never known a day free from such cares. There must be some -special cerebral development representing the mental anguish -kept up by poverty." - -"I should say," put in Amy, "that it affects every function of -the brain. It isn't a special point of suffering, but a misery -that colors every thought." - -"True. Can I think of a single object in all the sphere of my -experience without the consciousness that I see it through the -medium of poverty? I have no enjoyment which isn't tainted -by that thought, and I can suffer no pain which it doesn't -increase. The curse of poverty is to the modern world just what -that of slavery was to the ancient. Rich and destitute stand -to each other as free man and bond. You remember the line of -Homer I have often quoted about the demoralizing effect of -enslavement; poverty degrades in the same way." - -"It has had its effect upon me--I know that too well," said -Amy, with bitter frankness. - -Reardon glanced at her, and wished to make some reply, but he -could not say what was in his thoughts. - - -The Veins of Wealth - -BY JOHN RUSKIN - -(English art critic and university professor, 1819-1900; author -of many works upon social questions, and master of perhaps the -greatest English prose style) - -Primarily, which is very notable and curious, I observe that -men of business rarely know the meaning of the word "rich." At -least if they know, they do not in their reasonings allow for -the fact, that it is a relative word, implying its opposite -"poor" as positively as the word "north" implies its opposite -"south." Men nearly always speak and write as if riches were -absolute, and it were possible, by following certain scientific -precepts, for everybody to be rich. Whereas riches are a power -like that of electricity, acting only through inequalities -or negations of itself. The force of the guinea you have in -your pocket depends wholly on the default of a guinea in your -neighbor's pocket. If he did not want it, it would be of no -use to you; the degree of power it possesses depends accurately -upon the need or desire he has for it,--and the art of making -yourself rich, in the ordinary mercantile economist's sense, -is therefore equally and necessarily the art of keeping your -neighbor poor. - - -Lynggaard & Co. - -BY HJALMAR BERGSTRÖM - - (Contemporary Danish dramatist, born 1868. The present play deals with - the modern industrial struggle. The wife of a great manufacturer has - become the victim of melancholia after a strike) - -MRS. LYNGGAARD (_absorbed in her memories_):--I shall never -forget the day when the people went back to work. I was -watching them from my bedroom window. For four months they had -been starving--starving, do you understand?--they and theirs. -Then they turned up again one winter morning before daylight, -and there they stood and shivered in the yards. They had no -over-clothes, of course, and they were shaking both from cold -and from weakness. And then their faces were all covered with -beards, so that one couldn't recognize them. There they stood -and waited a long time, a very long time.... At last Heymann -[the manager] appeared in the doorway and read something from a -paper. It was the conditions of surrender, I suppose. None of -them looked up. Then, as they were about to walk in and begin -working, Heymann stopped them by holding up his hand, and he -said something I couldn't hear. But after a little while I saw -Olsen [the strike-leader] standing all by himself in a cleared -place. (_A shiver runs through her at the recollection._) Once -I saw a picture of an execution in a prison yard.... It lasted -only a few seconds. Then Olsen said a few words to his comrades -and walked away, looking white as a ghost. The crowd opened up -to let him pass through. Then the rest stood there for a while -looking so strangely depressed and not knowing what to do. And -at last they went in, one by one, bent and broken. - -MIKKELSEN:--Olsen wasn't allowed to go back to work? - -MRS. LYNGGAARD:--It was he who had been their leader, and it -was his fault that they had held out as long as they did. And -then Olsen began to look for work elsewhere, but none of the -other companies would have anything to do with him. - -MIKKELSEN (_shrugging his shoulders_):--War is war. - -MRS. LYNGGAARD:--A few months later, as I was taking a walk, -I was stopped on the street by Olsen's wife. I tell you, the -way she looked made my heart shrink within me. Her husband -was completely broken down, she told me. And on top of it all -he had taken to drink. Everything she and the children could -scrape together, he spent on whiskey. She herself was so far -gone with her eighth child that she would soon have to quit -work.... Then I went home to my husband and begged and prayed -him to take Olsen back and make a man of him again. It was the -first time during our marriage that I saw him beside himself -with rage. There came into his eyes such an evil expression -that I wish I had never seen it, for I have never since been -able to forget it entirely. But, of course, I guessed who was -back of it. (_With emphasis._) Then I did the most humiliating -thing I have ever done: I went in secret to Heymann and pleaded -for that discharged workman. - -MIKKELSEN:--Well, and Heymann? - -MRS. LYNGGAARD:--Since that moment I hate Heymann. There I was, -humbling myself before him. And he measured me with cold eyes -and said: "If I am to be in charge of this plant, madam, I must -ask once for all and absolutely, that no outsiders interfere -with the running of it." - -MIKKELSEN:--I don't see that he could have done anything else. - -MRS. LYNGGAARD:--What I cannot forgive myself is that I let -myself be imposed upon by that man. I behaved like a coward. At -that moment I should have gone to my husband and said: "This is -what has happened--now you must choose between Heymann and me!" -But I was so cowardly, that I didn't even tell my husband what -I had done. - -MIKKELSEN:--Nor was it proper for you to go behind your -husband's back like that. - -MRS. LYNGGAARD (_with an expression of abject horror in her -fixed gaze_):--A little afterwards this thing happened. It was -one of the first warm summer days, and I was walking in the -garden with Jacob. At that time a splendid old chestnut tree -was growing in one corner. And there, in the midst of green -leaves, and singing birds, Olsen was hanging, cold and dead. -And the flies were crawling in and out of his face.... (_She -trembles visibly._) - -MIKKELSEN:--Yes, life is cruel. - -MRS. LYNGGAARD:--And there I perceived for the first time how -utterly poor a human being may become. Anything so pitiful -and miserable I had never seen before. There was no sign of -underclothing between his trousers and the vest. And I don't -know why, but it seemed almost as if this was what hurt me -most--much more than that he had hanged himself.... And since -that day I haven't known a single hour of happiness. - - -My Religion - -BY LEO TOLSTOY - -(From an essay in which the Russian novelist and reformer, -1828-1910, has set forth the creed by which he lived) - -What is the law of nature? Is it to know that my security -and that of my family, all my amusements and pleasures, are -purchased at the expense of misery, deprivation, and suffering -to thousands of human beings--by the terror of the gallows; by -the misfortune of thousands stifling within prison walls; by -the fears inspired by millions of soldiers and guardians of -civilization, torn from their homes and besotted by discipline, -to protect our pleasures with loaded revolvers against the -possible interference of the famishing! Is it to purchase every -fragment of bread that I put in my mouth and the mouths of my -children by the numberless privations that are necessary to -procure my abundance? Or is it to be certain that my piece of -bread only belongs to me when I know that everyone else has a -share, and that no one starves while I eat? - - -The Octopus[A] - -[A] By permission of Doubleday, Page & Co. - -BY FRANK NORRIS - - (The young American novelist, 1870-1902, planned this as the first - of a trilogy of novels, the "Epic of the Wheat." The second volume, - "The Pit," was written, but his death interrupted the third. The - present story narrates the long struggle between the farmers of the - San Joaquin valley and the railroad "octopus." The farmers have been - beaten, and several of them killed while resisting eviction from their - homes. The hero is at a dinner party in San Francisco, at the same - time that the widow and child of one of the victims are wandering the - streets outside) - -All around the table conversations were going forward gayly. -The good wines had broken up the slight restraint of the -early part of the evening and a spirit of good humor and good -fellowship prevailed. Young Lambery and Mr. Gerard were deep -in reminiscences of certain mutual duck-shooting expeditions. -Mrs. Gerard and Mrs. Cedarquist discussed a novel--a strange -mingling of psychology, degeneracy, and analysis of erotic -conditions--which had just been translated from the Italian. -Stephen Lambert and Beatrice disputed over the merits of a -Scotch collie just given to the young lady. The scene was gay, -the electric bulbs sparkled, the wine flashing back the light. -The entire table was a vague glow of white napery, delicate -china, and glass as brilliant as crystal. Behind the guests the -serving-men came and went, filling the glasses continually, -changing the covers, serving the entrées, managing the dinner -without interruption, confusion, or the slightest unnecessary -noise. - -But Presley could find no enjoyment in the occasion. From that -picture of feasting, that scene of luxury, that atmosphere of -decorous, well-bred refinement, his thoughts went back to Los -Muertos and Quien Sabe and the irrigating ditch at Hooven's. -He saw them fall, one by one, Harran, Annixter, Osterman, -Broderson, Hooven. The clink of the wine glasses was drowned -in the explosion of revolvers. The Railroad might indeed be a -force only, which no man could control and for which no man -was responsible, but his friends had been killed, but years -of extortion and oppression had wrung money from all the San -Joaquin, money that had made possible this very scene in which -he found himself. Because Magnus had been beggared, Gerard had -become Railroad King; because the farmers of the valley were -poor, these men were rich. - -The fancy grew big in his mind, distorted, caricatured, -terrible. Because the farmers had been killed at the irrigating -ditch, these others, Gerard and his family, fed full. They -fattened on the blood of the People, on the blood of the men -who had been killed at the ditch. It was a half-ludicrous, -half-horrible "dog eat dog," an unspeakable cannibalism. -Harran, Annixter, and Hooven were being devoured there under -his eyes. These dainty women, his cousin Beatrice and little -Miss Gerard, frail, delicate; all these fine ladies with their -small fingers and slender necks, suddenly were transfigured in -his tortured mind into harpies tearing human flesh. His head -swam with the horror of it, the terror of it. Yes, the People -_would_ turn some day, and, turning, rend those who now preyed -upon them. It would be "dog eat dog" again, with positions -reversed, and he saw for an instant of time that splendid house -sacked to its foundations, the tables overturned, the pictures -torn, the hangings blazing, and Liberty, the red-handed Man -in the Street, grimed with powder smoke, foul with the gutter, -rush yelling, torch in hand, through every door. - - * * * * * - -At ten o'clock Mrs. Hooven fell. - -Luckily she was leading Hilda by the hand at the time and the -little girl was not hurt. In vain had Mrs. Hooven, hour after -hour, walked the streets. After a while she no longer made any -attempt to beg; nobody was stirring, nor did she even try to -hunt for food with the stray dogs and cats. She had made up her -mind to return to the park in order to sit upon the benches -there, but she had mistaken the direction, and, following up -Sacramento Street, had come out at length, not upon the park, -but upon a great vacant lot at the very top of the Clay Street -hill. The ground was unfenced and rose above her to form the -cap of the hill, all overgrown with bushes and a few stunted -live-oaks. It was in trying to cross this piece of ground that -she fell.... - -"You going to sleep, mammy?" inquired Hilda, touching her face. - -Mrs. Hooven roused herself a little. - -"Hey? Vat you say? Asleep? Yais, I guess I wass asleep." - -Her voice trailed unintelligibly to silence again. She was not, -however, asleep. Her eyes were open. A grateful numbness had -begun to creep over her, a pleasing semi-insensibility. She no -longer felt the pain and cramps of her stomach, even the hunger -was ceasing to bite. - - * * * * * - -"These stuffed artichokes are delicious, Mrs. Gerard, murmured -young Lambert, wiping his lips with a corner of his napkin. -"Pardon me for mentioning it, but your dinner must be my -excuse." - -"And this asparagus--since Mr. Lambert has set the bad -example," observed Mrs. Cedarquist, "so delicate, such an -exquisite flavor. How _do_ you manage?" - -"We get all our asparagus from the southern part of the State, -from one particular ranch," explained Mrs. Gerard. "We order it -by wire and get it only twenty hours after cutting. My husband -sees to it that it is put on a special train. It stops at this -ranch just to take on our asparagus. Extravagant, isn't it, but -I simply can not eat asparagus that has been cut more than a -day." - -"Nor I," exclaimed Julian Lambert, who posed as an epicure. "I -can tell to an hour just how long asparagus has been picked." - -"Fancy eating ordinary market asparagus," said Mrs. Gerard, -"that has been fingered by Heaven knows how many hands." - - * * * * * - -"Mammy, mammy, wake up," cried Hilda, trying to push open Mrs. -Hooven's eyelids, at last closed. "Mammy, don't. You're just -trying to frighten me." - -Feebly Hilda shook her by the shoulder. At last Mrs. Hooven's -lips stirred. Putting her head down, Hilda distinguished the -whispered words: - -"I'm sick. Go to schleep.... Sick.... Noddings to eat." - - * * * * * - -The dessert was a wonderful preparation of alternate layers of -biscuit, glacés, ice cream, and candied chestnuts. - -"Delicious, is it not?" observed Julian Lambert, partly -to himself, partly to Miss Cedarquist. "This _Moscovite -fouetté_--upon my word, I have never tasted its equal." - -"And you should know, shouldn't you?" returned the young lady. - - * * * * * - -"Mammy, mammy, wake up," cried Hilda. "Don't sleep so. I'm -frightened." - -Repeatedly she shook her; repeatedly she tried to raise the -inert eyelids with the point of her finger. But her mother no -longer stirred. The gaunt, lean body, with its bony face and -sunken eye-sockets, lay back, prone upon the ground, the feet -upturned and showing the ragged, worn soles of the shoes, the -forehead and gray hair beaded with fog, the poor, faded bonnet -awry, the poor, faded dress soiled and torn. - -Hilda drew close to her mother, kissing her face, twining -her arms around her neck. For a long time she lay that way, -alternately sobbing and sleeping. Then, after a long time, -there was a stir. She woke from a doze to find a police officer -and two or three other men bending over her. Some one carried a -lantern. Terrified, smitten dumb, she was unable to answer the -questions put to her. Then a woman, evidently the mistress of -the house on the top of the hill, arrived and took Hilda in her -arms and cried over her. - -"I'll take the little girl," she said to the police officer. -"But the mother, can you save her? Is she too far gone?" - -"I've sent for a doctor," replied the other. - - * * * * * - -Just before the ladies left the table, young Lambert raised -his glass of Madeira. Turning towards the wife of the Railroad -King, he said: - -"My best compliments for a delightful dinner." - -The doctor, who had been bending over Mrs. Hooven, rose. - -"It's no use," he said; "she has been dead some -time--exhaustion from starvation." - - -BY ANATOLE FRANCE - -The law in its majestic equality forbids the rich as well as -the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets and to -steal bread. - - -Progress and Poverty - -BY HENRY GEORGE - - (One of the most widely-read treatises upon economics ever published, - this book was the fountain head of the single-tax movement. The writer - was a California journalist, 1839-1897, who devoted all his life to - the propaganda of economic justice) - -Unpleasant as it may be to admit it, it is at last becoming -evident that the enormous increase in productive power which -has marked the present century and is still going on with -accelerating ratio, has no tendency to extirpate poverty or -to lighten the burdens of those compelled to toil. It simply -widens the gulf between Dives and Lazarus, and makes the -struggle for existence more intense. The march of invention -has clothed mankind with powers of which a century ago the -boldest imagination could not have dreamed. But in factories -where labor-saving machinery has reached its most wonderful -development, little children are at work; wherever the new -forces are anything like fully utilized, large classes -are maintained by charity or live on the verge of recourse -to it; amid the greatest accumulations of wealth, men die -of starvation, and puny infants suckle dry breasts; while -everywhere the greed of gain, the worship of wealth, shows the -force of the fear of want. The promised land flies before us -like the mirage. The fruits of the tree of knowledge turn, as -we grasp them, to apples of Sodom that crumble at the touch.... - -This association of poverty with progress is the great enigma -of our times. It is the central fact from which spring -industrial, social, and political difficulties that perplex -the world, and with which statesmanship and philanthropy -and education grapple in vain. From it come the clouds that -overhang the future of the most progressive and self-reliant -nations. It is the riddle which the Sphinx of Fate puts to -our civilization, and which not to answer is to be destroyed. -So long as all the increased wealth which modern progress -brings goes but to build up great fortunes, to increase -luxury and make sharper the contrast between the House of -Have and the House of Want, progress is not real and cannot -be permanent. The reaction must come. The tower leans from -its foundations, and every new story but hastens the final -catastrophe. To educate men who must be condemned to poverty, -is but to make them restive; to base on a state of most glaring -social inequality political institutions under which men are -theoretically equal, is to stand a pyramid on its apex. - - - - -BOOK III - -_The Outcast_ - - The life of the underworld, of those thrown upon the scrap-heap of the - modern industrial machine; vivid and powerful passages portraying the - lives of tramps, criminals and prostitutes. - - -Not Guilty - -BY ROBERT BLATCHFORD - -(See page 66) - - -In defending the Bottom Dog I do not deal with hard science -only; but with the dearest faiths, the oldest wrongs and the -most awful relationships of the great human family, for whose -good I strive and to whose judgment I appeal. Knowing, as I do, -how the hard-working and hard-playing public shun laborious -thinking and serious writing, and how they hate to have their -ease disturbed or their prejudices handled rudely, I still make -bold to undertake this task, because of the vital nature of the -problems I shall probe. - -The case for the Bottom Dog should touch the public heart -to the quick, for it affects the truth of our religions, -the justice of our laws and the destinies of our children -and our children's children. Much golden eloquence has been -squandered in praise of the successful and the good; much stern -condemnation has been vented upon the wicked. I venture now -to plead for those of our poor brothers and sisters who are -accursed of Christ and rejected of men. - -Hitherto all the love, all the honors, all the applause of this -world, and all the rewards of heaven, have been lavished on the -fortunate and the strong; and the portion of the unfriended -Bottom Dog, in his adversity and weakness, has been curses, -blows, chains, the gallows and everlasting damnation. I shall -plead, then, for those who are loathed and tortured and branded -as the sinful and unclean; for those who have hated us and -wronged us, and have been wronged and hated by us. I shall -defend them for right's sake, for pity's sake and for the -benefit of society and the race. For these also are of our -flesh, these also have erred and gone astray, these also are -victims of an inscrutable and relentless Fate. - -If it concerns us that the religions of the world are childish -dreams or nightmares; if it concerns us that our penal laws and -moral codes are survivals of barbarism and fear; if it concerns -us that our most cherished and venerable ideas of our relations -to God and to each other are illogical and savage, then the -case for the Bottom Dog concerns us nearly. - -If it moves us to learn that disease may be prevented, that -ruin may be averted, that broken hearts and broken lives may -be made whole; if it inspires us to hear how beauty may be -conjured out of loathsomeness and glory out of shame; how -waste may be turned to wealth and death to life, and despair -to happiness, then the case for the Bottom Dog is a case to be -well and truly tried. - - -Moleskin Joe[A] - -[A] By permission of E. P. Dutton & Co. - -(_From "Children of the Dead End"_) - -BY PATRICK MACGILL - -(See pages 32, 47) - -'Twas towards the close of a fine day on the following summer -that we were at work in the dead end of a cutting, Moleskin and -I, when I, who had been musing on the quickly passing years, -turned to Moleskin and quoted a line from the Bible. - -"Our years pass like a tale that is told," I said. - -"Like a tale that is told damned bad," answered my mate, -picking stray crumbs of tobacco from his waistcoat pocket and -stuffing them into the heel of his pipe. "It's a strange world, -Flynn. Here today, gone tomorrow; always waiting for a good -time comin' and knowin' that it will never come. We work with -one mate this evenin', we beg for crumbs with another on the -mornin' after. It's a bad life, ours, and a poor one, when I -come to think of it, Flynn." - -"It is all that," I assented heartily. - -"Look at me!" said Joe, clenching his fists and squaring his -shoulders. "I must be close on forty years, maybe on the -graveyard side of it, for all I know. I've horsed it ever since -I can mind; I've worked like a mule for years, and what have I -to show for it all today, matey? Not the price of an ounce of -tobacco! A midsummer scarecrow wouldn't wear the duds that I've -to wrap around my hide! A cockle-picker that has no property -only when the tide is out is as rich as I am. Not the price of -an ounce of tobacco! There is something wrong with men like -us, surely, when we're treated like swine in a sty for all the -years of our life. It's not so bad here, but it's in the big -towns that a man can feel it most. No person cares for the -like of us, Flynn. I've worked nearly ev'rywhere; I've helped -to build bridges, dams, houses, ay, and towns! When they were -finished, what happened? Was it for us--the men who did the -buildin'--to live in the homes that we built, or walk through -the streets that we laid down? No earthly chance of that! It -was always, 'Slide! we don't need you any more,' and then a man -like me, as helped to build a thousand houses big as castles, -was hellish glad to get the shelter of a ten-acre field and -a shut-gate between me and the winds of night. I've spent all -my money, have I? It's bloomin' easy to spend all that fellows -like us can earn. When I was in London I saw a lady spend as -much on fur to decorate her carcase with as would keep me in -beer and tobacco for all the rest of my life. And that same -lady would decorate a dog in ribbons and fol-the-dols, and she -wouldn't give me the smell of a crust when I asked her for a -mouthful of bread. What could you expect from a woman who wears -the furry hide of some animal round her neck, anyhow? We are -not thought as much of as dogs, Flynn. By God! them rich buckos -do eat an awful lot. Many a time I crept up to a window just to -see them gorgin' themselves." - -"I have looked in at windows too," I said. - -"Most men do," answered Joe. "You've heard of old Moses goin' -up the hill to have a bit peep at the Promist Land. He was just -like me and you, Flynn, wantin' to have a peep at the things -which he'd never lay his claws on." - -"Those women who sit half-naked at the table have big -appetites," I said. - -"They're all gab and guts, like young crows," said Moleskin. -"And they think more of their dogs than they do of men like me -and you. I'm an Antichrist!" - -"A what?" - -"One of them sort of fellows as throws bombs at kings." - -"You mean an Anarchist." - -"Well, whatever they are, I'm one. What is the good of kings, -of fine-feathered ladies, of churches, of anything in the -country, to men like me and you?" - - -The Carter and the Carpenter[A] - -[A] By permission of the Macmillan Co. - -(_From "The People of the Abyss"_) - -BY JACK LONDON - -(See page 62) - -The Carter, with his clean-cut face, chin beard, and shaved -upper lip, I should have taken in the United States for -anything from a master workman to a well-to-do farmer. The -Carpenter--well, I should have taken him for a carpenter. He -looked it, lean and wiry, with shrewd, observant eyes, and -hands that had grown twisted to the handles of tools through -forty-seven years' work at the trade. The chief difficulty with -these men was that they were old, and that their children, -instead of growing up to take care of them, had died. Their -years had told on them, and they had been forced out of the -whirl of industry by the younger and stronger competitors who -had taken their places. - -These two men, turned away from the casual ward of Whitechapel -Workhouse, were bound with me for Poplar Workhouse. Not much of -a show, they thought, but to chance it was all that remained -to us. It was Poplar, or the streets and night. Both men were -anxious for a bed, for they were "about gone," as they phrased -it. The Carter, fifty-eight years of age, had spent the last -three nights without shelter or sleep, while the Carpenter, -sixty-five years of age, had been out five nights. - -But, O dear, soft people, full of meat and blood, with white -beds and airy rooms waiting you each night, how can I make you -know what it is to suffer as you would suffer if you spent a -weary night on London's streets? Believe me, you would think -a thousand centuries had come and gone before the east paled -into dawn; you would shiver till you were ready to cry aloud -with the pain of each aching muscle; and you would marvel that -you could endure so much and live. Should you rest upon a -bench, and your tired eyes close, depend upon it the policeman -would rouse you and gruffly order you to "move on." You may -rest upon the bench, and benches are few and far between; but -if rest means sleep, on you must go, dragging your tired body -through the endless streets. Should you, in desperate slyness, -seek some forlorn alley, or dark passage-way, and lie down, the -omnipresent policeman will rout you out just the same. It is -his business to rout you out. It is a law of the powers that be -that you shall be routed out. - -But when the dawn came, the nightmare over, you would hale you -home to refresh yourself, and until you died you would tell the -story of your adventure to groups of admiring friends. It would -grow into a mighty story. Your little eight-hour night would -become an Odyssey and you a Homer. - -Not so with these homeless ones who walked to Poplar Workhouse -with me. And there are thirty-five thousand of them, men and -women, in London Town this night. Please don't remember it as -you go to bed; if you are as soft as you ought to be you may -not rest so well as usual. But for old men of sixty, seventy, -and eighty, ill-fed, with neither meat nor blood, to greet the -dawn unrefreshed, and to stagger through the day in mad search -for crusts, with relentless night rushing down upon them again, -and to do this five nights and days--O dear, soft people, full -of meat and blood, how can you ever understand? - -I walked up Mile End Road between the Carter and the Carpenter. -Mile End Road is a wide thoroughfare, cutting the heart of East -London, and there are tens of thousands of people abroad on it. -I tell you this so that you may fully appreciate what I shall -describe in the next paragraph. As I say, we walked along, and -when they grew bitter and cursed the land, I cursed with them, -cursed as an American waif would curse, stranded in a strange -and terrible land. And, as I tried to lead them to believe, and -succeeded in making them believe, they took me for a "seafaring -man," who had spent his money in riotous living, lost his -clothes (no unusual occurrence with seafaring men ashore), and -was temporarily broke while looking for a ship. This accounted -for my ignorance of English ways in general and casual wards in -particular, and my curiosity concerning the same. - -The Carter was hard put to keep the pace at which we walked (he -told me that he had eaten nothing that day), but the Carpenter, -lean and hungry, his grey and ragged overcoat flapping -mournfully in the breeze, swung on in a lone and tireless -stride which reminded me strongly of the plains wolf or coyote. -Both kept their eyes upon the pavement as they walked and -talked, and every now and then one or the other would stoop -and pick something up, never missing his stride the while. I -thought it was cigar and cigarette stumps they were collecting, -and for some time took no notice. Then I did notice. - -_From the slimy, spittle-drenched sidewalk, they were picking -up bits of orange peel, apple skin, and grape stems, and they -were eating them. The pits of greengage plums they cracked -between their teeth for the kernels inside. They picked up -stray crumbs of bread the size of peas, apple cores so black -and dirty one would not take them to be apple cores, and these -things these two men took into their mouths, and chewed them, -and swallowed them; and this, between six and seven o'clock in -the evening of August 20, year of our Lord 1902, in the heart -of the greatest, wealthiest, and most powerful empire the world -has ever seen._ - -These two men talked. They were not fools, they were merely -old. And, naturally, their guts a-reek with pavement offal, -they talked of bloody revolution. They talked as anarchists, -fanatics, and madmen would talk. And who shall blame them? -In spite of my three good meals that day, and the snug bed I -could occupy if I wished, and my social philosophy, and my -evolutionary belief in the slow development and metamorphosis -of things--in spite of all this, I say, I felt impelled to talk -rot with them or hold my tongue. Poor fools! Not of their sort -are revolutions bred. And when they are dead and dust, which -will be shortly, other fools will talk bloody revolution as -they gather offal from the spittle-drenched sidewalk along Mile -End Road to Poplar Workhouse. - - -BY HORACE GREELEY. - -(American editor, 1811-1872; prominent abolitionist) - -Morality and religion are but words to him who fishes in -gutters for the means of sustaining life, and crouches behind -barrels in the street for shelter from the cutting blasts of a -winter night. - - -The Hunt for the Job - -(_From "Pay Envelopes"_) - -BY JAMES OPPENHEIM - -(See page 45) - -The Hunt began early next morning--the Hunt for the Job. The -hunter, however, is really the hunted. Now and then he bares -his skin to the unthinking blows of the world, and runs off to -hide himself in the crowd. You may see him bobbing along the -turbulent man-currents of Broadway, a tide-tossed derelict in -the thousand-foot shadows of the sky-scrapers. The mob about -him is lusty with purpose, each unit making his appointed -place, the morning rush to work bearing the stenographer to -her machine, the broker to his ticker, the ironworker to his -sky-dangling beam. In the mighty machine of the city each -has his place, each is provided for, each gets the glow of -sharing in the world's work. The morning rush, splashed at -street crossings with the gold of the Eastern sun, is rippled -with fresh eyes and busy lips. They are all in the machine. -But our young man crouching in a corner of the crowded car -is not of these; slinking down Broadway he is aware that the -machine has thrown him out and he cannot get in. He is an exile -in the midst of his own people. The sense of loneliness and -inferiority eats the heart out of the breast; the good of life -is gone; the blackness soaks across the city and into his home, -his love, his soul. - -Some go bitter and are for throwing bombs; some despair and -are for wiping themselves away; some--the rank and file--are -for fighting to the last ditch. Peter pendulated between all -three of these moods. In ordinary times he would have been -all fight; in these hard times, drenched with the broadcast -hopelessness of men, he knew he was foredoomed to defeat. Only -a miracle could save him. - -Trudging up Seventy-ninth Street to Third Avenue, fresh with -Annie's kiss and the baby's pranks, he had the last bit of -daring dashed out of him by a strange throng of men. Before -a small Hebrew synagogue, packed in the deep area were forty -unemployed workers, jammed crowd-thick against the windows and -gate. It was fresh weather, not cold, yet the men shivered. -Their bodies had for long been unwarmed by sufficient food -or clothing; there was a grayness about them as of famished -wolves; their lips and fingers were blue; they were unshaved -and frowzy with some vile sleeping place. Hard times had -blotched the city with a myriad of such groups. And as Peter -stopped and imagined himself driven at last among them, he -saw a burly fellow emerge from the house and begin handing -out charity bowls of hot coffee and charity bread. Peter, -independent American workman, was stung at the sight; the souls -of these workers were somehow being outraged; they were eating -out of the hands of the comfortable, like so many gutter dogs. - -The rest of the morning Peter dared now and then to present -himself at an office to ask work. At some places he tried -boldness, at others meekness, and at last he begged, "For -God's sake, I have a wife and baby--" He met with various -receptions at the hands of clerks, office boys, and bosses. A -few were sorry, some turned their backs, the rest hurried him -out. Each refusal, each "not wanted in the scheme of things," -shot him out into the streets, stripped of another bit of -self-reliance. In spite of himself, he began to feel his poor -appearance, his drooping lip, his broken purpose. He was a -failure and the world could not use him. He hardly dared to -look a man in the eyes, to lift his voice above a whisper, to -make a demand, to dare a refusal. He slunk home at last like a -cowed and beaten animal. - - -The Unemployable - -(_From "The Workers"_) - -BY WALTER A. WYCKOFF - -(A professor in Princeton University who went out and lived -for long periods as a laborer, in order to know the facts of -industry at first hand) - -Many of the men were so weakened by the want and hardship of -the winter that they were no longer in condition for effective -labor. Some of the bosses who were in need of added hands -were obliged to turn men away because of physical incapacity. -One instance of this I shall not soon forget. It was when I -overheard, early one morning, at a factory gate, an interview -between a would-be laborer and the boss. I knew the applicant -for a Russian Jew, who had at home an old mother and a wife -and two young children to support. He had had intermittent -employment throughout the winter in a sweater's den, barely -enough to keep them all alive, and, after the hardships of the -cold season, he was again in desperate straits for work. - -The boss had all but agreed to take him on for some sort of -unskilled labor, when, struck by the cadaverous look of the -man, he told him to bare his arm. Up went the sleeve of his -coat and his ragged flannel shirt, exposing a naked arm with -the muscles nearly gone, and the blue-white transparent skin -stretched over sinews and the outline of the bones. Pitiful -beyond words were his efforts to give a semblance of strength -to the biceps which rose faintly to the upward movement of -the forearm. But the boss sent him off with an oath and a -contemptuous laugh, and I watched the fellow as he turned -down the street, facing the fact of his starving family with -a despair at his heart which only mortal man can feel and no -mortal tongue can speak. - - -The Bread Line - -BY BERTON BRALEY - -(Contemporary American poet) - - Well, here they are--they stand and stamp and shiver - Waiting their food from some kind stranger hand, - Their weary limbs with eagerness a-quiver - Hungry and heartsick in a bounteous land. - - "Beggars and bums?" Perhaps, and largely worthless. - Shaky with drink, unlovely, craven, low, - With obscene tongues and hollow laughter mirthless; - But who shall give them scorn for being so? - - Yes, here they are--with gaunt and pallid faces, - With limbs ill-clad and fingers stiff and blued, - Shuffling and stamping on their pavement places, - Waiting and watching for their bit of food. - - We boast of vast achievements and of power, - Of human progress knowing no defeat, - Of strange new marvels every day and hour-- - And here's the bread line in the wintry street! - - Ten thousand years of war and peace and glory, - Of hope and work and deeds and golden schemes, - Of mighty voices raised in song and story, - Of huge inventions and of splendid dreams; - - Ten thousand years replete with every wonder, - Of empires risen and of empires dead; - Yet still, while wasters roll in swollen plunder, - These broken men must stand in line--for bread! - - -The Unemployed Problem - -(_From "Past and Present"_) - -BY THOMAS CARLYLE - -(See pages 31, 74) - -And truly this first practical form of the Sphinx-question, -inarticulately and so audibly put there, is one of the most -impressive ever asked in the world. "Behold us here, so many -thousands, millions, and increasing at the rate of fifty every -hour. We are right willing and able to work; and on the Planet -Earth is plenty of work and wages for a million times as many. -We ask, If you mean to lead us towards work; to try to lead -us,--by ways new, never yet heard of till this new unheard-of -Time? Or if you declare that you cannot lead us? And expect -that we are to remain quietly unled, and in a composed manner -perish of starvation? What is it you expect of us? What is it -you mean to do with us?" This question, I say, has been put in -the hearing of all Britain; and will be again put, and ever -again, till some answer be given it. - - -An Answer - -BY WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT - -(Ex-president of the United States; born 1857) - -"What is a man to do who is starving, and cannot find work?" - -"God knows." - - -The Parish Workhouse - -BY GEORGE CRABBE - -(See page 29) - - Theirs is yon house that holds the parish poor, - Whose walls of mud scarce bear the broken door; - There, where the putrid vapors flagging play, - And the dull wheel hums doleful through the day; - There children dwell who know no parents' care; - Parents, who know no children's love, dwell there; - Heart-broken matrons on their joyless bed, - Forsaken wives and mothers never wed; - Dejected widows with unheeded tears, - And crippled age with more than childhood-fears; - The lame, the blind, and--far the happiest they!-- - The moping idiot and the madman gay. - - Here too the sick their final doom receive, - Here brought amid the scenes of grief to grieve, - Where the loud groans from some sad chamber flow, - Mixed with the clamors of the crowd below; - Here, sorrowing, they each kindred sorrow scan, - And the cold charities of man to man: - Whose laws indeed for ruined age provide, - And strong compulsion plucks the scrap from pride; - But still that scrap is bought with many a sigh, - And pride imbitters what it can't deny. - - Say ye, oppressed by some fantastic woes, - Some jarring nerve that baffles your repose; - Who press the downy couch while slaves advance - With timid eye, to read the distant glance; - Who with sad prayers the weary doctor tease, - To name the nameless ever-new disease; - Who with mock patience dire complaints endure, - Which real pain and that alone can cure: - How would ye bear in real pain to lie, - Despised, neglected, left alone to die? - How would ye bear to draw your latest breath - Where all that's wretched paves the way for death? - - -BY KENKŌ HOSHI - -(Japanese Buddhist priest of the Fourteenth Century) - -It is desirable for a ruler that no man should suffer from cold -and hunger under his rule. Man cannot maintain his standard of -morals when he has no ordinary means of living. - - -The Bread of Affliction - -(_From "Children of the Ghetto"_) - -BY ISRAEL ZANGWILL - -(English poet and novelist, born 1864; has written with -tenderness and charm of the struggles of Judaism in contact -with modern commercialism) - -At half-past five the stable-doors were thrown open, and -the crowd pressed through a long, narrow white-washed stone -corridor into a barn-like compartment, with a white-washed -ceiling traversed by wooden beams. Within this compartment, -and leaving but a narrow circumscribing border, was a sort -of cattle-pen, into which the paupers crushed, awaiting amid -discomfort and universal jabber the divine moment. The single -jet of gas-light depending from the ceiling flared upon the -strange simian faces, and touched them into a grotesque -picturesqueness that would have delighted Doré. - -They felt hungry, these picturesque people; their near and -dear ones were hungering at home. Voluptuously savoring -in imagination the operation of the soup, they forgot its -operation as a dole in aid of wages; were unconscious of the -grave economical possibilities of pauperization and the rest, -and quite willing to swallow their independence with the soup. -Even Esther, who had read much, and was sensitive, accepted -unquestioningly the theory of the universe that was held by -most people about her, that human beings were distinguished -from animals in having to toil terribly for a meagre crust, -but that their lot was lightened by the existence of a small -and semi-divine class called _Takeefim_, or rich people, who -gave away what they didn't want. How these rich people came -to be, Esther did not inquire; they were as much a part of the -constitution of things as clouds and horses. The semi-celestial -variety was rarely to be met with. It lived far away from -the Ghetto, and a small family of it was said to occupy a -whole house. Representatives of it, clad in rustling silks or -impressive broad-cloth, and radiating an indefinable aroma of -super-humanity, sometimes came to the school, preceded by the -beaming Head Mistress; and then all the little girls rose and -curtseyed, and the best of them, passing as average members -of the class, astonished the semi-divine persons by their -intimate acquaintance with the topography of the Pyrenees and -the disagreements of Saul and David, the intercourse of the two -species ending in effusive smiles and general satisfaction. But -the dullest of the girls was alive to the comedy, and had a -good-humored contempt for the unworldliness of the semi-divine -persons, who spoke to them as if they were not going to -recommence squabbling, and pulling one another's hair, and -copying one another's sums, and stealing one another's needles, -the moment the semi-celestial backs were turned. - -[Illustration: WITHOUT A KENNEL - -RYAN WALKER - -(_American Socialist cartoonist, born 1870_)] - -[Illustration: THE WHITE SLAVE - -ABASTENIA ST. LEGER EBERLE - -(_American sculptor, born 1878_)] - - -No. 5 John Street - -BY RICHARD WHITEING - -(English author and journalist, born 1840. The volume here -quoted is one of the most amazing pictures of slum-life ever -penned) - -After midnight the gangs return in carousal from the gin shops, -the more thoughtful of them with stored liquor for the morning -draft. Now it is three stages of man--no more: man gushing, -confiding, uplifted, as he feels the effect of the lighter -fumes; disputatious, quarrelsome, as the heavier mount in a -second brew of hell; raging with wrath and hate, as the very -dregs send their emanations to the tortured brain. - -The embrace, the wrangle, and the blow--this is the order -of succession. Till one--to mark it by the clock--we sing, -"'Art to 'art an' 'and to 'and." At about one forty-five you -may expect the tribal row between the gangs, who prey on one -another for recreation, and on society for a living. Our brutes -read the current gospel of the survival of the fittest in -their own way, and they dimly apprehend that mankind is still -organized as a predatory horde. The ever-open door brings us -much trouble from the outside. The unlighted staircase is a -place of rendezvous, and, not unfrequently, of deadly quarrel, -in undertones of concentrated fury, between wretches who seek -seclusion for the work of manslaughter. Our latest returning -inmate, the other night, stumbled over the body of a woman -not known at No. 5. She had been kicked to death within sight -and sound of lodgers who, believing it to be a matrimonial -difference, held interference to be no business of theirs. - -The first thud of war between the "Hooligans" is generally for -two sharp. The seconds set to, along with their principals, -as in the older duel. For mark that in most things we are as -our betters were just so many centuries ago, and are simply -belated with our flint age. And now our shapelier waves of -sound break into a mere foam of oath and shriek. At times there -is an interval of silence more awful than the tumult; and you -may know that the knife is at its silent work, and that the -whole meaner conflict is suspended for an episode of tragedy. -If it is a hospital case, it closes the celebration. If it is -not, the entertainment probably dies out in a slanging match -between two of the fair; and the unnamable in invective and -vituperation rises, as in blackest vapor, from our pit to the -sky. At this, every room that holds a remnant of decency closes -its window, and all withdraw, except, perhaps, the little boys -and girls, who are beginning to pair according to the laws of -the ooze and of the slime.... - - -Night in the Slums[A] - -[A] By permission of the Macmillan Co. - -(_From "The People of the Abyss"_) - -BY JACK LONDON - -(See pages 62, 125) - -I was glad the keepers were there, for I did not have on my -"seafaring" clothes, and I was what is called a "mark" for -the creatures of prey that prowled up and down. At times, -between keepers, these males looked at me sharply, hungrily, -gutter-wolves that they were, and I was afraid of their hands, -of their naked hands, as one may be afraid of the paws of a -gorilla. They reminded me of gorillas. Their bodies were small, -ill-shaped, and squat. There were no swelling muscles, no -abundant thews and wide-spreading shoulders. They exhibited, -rather, an elemental economy of nature, such as the cave-men -must have exhibited. But there was strength in those meagre -bodies, the ferocious, primordial strength to clutch and tear -and gripe and rend. When they spring upon their human prey they -are known even to bend the victim backward and double its body -till the back is broken. They possess neither conscience nor -sentiment, and they will kill for half a sovereign, without -fear or favor.... - -The dear soft people of the golden theatres and wonder-mansions -of the West End do not see these creatures, do not dream that -they exist. But they are here, alive, very much alive in their -jungle. And woe the day when England is fighting in her last -trench, and her able-bodied men are on the firing line! For -on that day they will crawl out of their dens and lairs, and -the people of the West End will see them, as the dear soft -aristocrats of Feudal France saw them and asked one another, -"Whence come they?" "Are they men?" - -But they were not the only beasts that ranged the menagerie. -They were only here and there, lurking in dark courts and -passing like grey shadows along the walls; but the women from -whose rotten loins they spring were everywhere. They whined -insolently, and in maudlin tones begged me for pennies, and -worse. They held carouse in every boozing den, slatternly, -unkempt, bleary-eyed, and tousled, leering and gibbering, -overspilling with foulness and corruption, and, gone in -debauch, sprawling across benches and bars, unspeakably -repulsive, fearful to look upon. - -And there were others, strange, weird faces and forms and -twisted monstrosities that shouldered me on every side, -inconceivable types of sodden ugliness, the wrecks of society, -the perambulating carcasses, the living deaths--women, blasted -by disease and drink till their shame brought not tuppence -in the open mart; and men, in fantastic rags, wrenched by -hardship and exposure out of all semblance of men, their faces -in a perpetual writhe of pain, grinning idiotically, shambling -like apes, dying with every step they took and every breath -they drew. And there were young girls, of eighteen and twenty, -with trim bodies and faces yet untouched with twist and bloat, -who had fetched the bottom of the Abyss plump, in one swift -fall. And I remember a lad of fourteen, and one of six or -seven, white-faced and sickly, homeless, the pair of them, who -sat upon the pavement with their backs against a railing and -watched it all.... - -The unfit and the unneeded! The miserable and despised -and forgotten, dying in the social shambles. The progeny -of prostitution--of the prostitution of men and women and -children, of flesh and blood, and sparkle and spirit; in -brief, the prostitution of labor. If this is the best that -civilization can do for the human, then give us howling and -naked savagery. Far better to be a people of the wilderness -and desert, of the cave and the squatting place, than to be a -people of the machine and the Abyss. - - -A Night's Lodging - -BY MAXIM GORKY - - (A true voice of the Russian masses, born 1868; by turns peddler, - scullery-boy, baker's assistant and tramp, he became all at once the - most widely known of Russian writers. In this play he has portrayed - the misery of the outcasts of his country. The scene is in the cellar - of an inn, the haunt of thieves and tramps. Luka, the aged pilgrim, is - talking to a young girl) - -LUKA:--Treat everyone with friendliness--injure no one. - -NATASHA:--How good you are, grandfather! How is it that you are -so good? - -LUKA:--I am good, you say. Nyah--if it is true, all right. But -you see, my girl--there must be some one to be good. We must -have pity on mankind. Christ, remember, had pity for us all and -so taught us. Have pity when there is still time, believe me, -that is right. I was once, for example, employed as a watchman, -at a country place which belonged to an engineer, not far from -the city of Tomsk, in Siberia. The house stood in the middle -of the forest, an out-of-the-way location; and it was winter -and I was all alone in the country house. It was beautiful -there--magnificent! And once--I heard them scrambling up! - -NATASHA:--Thieves? - -LUKA:--Yes. They crept higher, and I took my rifle and went -outside. I looked up--two men, opening a window, and so busy -that they did not see anything of me at all. I cried to them: -Hey, there, get out of that! And would you think it, they fell -on me with a hand ax! I warned them. Halt, I cried, or else I -fire! Then I aimed first at one and then at the other. They -fell on their knees saying, Pardon us! I was pretty hot--on -account of the hand ax, you remember. You devils, I cried, I -told you to clear out and you didn't! And now, I said, one of -you go into the brush and get a switch. It was done. And now, -I commanded, one of you stretch out on the ground, and the -other thrash him. And so they whipped each other at my command. -And when they had each had a sound beating, they said to me: -Grandfather, said they, for the sake of Christ give us a piece -of bread. We haven't a bite in our bodies. They, my daughter, -were the thieves who had fallen upon me with the hand ax. -Yes, they were a pair of splendid fellows. I said to them, If -you had asked for bread! Then they answered: We had gotten -past that. We had asked and asked, and nobody would give us -anything. Endurance was worn out. Nyah--and so they remained -with me the whole winter. One of them, Stephen by name, liked -to take the rifle and go into the woods. And the other, -Jakoff, was constantly ill, always coughing. The three of us -watched the place, and when spring came, they said, Farewell, -grandfather, and went away--to Russia. - -NATASHA:--Were they convicts, escaping? - -LUKA:--They were fugitives--they had left their colony. A pair -of splendid fellows. If I had not had pity on them--who knows -what would have happened? They might have killed me. Then they -would be taken to court again, put in prison, sent back to -Siberia--why all that? You can learn nothing good in prison, -nor in Siberia. But a man, what can he not learn! - - -The Menagerie - -(_Night in a County Workhouse_) - -BY UPTON SINCLAIR - - Oh come, ye lords and ladies of the realm, - Come from your couches soft, your perfumed halls, - Come watch with me throughout the weary hours. - Here are there sounds to thrill your jaded nerves, - Such as the cave-men, your forefathers, heard, - Crouching in forests of primeval night; - Here tier on tier in steel-barred cages pent - The beasts ye breed and hunt throughout the world. - Hark to that snore--some beast that slumbers deep; - Hark to that roar--some beast that dreams of blood; - Hark to that moan--some beast that wakes and weeps; - And then in sudden stillness mark the sound-- - Some beast that rasps his vermin-haunted hide! - - Oh come, ye lords and ladies of the realm, - Come keep the watch with me; this show is yours. - Behold the source of all your joy and pride, - The beasts ye harness fast and set to draw - The chariots of your pageantry and pomp! - It is their blood ye shed to make your feasts, - It is their treadmill that moves all your world. - Come gather now, and think how it will be - When God shall send his flaming angel down - And break these bars--so hath he done of yore, - So doeth he to lords and ladies grand-- - And loose these beasts to raven in your streets! - - -A Sentiment on Social Reform - -BY EUGENE V. DEBS - -(American locomotive engineer; born 1855; president of his -union, and later the best known of American Socialist lecturers) - - While there is a lower class, I am in it. - While there is a criminal element, I am of it. - While there is a soul in jail, I am not free. - - -The "Solitary" - -(_From "My Life in Prison"_) - -BY DONALD LOWRIE - -(The writer of this picture of prison life, after serving a -sentence of fifteen years in San Quentin, has become one of the -leaders in the prison reform movement in California) - -He was a thin young man of medium height, with long, straggly -blonde hair and beard. He was garbed in a ragged suit of dirty -stripes. His steel-gray eyes blinked as though the light hurt -them, and yet they were very alert, and there was a defiance, -an indomitableness in their depths. They protruded slightly, -as the eyes of persons who have suffered so frequently do. -The lines radiating from the corners bespoke mental as well -as physical distress, as did the spasmodic twitching of his -mouth. His skin was akin to the color of a thirsty road and -his garments looked as though he had not had them off for -months--the knees and elbows bulged and the frayed edges of the -coat curled under. I was conscious of a warring within me. I -had not yet learned who he was, and still I knew I was gazing -at a human creature who had been through hell.... - -"Treat Morrell right," admonished the lieutenant as he withdrew -from the room and left us together. - -Morrell! The notorious "Ed" Morrell, about whom I had heard so -much, and who had been confined in the "incorrigibles" for five -years! - -The majority of the prisoners, as well as the freemen, believed -him innocent of the offence with which he had been charged and -for which he had been subjected to such awful punishment. So -this man was Ed Morrell! No wonder I had been agitated.... - -He arose from the chair and stood dejectedly while I took the -necessary measurements, and then I led the way to the back -room, where the bathtub was located. I started to return to -the front room for the purpose of marking his clothes, but he -stopped me. - -"Wait a minute," he urged. "Wait and see what a man looks like -after five years in hell. I was a husky when I went up there, -hard as nails and full of red blood, but look at me now." - -While speaking, he had dropped off the outer rags, and a -moment after stood nude beside the tub of warm water. The -enormity of what he had suffered could not have been more -forcibly demonstrated. His limbs were horribly emaciated, the -knee, elbow, and shoulder bones stood out like huge knots -through the drawn and yellow skin, while his ribs reminded -me of the carcass of a sheep hanging in front of a butcher's -establishment. The hollows between them were deep and dark. -I thought of the picture I had seen of the famine-stricken -wretches of India.... - -"What are those scars on your back?" I asked as he sank onto -his knees in the water. - -"Scars," he laughed, sardonically. "Scars? Those ain't scars. -They're only the marks where the devil prodded me. I was in the -jacket, cinched up so that I was breathing from my throat when -he came and tried to make me 'come through,' and when I sneered -at him he kicked me over the kidneys. I don't know how many -times he kicked; the first kick took my breath away and I saw -black, but after they took me out of the sack I couldn't get -up, and I had running sores down here for months afterwards. -I ain't right down there now; I've got a bad rupture, and -sometimes it feels as if there was a knife being twisted around -inside of me. It wouldn't be so bad if they'd got me right, but -to give a man a deal like that dead wrong is hell, let me tell -you...." - -As we stepped into the barber shop there was a noticeable air -of expectancy. The word had passed through the prison that the -new warden had released "Ed" Morrell from "solitary." All but -one of the half dozen barbers were strangers to Morrell. They -had been committed to the prison after his siege of solitary -confinement had begun. The one exception was old Frank, a lifer -with twenty years' service behind him.... - -He took a step backward and a hush fell over the little group. - -"With all due respect, Ed, you're the finest living picture of -Jesus Christ that I've ever seen, so help me God. And, Ed," he -added, hastily, his voice breaking, "we're all Jesus Christs, -if we'd only remember it." - - -Prisons - -BY EMMA GOLDMAN - -(Anarchist lecturer and writer; born in Russia, 1869) - -Year after year the gates of prison hells return to the world -an emaciated, deformed, will-less shipwrecked crew of humanity, -with the Cain mark on their foreheads, their hopes crushed, -all their natural inclinations thwarted. With nothing but -hunger and inhumanity to greet them, these victims soon sink -back into crime as the only possibility of existence. It is -not at all an unusual thing to find men and women who have -spent half their lives--nay, almost their entire existence--in -prison. I know a woman on Blackwell's Island, who has been in -and out thirty-eight times; and through a friend I learn that -a young boy of seventeen, whom he had nursed and cared for in -the Pittsburgh penitentiary, had never known the meaning of -liberty. From the reformatory to the penitentiary had been -the path of this boy's life, until, broken in body, he died -a victim of social revenge. These personal experiences are -substantiated by extensive data giving overwhelming proof of -the futility of prisons as a means of deterrence or reform. - - -The Prison System - -(_From "Resurrection"_) - -BY LEO TOLSTOY - -(See pages 88, 110) - -"It is just as if a problem had been set: to find the best, -the surest means, of depraving the greatest number of people!" -thought Nehlúdof, while getting an insight into the deeds that -were being done in the prisons and halting-stations. Every year -hundreds of thousands were brought to the highest pitch of -depravity, and when completely depraved they were liberated to -spread broadcast the moral disease they had caught in prison. - -In the prisons of Tumén, Ekáterinburg, Tomsk, and at the -halting-stations, Nehlúdof saw how successfully the object -society seemed to have set itself was attained. Ordinary simple -men holding the Russian peasant social and Christian morality -lost this conception, and formed a new, prison, one founded -chiefly on the idea that any outrage to or violation of human -beings is justifiable, if it seems profitable. After living in -prison these people became conscious with the whole of their -being that, judging by what was happening to themselves, all -those moral laws of respect and sympathy for others which -the Church and the moral teachers preach, were set aside in -real life, and that therefore they, too, need not keep these -laws. Nehlúdof noticed this effect of prison life in all the -prisoners he knew. He learnt, during his journey, that tramps -who escape into the marshes will persuade comrades to escape -with them, and will then kill them and feed on their flesh. -He saw a living man who was accused of this, and acknowledged -the act. And the most terrible thing was, that this was -not a solitary case of cannibalism, but that the thing was -continually recurring. - -Only by a special cultivation of vice such as was carried -on in these establishments, could a Russian be brought to -the state of these tramps, who excelled Nietzsche's newest -teaching, holding everything allowable and nothing forbidden, -and spreading this teaching, first among the convicts and then -among the people in general. - -The only explanation of what was being done was that it aimed -at the prevention of crime, at inspiring awe, at correcting -offenders, and at dealing out to them "lawful vengeance," as -the books said. But in reality nothing in the least resembling -these results came to pass. Instead of vice being put a stop -to, it only spread farther; instead of being frightened, the -criminals were encouraged (many a tramp returned to prison of -his own free will); instead of correction, every kind of vice -was systematically instilled; while the desire for vengeance, -far from being weakened by the measures of Government, was -instilled into the people to whom it was not natural. - -"Then why is it done?" Nehlúdof asked himself, and could find -no answer. - - -FROM THE PSALMS - -He hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary ... to -hear the sighing of the prisoner; to loose those that are -appointed to death. - - -Ballade of Misery and Iron - -BY GEORGE CARTER - - (Some years ago the _Century Magazine_ received several poems from - an inmate of the State penitentiary of Minnesota. Upon investigation - it was found that the poet, a young Englishman, had been driven to - stealing by starvation. Subsequently his pardon was procured) - - Haggard faces and trembling knees, - Eyes that shine with a weakling's hate, - Lips that mutter their blasphemies, - Murderous hearts that darkly wait: - These are they who were men of late, - Fit to hold a plow or a sword. - If a prayer this wall may penetrate, - Have pity on these my comrades, Lord! - - Poets sing of life at the lees - In tender verses and delicate; - Of tears and manifold agonies-- - Little they know of what they prate. - Out of this silence, passionate - Sounds a deeper, a wilder chord. - If sound be heard through the narrow grate, - Have pity on these my comrades, Lord! - - Hark, that wail of the distant breeze, - Piercing ever the close-barred gate, - Fraught with torturing memories - Of eyes that kindle and lips that mate. - Ah, by the loved ones desolate, - Whose anguish never can pen record, - If thou be truly compassionate, - Have pity on these my comrades, Lord! - -L'ENVOI - - These are pawns that the hand of Fate - Careless sweeps from the checker-board. - Thou that know'st if the game be straight, - Have pity on these my comrades, Lord! - - -BY KENKŌ HOSHI - -(See page 135) - -So long as people, being ill-governed, suffer from hunger, -criminals will never disappear. It is extremely unkind to -punish those who, being sufferers from hunger, are compelled to -violate laws. - - -The Red Robe - -BY EUGÈNE BRIEUX - - (French dramatist, born 1858; author of a series of powerful dramas - exposing the sources of corruption in French social, political and - business life. The present play has for its theme the law as a snare - for the feet of the poor and friendless. The principal character is a - government prosecuting attorney, driven by professional ambition and - jealousy, and the nagging of his wife and daughters. A murder has been - committed, and the newspapers are scolding because the criminal has - not been caught. Suspicion falls upon a poor wretch of a smuggler, who - is hounded and bullied into incriminating himself. At the last moment, - when the case is in the hands of the jury, the prosecuting attorney's - conscience is troubled, and he realizes that he is sending an innocent - man to the gallows) - -MME. VAGRET:--But--these circumstances, how could you have -ignored them up to now? - -VAGRET (_his head bowed_):--You think I have ignored -them?--Would I dare to tell you all? I am not a bad man, you'd -grant? I wouldn't desire that anyone should suffer through -my fault. Well!--Oh! but how it shames me to confess it, to -say it aloud, after having confessed it to myself! Well! When -I studied this case, I had got it so fixed in my head, in -advance, that this fellow Etchepare was a criminal, that when -an argument in his favor presented itself to my mind, I kept -it away from me, shrugging my shoulders. As to the facts about -which I am telling you, and from which suddenly my doubt has -been born--at first I sought only to prove to myself that these -facts were false, taking, in the testimony of the witnesses, -only what would combat their exactness, repelling all the rest, -with a frightful _naiveté_ in my bad faith.--And in the end, to -dissipate my last scruples, I said to myself, like you: "It is -the affair of the defense, not mine!" Listen and see to just -what point the exercise of the profession of prosecutor renders -us unjust and cruel; I had, myself--I had a thrill of joy at -first, when I saw that the judge, in his questioning, left in -the shadow the sum of those little facts. There, that is the -trade! you understand, the trade! Ah! poor creatures that we -are, poor creatures! - -MME. VAGRET:--Possibly the jury may not condemn him? - -VAGRET:--It will condemn him. - -MME. VAGRET:--Or that it will admit some extenuating -circumstances. - -VAGRET:--No. I urged them too emphatically against this. Was I -not ardent enough, my God! violent enough? - -MME. VAGRET:--That's true. Why should you have developed your -argument with so much passion? - -VAGRET:--Ah! why! why! Long before the session, it was so well -understood by everyone that the accused was the culprit! And -then, everyone was trying to rouse my dander, trying to make -me drunk! I was the spokesman for humanity, I had to reassure -the country, bring peace to the family--I don't know what all -else! My first demands were comparatively moderate. But when I -saw that famous advocate make the jury weep, I thought I was -lost; I felt that the case was getting away from me. Contrary -to my custom, I made a reply. When I stood up again, I was -like a combattant who goes to meet defeat, and who fights with -desperation. From that moment, Etchepare no longer existed, so -to speak. I no longer had the care to defend society, or to -maintain the accusation--I was fighting against that advocate; -it was a tourney of orators, a contest of actors; I had to -come out the conqueror at all hazards. I had to convince the -jury, to seize it and tear from it the "Yes" of a verdict. -It was no longer a question of Etchepare, I tell you; it was -a question of myself, of my vanity, of my reputation, of my -honor, of my future. It's shameful, I repeat, it's shameful! -At any cost, I wanted to avoid the acquittal which I felt was -certain. And I was possessed by such a fear of not succeeding, -that I employed all the arguments, good and bad--even those -which consisted in representing to those frightened men their -homes in flames, their loved ones assassinated. I spoke of -the vengeance of God upon judges who had no severity. And all -that in good faith--or rather without consciousness, in a fit -of passion, in a fit of passion against the advocate whom I -hated with all my forces.... The success was even greater than -I could have wished; the jury is ready to obey me, and for -myself, my dear--I let myself be congratulated, and I pressed -the hands which were held out to me.--That's what it is to be a -prosecutor! - -MME. VAGRET:--Console yourself. There are perhaps not ten men -in France who would have acted otherwise. - -VAGRET:--You are right. Only--if one reflects, it is precisely -that which is frightful. - - -BY KENKŌ HOSHI - -(See pages 135, 151) - -The governing class should stop their luxurious expenditures in -order to help the governed class. For only when a man has been -provided with the ordinary means of living, and yet steals, may -he be really called a thief. - - -A Hanging in Prison - -(_From "The Ballad of Reading Gaol"_) - -BY OSCAR WILDE - - (English poet and dramatist, 1856-1900, leader of the so-called - "esthetes." The poem from which these extracts are taken was the fruit - of his long imprisonment, and is one of the most moving and terrible - narratives in English poetry) - - With slouch and swing around the ring - We trod the Fools' Parade; - We did not care; we knew we were - The Devil's Own Brigade: - And shaven head and feet of lead - Make a merry masquerade. - - We tore the tarry rope to shreds - With blunt and bleeding nails; - We rubbed the doors, and scrubbed the floors, - And cleaned the shining rails: - And, rank by rank, we soaped the plank, - And clattered with the pails. - - We sewed the sacks, we broke the stones, - We turned the dusty drill: - We banged the tins, and bawled the hymns, - And sweated on the mill: - But in the heart of every man - Terror was lying still. - - So still it lay that every day - Crawled like a weed-clogged wave; - And we forgot the bitter lot - That waits for fool and knave, - Till once, as we tramped in from work, - We passed an open grave. - - With yawning mouth the yellow hole - Gaped for a living thing; - The very mud cried out for blood - To the thirsty asphalt ring: - And we knew that ere one dawn grew fair - Some prisoner had to swing. - - Right in we went, with soul intent - On Death and Dread and Doom: - The hangman, with his little bag, - Went shuffling through the gloom: - And each man trembled as he crept - Into his numbered tomb. - - That night the empty corridors - Were full of forms of Fear, - And up and down the iron town - Stole feet we could not hear, - And through the bars that hide the stars - White faces seemed to peer.... - - We were as men who through a fen - Of filthy darkness grope: - We did not dare to breathe a prayer, - Or to give our anguish scope: - Something was dead in each of us, - And what was dead was Hope. - - For Man's grim Justice goes its way, - And will not swerve aside: - It slays the weak, it slays the strong, - It has a deadly stride: - With iron heel it slays the strong, - The monstrous parricide - - We waited for the stroke of eight: - Each tongue was thick with thirst: - For the stroke of eight is the stroke of Fate - That makes a man accursed, - And Fate will use a running noose - For the best man and the worst - - We had no other thing to do, - Save to wait for the sign to come: - So, like things of stone in a valley lone, - Quiet we sat and dumb: - But each man's heart beat thick and quick - Like a madman on a drum! - - With sudden shock the prison-clock - Smote on the shivering air, - And from all the gaol rose up a wail - Of impotent despair, - Like the sound that frightened marshes hear - From some leper in his lair. - - And as one sees most fearful things - In the crystal of a dream, - We saw the greasy hempen rope - Hooked to the blackened beam, - And heard the prayer the hangman's snare - Strangled into a scream. - - And all the woe that moved him so - That he gave that bitter cry, - And the wild regrets, and the bloody sweats, - None knew so well as I: - For he who lives more lives than one - More deaths than one must die. - - There is no chapel on the day - On which they hang a man: - The Chaplain's heart is far too sick, - Or his face is far too wan, - Or there is that written in his eyes - Which none should look upon. - - So they kept us close till nigh on noon, - And then they rang the bell, - And the Warders with their jingling keys - Opened each listening cell, - And down the iron stairs we tramped, - Each from his separate Hell. - - Out into God's sweet air we went, - But not in wonted way, - For this man's face was white with fear, - And that man's face was grey, - And I never saw sad men who looked - So wistfully at the day. - - I never saw sad men who looked - With such a wistful eye - Upon that little tent of blue - We prisoners call the sky, - And at every careless cloud that passed - In happy freedom by.... - - The Warders strutted up and down, - And kept their herd of brutes, - Their uniforms were spick and span, - And they were their Sunday suits, - But we knew the work they had been at - By the quicklime on their boots. - - For where a grave had opened wide - There was no grave at all: - Only a stretch of mud and sand - By the hideous prison-wall, - And a little heap of burning lime, - That the man should have his pall. - - For he has a pall, this wretched man, - Such as few men can claim; - Deep down below a prison-yard, - Naked for greater shame, - He lies, with fetters on each foot, - Wrapt in a sheet of flame!... - - I know not whether Laws be right, - Or whether Laws be wrong; - All that we know who lie in jail - Is that the wall is strong; - And that each day is like a year, - A year whose days are long. - - But this I know, that every Law - That men have made for Man, - Since first Man took his brother's life, - And the sad world began, - But straws the wheat and saves the chaff - With a most evil fan. - - This too I know--and wise it were - If each could know the same-- - That every prison that men build - Is built with bricks of shame, - And bound with bars lest Christ should see - How men their brothers maim. - - With bars they blur the gracious moon, - And blind the goodly sun: - And they do well to hide their Hell, - For in it things are done - That Son of God nor son of Man - Ever should look upon! - - The vilest deeds like poison weeds - Bloom well in prison-air: - It is only what is good in Man - That wastes and withers there: - Pale Anguish keeps the heavy gate, - And the Warder is Despair. - - For they starve the little frightened child - Till it weeps both night and day: - And they scourge the weak, and flog the fool, - And gibe the old and grey, - And some grow mad, and all grow bad, - And none a word may say. - - -The Punishment of Thieves - -(_From "Utopia"_) - -BY SIR THOMAS MORE - -(One of the great classic Utopias, written by the English -statesman, 1478-1535; executed upon Tower Hill, for opposing -the will of King Henry VIII) - -In this poynte, not you onlye, but also the most part of the -world, be like evyll scholemaisters, which be readyer to -beate, than to teache, their scholers. For great and horrible -punishmentes be appointed for theves, whereas much rather -provision should have ben made, that there were some meanes, -whereby they myght get their livyng, so that no man shoulde be -dryven to this extreme necessitie, firste to steale, and then -to dye. - - -The Turn of the Balance[A] - -[A] Copyright, 1907. Used by special permission of the -publishers, Bobbs-Merrill Co. - -BY BRAND WHITLOCK - - (American novelist and reformer, born 1869; for many years mayor of - Toledo, Ohio, and now Minister to Belgium. The present novel is the - life-story of Archie Koerner, a boy of the tenements, who is driven to - crime by the evil forces of society) - -"All ready, Archie." - -Jimmy Ball touched him on the shoulder. He glanced toward the -open grated door, thence across the flagging to the other door, -and tried to take a step. Out there he could see one or two -faces thrust forward suddenly; they peered in, then hastily -withdrew. He tried again to take a step, but one leg had gone -to sleep, it prickled, and as he bore his weight upon it, -it seemed to swell suddenly to elephantine proportions. And -he seemed to have no knees at all; if he stood up he would -collapse. How was he ever to walk that distance? - -"Here!" said Ball. "Get on that other side of him, Warden." - -Then they started. The Reverend Mr. Hoerr, waiting by the door, -had begun to read something in a strange, unnatural voice, out -of a little red book he held at his breast in both his hands. - -"Good-by, Archie!" they called from behind, and he turned, -swayed a little, and looked back over his shoulder. - -"Good-by, boys," he said. He had a glimpse of their faces; they -looked gray and ugly, worse even than they had that evening--or -was it that evening when with sudden fear he had seen them -crouching there behind him? - -Perhaps just at the last minute the governor would change -his mind. They were walking the long way to the door, six -yards off. The flagging was cold to his bare feet; his slit -trouser-legs flapped miserably, revealing his white calves. -Walking had suddenly become laborious; he had to lift each leg -separately and manage it; he walked much as that man in the -rear rank of Company 21 walked. He would have liked to stop and -rest an instant, but Ball and the warden walked beside him, -urged him resistlessly along, each gripping him at the wrist -and upper arm. - -In the room outside, Archie recognized the reporters standing -in the sawdust. What they were to write that night would be -in the newspapers the next morning, but he would not read it. -He heard Beck lock the door of the death chamber, locking it -hurriedly, so that he could be in time to look on. Archie had -no friend in the group of men that waited in silence, glancing -curiously at him, their faces white as the whitewashed wall. -The doctors held their watches in their hands. And there before -him was the chair, its oil-cloth cover now removed, its cane -bottom exposed. But he would have to step up on the little -platform to get to it. - -"No--yes, there you are, Archie, my boy!" whispered Ball. -"There!" - -He was in it, at last. He leaned back; then, as his back -touched the back of the chair, he started violently. But there -were hands on his shoulders pressing him down, until he could -feel his back touch the chair from his shoulders down to the -very end of his spine. Some one had seized his legs, turned -back the slit trousers from his calves. - -"Be quick!" he heard the warden say in a scared voice. He was -at his right where the switch and the indicator were. - -There were hands, too, at his head, at his arms--hands all -over him. He took one last look. Had the governor--? Then -the leather mask was strapped over his eyes and it was dark. -He could only feel and hear now--feel the cold metal on his -legs, feel the moist sponge on the top of his head where the -barber had shaved him, feel the leather straps binding his legs -and arms to the legs and the arms of the chair, binding them -tightly, so that they gave him pain, and he could not move. -Helpless he lay there, and waited. He heard the loud ticking -of a watch; then on the other side of him the loud ticking of -another watch; fingers were at his wrists. There was no sound -but the mumble of Mr. Hoerr's voice. Then some one said: - -"All ready." - -He waited a second, or an age, then, suddenly, it seemed as -if he must leap from the chair, his body was swelling to -some monstrous, impossible, unhuman shape; his muscles were -stretched, millions of hot and dreadful needles were piercing -and pricking him, a stupendous roaring was in his ears, then a -million colors, colors he had never seen or imagined before, -colors beyond the range of the spectra, new, undiscovered, -summoned by some mysterious agency from distant corners of the -universe, played before his eyes. Suddenly they were shattered -by a terrific explosion in his brain--then darkness. - -But no, there was still sensation; a dull purple color slowly -spread before him, gradually grew lighter, expanded, and -with a mighty pain he struggled, groping his way in torture -and torment over fearful obstacles from some far distance, -remote as black stars in the cold abyss of the universe; he -struggled back to life--then an appalling confusion, a grasp at -consciousness; he heard the ticking of the two watches--then, -through his brain there slowly trickled a thread of thought -that squirmed and glowed like a white-hot wire.... - -A faint groan escaped the pale lips below the black leather -mask, a tremor ran through the form in the chair, then it -relaxed and was still. - -"It's all over." The doctor, lifting his fingers from Archie's -wrist, tried to smile, and wiped the perspiration from his face -with a handkerchief. - -Some one flung up a window, and a draught of cool air -sucked through the room. On the draught was borne from the -death-chamber the stale odor of Russian cigarettes. And then -a demoniacal roar shook the cell-house. The convicts had been -awake. - - -The Police-Court Reporter - -(_From "Midstream"_) - -BY WILL LEVINGTON COMFORT - -(American novelist and war-correspondent, born 1878) - -When I think of prisons; of the men who send other men there; -of chairs of death and hangings, and of all that bring these -things about--it comes to me that the City is organized hell; -that there is no end to our cruelty and stupidity. I bought -from door to door in city streets the stuff that makes murder; -I sat in the forenoon under the corrective forces, which were -quite as blindly stupid and cruel. - -The women I passed in the night, appeared often in the morning. -I talked to them in the nights, and heard them weep in the -days; I saw them in the nights with the men who judged them -in the days. Out of all that evil, there was no voice; out of -all the corrective force there was no voice. The City covered -us all. I was one and the other. The women thought themselves -beasts; the men thought themselves men--and, voiceless between -them, the City stood. - -The most tragic sentence I ever heard, was from the lips -of one of these women.... I talked with her through the -night. She called it her work; she had an ideal about her -work. Every turning in her life had been man-directed. She -confessed that she had begun with an unabatable passion; that -men had found her sensuousness very attractive when it was -fresh. She had preserved a certain sweetness; through such -stresses that the upper world would never credit. Thousands -of men had come to her; all perversions, all obsessions, all -madness, and drunkenness, to her alone in this little room. -She told of nights when twenty came. Yet there was something -inextinguishable about her--something patient and optimistic. -In the midst of it all, it was like a little girl speaking: - -"_I wake up in the morning, and find a man beside me. I am -always frightened, even yet,--until I remember. I remember -who I am and what I am.... Then I try to think what he is -like--what his companions called him--what he said to me. I try -to remember how he looked--because you know in the morning, his -face is always turned away._" - -Does it help you to see that we are all one?... Yet I couldn't -have seen then, trained by men and the City. I belonged to the -ranks of the corrective forces in the eyes of the City--and -she, to the destructive.... She would have gone to the pen, I -sitting opposite waiting for something more important to make -a news bulletin.... From the City's point of view, I was at -large, safe and sane.... - -The extreme seriousness with which men regard themselves as -municipal correctives--as soldiers, lovers, monopolists--has -risen for me into one of the most remarkable facts of life. - - -The Straight Road - -BY PAUL HANNA - -(Contemporary American poet) - - They got y', kid: they got y'--just like I said they would. - You tried to walk the narrow path, - You tried, and got an awful laugh; - And laughs are all y' did get, kid--they got y' good! - - They never knew the little kid--the kid I used to know; - The little bare-legged girl back home, - The little kid that played alone-- - They don't know half the things I know, kid, ain't it so? - - They got y', kid, they got y'--you know they got y' right; - They waited till they saw y' limp, - Then introduced y' to the pimp-- - Ah, you were down then, kid, and couldn't fight! - - I guess y' know what some don't know, and others know damn well-- - That sweatshops don't grow angels' wings, - That workin' girls is easy things, - And poverty's the straightest road t' Hell! - - -The "Cadet" - -(_From "The House of Bondage"_) - -BY REGINALD WRIGHT KAUFFMAN - -(See page 53) - -Wherever there is squalor seeking ease, he is there. Wherever -there is distress crying for succor, discontent complaining for -relief, weariness sighing for rest, there is this missionary, -offering the quack salvation of his temporal church. He knows -and takes subtle advantage of the Jewish sisters sent to work -for the education of Jewish brothers; the Irish, the Germans, -the Russians, and the Syrians ground in one or another economic -mill; the restless neurotic native daughters untrained for work -and spoiled for play. He is at the door of the factory when -it releases its white-faced women for a breath of night air; -he is at the cheap lunch-room where the stenographers bolt -unwholesome noonday food handed about by underpaid waitresses; -he lurks around the corner for the servant and the shop-clerk. -He remembers that these are girls too tired to do household -work in their evenings, too untaught to find continued solace -in books; that they must go out, that they must move about; -and so he passes his own nights at the restaurants and -theaters, the moving-picture shows, the dancing academies, -the dance-halls. He may go into those stifling rooms where -immigrants, long before they learn to make a half-complete -sentence of what they call the American language, learn what -they are told are American dances: the whirling "spiel" with -blowing skirts, the "half-time waltz" with jerking hips. He may -frequent the more sophisticated forms of these places, may even -be seen in the more expensive cafés, or may journey into the -provinces. But he scents poverty from afar. - - -The Priestess of Humanity - -(_From "A History of European Morals"_) - -BY WILLIAM E. H. LECKY - -(English historian and philosopher, 1838-1903. The following -much quoted passage may be said to represent the Victorian view -of its subject) - -Under these circumstances, there has arisen in society a figure -which is certainly the most mournful, and in some respects -the most awful, upon which the eye of the moralist can dwell. -That unhappy being whose very name is a shame to speak; who -counterfeits with a cold heart the transports of affection, -and submits herself as the passive instrument of lust; who is -scorned and insulted as the vilest of her sex, and doomed, for -the most part, to disease and abject wretchedness and an early -death, appears in every age as the perpetual symbol of the -degradation and sinfulness of man. Herself the supreme type of -vice, she is ultimately the most efficient guardian of virtue. -But for her, the unchallenged purity of countless happy homes -would be polluted, and not a few who, in the pride of their -untempted chastity, think of her with an indignant shudder, -would have known the agony of remorse and despair. On that one -degraded and ignoble form are concentrated the passions that -might have filled the world with shame. She remains, while -creeds and civilizations rise and fall, the eternal priestess -of humanity, blasted for the sins of the people. - - -Sisterhood - -BY MARY CRAIG SINCLAIR - -(Contemporary American writer) - - Last night I woke, and in my tranquil bed - I lay, and thanked my God with fervent prayer - That I had food and warmth, a cosy chair - Beside a jolly fire, and roses red - To give my room a touch of light and grace. - And I thanked God, oh thanked Him! that my face - Was beautiful, that it was fair to men: - I thought awhile, then thanked my God again. - For yesterday, on Broadway I had walked, - And I had stopped to watch them as they stalked - Their prey; and I was glad I had no sons - To look with me upon those woeful ones-- - Paint on their lips, and from a corpse their hair, - And eyes of simulated lust, astare! - - -The Woman of the Streets - -BY ROBERT BLATCHFORD - -(See pages 66, 121) - -Consider now the outcast Jezebel of the London pavement. Fierce -and cunning, and false and vile. Ghastly of visage under her -paint and grease. A creature debased below the level of the -brute, with the hate of a devil in her soul and the fire of -hell in her eyes. Lewd of gesture, strident of voice, wanton -of gaze, using language so foul as to shock the pot-house -ruffian, and laughter whose sound makes the blood run cold. A -dreadful spectre, shameless, heartless, reckless, and horrible. -A creature whose touch is contamination, whose words burn like -a flame, whose leers and ogles make the soul sick. A creature -living in drunkenness and filth. A moral blight. A beast of -prey who has cast down many wounded, whose victims fill the -lunatic ward and the morgue; a thief, a liar, a hopeless, lost, -degraded wretch, of whom it has been well said, "Her feet take -hold of hell; her house is the way to the grave, going down to -the chamber of death." - - -In the Strand - -BY ARTHUR SYMONS - -(English poet and critic, born 1865) - - With eyes and hands and voice convulsively - She craves the bestial wages. In her face - What now is left of woman? whose lost place - Is filled with greed's last eating agony. - She lives to be rejected and abhorred, - Like a dread thing forgotten. One by one - She hails the passers, whispers blindly; none - Heeds now the voice that had not once implored - Those alms in vain. The hour has struck for her, - And now damnation is scarce possible - Here on the earth; it waits for her in hell. - God! to be spurned of the last wayfarer - That haunts a dark street after midnight! Now - Shame's last disgrace is hot upon her brow. - - -The Bridge of Sighs - -BY THOMAS HOOD - -(See page 59) - - One more Unfortunate - Weary of breath, - Rashly importunate, - Gone to her death! - - Take her up tenderly, - Lift her with care; - Fashion'd so slenderly, - Young, and so fair! - - Look at her garments - Clinging like cerements; - Whilst the wave constantly - Drips from her clothing; - Take her up instantly, - Loving, not loathing. - - Touch her not scornfully; - Think of her mournfully, - Gently and humanly; - Not of the stains of her-- - All that remains of her - Now is pure womanly. - - Make no deep scrutiny - Into her mutiny - Rash and undutiful: - Past all dishonor, - Death has left on her - Only the beautiful. - - Still, for all slips of hers, - One of Eve's family-- - Wipe those poor lips of hers - Oozing so clammily. - - Loop up her tresses - Escaped from the comb, - Her fair auburn tresses; - Whilst wonderment guesses - Where was her home? - - Who was her father? - Who was her mother? - Had she a sister? - Had she a brother? - Or was there a dearer one - Still, and a nearer one - Yet, than all other? - - Alas! for the rarity - Of Christian charity - Under the sun! - O! it was pitiful! - Near a whole city full, - Home she had none. - - Sisterly, brotherly, - Fatherly, motherly, - Feelings had changed; - Love, by harsh evidence, - Thrown from its eminence; - Even God's providence - Seeming estranged. - - Where the lamps quiver - So far in the river, - With many a light - From window and casement, - From garret to basement, - She stood, with amazement, - Houseless by night. - - The bleak wind of March - Made her tremble and shiver; - But not the dark arch, - Or the black flowing river: - Mad from life's history, - Glad to death's mystery - Swift to be hurl'd-- - Anywhere, anywhere - Out of the world! - - In she plunged boldly, - No matter how coldly - The rough river ran; - Over the brink of it,-- - Picture it, think of it, - Dissolute Man! - Lave in it, drink of it - Then, if you can! - - Take her up tenderly, - Lift her with care; - Fashion'd so slenderly, - Young, and so fair! - - Ere her limbs frigidly - Stiffen too rigidly, - Decently, kindly, - Smooth and compose them; - And her eyes, close them, - Staring so blindly! - - Dreadfully staring - Thro' muddy impurity, - As when with the daring - Last look of despairing - Fix'd on futurity. - - Perishing gloomily, - Spurr'd by contumely, - Cold inhumanity, - Burning insanity, - Into her rest. - --Cross her hands humbly - As if praying dumbly, - Over her breast! - - Owning her weakness, - Her evil behavior, - And leaving, with meekness, - Her sins to her Saviour! - - - - -BOOK IV - -_Out of the Depths_ - -The protest of the soul of man confronted with injustice and -groping for a remedy. - - -The People's Anthem - -BY EBENEZER ELLIOTT - -(One of the leaders of the Chartist movement in England, -1781-1849; known as the "Poet of the People," and by his -enemies as the "Corn-law Rhymer") - - - When wilt thou save the people? - O God of mercy! when? - Not kings and lords, but nations! - Not thrones and crowns, but men! - Flowers of thy heart, O God, are they! - Let them not pass, like weeds, away! - Their heritage a sunless day! - God save the people! - - Shall crime bring crime for ever, - Strength aiding still the strong? - Is it thy will, O Father! - That man shall toil for wrong? - "No!" say thy mountains; "No!" thy skies; - "Man's clouded sun shall brightly rise, - And songs be heard instead of sighs." - God save the people! - - When wilt thou save the people? - O God of mercy! when? - The people, Lord! the people! - Not thrones and crowns, but men! - God save the people! thine they are; - Thy children, as thy angels fair; - Save them from bondage and despair! - God save the people! - - -A Hymn - -BY GILBERT K. CHESTERTON - -(English essayist and poet, born 1874) - - O God of earth and altar - Bow down and hear our cry, - Our earthly rulers falter, - Our people drift and die; - The walls of gold entomb us, - The swords of scorn divide, - Take not Thy thunder from us, - But take away our pride. - - From all that terror teaches, - From lies of tongue and pen, - From all the easy speeches - That comfort cruel men, - From sale and profanation - Of honor and the sword, - From sleep and from damnation, - Deliver us, good Lord. - - Tie in a living tether - The priest and prince and thrall, - Bind all our lives together, - Smite us and save us all; - In ire and exultation - Aflame with faith, and free, - Lift up a living nation, - A single sword to Thee. - - -The World's Way - -BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE - -(One of the series of sonnets in which the English dramatist, -1564-1616, voiced his inmost soul) - - Tired with all these, for restful death I cry-- - As, to behold desert a beggar born, - And needy nothing trimm'd in jollity, - And purest faith unhappily forsworn, - - And gilded honor shamefully misplaced, - And maiden virtue rudely strumpeted, - And right perfection wrongfully disgraced, - And strength by limping sway disablèd, - - And art made tongue-tied by authority, - And folly, doctor-like, controlling skill, - And simple truth miscall'd simplicity, - And captive Good attending captain Ill:-- - - Tired with all these, from these would I be gone, - Save that, to die, I leave my Love alone. - - -Written in London, September, 1802 - -BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH - -(One of the great sonnets of England's poet of nature; -1770-1850. Poet laureate in 1843) - - O friend! I know not which way I must look - For comfort, being, as I am, opprest - To think that now our life is only drest - For show; mean handy-work of craftsman, cook, - Or groom!--We must run glittering like a brook - In the open sunshine, or we are unblest; - The wealthiest man among us is the best; - No grandeur now in nature or in book - Delights us. Rapine, avarice, expense, - This is idolatry; and these we adore; - Plain living and high thinking are no more: - The homely beauty of the good old cause - Is gone; our peace, our fearful innocence, - And pure religion breathing household laws. - - -The Preface to "Les Miserables" - -BY VICTOR HUGO - -(The poet and humanitarian of France, 1802-1885, has in this -passage set forth the purpose of one of the half-dozen greatest -novels of the world) - -So long as there shall exist, by reason of law and custom, -a social condemnation, which, in the face of civilization, -artificially creates hells on earth, and complicates a destiny -that is divine, with human fatality; so long as the three -problems of the age--the degradation of man by poverty, the -ruin of women by starvation, and the dwarfing of childhood by -physical and spiritual night--are not solved; so long as, in -certain regions, social asphyxia shall be possible; in other -words, and from a yet more extended point of view, so long as -ignorance and misery remain on earth, books like this cannot be -useless. - - -Bound - -BY MAY BEALS - -(Contemporary American writer and lecturer) - - Sometimes I feel the tide of life in me - Flood upward, high and higher, till I stand - Tiptoe, aflame with energy, a god, - Young, virile, glorying in my youth and power. - But not for long; the grip of poverty - Seizes me, sets my daily task; the eyes - Of those I love, looking to me for bread - Pierce me like eagles' beaks through very love. - - I am Prometheus bound; these cares and fears - Tear at my vitals, leave me broken, spent. - - And unavailingly 'tis spent, my life, - My wondrous life, so pregnant with rich powers. - That stuff in me from which heroic deeds, - Great thoughts and noble poems might be made - Is wrenched from me, is coined in wealth, and spent - By others; save that I and mine receive - A mere existence, bare of hope and joy, - Bare even of comfort. - - Comrades, stretched and bound - In agony on labor's rock, we live-- - And die--to fatten vultures! - - -To a Foil'd European Revolutionaire - -BY WALT WHITMAN - - (America's most original and creative poet, 1819-1892; printer and - journalist, during the war an army nurse, and later a government - clerk, discharged for publishing what his superiors considered an - "indecent" book) - - Not songs of loyalty alone are these, - But songs of insurrection also; - For I am the sworn poet of every dauntless rebel, the world over, - And he going with me leaves peace and routine behind him, - And stakes his life, to be lost at any moment.... - - When liberty goes out of a place, it is not the first to go, -nor the second or third to go, - It waits for all the rest to go--it is the last. - When there are no more memories of martyrs and heroes, - And when all life, and all the souls of men and women are -discharged from any part of the earth, - Then only shall liberty, or the idea of liberty, be discharged -from that part of the earth, - - And the infidel come into full possession. - - -Chants Communal - -BY HORACE TRAUBEL - -(American poet and editor, born 1858; disciple and biographer -of Walt Whitman) - -You will long resist me. You will deceive yourself with initial -victories. You will find me weak. You will count me only one -against a million. You will see the world seem to go on just -as it is. One day confirming another. Presidents succeeding -Presidents in unvarying mediocrity. Millionaires dead reborn -in millionaire children. Starvation handing starvation on. -The people innocently played against the people. Demand and -supply cohabited for the production of a blind progeny. The -landlord suborning the land. The moneylord suborning money. The -storelord suborning production. All will seem to go on just as -it is. And you who resist me will be fooled. You will say the -universe is against me. You will say I am cursed. Or you will -in your tenderer moments ask: What's the use? But all this -time I will be keeping on. Doing nothing unusual. Only keeping -on. Asleep or awake, keeping on. Compelled to say the say of -justice all by myself. Willing to wait until you are shaken up -and convinced. Until you will say it to yourself. And say it to -yourself you will. - -There are things ahead that will stir you out of your -indifference or lethargy or doubt. Give you an immortal -awakening. So you will never sleep again. I do not know just -what it will be. But something. And you will know it when it -comes. And then you will understand why I am calm. Why I am -not worried by delay. Why I am not defeated by postponements. -Why all the big things that seem to be against me do not seem -to worry the one little thing that is for me. Why my faith -maintains itself against your property. Why my soul maintains -itself against injustice. Why I am willing to say words that -are thought personally unkind for the sake of a result that is -universally sweet. Why I look in your face and see you long -before you are able to see yourself. Why you with all your -fortified rights doubt and despair. Why I without any right -at all am cheerful and confident. Why you tremble when one -little man with one little voice asks you a question. Why I -do not tremble with all the states and churches and political -economies at my heels. - - -These Populations - -(_From "Towards Democracy"_) - -BY EDWARD CARPENTER - -(English poet and philosopher, born 1844; disciple of Walt -Whitman) - -These populations-- - -So puny, white-faced, machine-made, - -Turned out by factories, out of offices, out of drawing-rooms, -by thousands all alike-- - -Huddled, stitched up, in clothes, fearing a chill, a drop -of rain, looking timidly at the sea and sky as at strange -monsters, or running back so quick to their suburban runs and -burrows, - -Dapper, libidinous, cute, with washed-out small eyes-- - -What are these? - -Are they men and women? - -Each denying himself, hiding himself? - -Are they men and women? - -So timorous, like hares--a breath of propriety or custom, a -draught of wind, the mere threat of pain or of danger? - - * * * * * - -O for a breath of the sea and the great mountains! - -A bronzed hardy live man walking his way through it all; - -Thousands of men companioning the waves and the storms, -splendid in health, naked-breasted, catching the lion with -their hands; - -A thousand women swift-footed and free--owners of themselves, -forgetful of themselves; in all their actions--full of joy and -laughter and action; - -Garbed not so differently from the men, joining with them in -their games and sports, sharing also their labors; - -Free to hold their own, to grant or withhold their love, the -same as the men; - -Strong, well-equipped in muscle and skill, clear of finesse and -affectation-- - -(The men, too, clear of much brutality and conceit)-- - -Comrades together, equal in intelligence and adventure, - -Trusting without concealment, loving without shame but with -discrimination and continence towards a perfect passion. - - * * * * * - -O for a breath of the sea! - -The necessity and directness of the great elements themselves! - -Swimming the rivers, braving the sun, the cold, taming the -animals and the earth, conquering the air with wings, and each -other with love-- - -The true, the human society! - - -The Ship of Humanity - -(_From "Gloucester Moors"_) - -BY WILLIAM VAUGHN MOODY - -(American poet and dramatist, 1869-1910) - - God, dear God! Does she know her port, - Though she goes so far about? - Or blind astray, does she make her sport - To brazen and chance it out? - I watched when her captains passed: - She were better captainless. - Men in the cabin, before the mast, - But some were reckless and some aghast, - And some sat gorged at mess. - - By her battened hatch I leaned and caught - Sounds from the noisome hold,-- - Cursing and sighing of souls distraught - And cries too sad to be told. - Then I strove to go down and see; - But they said, "Thou art not of us!" - I turned to those on the deck with me - And cried, "Give help!" But they said, "Let be: - Our ship sails faster thus." - - Jill-o'er-the-ground is purple blue, - Blue is the quaker-maid, - The alder-clump where the brook comes through - Breeds cresses in its shade. - To be out of the moiling street, - With its swelter and its sin! - Who has given to me this sweet, - And given my brother dust to eat? - And when will his wage come in? - - -Freedom - -BY JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL - - (American scholar and poet, 1819-1891, author of many impassioned - poems of human freedom. An ardent anti-slavery advocate, it was said - during the Civil War that his poetry was worth an army corps to the - Union) - - Men! whose boast it is that ye - Come of fathers brave and free, - If there breathe on earth a slave, - Are ye truly free and brave? - If ye do not feel the chain - When it works a brother's pain, - Are ye not base slaves indeed, - Slaves unworthy to be freed? - - Is true Freedom but to break - Fetters for our own dear sake, - And, with leathern hearts, forget - That we owe mankind a debt? - No! True Freedom is to share - All the chains our brothers wear, - And, with heart and hand, to be - Earnest to make others free! - - They are slaves who fear to speak - For the fallen and the weak; - They are slaves who will not choose - Hatred, scoffing and abuse, - Rather than in silence shrink - From the truth they needs must think: - They are slaves who dare not be - In the right with two or three. - - -Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard - -BY THOMAS GRAY - - (English poet and scholar, 1716-1771; Cambridge professor. It is said - that Major Wolfe, while sitting in a row-boat on his way to the night - attack upon Quebec, remarked that he would rather have been the author - of this poem than the taker of the city) - - Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield, - Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke; - How jocund did they drive their team afield! - How bow'd the woods beneath their sturdy stroke! - - Let not Ambition mock their useful toil, - Their homely joys, and destiny obscure; - Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile - The short and simple annals of the Poor. - - The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, - And all that beauty, all that wealth, e'er gave - Await alike th' inevitable hour:-- - The paths of glory lead but to the grave.... - - Can storied urn, or animated bust, - Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath? - Can honor's voice provoke the silent dust, - Or flattery soothe the dull cold ear of death? - - Perhaps in this neglected spot is laid - Some heart once pregnant with celestial fire; - Hands, that the rod of empire might have swayed, - Or waked to ecstasy the living lyre; - - But knowledge to their eyes her ample page, - Rich with the spoils of time, did ne'er unroll; - Chill penury repressed their noble rage, - And froze the genial current of the soul. - - Full many a gem of purest ray serene - The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear; - Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, - And waste its sweetness on the desert air. - - Some village Hampden, that, with dauntless breast, - The little tyrant of his fields withstood, - Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest, - Some Cromwell guiltless of his country's blood. - - The applause of listening senates to command, - The threats of pain and ruin to despise, - To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land, - And read their history in a nation's eyes, - - Their lot forbade: nor circumscribed alone - Their growing virtues, but their crimes confined; - Forbade to wade through slaughter to a throne, - And shut the gates of mercy on mankind; - - The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide, - To quench the blushes of ingenuous shame, - Or heap the shrine of luxury and pride - With incense kindled at the Muse's flame. - - Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife, - Their sober wishes never learned to stray; - Along the cool sequestered vale of life - They kept the noiseless tenor of their way. - - -The Land Question - -BY CARDINAL MANNING - -(English prelate of the Catholic Church, 1808-1892) - -The land question means hunger, thirst, nakedness, notice to -quit, labor spent in vain, the toil of years seized upon, the -breaking up of homes; the misery, sickness, deaths of parents, -children, wives; the despair and wildness which springs up in -the hearts of the poor, when legal force, like a sharp harrow, -goes over the most sensitive and vital rights of mankind. All -this is contained in the land question. - - -The Lady Poverty - -BY JACOB FISHER - -(Contemporary American poet) - - I met her on the Umbrian Hills, - Her hair unbound, her feet unshod; - As one whom secret glory fills - She walked alone--with God. - - I met her in the city street; - Oh, changed her aspect then! - With heavy eyes and weary feet - She walked alone--with men. - - -Preface to "Major Barbara" - -BY G. BERNARD SHAW - -(Irish dramatist and critic, born 1856; recognized as one of -the world's most brilliant advocates of Socialism) - -The thoughtless wickedness with which we scatter sentences of -imprisonment, torture in the solitary cell and on the plank -bed, and flogging, on moral invalids and energetic rebels, is -as nothing compared to the stupid levity with which we tolerate -poverty as if it were either a wholesome tonic for lazy people -or else a virtue to be embraced as St. Francis embraced it. -If a man is indolent, let him be poor. If he is drunken, let -him be poor. If he is not a gentleman, let him be poor. If he -is addicted to the fine arts or to pure science instead of to -trade and finance, let him be poor. If he chooses to spend his -urban eighteen shillings a week or his agricultural thirteen -shillings a week on his beer and his family instead of saving -it up for his old age, let him be poor. Let nothing be done -for "the undeserving": let him be poor. Serves him right! -Also--somewhat inconsistently--blessed are the poor! - -Now what does this Let Him Be Poor mean? It means let him be -weak. Let him be ignorant. Let him become a nucleus of disease. -Let him be a standing exhibition and example of ugliness and -dirt. Let him have rickety children. Let him be cheap and let -him drag his fellows down to his price by selling himself to do -their work. Let his habitations turn our cities into poisonous -congeries of slums. Let his daughters infect our young men with -the diseases of the streets and his sons revenge him by turning -the nation's manhood into scrofula, cowardice, cruelty, -hypocrisy, political imbecility, and all the other fruits of -oppression and malnutrition. Let the undeserving become still -less deserving; and let the deserving lay up for himself, not -treasures in heaven, but horrors in hell upon earth. This being -so, is it really wise to let him be poor? Would he not do ten -times less harm as a prosperous burglar, incendiary, ravisher, -or murderer, to the utmost limits of humanity's comparatively -negligible impulses in these directions? Suppose we were to -abolish all penalties for such activities, and decide that -poverty is the one thing we will not tolerate--that every adult -with less than, say, £365 a year, shall be painlessly but -inexorably killed, and every hungry half naked child forcibly -fattened and clothed, would not that be an enormous improvement -on our existing system, which has already destroyed so many -civilizations, and is visibly destroying ours in the same way? - - -The Jungle - -BY UPTON SINCLAIR - -(See pages 43, 143) - -Now the dreadful winter was come upon them. In the forests, -all summer long, the branches of the trees do battle for -light, and some of them lose and die; and then come the raging -blasts, and the storms of snow and hail, and strew the ground -with these weaker branches. Just so it was in Packingtown; -the whole district braced itself for the struggle that was an -agony, and those whose time was come died off in hordes. All -the year round they had been serving as cogs in the great -packing-machine; and now was the time for the renovating of -it, and the replacing of damaged parts. There came pneumonia -and grippe, stalking among them, seeking for weakened -constitutions; there was the annual harvest of those whom -tuberculosis had been dragging down. There came cruel cold, and -biting winds, and blizzards of snow, all testing relentlessly -for failing muscles and impoverished blood. Sooner or later -came the day when the unfit one did not report for work; -and then, with no time lost in waiting, and no inquiries or -regrets, there was a chance for a new hand.... - -Home was not a very attractive place--at least not this winter. -They had only been able to buy one stove, and this was a small -one, and proved not big enough to warm even the kitchen in the -bitterest weather. This made it hard for Teta Elzbieta all -day, and for the children when they could not get to school. -At night they would sit huddled around this stove, while they -ate their supper off their laps; and then Jurgis and Jonas -would smoke a pipe, after which they would all crawl into their -beds to get warm, after putting out the fire to save the coal. -Then they would have some frightful experiences with the cold. -They would sleep with all their clothes on, including their -overcoats, and put over them all the bedding and spare clothing -they owned; the children would sleep all crowded into one bed, -and yet even so they could not keep warm. The outside ones -would be shivering and sobbing, crawling over the others and -trying to get down into the center, and causing a fight. This -old house with the leaky weather-boards was a very different -thing from their cabins at home, with great thick walls -plastered inside and outside with mud; and the cold which -came upon them was a living thing, a demon-presence in the -room. They would waken in the midnight hours, when everything -was black; perhaps they would hear it yelling outside, or -perhaps there would be deathlike stillness--and that would be -worse yet. They could feel the cold as it crept in through -the cracks, reaching out for them with its icy, death-dealing -fingers; and they would crouch and cower, and try to hide from -it, all in vain. It would come, and it would come; a grisly -thing, a spectre born in the black caverns of terror; a power -primeval, cosmic, shadowing the tortures of the lost souls -flung out to chaos and destruction. It was cruel, iron-hard; -and hour after hour they would cringe in its grasp, alone, -alone. There would be no one to hear them if they cried out; -there would be no help, no mercy. And so on until morning--when -they would go out to another day of toil, a little weaker, a -little nearer to the time when it would be their turn to be -shaken from the tree. - - -The Sad Sight of the Hungry - -BY LI HUNG CHANG - -(A poem by the Chinese statesman, 1823-1901; known as the -"Bismarck of Asia," and said to have been the richest man in -the world) - - 'Twould please me, gods, if you would spare - Mine eyes from all this hungry stare - That fills the face and eyes of men - Who search for food o'er hill and glen. - - Their eyes are orbs of dullest fire, - As if the flame would mount up higher; - But in the darkness of their glow - We know the fuel's burning low. - - Such looks, O gods, are not from thee! - No, they're the stares of misery! - They speak of hunger's frightful hold - On lips a-dry and stomachs cold. - - "Bread, bread," they cry, these weary men, - With wives and children from the glen! - O, they would toil the live-long day - But for a meal, their lives to stay. - - But where is it in all the land? - Unless the gods with gen'rous hand - Send sweetsome rice and strength'ning corn - To these vast crowds to hunger born! - - -The Right to be Lazy - -BY PAUL LAFARGUE - -(A well-known Socialist writer of France. He and his wife, -finding themselves helpless from old age and penury, committed -suicide together) - -Does any one believe that, because the toilers of the time of -the mediæval guilds worked five days out of seven in a week, -they lived upon air and water only, as the deluding political -economists tell us? Go to! They had leisure to taste of earthly -pleasure, to cherish love, to make and to keep open house in -honor of the great God, _Leisure_. In those days, that morose, -hypocritically Protestant England was called "Merrie England." -Rabelais, Quevedo, Cervantes, the unknown authors of the -spicy novels of those days, make our mouths water with their -descriptions of those enormous feasts, at which the peoples -of that time regaled themselves, and towards which "nothing -was spared." Jordaens and the Dutch school of painters have -portrayed them for us, in their pictures of jovial life. Noble, -giant stomachs, what has become of you? Exalted spirits, ye -who comprehended the whole of human thought, whither are ye -gone? We are thoroughly degenerated and dwarfed. Tubercular -cows, potatoes, wine made with fuchsine, beer from saffron, and -Prussian whiskey in wise conjunction with compulsory labor have -weakened our bodies and dulled our intellects. And at the same -time that mankind ties up its stomach, and the productivity -of the machine goes on increasing day by day, the political -economists wish to preach to us Malthusian doctrine, the -religion of abstinence and the dogma of work! - - -The First Machine - -BY ANTIPAROS - -(Greek, First Century, A. D. The poet celebrates the invention -of the water-mill for grinding corn) - -The goddess has commanded the work of the girls to be done by -the Nymphs; and now these skip lightly over the wheels, so -that the shaken axles revolve with the spokes, and pull around -the load of the revolving stones. Let us live the life of our -fathers, and let us rest from work and enjoy the gifts that the -goddess has sent us! - - -BY JOHN STUART MILL - -(English philosopher, 1806-1873) - -Hitherto, it is questionable if all the mechanical inventions -yet made have lightened the day's toil of any human being. - - -The Man Under the Stone - -(_From "The Man with the Hoe and other Poems"_) - -BY EDWIN MARKHAM - -(See page 27) - - When I see a workingman with mouths to feed, - Up, day after day, in the dark before the dawn, - And coming home, night after night, thro' the dusk, - Swinging forward like some fierce silent animal, - I see a man doomed to roll a huge stone up an endless steep. - He strains it onward inch by stubborn inch, - Crouched always in the shadow of the rock.... - See where he crouches, twisted, cramped, misshapen! - He lifts for their life; - The veins knot and darken-- - Blood surges into his face.... - Now he loses--now he wins-- - Now he loses--loses--(God of my soul!) - He digs his feet into the earth-- - There's a movement of terrified effort.... - It stirs--it moves! - Will the huge stone break his hold - And crush him as it plunges to the Gulf? - - The silent struggle goes on and on, - Like two contending in a dream. - - -BY BOETHIUS - -(Roman philosopher, 470-524) - -Though the goddess of riches should bestow as much as the sand -rolled by the wind-tossed sea, or as many as the stars that -shine, the human race will not cease to wail. - -[Illustration: COLD - -ROGER BLOCHE (_French sculptor; from the Luxembourg Museum_)] - -[Illustration: THE PEOPLE MOURN - -JULES PIERRE VAN BIESBROECK - -(_Sculptor of the Belgian Socialist and co-operative movements; -born 1873_)] - - -The Wolf at the Door - -BY CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN - -(America's most brilliant woman poet and critic; born 1860) - - There's a haunting horror near us - That nothing drives away; - Fierce lamping eyes at nightfall, - A crouching shade by day; - There's a whining at the threshold, - There's a scratching at the floor. - To work! To work! In Heaven's name! - The wolf is at the door! - - The day was long, the night was short, - The bed was hard and cold; - Still weary are the little ones, - Still weary are the old. - We are weary in our cradles - From our mother's toil untold; - We are born to hoarded weariness - As some to hoarded gold. - - We will not rise! We will not work! - Nothing the day can give - Is half so sweet as an hour of sleep; - Better to sleep than live! - What power can stir these heavy limbs? - What hope these dull hearts swell? - What fear more cold, what pain more sharp - Than the life we know so well?... - - The slow, relentless, padding step - That never goes astray-- - The rustle in the underbrush-- - The shadow in the way-- - The straining flight--the long pursuit-- - The steady gain behind-- - Death-wearied man and tireless brute, - And the struggle wild and blind! - - There's a hot breath at the keyhole - And a tearing as of teeth! - Well do I know the bloodshot eyes - And the dripping jaws beneath! - There's a whining at the threshold-- - There's a scratching at the floor-- - To work! To work! In Heaven's name! - The wolf is at the door! - - -BY ROBERT HERRICK - -(Old English lyric poet, 1591-1674) - - To mortal man great loads allotted be; - But of all packs, no pack like poverty. - - -Each Against All - -BY CHARLES FOURIER - -(One of the early French Utopian writers, 1772-1837; author of -a theory of social co-operation which is still known by his -name) - -The present social order is a ridiculous mechanism, in which -portions of the whole are in conflict and acting against the -whole. We see each class in society desire, from interest, -the misfortune of the other classes, placing in every way -individual interest in opposition to public good. The lawyer -wishes litigations and suits, particularly among the rich; -the physician desires sickness. (The latter would be ruined -if everybody died without disease, as would the former if -all quarrels were settled by arbitration.) The soldier wants -a war, which will carry off half his comrades and secure -him promotion; the undertaker wants burials; monopolists -and forestallers want famine, to double or treble the price -of grain; the architect, the carpenter, the mason, want -conflagrations, that will burn down a hundred houses to give -activity to their branches of business. - - -BY MATTHEW ARNOLD - -(English essayist and poet, 1822-1888) - -Our inequality materializes our upper class, vulgarizes our -middle class, brutalizes our lower class. - - -Fomá Gordyéeff - -BY MAXIM GORKY - -(A novel in which the Russian has portrayed the spiritual -agonies of his race. In this scene a poor school-teacher voices -his despair) - -Yozhov drank his tea at one draught, thrust the glass on the -saucer, placed his feet on the edge of the chair, and clasping -his knees in his hands, rested his chin upon them. In this -pose, small sized and flexible as rubber, he began: - -"The student Sachkov, my former teacher, who is now a doctor -of medicine, a whist player and a mean fellow all around, used -to tell me whenever I knew my lesson well: 'You're a fine -fellow, Kolya! You are an able boy. We proletarians, plain and -poor people, coming from the backyard of life, we must study -and study, in order to come to the front, ahead of everybody. -Russia is in need of wise and honest people. Try to be such, -and you will be master of your fate and a useful member of -society. On us commoners rest the best hopes of the country. -We are destined to bring into it light, truth,' and so on. I -believed him, the brute. And since then about twenty years -have elapsed. We proletarians have grown up, but have neither -appropriated any wisdom nor brought light into life. As before, -Russia is suffering from its chronic disease--a superabundance -of rascals; while we, the proletarians, take pleasure in -filling their dense throngs." - -Yozhov's face wrinkled into a bitter grimace, and he began to -laugh noiselessly, with his lips only. "I, and many others -with me, we have robbed ourselves for the sake of saving up -something for life. Desiring to make myself a valuable man, -I have underrated my individuality in every way possible. In -order to study and not die of starvation, I have for six years -in succession taught blockheads how to read and write, and had -to bear a mass of abominations at the hands of various papas -and mammas, who humiliated me without any constraint. Earning -my bread and tea, I could not, I had not the time to earn my -shoes, and I had to turn to charitable institutions with humble -petitions for loans on the strength of my poverty. If the -philanthropists could only reckon up how much of the spirit -they kill in man while supporting the life of his body! If -they only knew that each rouble they give for bread contains -ninety-nine copecks worth of poison for the soul! If they could -only burst from excess of their kindness and pride, which they -draw from their holy activity! There is no one on earth more -disgusting and repulsive than he who gives alms. Even as there -is no one so miserable as he who accepts them." - - -The Sight of Inequality - -(_From "The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe"_) - -BY DANIEL DEFOE - -(English novelist and pamphleteer, 1661-1731; many times -imprisoned for satires upon the authorities) - -I saw the world round me, one part laboring for bread, and -the other part squandering in vile excess or empty pleasures, -equally miserable, because the end they proposed still fled -from them; for the man of pleasure every day surfeited of his -vice, and heaped up work for sorrow and repentance; and the -man of labor spent his strength in daily struggling for bread -to maintain the vital strength he labored with; so living in a -daily circulation of sorrow, living but to work, and working -but to live, as if daily bread were the only end of a wearisome -life, and a wearisome life the only occasion of daily bread. - - -Settlement Work[A] - -[A] By permission of the Macmillan Co. - -(_From "A Man's World"_) - -BY ALBERT EDWARDS - -(Pen-name of Arthur Bullard, American novelist and -war-correspondent) - -After all, what good were these settlement workers doing? Again -and again this question demanded an answer. Sometimes I went -out with Mr. Dawn to help in burying the dead. I could see no -adequate connection between his kindly words to the bereaved -and the hideous dragon of tuberculosis which stalked through -the crowded district. What good did Dawn's ministrations do? -Sometimes I went out with Miss Bronson, the kindergartner, and -listened to her talk to uncomprehending mothers about their -duties to their children. What could Miss Bronson accomplish -by playing a few hours a day with the youngsters who had to -go to filthy homes? They were given a wholesome lunch at the -settlement. But the two other meals a day they must eat poorly -cooked, adulterated food. Sometimes I went out with Miss Cole, -the nurse, to visit her cases. It was hard for me to imagine -anything more futile than her single-handed struggle against -unsanitary tenements and unsanitary shops. - -I remember especially one visit I made with her. It was the -crisis for me. The case was a child-birth. There were six other -children, all in one unventilated room; its single window -looked out on a dark, choked airshaft; and the father was a -drunkard. I remember sitting there, after the doctor had gone, -holding the next youngest baby on my knee, while Miss Cole was -bathing the puny newcomer. - -"Can't you make him stop crying for a minute?" Miss Cole asked -nervously. - -"No," I said with sudden rage. "I can't. I wouldn't if I could. -Why shouldn't he cry? Why don't the other little fools cry? Do -you want them to laugh?" - -She stopped working with the baby and offered me a flask of -brandy from her bag. But brandy was not what I wanted. Of -course I knew men sank to the very dregs. But I had never -realized that some are born there. - -When she had done all she could for the mother and child, Miss -Cole put her things back in the bag and we started home. It was -long after midnight, but the streets were still alive. - -"What good does it do?" I demanded vehemently. "Oh, I know--you -and the doctor saved the mother's life--brought a new one into -the world and all that. But what good does it do? The child -will die--it was a girl--let's get down on our knees right here -and pray the gods that it may die soon--not grow up to want and -fear--and shame." Then I laughed. "No, there's no use praying. -She'll die all right! They'll begin feeding her beer out of -a can before she's weaned. No. Not that. I don't believe the -mother will be able to nurse her. She'll die of skimmed milk. -And if that don't do the trick there's T. B. and several other -things for her to catch. Oh, she'll die all right! And next -year there'll be another. For God's sake, what's the use? What -good does it do?" Abruptly I began to swear. - -"You mustn't talk like that," Miss Cole said in a strained -voice. - -"Why shouldn't I curse?" I said fiercely, turning on her -challengingly, trying to think of some greater blasphemy to -hurl at the muddle of life. But the sight of her face, livid -with weariness, her lips twisting spasmodically from nervous -exhaustion, showed me one reason not to. The realization that I -had been so brutal to her shocked me horribly. - -"Oh, I beg your pardon," I cried. - -She stumbled slightly. I thought she was going to faint and I -put my arm about her to steady her. She was almost old enough -to be my mother, but she put her head on my shoulder and -cried like a little child. We stood there on the sidewalk--in -the glare of a noisy, loathsome saloon--like two frightened -children. I don't think either of us saw any reason to go -anywhere. But we dried our eyes at last and from mere force of -habit walked blindly back to the children's house. On the steps -she broke the long silence. - -"I know how you feel--everyone's like that at first, but you'll -get used to it. I can't tell 'why.' I can't see that it does -much good. But it's got to be done. You mustn't think about it. -There are things to do, today, tomorrow, all the time. Things -that must be done. That's how we live. So many things to do, -we can't think. It would kill you if you had time to think. -You've got to work--work. - -"You'll stay too. I know. You won't be able to go away. You've -been here too long. You won't ever know 'why.' You'll stop -asking if it does any good. And I tell you if you stop to think -about it, it will kill you. You must work." - -She went to her room and I across the deserted courtyard and up -to mine. But there was no sleep. It was that night that I first -realized that I also _must_. I had seen so much I could never -forget. It was something from which there was no escape. No -matter how glorious the open fields, there would always be the -remembered stink of the tenements in my nostrils. The vision of -a sunken-cheeked, tuberculosis-ridden pauper would always rise -between me and the beauty of the sunset. A crowd of hurrying -ghosts--the ghosts of the slaughtered babies--would follow me -everywhere, crying "Coward," if I ran away. The slums had taken -me captive. - - -Concerning Women - -(_From "Aurora Leigh"_) - -BY ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING - -(English poetess, 1806-1861; wife of Robert Browning, and an -ardent champion of the liberties of the Italian people) - - I call you hard - To general suffering. Here's the world half blind - With intellectual light, half brutalized - With civilization, having caught the plague - In silks from Tarsus, shrieking east and west - Along a thousand railroads, mad with pain - And sin too!... does one woman of you all, - (You who weep easily) grow pale to see - This tiger shake his cage?--does one of you - Stand still from dancing, stop from stringing pearls, - And pine and die because of the great sum - Of universal anguish?--Show me a tear - Wet as Cordelia's, in eyes bright as yours, - Because the world is mad. You cannot count, - That you should weep for this account, not you! - You weep for what you know. A red-haired child - Sick in a fever, if you touch him once, - Though but so little as with a finger-tip, - Will set you weeping; but a million sick-- - You could as soon weep for the rule of three - Or compound fractions. Therefore, this same world, - Uncomprehended by you.--Women as you are, - Mere women, personal and passionate, - You give us doting mothers, and perfect wives, - Sublime Madonnas, and enduring saints! - We get no Christ from you,--and verily - We shall not get a poet, in my mind. - - -Women and Economics - -BY CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN - -(See page 200) - -Recognizing her intense feeling on moral lines, and seeing in -her the rigidly preserved virtues of faith, submission, and -self-sacrifice--qualities which in the dark ages were held -to be the first of virtues,--we have agreed of late years -to call woman the moral superior of man. But the ceaseless -growth of human life, social life, has developed in him new -virtues, later, higher, more needful; and the moral nature of -woman, as maintained in this rudimentary stage by her economic -dependence, is a continual check to the progress of the human -soul. The main feature of her life--the restriction of her -range and duty to the love and service of her own immediate -family--acts upon us continually as a retarding influence, -hindering the expansion of the spirit of social love and -service on which our very lives depend. It keeps the moral -standard of the patriarchal era still before us, and blinds our -eyes to the full duty of man. - - -The Wrongfulness of Riches - -BY GRANT ALLEN - -(English essayist and nature student, 1848-1899) - -If you are on the side of the spoilers, then you are a bad man. -If you are on the side of social justice, then you are a good -one. There is no effective test of high morality at the present -day save this. - -Critics of the middle-class type often exclaim, of reasoning -like this, "What on earth makes him say it? What has _he_ to -gain by talking in that way? What does he expect to get by it?" -So bound up are they in the idea of a self-interest as the -one motive of action that they never even seem to conceive of -honest conviction as a ground for speaking out the truth that -is in one. To such critics I would answer, "The reason why I -write all this is because I profoundly believe it. I believe -the poor are being kept out of their own. I believe the -rich are for the most part selfish and despicable. I believe -wealth has been generally piled up by cruel and unworthy -means. I believe it is wrong in us to acquiesce in the wicked -inequalities of our existing social state, instead of trying -our utmost to bring about another, where right would be done -to all, where poverty would be impossible. I believe such a -system is perfectly practicable, and that nothing stands in its -way save the selfish fears and prejudices of individuals. And -I believe that even those craven fears and narrow prejudices -are wholly mistaken; that everybody, including the rich -themselves, would be infinitely happier in a world where no -poverty existed, where no hateful sights and sounds met the -eye at every turn, where all slums were swept away, and where -everybody had their just and even share of pleasures and -refinements in a free and equal community." - - -Despair - -BY LADY WILDE - -(Irish poetess, mother of Oscar Wilde; wrote under the pen-name -of Speranza) - - Before us dies our brother, of starvation; - Around are cries of famine and despair! - Where is hope for us, or comfort or salvation-- - Where--oh! where? - If the angels ever hearken, downward bending, - They are weeping, we are sure, - At the litanies of human groans ascending - From the crushed hearts of the poor. - - We never knew a childhood's mirth and gladness, - Nor the proud heart of youth free and brave; - Oh, a death-like dream of wretchedness and sadness - Is life's weary journey to the grave! - Day by day we lower sink, and lower, - Till the God-like soul within - Falls crushed beneath the fearful demon power - Of poverty and sin. - - So we toil on, on with fever burning - In heart and brain; - So we toil on, on through bitter scorning, - Want, woe, and pain. - We dare not raise our eyes to the blue heavens - Or the toil must cease-- - We dare not breathe the fresh air God has given - One hour in peace. - - -Inequality of Wealth - -BY G. BERNARD SHAW - -(See page 193) - -I am not bound to keep my temper with an imposture so -outrageous, so abjectly sycophantic, as the pretence that the -existing inequalities of income correspond to and are produced -by moral and physical inferiorities and superiorities--that -Barnato was five million times as great and good a man as -William Blake, and committed suicide because he lost two-fifths -of his superiority; that the life of Lord Anglesey has -been on a far higher plane than that of John Ruskin; that -Mademoiselle Liane de Pougy has been raised by her successful -sugar speculation to moral heights never attained by Florence -Nightingale; and that an arrangement to establish economic -equality between them by duly adjusted pensions would be -impossible. I say that no sane person can be expected to treat -such impudent follies with patience, much less with respect. - - -The Two Songs - -BY WILLIAM BLAKE - -(See page 98) - - I heard an Angel singing - When the day was springing: - "Mercy, pity, and peace, - Are the world's release." - - So he sang all day - Over the new-mown hay, - Till the sun went down, - And haycocks looked brown - - I heard a Devil curse - Over the heath and the furze: - "Mercy could be no more - If there were nobody poor, - And pity no more could be - - If all were happy as ye: - And mutual fear brings peace. - Misery's increase - Are mercy, pity, peace." - - At his curse the sun went down, - And the heavens gave a frown. - - -BY JAMES ANTHONY FROUDE - -(English historian, 1818-1894) - -The endurance of the inequalities of life by the poor is the -marvel of human society. - - -Savva - -BY LEONID ANDREYEV - - (In this strange drama, which might be called a symbolic tragi-comedy, - the Russian writer has set forth the plight of the educated people - of his country, confronted by the abject superstition of the - peasantry. Savva, a fanatical revolutionist, endeavors to wipe out - this superstition by blowing up a monastery full of drunken monks. - But the plot is revealed to the monks, who carry out the ikon, or - sacred image, before the explosion, and afterwards carry it back into - the ruins. The peasants, arriving on the scene and finding the ikon - uninjured, hail a supreme miracle; the whole country is swept by a - wave of religious frenzy, in the course of which Savva is trampled to - death by a mob. - - In the following scene Savva argues with his sister, a religious - believer. The tramp of pilgrims is heard outside) - -SAVVA (_smiling_):--The tramp of death! - -LIPA:--Remember that each one of these would consider himself -happy in killing you, in crushing you like a reptile. Each one -of these is your death. Why, they beat a simple thief to death, -a horse thief. What would they not do to you? You who wanted to -steal their God! - -SAVVA:--Quite true. That's property too. - -LIPA:--You still have the brazenness to joke? Who gave you the -right to do such a thing? Who gave you the power over people? -How dare you meddle with what to them is right? How dare you -interfere with their life? - -SAVVA:--Who gave me the right? You gave it to me. Who gave -me the power? You gave it to me--you with your malice, your -ignorance, your stupidity! You with your wretched impotence! -Right! Power! They have turned the earth into a sewer, an -outrage, an abode of slaves. They worry each other, they -torture each other, and they ask: "Who dares to take us by the -throat?" I! Do you understand? I! - -LIPA:--But to destroy all! Think of it! - -SAVVA:--What could you do with them? What would _you_ do? Try -to persuade the oxen to turn away from their bovine path? -Catch each one by his horn and pull him away? Would you put -on a frock-coat and read a lecture? Haven't they had plenty -to teach them? As if words and thought had any significance -to them! Thought--pure, unhappy thought! They have perverted -it. They have taught it to cheat and defraud. They have made -it a salable commodity, to be bought at auction in the market. -No, sister, life is short, and I am not going to waste it in -arguments with oxen. The way to deal with them is by fire. -That's what they require--fire! - -LIPA:--But what do you want? What do you want? - -SAVVA:--What do I want? To free the earth, to free mankind. -Man--the man of today--is wise. He has come to his senses. -He is ripe for liberty. But the past eats away his soul like -a canker. It imprisons him within the iron circle of things -already accomplished. I want to do away with everything behind -man, so that there is nothing to see when he looks back. I want -to take him by the scruff of his neck and turn his face toward -the future! - - -The Man Forbid - -BY JOHN DAVIDSON - - (Scotch poet and dramatist, 1857-1909; after struggling for many years - in London against poverty and ill-health, committed suicide, leaving - some of the most striking and original poetry of the present age) - - This Beauty, this Divinity, this Thought, - This hallowed bower and harvest of delight - Whose roots ethereal seemed to clutch the stars, - Whose amaranths perfumed eternity, - Is fixed in earthly soil enriched with bones - Of used-up workers; fattened with the blood - Of prostitutes, the prime manure; and dressed - With brains of madmen and the broken hearts - Of children. Understand it, you at least - Who toil all day and writhe and groan all night - With roots of luxury, a cancer struck - In every muscle: out of you it is - Cathedrals rise and Heaven blossoms fair; - You are the hidden putrefying source - Of beauty and delight, of leisured hours, - Of passionate loves and high imaginings; - You are the dung that keeps the roses sweet. - I say, uproot it; plough the land; and let - A summer-fallow sweeten all the World. - - -Peasantry - -(_From "Death and the Child"_) - -BY STEPHEN CRANE - -(American novelist and poet, 1870-1900) - -These stupid peasants, who, throughout the world, hold -potentates on their thrones, make statesmen illustrious, -provide generals with lasting victories, all with ignorance, -indifference, or half-witted hatred, moving the world -with the strength of their arms, and getting their heads -knocked together, in the name of God, the king, or the stock -exchange--immortal, dreaming, hopeless asses, who surrender -their reason to the care of a shining puppet, and persuade some -toy to carry their lives in his purse. - - -An Italian Restaurant - -(_From "A Bed of Roses"_) - -BY W. L. GEORGE - -(Contemporary English novelist) - -They sat at a marble topped table, flooded with light by -incandescent gas. In the glare the waiters seemed blacker, -smaller and more stunted than by the light of day. Their faces -were pallid, with a touch of green: their hair and moustaches -were almost blue black. Their energy was that of automata. -Victoria looked at them, melting with pity. - -"There's a life for you," said Farwell, interpreting her look. -"Sixteen hours' work a day in an atmosphere of stale food. For -meals, plate scourings. For sleep and time to get to it, eight -hours. For living, the rest of the day." - -"It's awful, awful," said Victoria. "They might as well be -dead." - -"They will be soon," said Farwell, "but what does that matter? -There are plenty of waiters. In the shadow of the olive groves -tonight in far-off Calabria, at the base of the vine-clad -hills, couples are walking hand in hand, with passion flashing -in their eyes. Brown peasant boys are clasping to their breast -young girls with dark hair, white teeth, red lips, hearts that -beat and quiver with ecstasy. They tell a tale of love and -hope. So we shall not be short of waiters." - - -Tonight - -BY CARLOS WUPPERMAN - -(Contemporary American poet) - - Tonight the beautiful, chaste moon - From heaven's height - Scatters over the bridal earth - Blossoms of white; - And spring's renewed glad charms unfold - Endless delight. - - Such mystic wonder the hushed world wears, - Evil has fled - Far, far away; in every heart - God reigns instead.... - Tonight a starving virgin sells - Her soul for bread. - - -A South-Sea Islander - -BY FRANCIS ADAMS - -(English poet and rebel, 1862-1893; his life, a brief struggle -with poverty and disease, was ended by his own hand) - - Aloll in the warm clear water, - On her back with languorous limbs - She lies. The baby upon her breast - Paddles and falls and swims. - - With half-closed eyes she smiles, - Guarding it with her hands; - And the sob swells up in my heart-- - In my heart that understands. - - _Dear, in the English country, - The hatefullest land on earth, - The mothers are starved and the children die - And death is better than birth!_ - - -Out of the Dark - -BY HELEN KELLER - -(America's most famous blind girl, born 1880, who has come to -see more than most people with normal eyes) - -Step by step my investigation of blindness led me into -the industrial world. And what a world it is! I must face -unflinchingly a world of facts--a world of misery and -degradation, of blindness, crookedness, and sin, a world -struggling against the elements, against the unknown, against -itself. How reconcile this world of fact with the bright -world of my imagining? My darkness had been filled with the -light of intelligence, and, behold, the outer day-lit world -was stumbling and groping in social blindness. At first I was -most unhappy; but deeper study restored my confidence. By -learning the sufferings and burdens of men, I became aware as -never before of the life-power that has survived the forces of -darkness--the power which, though never completely victorious, -is continuously conquering. The very fact that we are still -here carrying on the contest against the hosts of annihilation -proves that on the whole the battle has gone for humanity. -The world's great heart has proved equal to the prodigious -undertaking which God set it. Rebuffed, but always persevering; -self-reproached, but ever regaining faith; undaunted, -tenacious, the heart of man labors towards immeasurably distant -goals. Discouraged not by difficulties without, or the anguish -of ages within, the heart listens to a secret voice that -whispers: "Be not dismayed; in the future lies the Promised -Land." - - -Heirs of Time - -BY THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON - -(American poet and essayist, 1823-1911; a vehement anti-slavery -agitator, he was colonel of the first negro regiment during the -Civil War, and in later life became a devoted Socialist) - - From street and square, from hill and glen, - Of this vast world beyond my door, - I hear the tread of marching men, - The patient armies of the poor. - - Not ermine-clad or clothed in state, - Their title-deeds not yet made plain, - But waking early, toiling late, - The heirs of all the earth remain. - - The peasant brain shall yet be wise, - The untamed pulse grow calm and still; - The blind shall see, the lowly rise, - And work in peace Time's wondrous will. - - Some day, without a trumpet's call - This news will o'er the world be blown: - "The heritage comes back to all; - The myriad monarchs take their own." - - -Beyond Human Might - -BY BJÖRNSTJERNE BJÖRNSON - - (Next to Ibsen, the greatest of Norwegian dramatists, 1832-1910. In - the following scene, from a two-part symbolic drama of the problem of - labor and capital, a young clergyman is speaking to a crowd of miners - in the midst of a bitterly fought strike) - -BRATT:--Here it is dark and cold. Here few work hopefully, and -no one joyfully. Here the children won't thrive--they yearn for -the sea and the daylight. They crave the sun. But it lasts only -a little while, and then they give up. They learn that among -those who have been cast down here there is rarely one who can -climb up again. - -SEVERAL:--That's right!... - -BRATT:--What is there to herald the coming of better things? -A new generation up there? Listen to what their young people -answer for themselves: "We want a good time!" And their books? -The books and the youth together make the future. And what do -the books say? Exactly the same as the youth: "Let us have a -good time! Ours are the light and the lust of life, its colors -and its joys!" That's what the youth and their books say.--They -are right! It is all theirs! There is no law to prevent their -taking life's sunlight and joy away from the poor people. For -those who have the sun have also made the law.--But then the -next question is whether we might not scramble up high enough -to take part in the writing of a new law. (_This is received -with thundering cheers._) What is needed is that one generation -makes an effort strong enough to raise all coming generations -into the vigorous life of full sunlight. - -MANY:--Yes, yes! - -BRATT:--But so far every generation has put it off on the next -one. Until at last _our_ turn has come--to bear sacrifices and -sufferings like unto those of death itself! - - -Weavers - -BY HEINRICH HEINE - -(See page 97) - - Their eyelids are drooping, no tears lie beneath; - They stand at the loom and grind their teeth; - "We are weaving a shroud for the doubly dead, - And a threefold curse in its every thread-- - We are weaving, still weaving. - - "A curse for the Godhead to whom we have bowed - In our cold and our hunger, we weave in the shroud; - For in vain have we hoped and in vain have prayed; - He has mocked us and scoffed at us, sold and betrayed-- - We are weaving, still weaving. - - "A curse for the king of the wealthy and proud, - Who for us had no pity, we weave in the shroud; - Who takes our last penny to swell out his purse, - While we die the death of a dog--yea, a curse-- - We are weaving, still weaving. - - "A curse for our country, whose cowardly crowd - Hold her shame in high honor, we weave in the shroud; - Whose blossoms are blighted and slain in the germ, - Whose filth and corruption engender the worm-- - We are weaving, still weaving. - - "To and fro flies our shuttle--no pause in its flight, - 'Tis a shroud we are weaving by day and by night; - We are weaving a shroud for the worse than dead, - And a threefold curse in its every thread-- - We are weaving--still weaving." - - -Alton Locke - -BY CHARLES KINGSLEY - -(See pages 78, 84) - -Yes, it was true. Society had not given me my rights. And woe -unto the man on whom that idea, true or false, rises lurid, -filling all his thoughts with stifling glare, as of the pit -itself. Be it true, be it false, it is equally a woe to believe -it; to have to live on a negation; to have to worship for our -only idea, as hundreds of thousands of us have this day, the -hatred of the things which are. Ay, though one of us here and -there may die in faith, in sight of the promised land, yet -is it not hard, when looking from the top of Pisgah into -"the good time coming," to watch the years slipping away one -by one, and death crawling nearer and nearer, and the people -wearying themselves in the fire for very vanity, and Jordan -not yet passed, the promised land not yet entered? While our -little children die around us, like lambs beneath the knife, -of cholera and typhus and consumption, and all the diseases -which the good time can and will prevent; which, as science -has proved, and you the rich confess, might be prevented at -once, if you dared to bring in one bold and comprehensive -measure, and not sacrifice yearly the lives of thousands to the -idol of vested interests, and a majority in the House. Is it -not hard to men who smart beneath such things to help crying -aloud--"Thou cursed Moloch-Mammon, take my life if thou wilt; -let me die in the wilderness, for I have deserved it; but -these little ones in mines and factories, in typhus cellars -and Tooting pandemoniums, what have they done? If not in their -fathers' cause, yet still in theirs, were it so great a sin to -die upon a barricade?" - - - - -BOOK V - -_Revolt_ - -The struggle to do away with injustice; the battle-cries of the -new army which is gathering for the deliverance of humanity. - - -A Man's a Man for a' That - -BY ROBERT BURNS - -(Scotland's most popular poet, 1759-1796) - - Is there, for honest poverty, - That hangs his head, and a' that? - The coward slave, we pass him by, - We daur be puir, for a' that! - For a' that, and a' that, - Our toils obscure and a' that, - The rank is but the guinea's stamp-- - The man's the gowd for a' that. - - What though on hamely fare we dine, - Wear hoddin-grey and a' that; - Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine-- - A man's a man for a' that. - For a' that, and a' that, - Their tinsel show and a' that, - The honest man, though e'er sae puir, - Is king o' men for a' that. - - Ye see yon birkie, ca'ed a lord, - Wha struts, and stares, and a' that; - Though hundreds worship at his word, - He's but a coof for a' that: - For a' that, and a' that, - His riband, star, and a' that; - The man of independent mind, - He looks and laughs at a' that. - - A king can make a belted knight, - A marquis, duke, and a' that; - But an honest man's aboon his might, - Gude faith, he maunna fa' that! - For a' that, and a' that, - Their dignities and a' that, - The pith o' sense and pride o' worth - Are higher rank than a' that. - - Then let us pray that come it may, - (As come it will for a' that) - That sense and worth, o'er a' the earth, - May bear the gree and a' that. - For a' that, and a' that-- - It's coming yet, for a' that, - When man to man, the warld o'er, - Shall brithers be for a' that. - - -BY THOMAS JEFFERSON - -(President of the United States and author of the Declaration -of Independence, 1743-1826) - -All eyes are opened or opening to the rights of man. The -general spread of the light of science has already laid open to -every view the palpable truth, that the mass of mankind has not -been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted -and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of -God. - - -A Vindication of Natural Society - -BY EDMUND BURKE - -(British statesman and orator, 1729-1797; defended the American -colonies in Parliament during the Revolutionary War) - -Ask of politicians the ends for which laws were originally -designed, and they will answer that the laws were designed as a -protection for the poor and weak, against the oppression of the -rich and powerful. But surely no pretence can be so ridiculous; -a man might as well tell me he has taken off my load, because -he has changed the burden. If the poor man is not able to -support his suit according to the vexatious and expensive -manner established in civilized countries, has not the rich as -great an advantage over him as the strong has over the weak in -a state of nature?... - -The most obvious division of society is into rich and poor, -and it is no less obvious that the number of the former bear a -great disproportion to those of the latter. The whole business -of the poor is to administer to the idleness, folly, and luxury -of the rich, and that of the rich, in return, is to find the -best methods of confirming the slavery and increasing the -burdens of the poor. In a state of nature it is an invariable -law that a man's acquisitions are in proportion to his labors. -In a state of artificial society it is a law as constant and -invariable that those who labor most enjoy the fewest things, -and that those who labor not at all have the greatest number -of enjoyments. A constitution of things this, strange and -ridiculous beyond expression! We scarce believe a thing when -we are told it which we actually see before our eyes every day -without being in the least surprised. I suppose that there -are in Great Britain upwards of an hundred thousand people -employed in lead, tin, iron, copper, and coal mines; these -unhappy wretches scarce ever see the light of the sun; they are -buried in the bowels of the earth; there they work at a severe -and dismal task, without the least prospect of being delivered -from it; they subsist upon the coarsest and worst sort of -fare; they have their health miserably impaired, and their -lives cut short, by being perpetually confined in the close -vapors of these malignant minerals. An hundred thousand more at -least are tortured without remission by the suffocating smoke, -intense fires, and constant drudgery necessary in refining and -managing the products of those mines. If any man informed us -that two hundred thousand innocent persons were condemned to so -intolerable slavery, how should we pity the unhappy sufferers, -and how great would be our just indignation against those who -inflicted so cruel and ignominious a punishment! This is an -instance--I could not wish a stronger--of the numberless things -which we pass by in their common dress, yet which shock us when -they are nakedly represented.... - -In a misery of this sort, admitting some few lenitives, and -those too but a few, nine parts in ten of the whole race -of mankind drudge through life. It may be urged, perhaps, -in palliation of this, that at least the rich few find a -considerable and real benefit from the wretchedness of the -many. But is this so in fact?... - -The poor by their excessive labor, and the rich by their -enormous luxury, are set upon a level, and rendered equally -ignorant of any knowledge which might conduce to their -happiness. A dismal view of the interior of all civil society! -The lower part broken and ground down by the most cruel -oppression; and the rich by their artificial method of life -bringing worse evils on themselves than their tyranny could -possibly inflict on those below them. - - -The Antiquity of Freedom - -BY WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT - -(American poet and editor, 1794-1878; author of "Thanatopsis") - - O freedom! thou art not, as poets dream, - A fair young girl, with light and delicate limbs, - And wavy tresses gushing from the cap - With which the Roman master crowned his slave - When he took off the gyves. A bearded man, - Armed to the teeth, art thou; one mailed hand - Grasps the broad shield, and one the sword; thy brow, - Glorious in beauty though it be, is scarred - With tokens of old wars; thy massive limbs - Are strong with struggling. Power at thee has launched - His bolts, and with his lightnings smitten thee; - They could not quench the life thou hast from heaven. - Merciless Power has dug thy dungeon deep, - And his swart armorers, by a thousand fires, - Have forged thy chain; yet, while he deems thee bound, - The links are shivered, and the prison walls - Fall outward; terribly thou springest forth, - As springs the flame above a burning pile, - And shoutest to the nations, who return - Thy shoutings, while the pale oppressor flies. - - -BY LORD BYRON - -(English poet of liberty, 1788-1824; died while taking part in -the war for the liberation of Greece) - - Hereditary bondsmen! know ye not - Who would be free themselves must strike the blow? - By their right arms the conquest must be wrought? - - -Concerning Moderation - -BY LAFCADIO HEARN - -(A writer of Irish and Greek parentage, 1850-1904; became a -lecturer on English in the University of Tokio. Japan's ablest -interpreter to the western world) - -Permit me to say something in opposition to a very famous and -very popular Latin proverb--In medio tutissimus ibis--"Thou -wilt go most safely by taking the middle course." In speaking -of two distinct tendencies in literature, you might expect me -to say that the aim of the student should be to avoid extremes, -and to try not to be either too conservative or too liberal. -But I should certainly never give any such advice. On the -contrary, I think that the proverb above quoted is one of the -most mischievous, one of the most pernicious, one of the most -foolish, that ever was invented in the world. I believe very -strongly in extremes--in violent extremes; and I am quite -sure that all progress in this world, whether literary, or -scientific, or religious, or political, or social, has been -obtained only with the assistance of extremes. But remember -that I say, "With the assistance,"--I do not mean that -extremes alone accomplish the aim: there must be antagonism, -but there must also be conservatism. What I mean by finding -fault with the proverb is simply this--that it is very bad -advice for a young man. To give a young man such advice is -very much like telling him not to do his best, but only to do -half of his best--or, in other words, to be half-hearted in -his undertaking.... It is not the old men who ever prove great -reformers: they are too cautious, too wise. Reforms are made by -the vigor and courage and the self-sacrifice and the emotional -conviction of young men, who did not know enough to be afraid, -and who feel much more deeply than they think. Indeed great -reforms are not accomplished by reasoning, but by feeling. - -[Illustration: OUTBREAK - -KÄTHE KOLLWITZ - -(_Contemporary German etching; from the "Peasant-cycle"_)] - -[Illustration: THE LIBERATRESS - -THÉOPHILE ALEXANDRE STEINLEN - -(_French illustrator, born 1859_)] - - -The First Issue of "The Liberator" - -(_January 1, 1831_) - -BY WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON - -(America's most ardent anti-slavery agitator, 1805-1879. -The following pronouncement marked the beginning of the -anti-slavery campaign) - -I am aware that many object to the severity of my language; but -is there not cause for severity? I will be as harsh as Truth, -and as uncompromising as Justice. On this subject I do not -wish to think, or speak, or write, with moderation. No! No! -Tell a man whose house is on fire to give a moderate alarm; -tell him to moderately rescue his wife from the hands of the -ravisher; tell the mother to gradually extricate her babe -from the fire into which it has fallen--but urge me not to use -moderation in a cause like the present. I am in earnest--I will -not equivocate--I will not excuse--I will not retreat a single -inch--and I will be heard. The apathy of the people is enough -to make every statue leap from its pedestal and hasten the -resurrection of the dead. - - -Working and Taking - -(_From the Lincoln-Douglas debates, 1858_) - -BY ABRAHAM LINCOLN - -That is the real issue that will continue in this country when -these poor tongues of Judge Douglas and myself shall be silent. -It is the eternal struggle between these two principles, right -and wrong, throughout the world. They are the two principles -that have stood face to face from the beginning of time. The -one is the common right of humanity, the other the divine -right of kings. It is the same principle in whatever shape it -develops itself. It is the same spirit that says "you toil and -work and earn bread and I'll eat it." - - -Address to President Lincoln - -BY THE INTERNATIONAL WORKINGMEN'S ASSOCIATION - -(_Drafted by Karl Marx_) - -When an oligarchy of three hundred thousand slaveholders, for -the first time in the annals of the world, dared to inscribe -"Slavery" on the banner of armed revolt; when on the very spot -where hardly a century ago the idea of one great democratic -republic had first sprung up, whence the first declaration of -the Rights of Man was issued, and the first impulse given to -the European revolution of the eighteenth century, when on that -very spot the counter-revolution cynically proclaimed property -in man to be "the corner-stone of the new edifice"--then -the working classes of Europe understood at once that the -slaveholders' rebellion was to sound the tocsin for a general -holy war of property against labor; and that for the men -of labor, with their hopes for the future, even their past -conquests were at stake in that tremendous conflict on the -other side of the Atlantic. - - -Boston Hymn - -BY RALPH WALDO EMERSON - - (American essayist, philosopher and poet. The two stanzas following, - which may be said to sum up the revolutionary view of the subject of - "confiscation," are taken from a poem read in Boston on Emancipation - day, January 1, 1863) - - Today unbind the captive, - So only are ye unbound; - Lift up a people from the dust, - Trump of their rescue, sound! - - Pay ransom to the owner - And fill the bag to the brim. - Who is the owner? The slave is owner, - And ever was. Pay him. - - -Battle Hymn of the Chinese Revolution (1912) - -(_From the Chinese_) - - Freedom, one of the greatest blessings of Heaven, - United to Peace, thou wilt work on this earth ten thousand -wonderful new things. - - Grave as a spirit, great as a giant rising to the very skies, - With the clouds for a chariot and the wind for a steed, - Come, come to reign over the earth! - - For the sake of the black hell of our slavery, - Come, enlighten us with a ray of thy sun!... - - In this century we are working to open a new age. - In this century, with one voice, all virile men - Are calling for a new making of heaven and earth. - - Hin-Yun, our ancestor, guide us! - Spirit of Freedom, come and protect us! - - -The Revolution - -BY RICHARD WAGNER - - (It is not generally recalled that the composer of the world's - greatest music-dramas, 1813-1883, was an active revolutionist, who - took part in street fighting in the German Revolution of 1848, and - escaped a long imprisonment only by flight. The following is from his - contributions to the Dresden _Volksblätter_) - -I am the secret of perpetual youth, the everlasting creator of -life; where I am not, death rages. I am the comfort, the hope, -the dream of the oppressed. I destroy what exists; but from the -rock whereon I light new life begins to flow. I come to you -to break all chains which bear you down; to free you from the -embrace of death, and instill a new life into your veins. All -that exists must perish; that is the eternal condition of life, -and I the all-destroying fulfil that law to create a fresh, new -existence. I will renovate to the very foundations the order of -things in which you live, for it is the offspring of sin, whose -blossom is misery and whose fruit is crime. The grain is ripe, -and I am the reaper. I will dissipate every delusion which -has mastery over the human race. I will destroy the authority -of the one over the many; of the lifeless over the living; -of the material over the spiritual. I will break into pieces -the authority of the great; of the law of property. Let the -will of each be master of mankind, one's own strength be one's -one property, for the freeman is the sacred man, and there is -nothing sublimer than he.... - -I will destroy the existing order of things which divides one -humanity into hostile peoples, into strong and weak, into -privileged and outlawed, into rich and poor; for that makes -unfortunate creatures of one and all. I will destroy the order -of things which makes millions the slaves of the few, and -those few the slaves of their own power, of their own wealth. -I will destroy the order of things which severs enjoyment from -labor, which turns labor into a burden and enjoyment into a -vice, which makes one man miserable through want and another -miserable through super-abundance. I will destroy the order of -things which consumes the vigor of manhood in the service of -the dead, of inert matter, which sustains one part of mankind -in idleness or useless activity, which forces thousands to -devote their sturdy youth to the indolent pursuits of soldiery, -officialism, speculation and usury, and the maintenance of -such like despicable conditions, while the other half, by -excessive exertion and sacrifice of all the enjoyment of life, -bears the burden of the whole infamous structure. I will -destroy even the very memory and trace of this delirious order -of things which, pieced together out of force, falsehood, -trouble, tears, sorrow, suffering, need, deceit, hypocrisy and -crime, is shut up in its own reeking atmosphere, and never -receives a breath of pure air, to which no ray of pure joy ever -penetrates.... - -Arise, then, ye people of the earth, arise, ye sorrow-stricken -and oppressed. Ye, also, who vainly struggle to clothe the -inner desolation of your hearts, with the transient glory of -riches, arise! Come and follow in my track with the joyful -crowd, for I know not how to make distinction between those -who follow me. There are but two peoples from henceforth on -earth--the one which follows me, and the one which resists me. -The one I will lead to happiness, but the other I will crush -in my progress. For I am the Revolution, I am the new creating -force. I am the divinity which discerns all life, which -embraces, revives, and rewards. - - -Cry of the People - -BY JOHN G. NEIHARDT - -(Western poet and novelist, born 1881) - - Tremble before your chattels, - Lords of the scheme of things! - Fighters of all earth's battles, - Ours is the might of kings! - Guided by seers and sages, - The world's heart-beat for a drum, - Snapping the chains of ages, - Out of the night we come! - - Lend us no ear that pities! - Offer no almoner's hand! - Alms for the builders of cities! - When will you understand? - Down with your pride of birth - And your golden gods of trade! - A man is worth to his mother, Earth, - All that a man has made! - - We are the workers and makers! - We are no longer dumb! - Tremble, O Shirkers and Takers! - Sweeping the earth--we come! - Ranked in the world-wide dawn, - Marching into the day! - _The night is gone and the sword is drawn - And the scabbard is thrown away!_ - - -Woman's Right - -(_From "Woman and Labor"_) - -BY OLIVE SCHREINER - - (South African novelist, born 1859. In the preface to this book one - learns that it is only a faint sketch from memory of part of a great - work, the manuscript of which was destroyed during the Boer war) - -Thrown into strict logical form, our demand is this: We do not -ask that the wheels of time should reverse themselves, or the -stream of life flow backward. We do not ask that our ancient -spinning-wheels be again resuscitated and placed in our hands; -we do not demand that our old grindstones and hoes be returned -to us, or that man should again betake himself entirely to -his ancient province of war and the chase, leaving to us all -domestic and civil labor. We do not even demand that society -shall immediately so reconstruct itself that every woman may be -again a childbearer (deep and overmastering as lies the hunger -for motherhood in every virile woman's heart!); neither do we -demand that the children we bear shall again be put exclusively -into our hands to train. This, we know, cannot be. The past -material conditions of life have gone for ever; no will of man -can recall them. But _this_ is our demand: We demand that, -in that strange new world that is arising alike upon the man -and the woman, where nothing is as it was, and all things are -assuming new shapes and relations, that in this new world we -also shall have our share of honored and socially useful human -toil, our full half of the labor of the Children of Woman. We -demand nothing more than this, and will take nothing less. -_This is our_ "WOMAN'S RIGHT!" - - -Ladies in Rebellion - -BY ABIGAIL ADAMS - -(Wife of one president of the United States, and mother of -another. From a letter to her husband written in 1774, during -the session of the first Continental Congress) - -I long to hear that you have declared an independency. And in -the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for -you to make, I desire you would remember the ladies, and be -more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors.... If -particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are -determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves -bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation. - - -A Doll's House - -BY HENRIK IBSEN - -(Norwegian dramatist, 1828-1906. A play which may be called the -source of the modern Feminist movement. In the following scene -a young wife announces her revolt) - -NORA:--While I was at home with father, he used to tell me his -opinions, and I held the same opinions. If I had others, I -concealed them, because he wouldn't have liked it. He used to -call me his doll-child, and played with me as I played with my -dolls. Then I came to live in your house-- - -HELMER:--What an expression to use about our marriage! - -NORA (_undisturbed_):--I mean I passed from father's hands into -yours. You settled everything according to your taste; and I -got the same tastes as you; or I pretended to--I don't know -which--both ways, perhaps. When I look back on it now, I seem -to have been living here like a beggar, from hand to mouth. I -lived by performing tricks for you, Torvald. But you would have -it so. You and father have done me a great wrong. It is your -fault that my life has been wasted. - -HELMER:--Why, Nora, how unreasonable and ungrateful you are. -Haven't you been happy here? - -NORA:--No, only merry. And you have always been so kind to -me. But your house has been nothing but a play-room. Here I -have been your doll-wife, just as at home I used to be papa's -doll-child. And the children, in their turn, have been my -dolls. I thought it fun when you played with me, just as -the children did when I played with them. That has been our -marriage, Torvald.... And that is why I am now leaving you! - -HELMER (_jumping up_):--What--do you mean to say-- - -NORA:--I must stand quite alone, to know myself and my -surroundings; so I can't stay with you. - -HELMER:--Nora! Nora! - -NORA:--I am going at once. Christina will take me for tonight. - -HELMER:--You are mad! I shall not allow it. I forbid it. - -NORA:--It is no use your forbidding me anything now. I shall -take with me what belongs to me. From you I will accept -nothing, either now or afterwards.... - -HELMER:--To forsake your home, your husband, and your children! -You don't consider what the world will say. - -NORA:--I can pay no heed to that. I only know what I must do. - -HELMER:--It is exasperating! Can you forsake your holiest -duties in this world? - -NORA:--What do you call my holiest duties? - -HELMER:--Do you ask me that? Your duties to your husband and -your children. - -NORA:--I have other duties equally sacred. - -HELMER:--Impossible! What duties do you mean? - -NORA:--My duties towards myself. - -HELMER:--Before all else you are a wife and a mother. - -NORA:--That I no longer believe. I think that before all else I -am a human being, just as much as you are--or at least I will -try to become one. - - -A Girl Strike-Leader - -BY FLORENCE KIPER FRANK - -(American poetess, born 1886) - - A white-faced, stubborn little thing - Whose years are not quite twenty years, - Eyes steely now and done with tears, - Mouth scornful of its suffering-- - - The young mouth!--body virginal - Beneath the cheap, ill-fitting suit, - A bearing quaintly resolute, - A flowering hat, satirical. - - A soul that steps to the sound of the fife - And banners waving red to war, - Mystical, knowing scarce wherefore-- - A Joan in a modern strife. - - -Comrade Yetta[A] - -[A] By permission of the Macmillan Co. - -BY ALBERT EDWARDS - -(The story of an East Side sweat-shop worker who becomes -a strike-leader. The present scene describes a meeting in -Carnegie Hall) - -Yetta stood there alone, the blood mounting to her cheeks, -looking more and more like an orchid, and waited for the storm -to pass. - -"I'm not going to talk about this strike," she said when she -could make herself heard. "It's over. I want to tell you about -the next one--and the next. I wish very much I could make you -understand about the strikes that are coming.... - -"Perhaps there's some of you never thought much about strikes -till now. Well. There's been strikes all the time. I don't -believe there's ever been a year when there wasn't dozens here -in New York. When we began, the skirt-finishers was out. They -lost their strike. They went hungry just the way we did, but -nobody helped them. And they're worse now than ever. There -ain't no difference between one strike and another. Perhaps -they are striking for more pay or recognition or closed shops. -But the next strike'll be just like ours. It'll be people -fighting so they won't be so much slaves like they was before. - -"The Chairman said perhaps I'd tell you about my experience. -There ain't nothing to tell except everybody has been awful -kind to me. It's fine to have people so kind to me. But I'd -rather if they'd try to understand what this strike business -means to all of us workers--this strike we've won and the ones -that are coming.... - -"I come out of the workhouse today, and they tell me a lady -wants to give me money to study, she wants to have me go to -college like I was a rich girl. It's very kind. I want to -study. I ain't been to school none since I was fifteen. I -guess I can't even talk English very good. I'd like to go to -college. And I used to see pictures in the papers of beautiful -rich women, and of course it would be fine to have clothes like -that. But being in a strike, seeing all the people suffer, -seeing all the cruelty--it makes things look different. - -"The Chairman told you something out of the Christian Bible. -Well, we Jews have got a story too--perhaps it's in your -Bible--about Moses and his people in Egypt. He'd been brought -up by a rich Egyptian lady--a princess--just like he was her -son. But as long as he tried to be an Egyptian he wasn't no -good. And God spoke to him one day out of a bush on fire. I -don't remember just the words of the story, but God said: -'Moses, you're a Jew. You ain't got no business with the -Egyptians. Take off those fine clothes and go back to your own -people and help them escape from bondage.' Well. Of course, I -ain't like Moses, and God has never talked to me. But it seems -to me sort of as if--during this strike--I'd seen a BLAZING -BUSH. Anyhow I've seen my people in bondage. And I don't want -to go to college and be a lady. I guess the kind princess -couldn't understand why Moses wanted to be a poor Jew instead -of a rich Egyptian. But if you can understand, if you can -understand why I'm going to stay with my own people, you'll -understand all I've been trying to say. - -"We're a people in bondage. There's lots of people who's kind -to us. I guess the princess wasn't the only Egyptian lady that -was kind to the Jews. But kindness ain't what people want who -are in bondage. Kindness won't never make us free. And God -don't send any more prophets nowadays. We've got to escape all -by ourselves. And when you read in the papers that there's a -strike--it don't matter whether it's street-car conductors or -lace-makers, whether it's Eyetalians or Polacks or Jews or -Americans, whether it's here or in Chicago--it's my People--the -People in Bondage who are starting out for the Promised Land." - -She stopped a moment, and a strange look came over her face--a -look of communication with some distant spirit. When she spoke -again, her words were unintelligible to most of the audience. -Some of the Jewish vest-makers understood. And the Rev. Dunham -Denning, who was a famous scholar, understood. But even those -who did not were held spellbound by the swinging sonorous -cadence. She stopped abruptly. - -"It's Hebrew," she explained. "It's what my father taught me -when I was a little girl. It's about the Promised Land--I can't -say it in good English--I----" - -"Unless I've forgotten my Hebrew," the Reverend Chairman said, -stepping forward, "Miss Rayefsky has been repeating God's words -to Moses as recorded in the third chapter of Exodus. I think -it's the seventh verse:-- - -"'And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my -people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason -of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; - -"'And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the -Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land unto a good -land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.'" - -"Yes. That's it," Yetta said. "Well, that's what strikes mean. -We're fighting for the old promises." - - -"New" Women - -BY OLIVE SCHREINER - -(See page 240) - -We are not new! If you would understand us, go back two -thousand years, and study our descent; our breed is our -explanation. We are the daughters of our fathers as well as our -mothers. In our dreams we still hear the clash of the shields -of our forebears, as they struck them together before battle -and raised the shout of "Freedom!" In our dreams it is with us -still, and when we wake it breaks from our own lips. We are the -daughters of these men. - - -Bread and Roses - -BY JAMES OPPENHEIM - -(In a parade of the strikers of Lawrence, Mass., some young -girls carried a banner inscribed, "We want Bread, and Roses -too!") - - As we come marching, marching, in the beauty of the day, - A million darkened kitchens, a thousand mill-lofts gray - Are touched with all the radiance that a sudden sun discloses, - For the people hear us singing, "Bread and Roses, Bread and Roses." - - As we come marching, marching, we battle, too, for men-- - For they are women's children and we mother them again. - Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes-- - Hearts starve as well as bodies: Give us Bread, but give us Roses! - - As we come marching, marching, unnumbered women dead - Go crying through our singing their ancient song of Bread; - Small art and love and beauty their drudging spirits knew-- - Yes, it is bread we fight for--but we fight for Roses, too. - - As we come marching, marching, we bring the Greater Days-- - The rising of the women means the rising of the race-- - No more the drudge and idler--ten that toil where one reposes-- - But a sharing of life's glories: Bread and Roses, Bread and Roses! - - -The Great Strike[A] - -[A] By permission of Doubleday, Page & Co. - -(_From "Happy Humanity"_) - -BY FREDERIK VAN EEDEN - -(The Dutch physician, poet and novelist has here told for -American readers a personal experience in the labor struggles -of his own country) - -About forty of us were sent as delegates to different towns to -lead and encourage the strikers there. The password was given -and a date and hour secretly appointed. On Monday morning, the -sixth of April, 1903, no train was to run on any railway in the -Netherlands. - -Sunday evening I set out, as one of the forty delegates, on the -warpath. I took leave of my family, filled a suitcase with -pamphlets and fly-leaves, and arrived in the middle of the -night at the little town of Amersfoort, an important railway -junction, to bring my message from headquarters that a strike -would be declared that night in the whole country. Expecting -the Government to be very active and energetic and not unlikely -to arrest me, I took an assumed name, and was dressed like a -laborer.... - -I stayed a week in that little town, living in the houses of -the strikers, sharing their meals and their hours of suspense -and anxiety. There was a dark, dingy meeting-room where they -all preferred to gather, rather than stay at home. The women -also regularly attended these meetings, sometimes bringing -their children, and they all sought the comfort of being in -company, talking of hopes and fears, cheering each other up -by songs, and trying to raise each other's spirits during the -long days of inaction. I addressed them, three or four times -a day, trying to give them sound notions on social conditions -and preparing them for the defeat which I soon knew to be -inevitable. I may say, however, that, though I was of all the -forty delegates the least hopeful of ultimate success, my -little party was the last to surrender and showed the smallest -percentage of fugitives. - -I saw in those days of strife that of the two contending -parties, the stronger, the victorious one, was by far the -least sympathetic in its moral attitude and methods. The -strikers were pathetically stupid and ignorant about the -strength of their opponents and their own weakness. If they had -unexpectedly gained a complete victory they would have been -utterly unable to use it. If the political power had shifted -from the hands of the Government to those of the leading staff -of that general strike, the result would have been a terrible -confusion. There was no mind strong enough, no hand firm -enough among them to rule and reorganize that mass of workers, -unaccustomed to freedom, untrained to self-control, unable to -work without severe authority and discipline. Yet the feelings -and motives of that multitude were fair and just--they showed -a chivalry, a generosity, an idealism and an enthusiasm with -which the low methods of their powerful opponents contrasted -painfully. - -Every striker had to fight his own fight at home. Every evening -he had to face the worn and anxious face of his wife, the sight -of his children in danger of starvation and misery. He had to -notice the hidden tears of the woman, or to answer her doubts -and reproaches, with a mind itself far from confident. He had -to fight in his own heart the egotistical inclination to save -himself and give up what he felt to be his best sentiment, -solidarity, the faith towards his comrades. - -I believe no feeling man of the leisure class could have gone -through a week in those surroundings and taken part in a -struggle like this without acquiring a different conception of -the ethics of socialism and class war. - -For on the other side there were the Government, the companies, -the defendants of existing order, powerful by their wealth, -by their routine, by their experience, and supported by the -servility of the great public and the army. They had not to -face any real danger (the strikers showed no inclination to -deeds of violence), and the arms they used were intimidation -and bribery. The only thing for them to do was to demoralize -the striker, to make him an egoist, a coward, a traitor to his -comrades. And this was done quietly and successfully. - -Demoralizing the enemy may be the lawful object of every -war--the unavoidable evil to prevent a greater wrong; yet in -this case, where the method of corruption could be used only -on one side, it showed the ugly character of the conflict. -This was no fair battle with common moral rules of chivalry -and generosity; it was a pitiful and hopeless struggle between -a weak slave and a strong usurper, between an ill-treated, -revolting child and a brutal oppressor, who cared only for the -restoration of his authority, not for the morals of the child. - - -What Meaneth a Tyrant, and how he Useth his Power in a Kingdom -When he hath Obtained it - -(_From "Las Siete Partidas"_) - -BY ALFONSO THE WISE - -(A Spanish king of great learning; 1226-1284) - -A tyrant doth signify a cruel lord, who, by force or by craft, -or by treachery, hath obtained power over any realm or country; -and such men be of such nature, that when once they have grown -strong in the land, they love rather to work their own profit, -though it be to the harm of the land, than the common profit of -all, for they always live in an ill fear of losing it. And that -they may be able to fulfil this their purpose unencumbered, -the wise of old have said that they use their power against -the people in three manners. The first is, that they strive -that those under their mastery be ever ignorant and timorous, -because, when they be such, they may not be bold to rise -against them, nor to resist their wills; and the second is, -that their victims be not kindly and united among themselves, -in such wise that they trust not one another, for while they -live in disagreement, they shall not dare to make any discourse -against their lord, for fear faith and secrecy should not be -kept among themselves; and the third way is, that they strive -to make them poor, and to put them upon great undertakings, -which they can never finish, whereby they may have so much harm -that it may never come into their hearts to devise anything -against their ruler. And above all this, have tyrants ever -striven to make spoil of the strong and to destroy the wise; -and have forbidden fellowship and assemblies of men in their -land, and striven always to know what men said or did; and do -trust their counsel and the guard of their person rather to -foreigners, who will serve at their will, than to them of the -land, who serve from oppression. - - -An Open Letter to the Employers - -BY "A.E." (GEORGE W. RUSSELL) - - (This remarkable piece of eloquence, published in the Dublin _Times_ - at the time of the great strike of 1913, is said to have completely - revolutionized public opinion on the question. The author, born - 1867, is one of Ireland's greatest poets, and an ardent advocate of - agricultural co-operation) - -Sirs:--I address this warning to you, the aristocracy of -industry in this city, because, like all aristocracies, you -tend to grow blind in long authority, and to be unaware that -you and your class and its every action are being considered -and judged day by day by those who have power to shake or -overturn the whole social order, and whose restlessness in -poverty today is making our industrial civilization stir like a -quaking bog. You do not seem to realize that your assumption -that you are answerable to yourselves alone for your actions in -the industries you control is one that becomes less and less -tolerable in a world so crowded with necessitous life. Some of -you have helped Irish farmers to upset a landed aristocracy -in the island, an aristocracy richer and more powerful in its -sphere than you are in yours, with its roots deep in history. -They, too, as a class, though not all of them, were scornful -or neglectful of the workers in the industry by which they -profited; and to many who knew them in their pride of place and -thought them all-powerful they are already becoming a memory, -the good disappearing with the bad. If they had done their duty -by those from whose labor came their wealth, they might have -continued unquestioned in power and prestige for centuries to -come. The relation of landlord and tenant is not an ideal one, -but any relations in a social order will endure if there is -infused into them some of that spirit of human sympathy which -qualifies life for immortality. Despotisms endure while they -are benevolent, and aristocracies while "_noblesse oblige_" is -not a phrase to be referred to with a cynical smile. Even an -oligarchy might be permanent if the spirit of human kindness, -which harmonizes all things otherwise incompatible, were -present.... - -Those who have economic power have civic power also, yet you -have not used the power that was yours to right what was wrong -in the evil administration of this city. You have allowed -the poor to be herded together so that one thinks of certain -places in Dublin as of a pestilence. There are twenty thousand -rooms, in each of which live entire families, and sometimes -more, where no functions of the body can be concealed, and -delicacy and modesty are creatures that are stifled ere they -are born. The obvious duty of you in regard to these things -you might have left undone, and it be imputed to ignorance or -forgetfulness; but your collective and conscious action as a -class in the present labor dispute has revealed you to the -world in so malign an aspect that the mirror must be held up to -you, so that you may see yourself as every humane person sees -you. - -The conception of yourselves as altogether virtuous and wronged -is, I assure you, not at all the one which onlookers hold of -you.... The representatives of labor unions in Great Britain -met you, and you made of them a preposterous, an impossible -demand, and because they would not accede to it you closed -the Conference; you refused to meet them further; you assumed -that no other guarantees than those you asked were possible, -and you determined deliberately, in cold anger, to starve out -one-third of the population of this city, to break the manhood -of the men by the sight of the suffering of their wives and the -hunger of their children. We read in the Dark Ages of the rack -and thumbscrew. But these iniquities were hidden and concealed -from the knowledge of men in dungeons and torture-chambers. -Even in the Dark Ages humanity could not endure the sight of -such suffering, and it learnt of such misuse of power by slow -degrees, through rumor, and when it was certain it razed its -Bastilles to their foundations. It remained for the twentieth -century and the capital city of Ireland to see an oligarchy of -four hundred masters deciding openly upon starving one hundred -thousand people, and refusing to consider any solution except -that fixed by their pride. You, masters, asked men to do that -which masters of labor in any other city in these islands had -not dared to do. You insolently demanded of these men who were -members of a trade union that they should resign from that -union; and from those who were not members you insisted on a -vow that they would never join it. - -Your insolence and ignorance of the rights conceded to workers -universally in the modern world were incredible, and as great -as your inhumanity. If you had between you collectively a -portion of human soul as large as a three-penny bit, you would -have sat night and day with the representatives of labor, -trying this or that solution of the trouble, mindful of the -women and children, who at least were innocent of wrong against -you. But no! You reminded labor you could always have your -three square meals a day while it went hungry. You went into -conference again with representatives of the State, because, -dull as you are, you knew public opinion would not stand your -holding out. You chose as your spokesman the bitterest tongue -that ever wagged in this island, and then, when an award was -made by men who have an experience in industrial matters a -thousand times transcending yours, who have settled disputes -in industries so great that the sum of your petty enterprises -would not equal them, you withdraw again, and will not agree -to accept their solution, and fall back again on your devilish -policy of starvation. Cry aloud to Heaven for new souls! The -souls you have got cast upon the screen of publicity appear -like the horrid and writhing creatures enlarged from the insect -world, and revealed to us by the cinematograph. - -You may succeed in your policy and ensure your own damnation by -your victory. The men whose manhood you have broken will loathe -you, and will always be brooding and scheming to strike a fresh -blow. The children will be taught to curse you. The infant -being molded in the womb will have breathed into its starved -body the vitality of hate. It is not they--it is you who are -blind Samsons pulling down the pillars of the social order. -You are sounding the death-knell of autocracy in industry. -There was autocracy in political life, and it was superseded -by democracy. So surely will democratic power wrest from you -the control of industry. The fate of you, the aristocracy of -industry, will be as the fate of the aristocracy of land if -you do not show that you have some humanity still among you. -Humanity abhors, above all things, a vacuum in itself, and your -class will be cut off from humanity as the surgeon cuts the -cancer and alien growth from the body. Be warned ere it is too -late. - - -God and the Strong Ones - -BY MARGARET WIDDEMER - -(Contemporary American poet) - - "We have made them fools and weak!" said the Strong Ones: - "We have bound them, they are dumb and deaf and blind; - We have crushed them in our hands like a heap of crumbling sands, - We have left them naught to seek or find: - They are quiet at our feet!" said the Strong Ones; - "We have made them one with wood and stone and clod; - Serf and laborer and woman, they are less than wise or human!----" - _"I shall raise the weak!" saith God._ - - "They are stirring in the dark!" said the Strong Ones, - "They are struggling, who were moveless like the dead; - We can hear them cry and strain hand and foot against the chain, - We can hear their heavy upward tread.... - What if they are restless?" said the Strong Ones; - "What if they have stirred beneath the rod? - Fools and weak and blinded men, we can tread them down again----" - _"Shall ye conquer Me?" saith God._ - - "They will trample us and bind!" said the Strong Ones; - "We are crushed beneath the blackened feet and hands; - All the strong and fair and great they will crush from out the state; - They will whelm it with the weight of pressing sands-- - They are maddened and are blind!" said the Strong Ones; - "Black decay has come where they have trod; - They will break the world in twain if their hands are on the rein--" - _"What is that to me?" saith God._ - - _"Ye have made them in their strength, who were Strong Ones, - Ye have only taught the blackness ye have known: - These are evil men and blind?--Ay, but molded to your mind! - How shall ye cry out against your own? - Ye have held the light and beauty I have given - Far above the muddied ways where they must plod: - Ye have builded this your lord with the lash and with the sword-- - Reap what ye have sown!" saith God._ - - -The Weavers - -BY GERHART HAUPTMANN - - (German dramatist and poet, born 1862. The present play is a wonderful - picture of the lives of the weavers of Silesia, driven to revolt by - starvation. Moritz, a soldier, has just come home to his friends) - -ANSORGE:--Come, then, Moritz, tell us your opinion, you that's -been out and seen the world. Are things at all like improving -for us weavers, eh? - -MORITZ:--They would need to. - -ANSORGE:--We're in an awful state here. It's not livin' an' -it's not dyin'. A man fights to the bitter end, but he's bound -to be beat at last--to be left without a roof over his head, -you may say without ground under his feet. As long as he can -work at the loom he can earn some sort o' poor, miserable -livin'. But it's many a day since I've been able to get that -sort o' job. Now I tries to put a bite into my mouth with this -here basket-makin'. I sits at it late into the night, and by -the time I tumbles into bed I've earned twelve pfennig. I put -it to you if a man can live on that, when everything's so dear? -Nine marks goes in one lump for house tax, three marks for land -tax, nine marks for mortgage interest--that makes twenty-one -marks. I may reckon my year's earnin's at just double that -money, and that leaves me twenty-one marks for a whole year's -food, an' fire, an' clothes, an' shoes; and I've got to keep -up some sort of place to live in. Is it any wonder that I'm -behind-hand with my interest payments? - -OLD BAUMERT:--Some one would need to go to Berlin an' tell the -King how hard put to it we are. - -MORITZ:--Little good that would do, Father Baumert. There's -been plenty written about it in the newspapers. But the rich -people, they can turn and twist things round--as cunning as the -devil himself. - -OLD BAUMERT (_shaking his head_):--To think they've no more -sense than that in Berlin! - -ANSORGE:--And is it really true, Moritz? Is there no law to -help us? If a man hasn't been able to scrape together enough to -pay his mortgage interest, though he's worked the very skin off -his hands, must his house be taken from him? The peasant that's -lent the money on it, he wants his rights--what else can you -look for from him? But what's to be the end of it all, I don't -know.--If I'm put out o' the house.... (_In a voice choked by -tears._) I was born here, and here my father sat at his loom -for more than forty years. Many was the time he said to mother: -Mother, when I'm gone, the house'll still be here. I've worked -hard for it. Every nail means a night's weaving, every plank a -year's dry bread. A man would think that.... - -MORITZ:--They're quite fit to take the last bite out of your -mouth--that's what they are. - -ANSORGE:--Well, well, well! I would rather be carried out -than have to walk out now in my old days. Who minds dyin'? My -father, he was glad to die. At the very end he got frightened, -but I crept into bed beside him, an' he quieted down again. I -was a lad of thirteen then. I was tired and fell asleep beside -him--I knew no better--and when I woke he was quite cold.... - -(_They eat the food which the soldier has brought, but the old -man Baumert is too far exhausted to retain it, and has to run -from the room. He comes back crying with rage._) - -BAUMERT:--It's no good! I'm too far gone! Now that I've at -last got hold of somethin' with a taste in it, my stomach won't -keep it. (_He sits down on the bench by the stove crying._) - -MORITZ (_with a sudden violent ebullition of rage_):--And -yet there are people not far from here, justices they call -themselves too, over-fed brutes, that have nothing to do all -the year round but invent new ways of wasting their time. And -these people say that the weavers would be quite well off if -only they weren't so lazy. - -ANSORGE:--The men as say that are no men at all, they're -monsters. - -MORITZ:--Never mind, Father Ansorge; we're making the place -hot for 'em. Becker and I have been and given Dreissiger (_the -master_) a piece of our mind, and before we came away we sang -him "Bloody Justice." - -ANSORGE:--Good Lord! Is that the song? - -MORITZ:--Yes; I have it here. - -ANSORGE:--They call it Dreissiger's song, don't they? - -MORITZ:--I'll read it to you. - -MOTHER BAUMERT:--Who wrote it? - -MORITZ:--That's what nobody knows. Now listen. (_He reads, -hesitating like a schoolboy, with incorrect accentuation, but -unmistakably strong feeling. Despair, suffering, rage, hatred, -thirst for revenge, all find utterance._) - - The justice to us weavers dealt - Is bloody, cruel, and hateful; - Our life's one torture, long drawn out: - For lynch law we'd be grateful. - - Stretched on the rack day after day, - Hearts sick and bodies aching, - Our heavy sighs their witness bear - To spirit slowly breaking. - -(_The words of the song make a strong impression on Old -Baumert. Deeply agitated, he struggles against the temptation -to interrupt Moritz. At last he can keep quiet no longer._) - -OLD BAUMERT (_to his wife, half laughing, half crying, -stammering_):--"Stretched on the rack day after day." Whoever -wrote that, mother, knew the truth. You can bear witness ... -eh, how does it go? "Our heavy sighs their witness bear" ... -what's the rest? - -MORITZ:--"To spirit slowly breaking." - -OLD BAUMERT:--You know the way we sigh, mother, day and night, -sleepin' an' wakin'. - -(_Ansorge has stopped working, and cowers on the floor, -strongly agitated. Mother Baumert and Bertha wipe their eyes -frequently during the course of the reading._) - -MORITZ (_continues to read_):-- - - The Dreissigers true hangmen are, - Servants no whit behind them; - Masters and men with one accord - Set on the poor to grind them. - You villains all, you brood of hell---- - -OLD BAUMERT (_trembling with rage, stamping on the -floor_):--Yes, brood of hell!!! - -MORITZ (_reads_):-- - - You fiends in fashion human, - A curse will fall on all like you, - Who prey on man and woman. - -ANSORGE:--Yes, yes, a curse upon them! - -OLD BAUMERT (_clenching his fist, threateningly_):--You prey on -man and woman. - -MORITZ (_reads_):-- - - Then think of all our woe and want, - O ye who hear this ditty! - Our struggle vain for daily bread - Hard hearts would move to pity. - - But pity's what you've never known,-- - You'd take both skin and clothing, - You cannibals, whose cruel deeds - Fill all good men with loathing. - -OLD BAUMERT (_jumps up, beside himself with excitement_):--Both -skin and clothing. It's true, it's all true! Here I stand, -Robert Baumert, master-weaver of Kaschbach. Who can bring up -anything against me?... I've been an honest, hard-working man -all my life long, an' look at me now! What have I to show for -it? Look at me! See what they've made of me! Stretched on the -rack day after day. (_He holds out his arms._) Feel that! Skin -and bone! "You villains all, you brood of hell!!" (_He sinks -down on a chair, weeping with rage and despair._) - -ANSORGE (_flings his basket from him into a corner, rises, his -whole body trembling with rage, gasps_):--And the time's come -now for a change, I say. We'll stand it no longer! We'll stand -it no longer! Come what may! - - -Alton Locke's Song: 1848 - -BY CHARLES KINGSLEY - -(See pages 78, 84, 223) - - Weep, weep, weep and weep - For pauper, dolt and slave! - Hark! from wasted moor and fen - Feverous alley, stifling den, - Swells the wail of Saxon men-- - Work! or the grave! - - Down, down, down and down, - With idler, knave, and tyrant! - Why for sluggards cark and moil? - He that will not live by toil - Has no right on English soil! - God's word's our warrant! - - Up, up, up and up! - Face your game and play it! - The night is past, behold the sun! - The idols fall, the lie is done! - The Judge is set, the doom begun! - Who shall stay it? - - -BY G. BERNARD SHAW - -Do not waste your time on Social Questions. What is the matter -with the poor is Poverty; what is the matter with the Rich is -Uselessness. - - -BY ROBERT G. INGERSOLL - -(American lawyer and lecturer, 1883-1899) - -Whoever produces anything by weary labor, does not need a -revelation from heaven to teach him that he has a right to the -thing produced. - - -Labor - -(A parody upon a poem by Rudyard Kipling; author unknown. The -poem is frequently, but incorrectly, attributed to Mr. Kipling) - - We have fed you all for a thousand years, - And you hail us still unfed, - Tho' there's never a dollar of all your wealth - But marks the workers' dead. - We have yielded our best to give you rest, - And you lie on crimson wool; - For if blood be the price of all your wealth - Good God, we ha' paid in full! - - There's never a mine blown skyward now - But we're buried alive for you; - There's never a wreck drifts shoreward now - But we are its ghastly crew; - Go reckon our dead by the forges red, - And the factories where we spin. - If blood be the price of your cursed wealth - Good God, we ha' paid it in! - - We have fed you all for a thousand years, - For that was our doom, you know, - From the days when you chained us in your fields - To the strike of a week ago. - You ha' eaten our lives and our babies and wives, - And we're told it's your legal share; - But, if blood be the price of your lawful wealth, - Good God, we ha' bought it fair! - - -The Two "Reigns of Terror" - -(_From "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court"_) - -(America's favorite humorist, 1837-1910) - -There were two "Reigns of Terror," if we would but remember it -and consider it; the one wrought murder in hot passion, the -other in heartless cold blood; the one lasted mere months, the -other had lasted a thousand years; the one inflicted death upon -ten thousand persons, the other upon a hundred millions; but -our shudders are all for the "horrors" of the minor Terror, -the momentary Terror, so to speak; whereas, what is the horror -of swift death by the axe, compared with life-long death from -hunger, cold, insult, cruelty and heartbreak? What is swift -death by lightning compared with death by slow fire at the -stake? A city cemetery could contain the coffins filled by -that brief Terror which we have all been so diligently taught -to shiver at and mourn over; but all France could hardly -contain the coffins filled by that older and real Terror--that -unspeakably bitter and awful Terror which none of us has been -taught to see in its vastness or pity as it deserves. - - (Quoted by special permission of Harper & Brothers.) - - -In Trafalgar Square - -(_From "Songs of the Army of the Night"_) - -BY FRANCIS W. L. ADAMS - -(See page 219) - - The stars shone faint through the smoky blue; - The church-bells were ringing; - Three girls, arms laced, were passing through, - Tramping and singing. - - Their heads were bare; their short skirts swung - As they went along; - Their scarf-covered breasts heaved up, as they sung - Their defiant song. - - It was not too clean, their feminine lay, - But it thrilled me quite - With its challenge to task-master villainous day - And infamous night, - - With its threat to the robber rich, the proud, - The respectable free. - And I laughed and shouted to them aloud, - And they shouted to me! - - "_Girls, that's the shout, the shout we will utter - When, with rifles and spades, - We stand, with the old Red Flag aflutter, - On the barricades!_" - - -The Orator on the Barricade - -(_From "Les Miserables"_) - -BY VICTOR HUGO - -(See page 182) - -Friends, the hour in which we live, and in which I speak to -you, is a gloomy hour, but of such is the terrible price of -the future. A revolution is a toll-gate. Oh! the human race -shall be delivered, uplifted and consoled! We affirm it on this -barricade. Whence shall arise the shout of love, if it be not -from the summit of sacrifice? O my brothers, here is the place -of junction between those who think and those who suffer; this -barricade is made neither of paving-stones, nor of timbers, -nor of iron; it is made of two mounds, a mound of ideas and a -mound of sorrows. Misery here encounters the ideal. Here day -embraces night, and says: I will die with thee and thou shalt -be born again with me. From the pressure of all desolations -faith gushes forth. Sufferings bring their agony here, and -ideas their immortality. This agony and this immortality are -to mingle and compose our death. Brothers, he who dies here -dies in the radiance of the future, and we are entering a grave -illumined by the dawn. - - -Europe: The 72nd and 73rd Years of These States - -BY WALT WHITMAN - -(The European revolutions of 1848-49) - - Suddenly out of its stale and drowsy lair, the lair of slaves, - Like lightning it le'pt forth half startled at itself, - Its feet upon the ashes and the rags, its hands tight to the -throats of kings. - - O hope and faith! - O aching close of exiled patriots' lives! - O many a sicken'd heart! - Turn back unto this day, and make yourselves afresh. - - And you, paid to defile the People! you liars, mark! - Not for numberless agonies, murders, lusts, - For court thieving in its manifold mean forms, worming from his -simplicity the poor man's wages, - For many a promise sworn by royal lips, and broken, and laugh'd -at in the breaking, - Then in their power, not for all these, did the blows strike -revenge, or the heads of the nobles fall; - The People scorn'd the ferocity of kings. - - But the sweetness of mercy brew'd bitter destruction, and the -frighten'd monarchs come back; - Each comes in state, with his train--hangman, priest, tax-gatherer, - Soldier, lawyer, lord, jailer, and sycophant. - - Yet behind all, lowering, stealing--lo, a Shape, - Vague as the night, draped interminable, head, front, and form, -in scarlet folds, - Whose face and eyes none may see, - Out of its robes only this--the red robes, lifted by the arm, - One finger, crook'd, pointed high over the top, like the head -of a snake appears. - - Meanwhile, corpses lie in new-made graves--bloody corpses of -young men; - The rope of the gibbet hangs heavily, the bullets of princes -are flying, the creatures of power laugh aloud, - - And all these things bear fruits--and they are good. - - Those corpses of young men, - Those martyrs that hang from the gibbets--those hearts pierc'd -by the gray lead, - Cold and motionless as they seem, live elsewhere with -unslaughter'd vitality. - - They live in other young men, O kings! - They live in brothers again ready to defy you! - They were purified by death--they were taught and exalted. - - Not a grave of the murder'd for freedom, but grows seed for -freedom, in its turn to bear seed, - Which the winds carry afar and re-sow, and the rains and the -snows nourish. - - Not a disembodied spirit can the weapons of tyrants let loose, - But it stalks invisibly over the earth, whispering, -counselling, cautioning. - - Liberty! let others despair of you! I never despair of you. - - Is the house shut? Is the master away? - Nevertheless, be ready--be not weary of watching; - He will return soon--his messengers come anon. - - -The Dead to the Living - -BY FERDINAND FREILIGRATH - - (German revolutionary poet, 1810-1876. Part of a poem written after - the uprising of 1848, in Berlin, when the people marched past the - palace-gates with their slain, and compelled the king to stand upon - the balcony and take off his hat to the bodies) - - With bullets through and through our breast--our forehead split -with pike and spear, - So bear us onward shoulder high, laid dead upon a blood-stained bier; - Yea, shoulder-high above the crowd, that on the man that bade us die, - Our dreadful death-distorted face may be a bitter curse for aye; - That he may see it day and night, or when he wakes, or when he sleeps, - Or when he opes his holy book, or when with wine high revel keeps; - That always each disfeatured face, each gaping wound his sight -may sear, - And brood above his bed of death, and curdle all his blood with fear! - - -Free Speech - -BY SIR LESLIE STEPHEN - -(English essayist and critic, 1832-1904) - -I, for one, am fully prepared to listen to any arguments -for the propriety of theft or murder, or if it be possible, -of immorality in the abstract. No doctrine, however well -established, should be protected from discussion. If, as a -matter of fact, any appreciable number of persons are so -inclined to advocate murder on principle, I should wish them to -state their opinions openly and fearlessly, because I should -think that the shortest way of exploding the principle and of -ascertaining the true causes of such a perversion of moral -sentiment. Such a state of things implies the existence of -evils which cannot be really cured till their cause is known, -and the shortest way to discover the cause is to give a hearing -to the alleged reasons. - - -BY WENDELL PHILLIPS - -(American anti-slavery agitator, 1811-1884) - -If there is anything that cannot bear free thought, let it -crack. - - -The Mask of Anarchy - -BY PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY - -(English poet of nature and human liberty, 1792-1822, whose -whole life was a cry for beauty and freedom. He died in obloquy -and neglect, and today is known as "the Poets' Poet") - - Men of England, Heirs of Glory, - Heroes of unwritten story, - Nurslings of one mighty mother, - Hopes of her, and one another! - - Rise, like lions after slumber, - In unvanquishable number, - Shake your chains to earth like dew, - Which in sleep had fall'n on you. - Ye are many, they are few. - - What is Freedom! Ye can tell - That which Slavery is too well, - For its very name has grown - To an echo of your own. - - 'Tis to work, and have such pay - As just keeps life from day to day - In your limbs as in a cell - For the tyrants' use to dwell: - - So that ye for them are made, - Loom, and plough, and sword, and spade; - With or without your own will, bent - To their defence and nourishment. - - 'Tis to see your children weak - With their mothers pine and peak, - When the winter winds are bleak:-- - They are dying whilst I speak. - - 'Tis to hunger for such diet - As the rich man in his riot - Casts to the fat dogs that lie - Surfeiting beneath his eye. - - 'Tis to be a slave in soul, - And to hold no strong control - Over your own wills, but be - All that others make of ye. - - -Real Liberty - -BY HENRIK IBSEN - -(See page 241) - -Away with the State! I will take part in that revolution. -Undermine the whole conception of a state, declare free choice -and spiritual kinship to be the only all-important conditions -of any union, and you will have the commencement of a liberty -that is worth something. - - -Christmas in Prison - -(_From "The Jungle"_) - -BY UPTON SINCLAIR - -(See pages 43, 143, 194) - -In the distance there was a church-tower bell that tolled the -hours one by one. When it came to midnight Jurgis was lying -upon the floor with his head in his arms, listening. Instead -of falling silent at the end, the bell broke out into a sudden -clangor. Jurgis raised his head; what could that mean--a fire? -God! suppose there were to be a fire in this jail! But then he -made out a melody in the ringing; there were chimes. And they -seemed to waken the city--all around, far and near, there were -bells, ringing wild music; for fully a minute Jurgis lay lost -in wonder, before, all at once, the meaning of it broke over -him--that this was Christmas Eve! - -Christmas Eve--he had forgotten it entirely! There was a -breaking of flood-gates, a whirl of new memories and new -griefs rushing into his mind. In far Lithuania they had -celebrated Christmas; and it came to him as if it had been -yesterday--himself a little child, with his lost brother and -his dead father in the cabin in the deep black forest, where -the snow fell all day and all night and buried them from the -world. It was too far off for Santa Claus in Lithuania, but -it was not too far for peace and good-will to men, for the -wonder-bearing vision of the Christ-child. - -But no, their bells were not ringing for him--their Christmas -was not meant for him, they were simply not counting him at -all. He was of no consequence, like a bit of trash, the carcass -of some animal. It was horrible, horrible! His wife might be -dying, his baby might be starving, his whole family might be -perishing in the cold--and all the while they were ringing -their Christmas chimes! And the bitter mockery of it--all this -was punishment for him! They put him in a place where the snow -could not beat in, where the cold could not eat through his -bones; they brought him food and drink--why, in the name of -heaven, if they must punish him, did they not put his family in -jail and leave him outside--why could they find no better way -to punish him than to leave three weak women and six helpless -children to starve and freeze? - -That was their law, that was their justice! Jurgis stood -upright, trembling with passion, his hands clenched and his -arms upraised, his whole soul ablaze with hatred and defiance. -Ten thousand curses upon them and their law! Their justice--it -was a lie, a sham and a loathsome mockery. There was no -justice, there was no right, anywhere in it--it was only -force, it was tyranny, the will and the power, reckless and -unrestrained! - -These midnight hours were fateful ones to Jurgis; in them -was the beginning of his rebellion, of his outlawry and his -unbelief. He had no wit to trace back the social crime to its -far sources--he could not say it was the thing men have called -"the system" that was crushing him to the earth; that it was -the packers, his masters, who had bought up the law of the -land, and had dealt out their brutal will to him from the seat -of justice. He only knew that he was wronged, and that the -world had wronged him; that the law, that society, with all its -powers, had declared itself his foe. And every hour his soul -grew blacker, every hour he dreamed new dreams of vengeance, of -defiance, of raging, frenzied hate. - - -Robbers and Governments - -BY LEO TOLSTOY - -(See pages 88, 110, 148) - -The robber generally plundered the rich, the governments -generally plunder the poor and protect those rich who assist in -their crimes. The robber doing his work risked his life, while -the governments risk nothing, but base their whole activity -on lies and deception. The robber did not compel anyone to -join his band, the governments generally enrol their soldiers -by force.... The robber did not intentionally vitiate people, -but the governments, to accomplish their ends, vitiate whole -generations from childhood to manhood with false religions and -patriotic instruction. - - -"Gunmen" in Israel - -(_From "A Sociological Study of the Bible"_) - -BY LOUIS WALLIS - -We saw that the great revolt under David was put down by the -assistance of mercenary troops, or hired "strong men," and -that by their aid Solomon was elevated to the throne against -the wishes of the peasantry. In the Hebrew text, these men of -power are called _gibborim_. They were among the principal -tools used by the kings in maintaining the government. It was -the _gibborim_ who garrisoned the royal strongholds that held -the country in awe. In cases where the peasants refused to -submit, bands of _gibborim_ were sent out by the kings and the -great nobles. Through them the peasantry were "civilized"; -and through them, apparently, the Amorite law was enforced in -opposition to the old justice. - -Hence the prophets were very bitter against these tools of the -ruling class. Hosea writes: "Thou didst trust in thy way, in -the multitude of thy _gibborim_; therefore shall a tumult arise -against thy people; and all thy fortresses shall be destroyed." -Amos, the shepherd, says that when Jehovah shall punish the -land, the _gibborim_ shall fall: "Flight shall perish from the -swift ... neither shall the _gibbor_ deliver himself; neither -shall he stand that handeth the bow; and he that is swift of -foot shall not deliver himself; ... and he that is courageous -among the _gibborim_ shall flee away naked in that day, saith -Jehovah." - - -"Gunmen" in West Virginia - -("_When the Leaves Come Out_") - -BY A PAINT CREEK MINER - -(Written during the terrible strike of 1911-12) - - The hills are very bare and cold and lonely; - I wonder what the future months will bring. - The strike is on--our strength would win, if only-- - O, Buddy, how I'm longing for the spring! - - They've got us down--their martial lines enfold us; - They've thrown us out to feel the winter's sting, - And yet, by God, those curs can never hold us, - Nor could the dogs of hell do such a thing! - - It isn't just to see the hills beside me - Grow fresh and green with every growing thing; - I only want the leaves to come and hide me, - To cover up my vengeful wandering. - - I will not watch the floating clouds that hover - Above the birds that warble on the wing; - I want to use this GUN from under cover-- - O, Buddy, how I'm longing for the spring! - - You see them there, below, the damned scab-herders! - Those puppets on the greedy Owners' String; - We'll make them pay for all their dirty murders-- - We'll show them how a starveling's hate can sting! - - They riddled us with volley after volley; - We heard their speeding bullets zip and ring, - But soon we'll make them suffer for their folly-- - O, Buddy, how I'm longing for the spring! - - -FROM ECCLESIASTES - -Surely oppression maketh a wise man mad. - - -Political Violence - -(From an Anarchist pamphlet published in London; author unknown) - -Under miserable conditions of life, any vision of the -possibility of better things makes the present misery more -intolerable, and spurs those who suffer to the most energetic -struggles to improve their lot; and if these struggles only -result in sharper misery, the outcome is sheer desperation. In -our present society, for instance, an exploited wage worker, -who catches a glimpse of what life and work ought to be, finds -the toilsome routine and the squalor of his existence almost -intolerable; and even when he has the resolution and courage -to continue steadily working his best, and waiting until new -ideas have so permeated society as to pave the way for better -times, the mere fact that he has such ideas and tries to spread -them, brings him into difficulties with his employers. How -many thousands of Socialists, and above all Anarchists, have -lost work and even the chance of work, solely on the ground of -their opinions. It is only the specially gifted craftsman who, -if he be a zealous propagandist, can hope to retain permanent -employment. And what happens to a man with his brain working -actively with a ferment of new ideas, with a vision before -his eyes of a new hope dawning for toiling and agonizing men, -with the knowledge that his suffering and that of his fellows -in misery is not caused by the cruelty of fate, but by the -injustice of other human beings,--what happens to such a man -when he sees those dear to him starving, when he himself is -starved? Some natures in such a plight, and those by no means -the least social or the least sensitive, will become violent, -and will even feel that their violence is social and not -anti-social, that in striking when and how they can, they are -striking, not for themselves, but for human nature, outraged -and despoiled in their persons and in those of their fellow -sufferers. And are we, who ourselves are not in this horrible -predicament, to stand by and coldly condemn those piteous -victims of the Furies and Fates? Are we to decry as miscreants -these human beings who act with heroic self-devotion, -sacrificing their lives in protest, where less social and -less energetic natures would lie down and grovel in abject -submission to injustice and wrong? Are we to join the ignorant -and brutal outcry which stigmatizes such men as monsters of -wickedness, gratuitously running amuck in a harmonious and -innocently peaceful society? No! We hate murder with a hatred -that may seem absurdly exaggerated to apologists for Matabele -massacres, to callous acquiescers in hangings and bombardments; -but we decline in such cases of homicide, or attempted -homicide, as those of which we are treating, to be guilty of -the cruel injustice of flinging the whole responsibility of -the deed upon the immediate perpetrator. The guilt of these -homicides lies upon every man and woman who, intentionally or -by cold indifference, helps to keep up social conditions that -drive human beings to despair. The man who flings his whole -life into the attempt, at the cost of his own life, to protest -against the wrongs of his fellow-men, is a saint compared to -the active and passive upholders of cruelty and injustice, even -if his protest destroys other lives besides his own. Let him -who is without sin in society cast the first stone at such an -one. - - -The Bomb - -BY FRANK HARRIS - - (The English author, born 1855, author of "The Man Shakespeare," has - in this novel told the inside story of the Haymarket explosion in - Chicago in 1886. The following passage describes the treatment which - the strikers received from the police) - -A meeting was called on a waste space in Packingtown, and -over a thousand workmen came together. I went there out of -curiosity. Lingg, I may say here, always went alone to these -strike meetings. Ida told me once that he suffered so much at -them that he could not bear to be seen, and perhaps that was -the explanation of his solitary ways. Fielden, the Englishman, -spoke first, and was cheered to the echo; the workmen knew -him as a working-man and liked him; besides, he talked in a -homely way, and was easy to understand. Spies spoke in German -and was cheered also. The meeting was perfectly orderly -when three hundred police tried to disperse it. The action -was ill-advised, to say the best of it, and tyrannical; the -strikers were hurting no one and interfering with no one. -Without warning or reason the police tried to push their way -through the crowd to the speakers; finding a sort of passive -resistance and not being able to overcome it, they used their -clubs savagely. One or two of the strikers, hot-headed, bared -their knives, and at once the police, led on by that madman, -Schaack, drew their revolvers and fired. It looked as if the -police had been waiting for the opportunity. Three strikers -were shot dead on the spot, and more than twenty were wounded, -several of them dangerously, before the mob drew sullenly away -from the horrible place. A leader, a word, and not one of the -police would have escaped alive; but the leader was not there, -and the word was not given, so the wrong was done, and went -unpunished. - -I do not know how I reached my room that afternoon. The sight -of the dead men lying stark there in the snow had excited me to -madness. The picture of one man followed me like an obsession; -he was wounded to death, shot through the lungs; he lifted -himself up on his left hand and shook the right at the police, -crying in a sort of frenzy till the spouting blood choked him-- - -"Bestien! Bestien!" ("Beasts! Beasts!") - -I can still see him wiping the blood-stained froth from his -lips; I went to help him; but all he could gasp was, "Weib! -Kinder! (Wife, children!)" Never shall I forget the despair in -his face. I supported him gently; again and again I wiped the -blood from his lips; every breath brought up a flood; his poor -eyes thanked me, though he could not speak, and soon his eyes -closed; flickered out, as one might say, and he lay there still -enough in his own blood; "murdered," as I said to myself when I -laid the poor body back; "murdered!" - -(_As a result of this police action, the narrator goes to the -next meeting of the strikers with a bomb in his pocket._) - -The crowd began to drift away at the edges. I was alone and -curiously watchful. I saw the mayor and the officials move -off towards the business part of the town. It looked for a -few minutes as if everything was going to pass over in peace; -but I was not relieved. I could hear my own heart beating, -and suddenly I felt something in the air; it was sentient -with expectancy. I slowly turned my head. I was on the very -outskirts of the crowd, and as I turned I saw that Bonfield -had marched out his police, and was minded to take his own way -with the meeting now that the mayor had left. I felt personal -antagonism stiffen my muscles.... It grew darker and darker -every moment. Suddenly there came a flash, and then a peal of -thunder. At the end of the flash, as it seemed to me, I saw -the white clubs falling, saw the police striking down the men -running along the sidewalk. At once my mind was made up. I put -my left hand on the outside of my trousers to hold the bomb -tight, and my right hand into the pocket, and drew the tape. -I heard a little rasp. I began to count slowly, "One, two, -three, four, five, six, seven;" as I got to seven the police -were quite close to me, bludgeoning every one furiously. Two or -three of the foremost had drawn their revolvers. The crowd were -flying in all directions. Suddenly there was a shot, and then -a dozen shots, all, it seemed to me, fired by the police. Rage -blazed in me. - -I took the bomb out of my pocket, careless whether I was seen -or not, and looked for the right place to throw it; then I -hurled it over my shoulder high in the air, towards the middle -of the police, and at the same moment I stumbled forward, just -as if I had fallen, throwing myself on my hands and face, for -I had seen the spark. It seemed as if I had been on my hands -for an eternity, when I was crushed to the ground, and my ears -split with the roar. I scrambled to my feet again, gasping. -Men were thrown down in front of me, and were getting up on -their hands. I heard groans and cries, and shrieks behind me. -I turned around; as I turned a strong arm was thrust through -mine, and I heard Lingg say-- - -"Come, Rudolph, this way;" and he drew me to the sidewalk, and -we walked past where the police had been. - -"Don't look," he whispered suddenly; "don't look." - -But before he spoke I had looked, and what I saw will be before -my eyes till I die. The street was one shambles; in the very -center of it a great pit yawned, and round it men lying, or -pieces of men, in every direction, and close to me, near the -side-walk as I passed, a leg and foot torn off, and near by -two huge pieces of bleeding red meat, skewered together with a -thigh-bone. My soul sickened; my senses left me; but Lingg held -me up with superhuman strength, and drew me along. - -"Hold yourself up, Rudolph," he whispered; "come on, man," -and the next moment we had passed it all, and I clung to him, -trembling like a leaf. When we got to the end of the block I -realized that I was wet through from head to foot, as if I had -been plunged in cold water. - -"I must stop," I gasped. "I cannot walk, Lingg." - -"Nonsense," he said; "take a drink of this," and he thrust -a flask of brandy into my hand. The brandy I poured down my -throat set my heart beating again, allowed me to breathe, and I -walked on with him. - -"How you are shaking," he said. "Strange, you neurotic people; -you do everything perfectly, splendidly, and then break down -like women. Come, I am not going to leave you; but for God's -sake throw off that shaken, white look. Drink some more." - -I tried to; but the flask was empty. He put it back in his -pocket. - -"Here is the bottle," he said. "I have brought enough; but we -must get to the depot." - -We saw fire engines with police on them, galloping like madmen -in the direction whence we had come. The streets were crowded -with people, talking, gesticulating, like actors. Every one -seemed to know of the bomb already, and to be talking about it. -I noticed that even here, fully a block away, the pavement was -covered with pieces of glass; all the windows had been broken -by the explosion. - -As we came in front of the depot, just before we passed into -the full glare of the arc-lamps, Lingg said-- - -"Let me look at you," and as he let go my arm, I almost fell; -my legs were like German sausages; they felt as if they had no -bones in them, and would bend in any direction; in spite of -every effort they would shake. - -"Come, Rudolph," he said, "we'll stop and talk; but you must -come to yourself. Take another drink, and think of nothing. I -will save you; you are too good to lose. Come, dear friend, -don't let them crow over us." - -My heart seemed to be in my mouth, but I swallowed it down. I -took another swig of brandy, and then a long drink of it. It -might have been water for all I tasted; but it seemed to do me -some little good. In a minute or so I had got hold of myself. - -"I'm all right," I said; "what is there to do now?" - -"Simply to go through the depot," he said, "as if there were -nothing the matter, and take the train." - - - - -BOOK VI - -_Martyrdom_ - -Messages and records of the heroes of past and present who have -sacrificed themselves for the sake of the future. - - -Social Ideals - -BY VIDA D. SCUDDER - -(Professor at Wellesley College, Mass.; born 1861) - -Deeper than all theories, apart from all discussion, the mighty -instinct for social justice shapes the hearts that are ready to -receive it. The personal types thus created are the harbingers -of the victory of the cause of freedom. The heralds of freedom, -they are also its martyrs. The delicate vibrations of their -consciousness thrill through the larger social self which more -stolid people still ignore, and the pain of the world is their -own. Not for one instant can they know an undimmed joy in art, -in thought, in nature while part of their very life throbs -in the hunger of the dispossessed. All this by no virtue, no -choice of their own. So were they born: the children of the -new age, whom the new intuition governs. In every country, out -of every class, they gather: men and women vowed to simplicity -of life and to social service; possessed by a force mightier -than themselves, over which they have no control; aware of the -lack of social harmony in our civilization, restless with pain, -perplexity, distress, yet filled with deep inward peace as they -obey the imperative claim of a widened consciousness. By active -ministry, and yet more by prayer and fast and vigil, they seek -to prepare the way for the spiritual democracy on which their -souls are set. - - -Le Père Perdrix - -BY CHARLES-LOUIS PHILIPPE - - (A poor and obscure clerk of the municipality of Paris, 1875-1909, - who wrote seven volumes of fiction which have placed his name among - the masters of French literature. He wrote of the poor whose lives he - knew, and his work is characterized by fidelity to truth, beauty of - sentiment, and rare charm of style. The following scene is in the home - of a workingman, who by heavy sacrifice has succeeded in educating his - only son. One day unexpectedly the son returns home) - -Pierre Bousset said, "How does it happen that you come to-day?" - -Jean sat down with slowness enough, and one saw yet another -thing sit down in the house. The mother said, "I guess you -haven't eaten. I'll make a little chocolate before noon-time." - -Jean's tongue was loosed. "Here it is. There is something new. -It is necessary to tell you: I have left my place!" - -"How! You have left your place!" They sat up all three--Pierre -Bousset with his apron and his back of labor; and Jean saw -that he had gray hair. The mother held a saucepan in her -hand, careful like a kitchen-servant, but with feelings as if -the saucepan were about to fall. Marguerite, the sister, was -already weeping: "Ah, my God! I who was so proud!" - -Pierre Bousset said, "And how did you manage that clever -stroke?" - -It was then that Jean felt his soul wither, and there rose up -from the depths of his heart all the needs, all the mists of -love. It was necessary that they should live side by side and -understand one another, and it was necessary that someone -should begin to weaken. He said, "Does one ever know what one -does?" - -"Ah, indeed!" said the father. "You don't know what you do?" - -"There are moments," answered Jean, "when one loses his head, -and afterwards I don't say one should not have regrets." - -"For the matter of losing one's head, I know only one thing: -It is that they pay you, and it is up to you always to obey -whatever they command." - -The mother watched the chocolate, from which the steam rose -with a warmth of strong nutriment. They loved that in the -family, like a Sunday morning indulgence, like a bourgeois -chocolate for holiday folk. She said, "Anyhow, let it be as it -will, he's got to eat." - -Jean went on to speak. His blue eyes had undergone the first -transformation which comes in a man's life, when he is no -longer Jean, son of Pierre, pupil at the Central school, but -Jean Bousset, engineer of applied chemistry. There remained in -them, however, the shining of a young girl, that emotion which -wakens two rays of sunlight in a spring. And now they kept a -sort of supplication, like the sweetness of a naked infant. - -"Oh, I know everything that you are going to say. You cannot -excuse me, because you are not in my place, and I cannot -condemn a movement of my heart. You know--I wrote it to -you--the workers were about to go on strike. At once I said -to myself that these were matters which did not concern me; -because, when you are taking care of yourself, it is not -necessary to look any farther. But Cousin François explained it -all to me." - -"Ah, I told you so!" cried Pierre Bousset. "When you wanted -to take Cousin François into your factory, I said to you: -'Relatives, it is necessary always to keep them at a distance. -They push themselves forward, and sometimes, to excuse them one -is led to commit whole heaps of lowness.'" - -"In truth," said Jean, "I would never have had to complain of -him. On the contrary, he wore his heart on his sleeve." - -"Oh, all drunkards are like that. One says: 'They wear their -hearts on their sleeve,' and one does not count all the times -when they lead the others away." - -"Ah, I have understood many things, father. How can I explain -everything that I have understood! There are moments still -when, to see and to realize--that makes in my head a noise as -if the world would not stay in place. I tell you again it was -François who made me understand. I saw, in the evenings. I -would say to him: 'I am bored, I haven't even a comrade, and I -eat at hotel-tables a dinner too well served.' He said: 'Come -to my house. You don't know what it is to eat good things, -because you don't work, and because hunger makes a part of -work. You will have some soup with us, and we will tell you -at least that you are happy to be where you are, and to look -upon the workingman while playing the amateur.' I said to him: -'But I work, also. To see, to understand, to analyze, to be an -engineer! You, it's your arms; me, it's my head and my heart -that ache.' He laughed: 'Ha! ha! ha! ha! ha! When I come home -in the evening with my throat dry and I eat my soup, I also -have a headache, and I laugh at you with your heart-ache. I am -as tired as a wolf. What's that you call your heart?'" - -"Yes, he was right there," said Pierre Bousset. "For my part, I -don't understand at all how you are going to pull through. You -have understood a lot of things! As for me, I understand but -one thing, which is you are unhappy over being too happy." - -Jean went on speaking, with his blue eyes, like a madness, like -a ribbon, like a rosette without any reason which a young girl -puts on her forehead. A sweetness came out of his heart to -spread itself in the room, where the furniture gave off angular -and waxy reflections. Marguerite listened, with restlessness, -listened to her father, like a child whose habit it is to be -guided by her parents. The mother saw to the chocolate, in a -state of confusion, shaking her head. - -"Yesterday I was in the office of the superintendent. It -was then that the delegation arrived. It seems to me that I -see them again. There were three workingmen. They had taken -to white shirts, and they had just washed their hands. You -know how the poor come into the homes of the rich. There was -a great racket, and their steps were put down with so much -embarrassment that one felt in the hearts of the three men -the shame of crushed things. I had already thought about that -poverty which, knowing that it soils, hides itself, and dares -not even touch an object. They said: 'Well, Mr. Superintendent, -we have been sent to talk to you. For more than ten years now -we have worked in the factory. We get seventy cents a day. -That's not much to tell about. We have wives and children, -and our seventy cents hardly carries us farther than a glass -of brandy and a little plate of soup. We understand that you -also have expenses. But we should like to get eighty cents a -day, and for us to explain every thing to you, it is necessary -that you should consent, because money gives courage to the -workingman.' The other received them with that assurance of the -rich, sitting straight up in his chair and holding his head as -if it dominated your own. He would not have had much trouble, -with his education, his habits of a master, his stability as a -man of affairs, to put them all three ill at ease. 'Gentlemen, -from the first word I say to you: No. The company cannot take -account of your wishes. We pay you seventy cents a day, and we -judge that it is up to you to lower your life to your wages. -As for your insinuations, I shall employ such means as please -me to fortify your courage. For the rest, our profits are not -what you imagine, you who know neither our efforts nor our -disappointments.' It was then, father, that I felt myself your -son, and that I recalled your hands, your back which toils, and -the carriage wheels that you make. The three workingmen seemed -three children in their father's home, with hearts that swell -and can feel no more. Ah, it was in vain I thought myself an -engineer! On the benches of the school I imagined that my head -was full of science, and that that sufficed. But all the blood -of my father, the days that I passed in your shop, the storms -which go to one's head and seem to come from far off, all that -cried out like a grimace, like a lock, like a key.[A] I took -up the argument. 'Mr. Superintendent, I know these men. There -is my cousin who works in the factory. Do you understand what -it is, the life of acids, and that of charcoal?' If you could -have seen him! He looked at me with eyes, as if their pupils -had turned to ice. 'Mr. Engineer, I don't permit either you, -who are a child, or these, who are workingmen, a single word to -discuss my sayings and my actions! Gentlemen, you may retire.' -I went straight off the handle. A door opened at a single -burst. We have at least insolence, we poor, and blows of the -mouth, since their weapons stop our blows of the teeth. I went -away like them. They lowered their heads and thought. For my -part I cried out, I turned about and cried, 'You be hanged!'" - -[A] _Tout cela criait comme une grimace, comme une serrure, -comme une clé._ - -"Ah, now, indeed! I didn't expect anything like that," said -Pierre Bousset. "One raises children to make gentle-folk of -them, so that they will work a little less than you. Now then, -in God's name! go and demand a place of those for whom you have -lost your own!" - - -The Duty of Civil Disobedience - -BY HENRY DAVID THOREAU - - (The New England essayist, 1817-1862, author of "Walden," went to - prison because he refused to pay taxes to a government which returned - fugitive slaves to the South. It is narrated that Emerson came to - him and asked, "Henry, what are you doing in here?" "Waldo," was the - answer, "what are you doing out of here?") - -Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place -for a just man is also a prison. The proper place today, the -only place which Massachusetts has provided for her freer and -less desponding spirits, is in her prisons, to be put out and -locked out of the State by her own act, as they have already -put themselves out by their principles. It is there that the -fugitive slave, and the Mexican prisoner on parole, and the -Indian come to plead the wrongs of his race, should find them; -on that separate but more free and honorable ground, where -the State places those who are not _with_ her but _against_ -her--the only house in a slave State in which a free man can -abide with honor. - -If any think that their influence would be lost there, and -their voices no longer afflict the ear of the State, that they -would not be as an enemy within its walls, they do not know -by how much truth is stronger than error, nor how much more -eloquently and effectively he can combat injustice who has -experienced a little in his own person. - -[Illustration: THE SURPRISE - -ILYÁ EFÍMOVITCH REPIN - -(_Russian painter, born 1844_)] - -[Illustration: THE END - -KÄTHE KOLLWITZ - -(_Contemporary German etching; from the "Weaver-cycle"_)] - - -Address to the Jury - -BY ARTURO M. GIOVANNITTI - - (Italian student and clergyman, born 1884, who left the Church for the - labor movement. During the strike at Lawrence, Mass., he was arrested - upon a charge of "constructive murder." He spoke in his own defense at - Salem Court House, November 23, 1912) - - -MR. FOREMAN AND GENTLEMEN OF THE JURY:-- - -It is the first time in my life that I speak publicly in your -wonderful language, and the most solemn moment in my life. I -know not if I will go to the end of my remarks. The District -Attorney and the other gentlemen here who are used to measure -all human emotions with the yardstick may not understand the -tumult that is going on in my soul at this moment. But my -friends and my comrades before me, these gentlemen here who -have been with me for the last seven or eight months, know -exactly, and if my words will fail before I reach the end -of this short statement to you, it will be because of the -superabundance of sentiments that are flooding to my heart. - -I speak to you not because I want to review this evidence at -all. I shall not enter into the evidence that has been offered -here, as I feel that you gentlemen of the jury have by this -time a firm and set conviction; by this time you ought to know, -you ought to have realized whether I said or whether I did -not say those words that have been put into my mouth by those -two detectives. You ought to know whether it is possible, not -for a man like me but for any living human being to say those -atrocious, those flagitious words that have been attributed to -me. I say only this in regard to the evidence that has been -introduced in this case, that if there is or ever has been -murder in the heart of any man that is in this courtroom today, -gentlemen of the jury, that man is not sitting in this cage. -We had come to Lawrence, as my noble comrade Mr. Ettor said, -because we were prompted by something higher and loftier than -what the District Attorney or any other man in this presence -here may understand and realize. Were I not afraid that I -was being somewhat sacrilegious, I would say that to go and -investigate into the motives that prompted and actuated us -to go into Lawrence would be the same as to inquire, why did -the Saviour come on earth, or why was Lloyd Garrison in this -very Commonwealth, in the city of Boston, dragged through the -streets with a rope around his neck? Why did all the other -great men and masters of thought--why did they go to preach -this new gospel of fraternity and brotherhood? It is just that -truth should be ascertained, it is right that the criminal -should be brought before the bar of justice. But one side -alone of our story has been told here. There has been brought -only one side of this great industrial question, the method -and the tactics. But what about, I say, the ethical part of -this question? What about the human and humane part of our -ideas? What about the grand condition of tomorrow as we see -it, and as we foretell it now to the workers at large, here -in this same cage where the felon has sat, in this same cage -where the drunkard, where the prostitute, where the hired -assassin has been? What about the better and nobler humanity -where there shall be no more slaves, where no man will ever -be obliged to go on strike in order to obtain fifty cents a -week more, where children will not have to starve any more, -where women no more will have to go and prostitute themselves; -where at last there will not be any more slaves, any more -masters, but one great family of friends and brothers. It may -be, gentlemen of the jury, that you do not believe in that. It -may be that we are dreamers; it may be that we are fanatics, -Mr. District Attorney. But so was a fanatic Socrates, who -instead of acknowledging the philosophy of the aristocrats of -Athens, preferred to drink the poison. And so was a fanatic -the Saviour Jesus Christ, who instead of acknowledging that -Pilate, or that Tiberius was emperor of Rome, and instead of -acknowledging his submission to all the rulers of the time and -all the priestcraft of the time, preferred the cross between -two thieves. - - -BY JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE - -(German philosopher and poet, 1749-1832) - -All those who oppose intellectual truths merely stir up the -fire; the cinders fly about and set fire to that which else -they had not touched. - - -Essay on Liberty - -BY JOHN STUART MILL - -(English philosopher and economist, 1806-1873) - -Mankind can hardly be too often reminded, that there was once -a man named Socrates, between whom and the legal authorities -and public opinion of his time, there took place a memorable -collision. Born in an age and country abounding in individual -greatness, this man has been handed down to us by those who -best knew both him and the age, as the most virtuous man in it; -while _we_ know him as the head and prototype of all subsequent -teachers of virtue, the source equally of the lofty inspiration -of Plato and the judicious utilitarianism of Aristotle, the -two headsprings of ethical as of all other philosophy. This -acknowledged master of all the eminent thinkers who have since -lived--whose fame, still growing after more than two thousand -years, all but outweighs the whole remainder of the names -which make his native city illustrious--was put to death by -his countrymen, after a judicial conviction, for impiety and -immorality. Impiety, in denying the Gods recognized by the -State; indeed his accusers asserted (see the "Apologia") that -he believed in no gods at all. Immorality, in being, by his -doctrines and instructions, a "corrupter of youth." Of these -charges the tribunal, there is every ground for believing, -honestly found him guilty, and condemned the man who probably -of all then born had deserved best of mankind to be put to -death as a criminal. - - -FROM THE EPISTLE OF JAMES - -So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law -of liberty. - - -The Walker - -BY ARTURO M. GIOVANNITTI - -(See page 296) - -I hear footsteps over my head all night. - -They come and they go. Again they come and they go all night. - -They come one eternity in four paces and they go one eternity -in four paces, and between the coming and the going there is -Silence and the Night and the Infinite. - -For infinite are the nine feet of a prison cell, and endless is -the march of him who walks between the yellow brick wall and -the red iron gate, thinking things that cannot be chained and -cannot be locked, but that wander far away in the sunlit world, -each in a wild pilgrimage after a destined goal. - - * * * * * - -Throughout the restless night I hear the footsteps over my head. - -Who walks? I know not. It is the phantom of the jail, the -sleepless brain, a man, the man, the Walker. - -One--two--three--four: four paces and the wall. - -One--two--three--four: four paces and the iron gate. - -He has measured his space, he has measured it accurately, -scrupulously, minutely, as the hangman measures the rope and -the grave-digger the coffin--so many feet, so many inches, so -many fractions of an inch for each of the four paces. - -One--two--three--four. Each step sounds heavy and hollow over -my head, and the echo of each step sounds hollow within my head -as I count them in suspense and in dread that once, perhaps, -in the endless walk, there may be five steps instead of four -between the yellow brick wall and the red iron gate. - -But he has measured the space so accurately, so scrupulously, -so minutely that nothing breaks the grave rhythm of the slow, -fantastic march.... - - * * * * * - -All the sounds of the living beings and inanimate things, and -all the noises of the night I have heard in my wistful vigil. - -I have heard the moans of him who bewails a thing that is dead -and the sighs of him who tries to smother a thing that will not -die; - -I have heard the stifled sobs of the one who weeps with his -head under the coarse blanket, and the whisperings of the one -who prays with his forehead on the hard, cold stone of the -floor; - -I have heard him who laughs the shrill, sinister laugh of folly -at the horror rampant on the yellow wall and at the red eyes of -the nightmare glaring through the iron bars; - -I have heard in the sudden icy silence him who coughs a dry, -ringing cough, and wished madly that his throat would not -rattle so and that he would not spit on the floor, for no sound -was more atrocious than that of his sputum upon the floor; - -I have heard him who swears fearsome oaths which I listen to -in reverence and awe, for they are holier than the virgin's -prayer; - -And I have heard, most terrible of all, the silence of two -hundred brains all possessed by one single, relentless, -unforgiving, desperate thought. - -All this I have heard in the watchful night, - -And the murmur of the wind beyond the walls, - -And the tolls of a distant bell, - -And the woeful dirge of the rain, - -And the remotest echoes of the sorrowful city, - -And the terrible beatings, wild beatings, mad beatings of the -One Heart which is nearest to my heart. - -All this have I heard in the still night; - -But nothing is louder, harder, drearier, mightier, more awful -than the footsteps I hear over my head all night.... - - * * * * * - -All through the night he walks and he thinks. Is it more -frightful because he walks and his footsteps sound hollow over -my head, or because he thinks and speaks not his thoughts? - -But does he think? Why should he think? Do I think? I only hear -the footsteps and count them. Four steps and the wall. Four -steps and the gate. But beyond? Beyond? Where goes he beyond -the gate and the wall? - -He does not go beyond. His thought breaks there on the iron -gate. Perhaps it breaks like a wave of rage, perhaps like a -sudden flow of hope, but it always returns to beat the wall -like a billow of helplessness and despair. - -He walks to and fro within the narrow whirlpit of this ever -storming and furious thought. Only one thought--constant, -fixed, immovable, sinister, without power and without voice. - -A thought of madness, frenzy, agony and despair, a hell-brewed -thought, for it is a natural thought. All things natural are -things impossible while there are jails in the world--bread, -work, happiness, peace, love. - -But he thinks not of this. As he walks he thinks of the most -superhuman, the most unattainable, the most impossible thing in -the world: - -He thinks of a small brass key that turns just half around and -throws open the red iron gate. - - * * * * * - -That is all the Walker thinks, as he walks throughout the night. - -And that is what two hundred minds drowned in the darkness and -the silence of the night think, and that is also what I think. - -Wonderful is the supreme wisdom of the jail that makes all -think the same thought. Marvelous is the providence of the law -that equalizes all, even in mind and sentiment. Fallen is the -last barrier of privilege, the aristocracy of the intellect. -The democracy of reason has leveled all the two hundred minds -to the common surface of the same thought. - -I, who have never killed, think like the murderer; - -I, who have never stolen, reason like the thief; - -I think, reason, wish, hope, doubt, wait like the hired -assassin, the embezzler, the forger, the counterfeiter, the -incestuous, the raper, the drunkard, the prostitute, the pimp, -I, I who used to think of love and life and flowers and song -and beauty and the ideal. - -A little key, a little key as little as my little finger, a -little key of shining brass. - -All my ideas, my thoughts, my dreams are congealed in a little -key of shiny brass. - -All my brain, all my soul, all the suddenly surging latent -powers of my deepest life are in the pocket of a white-haired -man dressed in blue. - -He is great, powerful, formidable, the man with the white hair, -for he has in his pocket the mighty talisman which makes one -man cry, and one man pray, and one laugh, and one cough, and -one walk, and all keep awake and listen and think the same -maddening thought. - -Greater than all men is the man with the white hair and the -small brass key, for no other man in the world could compel two -hundred men to think for so long the same thought. Surely when -the light breaks I will write a hymn unto him which shall hail -him greater than Mohammed and Arbues and Torquemada and Mesmer, -and all the other masters of other men's thoughts. I shall call -him Almighty, for he holds everything of all and of me in a -little brass key in his pocket. - -Everything of me he holds but the branding iron of contempt -and the claymore of hatred for the monstrous cabala that can -make the apostle and the murderer, the poet and the procurer, -think of the same gate, the same key and the same exit on the -different sunlit highways of life. - - * * * * * - -My brother, do not walk any more. - -It is wrong to walk on a grave. It is a sacrilege to walk four -steps from the headstone to the foot and four steps from the -foot to the headstone. - -If you stop walking, my brother, no longer will this be a -grave, for you will give me back that mind that is chained to -your feet and the right to think my own thoughts. - -I implore you, my brother, for I am weary of the long vigil, -weary of counting your steps, and heavy with sleep. - -Stop, rest, sleep, my brother, for the dawn is well nigh and it -is not the key alone that can throw open the gate. - - -BY GEORGE WASHINGTON - -(First president of the United States, 1732-1799) - -Government is not reason, it is not eloquence--it is force! -Like fire it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master; never -for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action. - - -Forcible Feeding - -(_From "The Suffragette"_) - -BY E. SYLVIA PANKHURST - -(English militant leader) - -She was then surrounded and held down, whilst the chair was -tilted backwards. She clenched her teeth, but the doctor pulled -her mouth away to form a pouch and the wardress poured in milk -and brandy, some of which trickled in through the crevices. -Later in the day the doctors and wardresses again appeared. -They forced her down on to the bed and held her there. One -of the doctors then produced a tube two yards in length with -a glass junction in the center and a funnel at one end. He -forced the other end of the tube up her nostril, hurting her so -terribly that the matron and two of the wardresses burst into -tears and the second doctor interfered. At last the tube was -pushed down into the stomach. She felt the pain of it to the -end of the breast bone. Then one of the doctors stood upon a -chair holding the funnel end of the tube at arm's length, and -poured food down whilst the wardress and the other doctor all -gripped her tight. She felt as though she would suffocate. -There was a rushing, burning sensation in her head, the drums -of her ears seemed to be bursting. The agony of pain in the -throat and breast bone continued. The thing seemed to go on for -hours. When at last the tube was withdrawn, she felt as though -all the back of her nose and throat were being torn out with it. - -Then almost fainting she was carried back to the punishment -cell and put to bed. For hours the pain in the chest, nose and -ears continued and she felt terribly sick and faint. Day after -day the struggle continued; she used no violence, but each -time resisted and was overcome by force of numbers. Often she -vomited during the operation. When the food did not go down -quickly enough the doctor pinched her nose with the tube in it, -causing her even greater pain. - - -The Subjection of Women - -BY JOHN STUART MILL - -(See pages 199, 299) - -In struggles for political emancipation, everybody knows how -often its champions are bought off by bribes, or daunted by -terrors. In the case of women, each individual of the subject -class is in a chronic state of bribery and intimidation -combined. In setting up the standard of resistance, a large -number of the leaders, and still more of the followers, must -make an almost complete sacrifice of the pleasures or the -alleviations of their own individual lot. If ever any system of -privilege and enforced subjection had its yoke tightly riveted -on the necks of those who are kept down by it, this has. - - -The Old Suffragist - -BY MARGARET WIDDEMER - -(See page 256) - - She could have loved--her woman-passions beat - Deeper than theirs, or else she had not known - How to have dropped her heart beneath their feet - A living stepping-stone: - - The little hands--did they not clutch her heart? - The guarding arms--was she not very tired? - Was it an easy thing to walk apart, - Unresting, undesired? - - She gave away her crown of woman-praise, - Her gentleness and silent girlhood grace - To be a merriment for idle days, - Scorn for the market-place: - - She strove for an unvisioned, far-off good, - For one far hope she knew she should not see: - These--not _her_ daughters--crowned with motherhood - And love and beauty--free. - - -Going to the People - -(_From "Memoirs of a Revolutionist"_) - -BY PETER KROPOTKIN - -(The Russian author and scientist, born 1842, who renounced -the title of prince and spent many years in a dungeon for his -faith, has here told his life story) - -"It is bitter, the bread that has been made by slaves," our -poet Nekrasoff wrote. The young generation actually refused -to eat that bread, and to enjoy the riches that had been -accumulated in their fathers' houses by means of servile labor, -whether the laborers were actual serfs or slaves of the present -industrial system. - -All Russia read with astonishment, in the indictment which -was produced at the court against Karakozoff and his friends, -that these young men, owners of considerable fortunes, used -to live three or four in the same room, never spending more -than ten roubles (five dollars) apiece a month for all -their needs, and giving at the same time their fortunes for -co-operative associations, co-operative workshops (where they -themselves worked), and the like. Five years later, thousands -and thousands of the Russian youth--the best part of it--were -doing the same. Their watch-word was, "V naród!" (To the -people; be the people.) During the years 1860-65 in nearly -every wealthy family a bitter struggle was going on between -the fathers, who wanted to maintain the old traditions, and -the sons and daughters, who defended their right to dispose -of their life according to their own ideals. Young men left -the military service, the counter and the shop, and flocked -to the university towns. Girls, bred in the most aristocratic -families, rushed penniless to St. Petersburg, Moscow, and -Kieff, eager to learn a profession which would free them -from the domestic yoke, and some day, perhaps, also from the -possible yoke of a husband. After hard and bitter struggles, -many of them won that personal freedom. Now they wanted to -utilize it, not for their own personal enjoyment, but for -carrying to the people the knowledge that had emancipated them. - -In every town of Russia, in every quarter of St. Petersburg, -small groups were formed for self-improvement and -self-education; the works of the philosophers, the writings of -the economists, the researches of the young Russian historical -school, were carefully read in these circles, and the reading -was followed by endless discussions. The aim of all that -reading and discussion was to solve the great question which -rose before them: In what way could they be useful to the -masses? Gradually, they came to the idea that the only way was -to settle among the people and to live the people's life. Young -men went into the villages as doctors, doctors' assistants, -teachers, village scribes, even as agricultural laborers, -blacksmiths, woodcutters, and so on, and tried to live there -in closest contact with the peasants. Girls passed teachers' -examinations, learned midwifery or nursing, and went by the -hundred into the villages, devoting themselves entirely to the -poorest part of the population.... - -Here and there, small groups of propagandists had settled -in towns and villages in various capacities. Blacksmiths' -shops and small farms had been started, and young men of the -wealthier classes worked in the shops or on the farms, to be in -daily contact with the toiling masses. At Moscow, a number of -young girls, of rich families, who had studied at the Zurich -university and had started a separate organization, went even -so far as to enter cotton factories, where they worked from -fourteen to sixteen hours a day, and lived in the factory -barracks the miserable life of the Russian factory girls. It -was a grand movement, in which, at the lowest estimate, from -two to three thousand persons took an active part, while twice -or thrice as many sympathizers and supporters helped the active -vanguard in various ways. With a good half of that army our St. -Petersburg circle was in regular correspondence--always, of -course, in cipher. - -The literature which could be published in Russia under a -rigorous censorship--the faintest hint of Socialism being -prohibited--was soon found insufficient, and we started a -printing office of our own abroad. Pamphlets for the workers -and the peasants had to be written, and our small "literary -committee," of which I was a member, had its hands full of -work. Serghei wrote a couple of such pamphlets--one in the -Lammenais style, and another containing an exposition of -Socialism in a fairy tale--and both had a wide circulation. The -books and pamphlets which were printed abroad were smuggled -into Russia by thousands, stored at certain spots, and sent -out to the local circles, which distributed them amongst the -peasants and the workers. All this required a vast organization -as well as much traveling about, and a colossal correspondence, -particularly for protecting our helpers and our bookstores from -the police. We had special ciphers for different provincial -circles, and often, after six or seven hours had been passed -in discussing all details, the women, who did not trust to our -accuracy in the cipher correspondence, spent all the night in -covering sheets of paper with cabalistic figures and fractions. - - -The Revolutionist - -BY IVAN TURGÉNEV - - (Russian writer, 1818-1883, one of the masters of the novel form. He - was imprisoned and later exiled. In the original the present extract - is a prose poem. The versification is by Arthur Guiterman) - - I saw a spacious house. O'erhung with pall, - A narrow doorway pierced the sombre wall. - Within was chill, impenetrable shade; - Without there stood a maid--a Russian maid, - To whom the icy dark sent forth a slow - And hollow-sounding Voice: - - "And dost thou know, - When thou hast entered, what awaits thee here?" - "I know," she said, "and knowing do not fear." - "Cold, hunger, hatred, Slander's blighting breath," - The Voice still chanted, "suffering--and Death?" - "I know," she said. - - "Undaunted, wilt thou dare - The sneers of kindred? Art thou steeled to bear - From those whom most thou lovest, spite and scorn?" - "Though Love be paid with Hate, that shall be borne," - She answered. - - "Think! Thy doom may be to die - By thine own hand, with none to fathom why, - Unthanked, unhonored, desolate, alone, - Thy grave unmarked, thy toil, thy love unknown, - And none in days to come shall speak thy name." - She said: "I ask no pity, thanks or fame." - "Art thou prepared for crime?" - - She bowed her head: - "Yes, crime, if that shall need," the maiden said. - Now paused the Voice before it asked anew: - "But knowest thou that all thou holdest true - Thy soul may yet deny in bitter pain, - So thou shalt deem thy sacrifice in vain?" - "E'en this I know," she said, "and yet again - I pray thee, let me enter." - - "Enter then!" - That hollow Voice replied. She passed the door. - A sable curtain fell--and nothing more. - "A fool!" snarled some one, gnashing. Like a prayer - "A saint!" the whispered answer thrilled the air. - - -In a Russian Prison - -(_From "Memoirs of a Revolutionist"_) - -BY PETER KROPOTKIN - -(See page 308) - -One day in the summer of 1875, in the cell that was next to -mine I distinctly heard the light steps of heeled boots, and -a few minutes later I caught fragments of a conversation. -A feminine voice spoke from the cell, and a deep bass -voice--evidently that of the sentry--grunted something in -reply. Then I recognized the sound of the colonel's spurs, -his rapid steps, his swearing at the sentry, and the click of -the key in the lock. He said something, and a feminine voice -loudly replied: "We did not talk. I only asked him to call the -non-commissioned officer." Then the door was locked, and I -heard the colonel swearing in whispers at the sentry. - -So I was alone no more. I had a lady neighbor, who at once -broke down the severe discipline which had hitherto reigned -among the soldiers. From that day the walls of the fortress, -which had been mute during the last fifteen months, became -animated. From all sides I heard knocks with the foot on the -floor: one, two, three, four, ... eleven knocks; twenty-four -knocks, fifteen knocks; then an interruption, followed by three -knocks, and a long succession of thirty-three knocks. Over and -over again these knocks were repeated in the same succession, -until the neighbor would guess at last that they were meant for -"Kto vy?" (Who are you?), the letter v being the third letter -in our alphabet. Thereupon conversation was soon established, -and usually was conducted in the abridged alphabet; that is, -the alphabet being divided into six rows of five letters, each -letter marked by its row and its place in the row. - -I discovered with great pleasure that I had at my left my -friend Serdukóff, with whom I could soon talk about everything, -especially when we used our cipher. But intercourse with men -brought its sufferings as well as its joys. Underneath me was -lodged a peasant, whom Serdukóff knew. He talked to him by -means of knocks; and even against my will, often unconsciously -during my work, I followed their conversations. I also spoke -to him. Now, if solitary confinement without any sort of -work is hard for educated men, it is infinitely harder for a -peasant who is accustomed to physical work, and not at all -wont to spend years in reading. Our peasant friend felt quite -miserable, and having been kept for nearly two years in another -prison before he was brought to the fortress--his crime was -that he had listened to Socialists--he was already broken -down. Soon I began to notice, to my terror, that from time to -time his mind wandered. Gradually his thoughts grew more and -more confused, and we two perceived, step by step, day by day, -evidences that his reason was failing, until his talk became -at last that of a lunatic. Frightful noises and wild cries -came next from the lower story; our neighbor was mad, but was -still kept for several months in the casemate before he was -removed to an asylum, from which he never emerged. To witness -the destruction of a man's mind, under such conditions, was -terrible. I am sure it must have contributed to increase the -nervous irritability of my good and true friend Serdukóff. -When, after four years' imprisonment, he was acquitted by the -court and released, he shot himself. - - -Batuschka - -BY THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH - -(New England poet and journalist, 1836-1907) - - From yonder gilded minaret - Beside the steel-blue Neva set, - I faintly catch, from time to time, - The sweet, aerial midnight chime-- - "God save the Tsar!" - - Above the ravelins and the moats - Of the white citadel it floats; - And men in dungeons far beneath - Listen, and pray, and gnash their teeth-- - "God save the Tsar!" - - The soft reiterations sweep - Across the horror of their sleep, - As if some demon in his glee - Were mocking at their misery-- - "God save the Tsar!" - - In his red palace over there, - Wakeful, he needs must hear the prayer. - How can it drown the broken cries - Wrung from his children's agonies?-- - "God save the Tsar!" - - Father they called him from of old-- - Batuschka!... How his heart is cold! - Wait till a million scourgèd men - Rise in their awful might, and then-- - "God save the Tsar!" - - -Breshkovskaya - -BY ELSA BARKER - - (Contemporary American poet and novelist. Catherine Breshkovsky, - called "Little Mother" by the Russian peasants, was sentenced to a - long term of exile in Siberia when seventy-seven years of age) - - How narrow seems the round of ladies' lives - And ladies' duties in their smiling world, - The day this Titan woman, gray with years, - Goes out across the void to prove her soul! - Brief are the pains of motherhood that end - In motherhood's long joy; but she has borne - The age-long travail of a cause that lies - Still-born at last on History's cold lap. - - And yet she rests not; yet she will not drink - The cup of peace held to her parching lips - By smug Dishonor's hand. Nay, forth she fares, - Old and alone, on exile's rocky road-- - That well-worn road with snows incarnadined - By blood-drops from her feet long years agone. - - Mother of power, my soul goes out to you - As a strong swimmer goes to meet the sea - Upon whose vastness he is like a leaf. - What are the ends and purposes of song, - Save as a bugle at the lips of Life - To sound reveille to a drowsing world - When some great deed is rising like the sun? - Where are those others whom your deeds inspired - To deeds and words that were themselves a deed? - Those who believe in death have gone with death - To the gray crags of immortality; - Those who believed in life have gone with life - To the red halls of spiritual death. - - And you? But what is death or life to you? - Only a weapon in the hand of faith - To cleave a way for beings yet unborn - To a far freedom you will never share! - Freedom of body is an empty shell - Wherein men crawl whose souls are held with gyves; - For Freedom is a spirit, and she dwells - As often in a jail as on the hills. - In all the world this day there is no soul - Freer than you, Breshkovsky, as you stand - Facing the future in your narrow cell. - For you are free of self and free of fear, - Those twin-born shades that lie in wait for man - When he steps out upon the wind-blown road - That leads to human greatness and to pain. - Take in your hand once more the pilgrim's staff-- - Your delicate hand misshapen from the nights - In Kara's mines; bind on your unbent back - That long has borne the burdens of the race, - The exile's bundle, and upon your feet - Strap the worn sandals of a tireless faith. - - You are too great for pity. After you - We send not sobs, but songs; and all our days - We shall walk bravelier knowing where you are. - - -In Siberia - -BY KATHERINE BRESHKOVSKY - -(_Reported by Ernest Poole_) - -As punishment for my attempt at escape I was sentenced to four -years' hard labor in Kara and to forty blows of the lash. Into -my cell a physician came to see if I were strong enough to live -through the agony. I saw at once that, afraid to flog a woman -"political" without precedent, by this trick of declaring me -too sick to be punished they wished to establish the precedent -of the sentence in order that others might be flogged in the -future. I insisted that I was strong enough, and that the court -had no right to record such a sentence unless they flogged me -at once. The sentence was not carried out. - -A few weeks later eight of the men politicals escaped in pairs, -leaving dummies in their places. As the guards never took -more than a hasty look into that noisome cell, they did not -discover the ruse for weeks. Then mounted Cossacks rode out. -The man-hunt spread. Some of the fugitives struggled through -jungles, over mountains and through swamps a thousand miles to -Vladivostok, saw the longed-for American vessels, and there on -the docks were re-captured. All were brought back to Kara. - -For this we were all punished. One morning the Cossack guards -entered our cells, seized us, tore off our clothes, and dressed -us in convict suits alive with vermin. That scene cannot be -described. One of us attempted suicide. Taken to an old prison -we were thrown into the "black holes"--foul little stalls -off a low grimy hall which contained two big stoves and two -little windows. Each of us had a stall six feet by five. On -winter nights the stall doors were left open for heat, but in -summer each was locked at night in her own black hole. For -three months we did not use our bunks, but fought with candles -and pails of scalding water, until at last the vermin were -all killed. We had been put on the "black hole diet" of black -bread and water. For three years we never breathed the outside -air. We struggled constantly against the outrages inflicted -on us. After one outrage we lay like a row of dead women for -nine days without touching food, until certain promises were -finally exacted from the warden. This "hunger strike" was used -repeatedly. To thwart it we were often bound hand and foot, -while Cossacks tried to force food down our throats. - -Kara grew worse after I left. To hint at what happened I -tell briefly the story of my dear friend Maria, a woman of -broad education and deep refinement. Shortly after my going, -Maria saw Madame Sigida strike an official who had repeatedly -insulted the women. Two days later she watched Sigida die, -moaning and bleeding from the lash; that night she saw three -women commit suicide as a protest to the world; she knew that -twenty men attempted suicide on the night following, and she -determined to double the protest by assassinating the Governor -of Trans-Baikal, who had ordered Sigida's flogging. At this -time Maria was pregnant. Her prison term over, she left her -husband and walked hundreds of miles to the Governor's house -and shot him. She spent three months in a cold, dirty, "secret -cell" not long enough to lie down in or high enough to stand -up in, wearing the cast-off suit of a convict, sleeping on the -bare floor and tormented by vermin. She was then sentenced -to be hanged. She hesitated now whether to save the life of -her unborn child. She knew that if she revealed her condition -her sentence would be changed to imprisonment. She decided to -keep silence and sacrifice her child, that when the execution -was over and her condition was discovered, the effect on -Russia might be still greater. Her condition, however, became -apparent, and she was started off to the Irkutsk prison. It was -midwinter, forty degrees below zero. She walked. She was given -no overcoat and no boots, until some common criminals in the -column gave her theirs. Her child was born dead in prison, and -soon after she too died. - - -Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist - -BY ALEXANDER BERKMAN - -(The life-story of a man who served a fourteen-year sentence -in the Western Penitentiary of Pennsylvania for an attempt at -assassination) - -(_Introduction by Hutchins Hapgood_) - -Not only has this book the interest of the human document, but -it is also a striking proof of the power of the human soul. -Alexander Berkman spent fourteen years in prison, under perhaps -more than commonly harsh and severe conditions. Prison life -tends to destroy the body, weaken the mind and pervert the -character. Berkman consciously struggled with these adverse, -destructive conditions. He took care of his body. He took care -of his mind. He did so strenuously. It was a moral effort. He -felt insane ideas trying to take possession of him. Insanity is -a natural result of prison life. It always tends to come. This -man felt it, consciously struggled against it, and overcame it. -That the prison affected him is true. It always does. But he -saved himself, essentially. Society tried to destroy him, but -failed. - -If people will read this book carefully it will tend to do -away with prisons. The public, once vividly conscious of what -prison life is and must be, would not be willing to maintain -prisons. This is the only book that I know which goes deeply -into the corrupting, demoralizing psychology of prison life. -It shows, in picture after picture, sketch after sketch, not -only the obvious brutality, stupidity, ugliness permeating the -institution, but, very touching, it shows the good qualities -and instincts of the human heart perverted, demoralized, -helplessly struggling for life; beautiful tendencies basely -expressing themselves. And the personality of Berkman goes -through it all; idealistic, courageous, uncompromising, -sincere, truthful; not untouched, as I have said, by his -surroundings, but remaining his essential self.... - -The Russian Nihilistic origin of Berkman, his Anarchistic -experience in America, his attempt on the life of Frick--an -attempt made at a violent industrial crisis, an attempt made as -a result of a sincere if fanatical belief that he was called -on by his destiny to strike a psychological blow for the -oppressed of the community--this part of the book will arouse -extreme disagreement and disapproval of his ideas and his act. -But I see no reason why this, with the rest, should not rather -be regarded as an integral part of a human document, as part -of the record of a life, with its social and psychological -suggestions and explanations. Why not try to understand an -honest man even if he feels called on to kill? There, too, it -may be deeply instructive. There, too, it has its lessons. Read -it not in a combative spirit. Read to understand. Do not read -to agree, of course, but read to see. - - -_The Dungeon_ - -In the storeroom I am stripped of my suit of dark gray, and -clad in the hateful stripes. Coatless and shoeless, I am led -through hallways and corridors, down a steep flight of stairs, -and thrown into the dungeon. - - * * * * * - -Total darkness. The blackness is massive, palpable--I feel its -hand upon my head, my face. I dare not move, lest a misstep -thrust me into the abyss. I hold my hand close to my eyes--I -feel the touch of my lashes upon it, but I cannot see its -outline. Motionless I stand on the spot, devoid of all sense -of direction. The silence is sinister; it seems to me I can -hear it. Only now and then the hasty scrambling of nimble feet -suddenly rends the stillness, and the gnawing of invisible -river rats haunts the fearful solitude. - -Slowly the blackness pales. It ebbs and melts; out of the -sombre gray, a wall looms above; the silhouette of a door -rises dimly before me, sloping upward and growing compact and -impenetrable. - -The hours drag in unbroken sameness. Not a sound reaches me -from the cell-house. In the maddening quiet and darkness I am -bereft of all consciousness of time, save once a day when the -heavy rattle of keys apprises me of the morning: the dungeon is -unlocked, and the silent guards hand me a slice of bread and a -cup of water. The double doors fall heavily to, the steps grow -fainter and die in the distance, and all is dark again in the -dungeon. - -The numbness of death steals upon my soul. The floor is cold -and clammy, the gnawing grows louder and nearer, and I am -filled with dread lest the starving rats attack my bare feet. I -snatch a few unconscious moments leaning against the door; and -then again I pace the cell, striving to keep awake, wondering -whether it be night or day, yearning for the sound of a human -voice. - -Utterly forsaken! Cast into the stony bowels of the -underground, the world of man receding, leaving no trace -behind.... Eagerly I strain my ear--only the ceaseless, fearful -gnawing. I clutch the bars in desperation--a hollow echo mocks -the clanking iron. My hands tear violently at the door--"Ho, -there! Any one here?" All is silent. Nameless terrors quiver -in my mind, weaving nightmares of mortal dread and despair. -Fear shapes convulsive thoughts: they rage in wild tempest, -then become calm, and again rush through time and space in a -rapid succession of strangely familiar scenes, wakened in my -slumbering consciousness. - -Exhausted and weary I droop against the wall. A slimy creeping -on my face startles me in horror, and again I pace the cell. -I feel cold and hungry. Am I forgotten? Three days must have -passed, and more. Have they forgotten me?... - -The clank of keys sends a thrill of joy to my heart. My tomb -will open--oh, to see the light, and breathe the air again.... - -"Officer, isn't my time up yet?" - -"What's your hurry? You've only been here one day." - -The doors fall to. Ravenously I devour the bread, so small and -thin, just a bite. Only _one_ day! Despair enfolds me like a -pall. Faint with anguish, I sink to the floor.... - - -_The Sick Line_ - -One by one the men augment the row; they walk slowly, bent and -coughing, painfully limping down the steep flights. From every -range they come; the old and decrepit, the young consumptives, -the lame and asthmatic, a tottering old negro, an idiotic white -boy. All look withered and dejected,--a ghastly line, palsied -and blear-eyed, blanched in the valley of death. - -The rotunda door opens noisily, and the doctor enters, -accompanied by Deputy Warden Graves and Assistant Deputy -Hopkins. Behind them is a prisoner, dressed in dark gray and -carrying a medicine box. Dr. Boyce glances at the long line, -and knits his brows. He looks at his watch, and the frown -deepens. He has much to do. Since the death of the senior -doctor, the young graduate is the sole physician of the big -prison. He must make the rounds of the shops before noon, and -visit the hospital before the Warden or the Deputy drops in. - -Mr. Greaves sits down at the officers' desk, near the hall -entrance. The Assistant Deputy, pad in hand, places himself at -the head of the sick line. The doctor leans against the door of -the rotunda, facing the Deputy. The block officers stand within -call, at respectful distances. - -"Two-fifty-five!" the Assistant Deputy calls out. - -A slender young man leaves the line and approaches the doctor. -He is tall and well featured, the large eyes lustrous in the -pale face. He speaks in a hoarse voice: - -"Doctor, there is something the matter with my side. I have -pains, and I cough bad at night, and in the morning----" - -"All right," the doctor interrupts, without looking up from his -note book. "Give him some salts," he adds, with a nod to his -assistant. - -"Next!" the Deputy calls. - -"Will you please excuse me from the shop for a few days?" the -sick prisoner pleads, a tremor in his voice. - -The physician glances questioningly at the Deputy. The latter -cries, impatiently, "Next, next man!" striking the desk twice, -in quick succession, with the knuckles of his hand. - -"Return to the shop," the doctor says to the prisoner. - -"Next," the Deputy calls, spurting a stream of tobacco juice -in the direction of the cuspidor. It strikes sidewise, and -splashes over the foot of the approaching new patient, a young -negro, his neck covered with bulging tumors. - -"Number?" the doctor inquires. - -"One-thirty-seven, A one-thirty-seven!" the Deputy mumbles, his -head thrown back to receive a fresh handful of "scrap" tobacco. - -"Guess Ah's got de big neck, Ah is, Mistah Boyce," the negro -says hoarsely. - -"Salts. Return to work. Next!" - -"A one-twenty-six!" - -A young man with parchment-like face, sere and yellow, walks -painfully from the line. - -"Doctor, I seem to be gettin' worser, and I'm afraid----" - -"What's the trouble?" - -"Pains in the stomach. Gettin' so turrible, I----" - -"Give him a plaster. Next!" - -"Plaster hell!" the prisoner breaks out in a fury, his face -growing livid. "Look at this, will you?" With a quick motion he -pulls his shirt up to his head. His chest and back are entirely -covered with porous plasters; not an inch of skin is visible. -"Damn your plasters," he cries with sudden sobs, "I ain't got -no more room for plasters. I'm putty near dyin', an' you won't -do nothin' fer me." - -The guards pounce upon the man, and drag him into the rotunda. - - -_The Keepers_ - -The comparative freedom of the range familiarizes me with the -workings of the institution, and brings me in close contact -with the authorities. The personnel of the guards is of -very inferior character. I find their average intelligence -considerably lower than that of the inmates. Especially does -the element recruited from the police and the detective service -lack sympathy with the unfortunates in their charge. They -are mostly men discharged from city employment because of -habitual drunkenness, or flagrant brutality and corruption. -Their attitude toward the prisoners is summed up in coercion -and suppression. They look upon the men as will-less objects -of iron-handed discipline, exact unquestioning obedience -and absolute submissiveness to peremptory whims, and -harbor personal animosity toward the less pliant. The more -intelligent among the officers scorn inferior duties, and -crave advancement. The authority and remuneration of a Deputy -Wardenship is alluring to them, and every keeper considers -himself the fittest for the vacancy. But the coveted prize -is awarded to the guard most feared by the inmates, and most -subservient to the Warden,--a direct incitement to brutality on -the one hand, to sycophancy on the other.... - -Daily I behold the machinery at work, grinding and pulverizing, -brutalizing the officers, dehumanizing the inmates. Far removed -from the strife and struggle of the larger world, I yet witness -its miniature replica, more agonizing and merciless within the -walls. A perfected model it is, this prison life, with its -apparent uniformity and dull passivity. But beneath the torpid -surface smolder the fires of being, now crackling faintly under -a dun smothering smoke, now blazing forth with the ruthlessness -of despair. Hidden by the veil of discipline rages the struggle -of fiercely contending wills, and intricate meshes are woven in -the quagmire of darkness and suppression. - -Intrigue and counter-plot, violence and corruption, are rampant -in cell-house and shop. The prisoners spy upon each other, and -in turn upon the officers. The latter encourage the trusties in -unearthing the secret doings of the inmates, and the stools -enviously compete with each other in supplying information to -the keepers. Often they deliberately inveigle the trustful -prisoner into a fake plot to escape, help and encourage him in -the preparations, and at the critical moment denounce him to -the authorities. The luckless man is severely punished, usually -remaining in utter ignorance of the intrigue. The _provocateur_ -is rewarded with greater liberty and special privileges. -Frequently his treachery proves the stepping-stone to freedom, -aided by the Warden's official recommendation of the "model -prisoner" to the State Board of Pardons. - - -BY FREDERIC HARRISON - -(English philosopher, born 1831) - -Society can overlook murder, adultery or swindling; it never -forgives the preaching of a new gospel. - - -The Seven That Were Hanged - -BY LEONID ANDREYEV - - (One of the most famous of the Russian writer's stories, in which he - describes the execution of a group of Terrorists, analyzing their - sensations in their separate cells, and on their journey together to - the foot of the gallows) - -The Unknown, surnamed Werner, was a man fatigued by struggle. -He had loved life, the theatre, society, art, literature, -passionately. Endowed with an excellent memory, he spoke -several languages perfectly. He was fond of dress, and had -excellent manners. Of the whole group of terrorists he was -the only one who was able to appear in society without risk of -recognition. - -For a long time already, and without his comrades having -noticed it, he had entertained a profound contempt for men. -More of a mathematician than a poet, ecstasy and inspiration -had remained so far things unknown to him; at times he would -look upon himself as a madman seeking to square the circle in -seas of human blood. The enemy against which he daily struggled -could not inspire him with respect; it was nothing but a -compact network of stupidities, treasons, falsehoods, base -deceits.... - -Werner understood that the execution was not simply death, but -also something more. In any case, he was determined to meet it -calmly, to live until the end as if nothing had happened or -would happen. Only in this way could he repress the profoundest -contempt for the execution and preserve his liberty of mind. -His comrades, although knowing well his cold and haughty -intrepidity, would perhaps not have believed it themselves; but -in the courtroom he thought not of life or of death: he played -in his mind a difficult game of chess, giving it his deepest -and quietest attention. An excellent player, he had begun this -game on the very day of his imprisonment, and he had kept it -up continually. And the verdict that condemned him did not -displace a single piece on the invisible board. - -Now he was shrugging his shoulders and feeling his pulse. His -heart beat fast, but tranquilly and regularly, with a sonorous -force. Like a novice thrown into prison for the first time, he -examined attentively the cell, the bolts, the chair screwed to -the wall, and said to himself: - -"Why have I such a sensation of joy, of liberty? Yes, of -liberty; I think of to-morrow's execution, and it seems to me -it does not exist. I look at the walls, and they seem to me not -to exist either. And I feel as free as if, instead of being in -prison, I had just come out of another cell in which I had been -confined all my life." - -Werner's hands began to tremble, a thing unknown to him. His -thought became more and more vibrant. It seemed to him that -tongues of fire were moving in his head, trying to escape from -his brain to lighten the still obscure distance. Finally the -flame darted forth, and the horizon was brilliantly illuminated. - -The vague lassitude that had tortured Werner during the last -two years had disappeared at sight of death; his beautiful -youth came back. It was even something more than beautiful -youth. With the astonishing clearness of mind that sometimes -lifts man to the supreme heights of meditation, Werner saw -suddenly both life and death; and the majesty of this new -spectacle struck him. He seemed to be following a path as -narrow as the edge of a blade, on the crest of the loftiest -mountain. On one side he saw life, and on the other he saw -death; and they were like two seas, sparkling and beautiful, -melting into each other at the horizon in a single infinite -extension. - -"What is this, then? What a divine spectacle!" said he slowly. - -He arose involuntarily and straightened up, as if in presence -of the Supreme Being. And, annihilating the walls, annihilating -space and time, by the force of his all-penetrating look, he -cast his eyes into the depths of the life that he had quitted. - -And life took on a new aspect. He no longer tried, as of old, -to translate into words that he was; moreover, in the whole -range of human language, still so poor and miserly, he found -no words adequate. The paltry, dirty and evil things that -suggested to him contempt and sometimes even disgust at the -sight of men had completely disappeared, just as, to people -rising in a balloon, the mud and filth of the narrow streets -become invisible, and ugliness changes into beauty. - -With an unconscious movement Werner walked toward the table and -leaned upon it with his right arm. Haughty and authoritative by -nature, he had never been seen in a prouder, freer, and more -imperious attitude; never had his face worn such a look, never -had he so lifted up his head, for at no previous time had he -been as free and powerful as now, in this prison, on the eve of -execution, at the threshold of death. - -In his illuminated eyes men wore a new aspect, an unknown -beauty and charm. He hovered above time, and never had this -humanity, which only the night before was howling like a -wild beast in the forest, appeared to him so young. What had -heretofore seemed to him terrible, unpardonable and base, -became suddenly touching and naïve, just as we cherish in -the child the awkwardness of its behavior, the incoherent -stammerings in which its unconscious genius glimmers, its -laughable errors and blunders, its cruel bruises. - -"My dear friends!" ... - -What mysterious path had he followed to pass from a feeling of -unlimited and haughty liberty to this passionate and moving -pity? He did not know. Did he really pity his comrades, or did -his tears hide something more passionate, something really -greater? His heart, which had suddenly revived and reblossomed, -could not tell him. Werner wept, and whispered: - -"My dear comrades! My dear comrades!" - -And in this man who wept, and who smiled through his tears, no -one--not the judges, or his comrades, or himself--would have -recognized the cold and haughty Werner, sceptical and insolent. - - -A Woman's Execution - -BY EDWARD KING - -(After the Paris Commune of 1871, the leaders of the people -were led out and slaughtered by thousands. The author of this -poem was an American journalist, 1848-1896) - - Sweet-breathed and young, - The people's daughter, - No nerves unstrung, - Going to slaughter! - - "Good morning, friends, - You'll love us better,-- - Make us amends: - We've burst your fetter! - - "How the sun gleams! - (Women are snarling): - Give me your beams, - Liberty's darling! - - "Marie's my name; - Christ's mother bore it. - The badge? No shame: - Glad that I wore it!" - - (Hair to the waist, - Limbs like a Venus): - Robes are displaced: - "Soldiers, please screen us! - - "He at the front? - That is my lover: - Stood all the brunt;-- - Now--the fight's over. - - "Powder and bread - Gave out together: - Droll to be dead - In this bright weather! - - "Jean, boy, we might - Have married in June! - This is the wall? Right! - _Vive la Commune!_" - - -BY THOMAS JEFFERSON - -(See page 228) - -The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with -the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure. - - -These Shifting Scenes - -BY CHARLES EDWARD RUSSELL - -(American editor and Socialist lecturer, born 1860. In the -following paragraphs he has given a newspaper reporter's -reminiscences of the Chicago Anarchists) - -After so many years the passions and prejudices of the -half-forgotten struggle ought to have died away, and men may -now speak candidly and without restraint of these things as -they really were. Let me then record my deliberate conviction -that Albert Parsons never entertained the thought of harm -against any human being, for I have seldom met a man of a more -genuine kindness of heart; and if the men he denounced in his -speeches had been in actual danger before him I am certain -he would have been the first to rush to their defense from -physical harm. And while I am on this subject, I may add an -expression of a wonder growing upon me for many years, that -no one has ever paid an adequate tribute to this man. I have -not the slightest sympathy with his doctrines, if he believed -in the violence he seemed sometimes to preach, which I could -never tell. I have lived in the world long enough to know that -the social wrongs that moved him to protest can never be cured -by violence. Say, then, that the man erred grievously; if his -error had been ten times as great it ought to have been wiped -from human recollection by his sacrifice, and there should -remain but the one image of him, leaving his place of safety -and voluntarily entering the prisoner's dock. I doubt if that -magnanimous act has its parallel in history. A hundred men have -been elevated to be national heroes for deeds far less heroic. -The fact that after all these years it is still obscured -and men hesitate to speak about it is marvelous testimony to -the power of the press to produce enduring impressions. Even -the other staggering fact that in the history of American -courts this is the only man that ever came voluntarily and -gave himself up and then was hanged, even that seems to be -eliminated from the little consideration that is ever bestowed -upon a figure of courage so extraordinary. - -Similarly I wondered while all these events were passing before -me and wonder now, that no one ever stopped to inquire why such -men as Parsons and Fielden were in revolt. Granted freely that -their idea of the best manner of making a protest was utterly -wrong and impossible; granted that they went not the best way -to work. But what was it that drove them into attack against -the social order as they found it? They and thousands of other -men that stood with them were not bad men, nor depraved, nor -bloodthirsty, nor hard-hearted, nor criminal, nor selfish, -nor crazy. Then what was it that evoked a complaint so bitter -and deep-seated? In all the clamor that filled the press for -the execution of the law and the supremacy of order not one -writer ever stopped to ask this obvious question. No one ever -contemplated the simple fact that men do not band themselves -together to make a protest without the belief that they have -something to protest about, and that in any organized state of -society a widespread protest is something for grave inquiry. I -thought then and I think now that a few words devoted to this -suggestion would have been of far greater service to society -than the insensate demand for blood and more blood with which -the journals of Chicago were mostly filled. - - -The Eagle that is Forgotten - -BY VACHEL LINDSAY - - (Poet and minstrel of Springfield, Illinois, born 1879; has tramped - over many parts of the United States with his leaflet of "Rhymes to be - Traded for Bread." He has rediscovered the Homeric chant, and poured - into it the life of the Middle West. The following poem is addressed - to John P. Altgeld, once Governor of Illinois, who, having convinced - himself that the so-called Chicago Anarchists were innocent of the - crime charged against them, pardoned them, and thereby sacrificed his - political career) - - Sleep softly ... eagle forgotten ... under the stone. - Time has its way with you there, and the clay has its own. - "We have buried him now," thought your foes, and in secret rejoiced. - They made a brave show of their mourning, their hatred unvoiced. - They had snarled at you, barked at you, foamed at you, day after day, - Now you were ended. They praised you ... and laid you away. - The others, that mourned you in silence and terror and truth, - The widow bereft of her crust, and the boy without youth, - The mocked and the scorned and the wounded, the lame and the poor, - That should have remembered forever ... remember no more. - Where are those lovers of yours, on what name do they call, - The lost, that in armies wept over your funeral pall? - They call on the names of a hundred high-valiant ones, - A hundred white eagles have risen, the sons of your sons. - The zeal in their wings is a zeal that your dreaming began, - The valor that wore out your soul in the service of man. - Sleep softly ... eagle forgotten ... under the stone. - Time has its way with you there, and the clay has its own. - Sleep on, O brave-hearted, O wise man that kindled the flame-- - To live in mankind is far more than to live in a name, - To live in mankind, far, far more ... than to live in a name. - - -Immortality - -(_From the Will of Francisco Ferrer_) - - (Spanish educator and radical, 1859-1909, executed after the Barcelona - riots by a plot of his clerical enemies) - -I also wish my friends to speak little or not at all about -me, because idols are created when men are praised, and this -is very bad for the future of the human race. Acts alone, no -matter by whom committed, ought to be studied, praised, or -blamed. Let them be praised in order that they may be imitated -when they seem to contribute to the common weal; let them be -censured when they are regarded as injurious to the general -well-being, so that they may not to be repeated. - -I desire that on no occasion, whether near or remote, nor for -any reason whatsoever, shall demonstrations of a political or -religious character be made before my remains, as I consider -the time devoted to the dead would be better employed in -improving the condition of the living, most of whom stand in -great need of this. - - -Light Upon Waldheim - -BY VOLTAIRINE DE CLEYRE - - (American anarchist writer, 1866-1912. Waldheim is a cemetery in - Chicago, where the executed Anarchists were buried. Upon the monument - is the figure of a woman holding a dying man upon her knees, with one - hand pressing a crown upon his forehead, and with the other drawing a - dagger) - - Light upon Waldheim! And the earth is gray; - A bitter wind is driving from the north; - The stone is cold, and strange cold whispers say: - "What do ye here with Death? Go forth! Go forth!" - - Is this thy word, O Mother, with stern eyes, - Crowning thy dead with stone-caressing touch? - May we not weep o'er him that martyred lies, - Slain in our name, for that he loved us much? - - May we not linger till the day is broad? - Nay, none are stirring in this stinging dawn-- - None but poor wretches that make no moan to God: - What use are these, O thou with dagger drawn? - - "Go forth, go forth! Stand not to weep for these, - Till, weakened with your weeping, like the snow - Ye melt, dissolving in a coward peace!" - Light upon Waldheim! Brother, let us go! - - -Assassination - -BY AUGUSTE VAILLANT - -(From the speech before the French Chamber of Deputies, 1894, -prior to receiving sentence of death for a political crime) - -Ah, gentlemen, if the governing classes could go down among -the unfortunates! But no, they prefer to remain deaf to their -appeals. It seems that a fatality impels them, like the royalty -of the eighteenth century, toward the precipice which will -engulf them; for woe be to those who remain deaf to the cries -of the starving, woe to those who, believing themselves of -superior essence, assume the right to exploit those beneath -them! There comes a time when the people no longer reason; they -rise like a hurricane, and rush onward like a torrent. Then we -see bleeding heads impaled on pikes. - -Among the exploited, gentlemen, there are two classes of -individuals. Those of one class, not realizing what they -are and what they might be, take life as it comes, believe -that they are born to be slaves, and content themselves with -the little that is given them in exchange for their labor. -But there are others, on the contrary, who think, who study -and, looking about them, discover social iniquities. Is it -their fault if they see clearly and suffer at seeing others -suffer? Then they throw themselves into the struggle, and make -themselves the bearers of the popular claims. - -I know very well that I shall be told that I ought to have -confined myself to speech for the vindication of the people's -claims. But what can you expect! It takes a loud voice to -make the deaf hear. Too long have they answered our voices by -imprisonment, the rope, and rifle-volleys. Make no mistake; -the explosion of my bomb is not only the cry of the rebel -Vaillant, but the cry of an entire class which vindicates its -rights, and which will soon add acts to words. For, be sure of -it, in vain will they pass laws. The ideas of the thinkers will -not halt! - - -Beyond Human Might - -BY BJÖRNSTJERNE BJÖRNSON - - (A drama of modern industry. See page 221. The masters meet in a great - castle, the home of one of them, to plan the destruction of the labor - unions; whereupon a group of conspirators blow up the castle with - dynamite. In the scene following the author gives his reflections upon - this event, in the words of the grief-stricken sister of the chief - conspirator) - -HALDEN:--Suppose what has happened should arouse the conscience -of the people? - -RACHEL:--Why, that's what he was saying--his very words, I -think--Arouse the conscience of the people! After all these -thousands of years that we have been subject to the influence -of the family and of religion, can it be possible that we -are unable to arouse the people's conscience except by--O ye -silent and exalted witnesses, who hear without answering and -see without reflecting what you see, why don't you show me how -to reach the upward road? For in the midst of all this misery -there is no road that leads upward--nothing but an endless -circling around the same spot, by which I perish! - -HALDEN:--Upward means forward. - -RACHEL:--But there is no forward in this! We have been thrown -back into sheer barbarism! Once more all faith in a happy -future has been wiped out. Just ask a few questions around -here!... And then the sun, the spring--ever since that dreadful -night--nothing but fine weather, night and day--a stretch of -it the like of which I cannot recall. Is it not as if nature -itself were crying out to us: "Shame! shame! You sprinkle my -leaves with blood, and mingle death-cries with my song. You -darken the air for me with your gruesome complaints." That's -what it is saying to us. "You are soiling the spring for me. -Your diseases and your evil thoughts are crouching in the -woods and on the greenswards. Everywhere a stink of misery is -following you like that of rotting waters." That's what it is -telling us. "Your greed and your envy are a pair of sisters -who have fought each other since they were born"--that's what -it says. "Only my highest mountain peaks, only my sandy wastes -and icy deserts, have not seen those sisters; every other part -of the earth has been filled by them with blood and brutal -bawling. In the midst of eternal glory mankind has invented -Hell and manages to keep it filled. And men, who should stand -for perfection, harbor among them what is worthless and foul." - - -Chillon - -BY LORD BYRON - -(Bonnivard, a patriot of Switzerland, was imprisoned with his -sons in Chillon Castle. The story is told in Byron's longer -poem, "The Prisoner of Chillon") - - Eternal Spirit of the chainless Mind! - Brightest in dungeons, Liberty, thou art-- - For there thy habitation is the heart-- - The heart which love of thee alone can bind; - - And when thy sons to fetters are consign'd-- - To fetters, and the damp vault's dayless gloom-- - Their country conquers with their martyrdom, - And Freedom's fame finds wings on every wind. - - Chillon! thy prison is a holy place, - And thy sad floor an altar; for 'twas trod - Until his very steps have left a trace - Worn, as if thy cold pavement were a sod, - By Bonnivard! May none those marks efface! - For they appeal from tyranny to God. - - - - -BOOK VII - -_Jesus_ - - "The martyred Christ of the working class, the inspired evangel of the - downtrodden masses, the world's supreme revolutionary leader, whose - love for the poor and the children of the poor hallowed all the days - of his consecrated life, lighted up and made forever holy the dark - tragedy of his death, and gave to the ages his divine inspiration and - his deathless name."--_Debs._ - - -Jesus - -BY EUGENE V. DEBS - -(See page 144) - -The martyred Christ of the working class, the inspired evangel -of the downtrodden masses, the world's supreme revolutionary -leader, whose love for the poor and the children of the poor -hallowed all the days of his consecrated life, lighted up and -made forever holy the dark tragedy of his death, and gave to -the ages his divine inspiration and his deathless name. - - -Crusaders - -BY ELIZABETH WADDELL - -(Contemporary American writer) - - They have taken the tomb of our Comrade Christ-- - Infidel hordes that believe not in Man; - Stable and stall for his birth sufficed, - But his tomb is built on a kingly plan. - They have hedged him round with pomp and parade, - They have buried him deep under steel and stone-- - But we come leading the great Crusade - To give our Comrade back to his own. - - -Jesus the Revolutionist - -(_From "Christianity and the Social Crisis"_[A]) - -[A] By permission of the Macmillan Co. - -BY WALTER RAUSCHENBUSCH - -(Theologian, born 1861; professor in Rochester Theological -Seminary) - -There was a revolutionary consciousness in Jesus; not, of -course, in the common use of the word "revolutionary," which -connects it with violence and bloodshed. But Jesus knew that -he had come to kindle a fire on earth. Much as he loved peace, -he knew that the actual result of his work would be not peace -but the sword. His mother in her song had recognized in her own -experience the settled custom of God to "put down the proud -and exalt them of low degree," to "fill the hungry with good -things and to send the rich empty away." King Robert of Sicily -recognized the revolutionary ring in those phrases, and thought -it well that the Magnificat was sung only in Latin. The son of -Mary expected a great reversal of values. The first would be -last and the last would be first. He saw that what was exalted -among man was an abomination before God, and therefore these -exalted things had no glamour for his eye. This revolutionary -note runs even through the beatitudes, where we should least -expect it. The point of them is that henceforth those were to -be blessed whom the world had not blessed, for the kingdom of -God would reverse their relative standing. Now the poor and the -hungry and sad were to be satisfied and comforted; the meek -who had been shouldered aside by the ruthless would get their -chance to inherit the earth, and conflict and persecution would -be inevitable in the process. - -We are apt to forget that his attack on the religious leaders -and authorities of his day was of revolutionary boldness and -thoroughness. He called the ecclesiastical leaders hypocrites, -blind leaders who fumbled in their casuistry, and everywhere -missed the decisive facts in teaching right and wrong. Their -piety was no piety; their law was inadequate; they harmed -the men whom they wanted to convert. Even the publicans and -harlots had a truer piety than theirs. If we remember that -religion was still the foundation of the Jewish State, and -that the religious authorities were the pillars of existing -society, much as in mediæval Catholic Europe, we shall realize -how revolutionary were his invectives. It was like Luther -anathematizing the Catholic hierarchy. - -His mind was similarly liberated from spiritual subjection -to the existing civil powers. He called Herod, his own liege -sovereign, "that fox." When the mother of James and John tried -to steal a march on the others and secure for her sons a pledge -of the highest places in the Messianic kingdom, Jesus felt -that this was a backsliding into the scrambling methods of the -present social order, in which each tries to make the others -serve him, and he is greatest who can compel service from -most. In the new social order, which was expressed in his own -life, each must seek to give the maximum of service, and he -would be greatest who would serve utterly. In that connection -he sketched with a few strokes the pseudo-greatness of the -present aristocracy: "Ye know that they which are supposed -to rule over the nations lord it over them, and their great -ones tyrannize over them. Thus shall it not be among you." -The monarchies and aristocracies have always lived on the -fiction that they exist for the good of the people, and yet -it is an appalling fact how few kings have loved their people -and have lived to serve. Usually the great ones have regarded -the people as their oyster. In a similar saying reported by -Luke, Jesus wittily adds that these selfish exploiters of the -people graciously allow themselves to be called "Benefactors." -His eyes were open to the unintentional irony of the titles -in which the "majesties," "excellencies," and "holinesses" of -the world have always decked themselves. Every time the inbred -instinct to seek precedence cropped up among his disciples he -sternly suppressed it. They must not allow themselves to be -called Rabbi or Father or Master, "for all ye are brothers." -Christ's ideal of society involved the abolition of rank -and the extinction of those badges of rank in which former -inequality was incrusted. The only title to greatness was to -be distinguished service at cost to self. All this shows the -keenest insight into the masked selfishness of those who hold -power, and involves a revolutionary consciousness, emancipated -from reverence for things as they are. - - -To the "Christians" - -BY FRANCIS ADAMS - -(See pages 219, 266) - - Take, then, your paltry Christ, - Your gentleman God. - We want the carpenter's son, - With his saw and hod. - - _We_ want the man who loved - The poor and the oppressed, - Who hated the Rich man and King - And the Scribe and the Priest. - - _We_ want the Galilean - Who knew cross and rod. - It's your "good taste" that prefers - A bastard "God!" - - -Life of Jesus - -BY ERNEST RENAN - -(French philosopher and historian, 1823-1892) - -The chosen flock presented in fact a very mixed character, and -one likely to astonish rigorous moralists. It counted in its -fold men with whom a Jew, respecting himself, would not have -associated. Perhaps Jesus found in this society, unrestrained -by ordinary rules, more mind and heart than in a pedantic -and formal middle class, proud of its apparent morality.... -He appreciated conditions of soul only in proportion to the -love mingled therein. Women with tearful hearts, and disposed -through their sins to feelings of humanity, were nearer to his -kingdom than ordinary natures, who often have little merit in -not having fallen. We may conceive on the other hand that these -tender souls, finding in their conversion to the sect an easy -means of restoration, would passionately attach themselves to -Him. Far from seeking to soothe the murmurs stirred up by his -disdain for the social susceptibilities of the time, He seemed -to take pleasure in exciting them. Never did anyone avow more -loftily this contempt for the "world," which is the essential -condition of great things and great originality. He pardoned a -rich man, but only when the rich man, in consequence of some -prejudice, was disliked by society. He greatly preferred men -of equivocal life and of small consideration in the eyes of -the orthodox leaders. "The publicans and the harlots go into -the kingdom of God before you. For John came unto you and ye -believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed -him." We can understand how galling the reproach of not having -followed the good example set by prostitutes must have been to -men making a profession of seriousness and rigid morality. - - -FROM THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE - -And as he spake, a certain Pharisee besought him to dine -with him: and he went in, and sat down to meat. And when the -Pharisee saw it, he marvelled that he had not first washed -before dinner. - -And the Lord said unto him, "Now do ye Pharisees make clean -the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part -is full of ravening and wickedness. Ye fools, did not he, that -made that which is without, make that which is within also? But -rather give alms of such things as ye have; and, behold, all -things are clean unto you. But woe unto you, Pharisees! for -ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over -judgment and the love of God; these ought ye to have done, and -not to leave the other undone. Woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye -love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in -the markets. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! -for ye are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk -over them are not aware of them." - -Then answered one of the lawyers, and said unto him, "Master, -thus saying thou reproachest us also." - -And he said, "Woe unto you, also, ye lawyers, for ye lade men -with burdens grievous to be borne, and ye yourselves touch not -the burdens with one of your fingers. Woe unto you! for ye -build the sepulchres of the prophets, and your fathers killed -them.... Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key -of knowledge; ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were -entering in ye hindered." - -And as he said these things unto them, the scribes and the -Pharisees began to urge him vehemently, and to provoke him to -speak of many things: laying wait for him, and seeking to catch -something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him. - - -A Tramp's Confession - -(_From "The Cry of Youth"_) - -BY HARRY KEMP - -(See page 37) - - We huddled in the mission - Fer it was cold outside, - An' listened to the preacher - Tell of the Crucified; - - Without, a sleety drizzle - Cut deep each ragged form,-- - An' so we stood the talkin' - Fer shelter from the storm - - They sang of God an' angels, - An' heaven's eternal joy, - An' things I stopped believin' - When I was still a boy; - - They spoke of good an' evil, - An' offered savin' grace-- - An' some showed love for mankin' - A-shinin' in their face, - - An' some their graft was workin' - The same as me an' you: - But most was urgin' on us - Wot they believed was true. - - We sang an' dozed an' listened, - But only feared, us men, - The time when, service over, - We'd have to mooch again - - An' walk the icy pavements - An' breast the snowstorm gray - Till the saloons was opened - An' there was hints of day. - - So, when they called out "Sinners, - Won't you come!" I came ... - But in my face was pallor - And in my heart was shame ... - An' so forgive me, Jesus, - Fer mockin' of thy name-- - - Fer I was cold an' hungry! - They gave me grub an' bed - After I kneeled there with them - An' many prayers was said. - - An' so fergive me, Jesus, - I didn't mean no harm-- - An' outside it was zero, - An' inside it was warm.... - - Yes, I was cold an' hungry,-- - An', O Thou Crucified, - Thou friend of all the Lowly, - Fergive the lie I lied! - - -The Call of the Carpenter[A] - -[A] By permission of Doubleday, Page & Co. - -BY BOUCK WHITE - -(American Congregational clergyman, born 1874; imprisoned for -protesting in a church against the Colorado massacres) - -Jesus held that self-respect required of the rich young man -that he refuse to accept too long a handicap over his fellows -in the race of life, and start as near as may be from the -same mark with them. But he went also a step further. He -exacted of the young man that he de-class himself. "Come, -follow me." This was the staggerer. To stay in his own set -and invest his fortune in works of charity, would have been -comparatively easy. Philanthropy has been fashionable in every -age. Charity takes the insurrectionary edge off of poverty. -Therefore the philanthropic rich man is a benefactor to his -fellow magnates, and is made to feel their gratitude; to him -all doors of fashion swing. But Jesus issued a veto. He denied -the legitimacy of alms-giving as a plaster for the deep-lying -sore in the social tissue. Neighborly help, man to man, was -acceptable to him, and he commended it. But philanthropy as a -substitute for justice--he would have none of it. Charity is -twice cursed--it hardens him that gives and softens him that -takes. It does more harm to the poor than exploitation, because -it makes them willing to be exploited. It breeds slavishness, -which is moral suicide. The only thing Jesus would permit a -swollen fortune to do was to give itself to revolutionary -propaganda, in order that swollen fortunes might be forever -after impossible. Patchwork reformers are but hewing at a -hydra. Confronted with this imperative, the rich young ruler -made the great refusal. To give up his fashionable set and join -himself to this company of working-class Galileans, was a moral -heroism to which he was unequal. Therefore he was sorrowful; he -went away, for he had a great social standing. - -Something of the same brand of atonement was evidently -in the mind of Dives when he awoke to the mistake he had -made--desirous to send from hell and tell his five brothers -to use the family fortune in erecting a "Dives Home for the -Hungry," belike with the family name and coat of arms over -the front portal. Jesus would concede no such privilege. He -referred those "five brethren" to "Moses and the prophets; let -them hear them"--Moses being the leader of the labor movement -which had given to the slaves in the Goshen brick-yards -their long-deferred rights; and the prophets being those -ardent Old Testament tribunes of the people who had so -hotly contended for the family idea of society against the -exploiters and graspers at the top. Dante's idea that each sin -on earth fashions its own proper punishment in hell receives -confirmation in this parable. "The great gulf fixed," which -constituted Dives's hell, was the gulf which he himself had -brought about. For the private fortune he amassed had broken -up the solidarity of society--had introduced into it a chasm -both broad and deep. The gulf between him and Lazarus in this -world exists in the world to come to plague him. The thirst -which parched Dives's tongue, "being in torments," was the -thirst for companionship, the healing contact once more with -his fellows, from whom his fortune had sundered him like a -butcher's cleaver. Jesus had so exalted a notion of the working -class, their absence of cant, their rugged facing of the facts, -their elemental simplicities, their first-hand contact with the -realities of life, that he regarded any man who should draw -himself off from them in a fancied superiority, as immeasurably -the loser thereby, and as putting himself "in torments." - - -Lazarus - -(_From the London "Spectator"_) - -ANONYMOUS - - Still he lingers, where wealth and fashion - Meet together to dine or play-- - Lingers, a matter of vague compassion, - Out in the darkness across the way; - Out beyond the warmth and the glitter, - The light where luxury's laughter rings, - Lazarus waits, where the wind is bitter, - Receiving his evil things. - - Still ye find him when, breathless, burning, - Summer flames upon square and street, - When the fortunate ones of the earth are turning - Their thoughts to meadows and meadow-sweet; - Far away from the wide green valley, - The bramble patch where the white-throat sings, - Lazarus sweats in his crowded alley, - Receiving his evil things.... - - In the name of Knowledge the race grows healthier, - In the name of Freedom the world grows great; - And men are wiser, and men are wealthier, - But--Lazarus lies at the rich man's gate. - Lies as he lay through human history, - Fame of heroes and pomp of kings, - At the rich man's gate, an abiding mystery, - Receiving his evil things. - - -A Parable - -BY JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL - -(See page 189) - - Said Christ our Lord, "I will go and see - How the men, my brethren, believe in me." - He passed not again through the gate of birth, - But made himself known to the children of earth. - - Then said the chief priests, and rulers, and kings, - "Behold, now, the Giver of all good things; - Go to, let us welcome with pomp and state - Him who alone is mighty and great." - - With carpets of gold the ground they spread - Wherever the Son of Man should tread, - And in palace chambers lofty and rare - They lodged him, and served him with kingly fare. - - Great organs surged through arches dim - Their jubilant floods in praise of him; - And in church, and palace, and judgment-hall, - He saw his image high over all. - - But still, wherever his steps they led, - The Lord in sorrow bent down his head, - And from under the heavy foundation-stones - The son of Mary heard bitter groans. - - And in church, and palace, and judgment-hall, - He marked great fissures that rent the wall, - And opened wider and yet more wide - As the living foundation heaved and sighed. - - "Have ye founded your thrones and altars, then, - On the bodies and souls of living men? - And think ye that building shall endure, - Which shelters the noble and crushes the poor? - - "With gates of silver and bars of gold - Ye have fenced my sheep from their Father's fold; - I have heard the dropping of their tears - In heaven these eighteen hundred years." - - "O Lord and Master, not ours the guilt, - We build but as our fathers built; - Behold thine images, how they stand, - Sovereign and sole, through all our land. - - "Our task is hard,--with sword and flame - To hold thine earth forever the same, - And with sharp crooks of steel to keep - Still, as thou leftest them, thy sheep." - - Then Christ sought out an artisan, - A low-browed, stunted, haggard man, - And a motherless girl, whose fingers thin - Pushed from her faintly want and sin. - - These set he in the midst of them, - And as they drew back their garment-hem, - For fear of defilement, "Lo, here," said he, - "The images ye have made of me!" - - -FROM THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW - -Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, "Come, ye -blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from -the foundation of the world: For I was a hungered, and ye gave -me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, -and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye -visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me." - -Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, "Lord, when saw we -thee a hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? -when saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and -clothed thee? or when saw we thee sick or in prison, and came -unto thee?" - -And the King shall answer and say unto them, "Verily I say unto -you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these -my brethren, ye have done it unto me." - -Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, "Depart from -me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil -and his angels: for I was a hungered, and ye gave me no meat; -I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink; I was a stranger, and -ye took me not in; naked, and ye clothed me not; sick, and in -prison, and ye visited me not." - -Then shall they also answer him, saying, "Lord, when saw we -thee a hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, -or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?" - -Then shall he answer them, saying, "Verily I say unto you, -inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did -it not to me." - - -The Easter Children - -(_From "The Frozen Grail and other Poems"_) - -BY ELSA BARKER - -(See page 315) - - "Christ the Lord is risen!" - Chant the Easter children, - Their love-moulded faces - Luminous with gladness, - And their costly raiment - Gleaming like the lilies. - - But last night I wandered - Where Christ had not risen, - Where love knows no gladness, - Where the lord of Hunger - Leaves no room for lilies, - And no time for childhood. - - And today I wonder - Whether I am dreaming; - For above the swelling - Of their Easter music - I can hear the murmur, - "Suffer _all_ the children." - - Nay, the world is dreaming! - And my seeing spirit - Trembles for its waking, - When their Saviour rises - To restore the lilies - To the outcast children. - - -The Quest - -BY FREDERIK VAN EEDEN - - (The most widely read of modern Dutch novels, this story of the life - of "Little Johannes" is perhaps the most successful of the many - attempts that have been made to portray the coming of Jesus into the - modern world. Johannes is a boy of good family, who meets a strange, - homeless workingman, to whom he becomes devoted, and whom he calls his - "Brother." The present selection narrates how Johannes was taken to - church.) - -"You see, Father," said the countess, "we have come to seek -Jesus. Johannes, also." - -"He is waiting for you," replied the priest, solemnly, pointing -out the great crucifix above the altar. Then he disappeared -into the sacristy. - -Johannes immediately fastened his eyes upon that figure, and -continued to contemplate it while the people were taking their -places. - -It hung in the strongest light of the shadowy church. -Apparently it was of wood stained to a pale rose, with peculiar -blue and brown shadows. The wounds in the side and under the -thorns on the forehead were distinct to exaggeration--all -purple and swollen, with great streaks of blood like dark-red -sealing-wax. The face, with its closed eyes, wore a look of -distress, and a large circle of gold and precious stones -waggishly adorned the usual russet-colored, cork-screwy, -woodeny locks. The cross itself was of shining gold, and each -of its four extremities was ornamented, while a nice, wavy -paper above the head bore the letters I. N. R. I. One could -see that it was all brand-new, and freshly gilded and painted. -Wreaths and bouquets of paper flowers embellished the altar. - -For a long time--perhaps a quarter of an hour--Johannes -continued to look at the image. "That is Jesus," he muttered -to himself, "He of whom I have so often heard. Now I am going -to learn about Him, and He is to comfort me. He it is who has -redeemed the world." - -But however often he might repeat this, trying seriously -to convince himself--because he would have been glad to be -convinced and also to be redeemed--he could nevertheless see -nothing except a repulsive, ugly, bloody, prinked-up wooden -doll. And this made him feel doubly sorrowful and disheartened. -Fully fifteen minutes had he sat there, looking and musing, -hearing the people around him chatting--about the price they -had paid for their places, about the keeping on or taking -off of women's hats, and about the reserved seats for the -first families. Then the door of the sacristy opened, and the -choir-boys with their swinging censers, and the sacristan, and -the priests in their beautiful, gold-bordered garments, came -slowly and majestically in. And as the congregation kneeled, -Johannes kneeled with them. - -And when Johannes, as well as the others, looked at the -incoming procession, and then again turned his eyes to the high -altar, behold! there, to his amazement, kneeling before the -white altar, he saw a dark form. It was in plain sight, bending -forward in the twilight, the arms upon the altar, and the face -hidden in the arms. A man it was, in the customary dark clothes -of a laborer. No one--neither Johannes nor probably any one -else in the church--had seen whence he came. But he was now in -the full sight of all, and one could hear whisperings and a -subdued excitement run along the rows of people and pass on to -the rear, like a gust of wind over a grain-field. - -As soon as the procession of choir-boys and priests came -within sight of the altar, the sacristan stepped hastily out -of line and went forward to the stranger, to assure him that, -possibly from too deep absorption in devotion, or from lack -of familiarity with ecclesiastical ceremony, he was guilty of -intrusion. - -He touched the man's shoulder, but the man did not stir. In the -breathless stillness that followed, while everyone expectantly -awaited the outcome, a deep, heartrending sob was heard. - -"A penitent!" "A drunken man!" "A convert!" were some of the -whispered comments of the people. - -The perplexed sacristan turned round, and beckoned Father -Canisius, who, with impressive bearing, stepped up in his -white, gold-threaded garb, as imposingly as a full-sailed -frigate moves. - -"Your place is not here," said the priest, in his deep voice. -He spoke kindly, and not particularly loudly. "Go to the back -of the church." - -There was no reply, and the man did not move; yet, in the still -more profound silence, his weeping was so audible that many -people shuddered. - -"Do you not hear me?" said the priest, raising his voice a -little, and speaking with some impatience. "It is well that -you are repentant, but only the consecrated belong here--not -penitents." - -So saying, he grasped the shoulder of the stranger with his -large, strong hand. - -Then, slowly, very slowly, the kneeling man raised his head -from his arms, and turned his face toward the priest. - -What followed, perhaps each one of the hundreds of witnesses -would tell differently; and of those who heard about it later, -each had a different idea. But I am going to tell you what -Johannes saw and heard--heard quite as clearly as you have seen -and heard the members of your own household, today. - -He saw his Brother's face, pale and illumined, as if his head -were shone upon by beams of clearest sunlight. And the sadness -of that face was so deep and unutterable, so bitter and yet so -gentle, that Johannes felt forced, through pain, to press both -hands upon his heart, and to set his teeth, while he gazed with -wide, tear-filled eyes, forgetting everything save that shining -face so full of grief. - -For a time it was as still as death, while man and priest -regarded each other. At last the man spoke, and said: - -"Who are you, and in whose name are you here?" - -When two men stand thus, face to face, and address each other -with all earnestness in the hearing of many others, one of them -is always immediately recognized to be the superior--even if -the listeners are unable to gauge the force of the argument. -Every one feels that superiority, although later many forget -or deny it. If that dominance is not very great, it arouses -spitefulness and fury; but if it is indeed great, it brings, -betimes, repose and submissiveness. - -In this case the ascendency was so great that the priest lost -even the air of authority and assurance with which he had -come forward, and did that for which, later, he reproached -himself--he stopped to explain: - -"I am a consecrated priest of the Triune God, and I speak in -the name of our Lord Jesus Christ--our Saviour and Redeemer." - -There ensued a long silence, and Johannes saw nothing but the -shining, human face and the eyes, which, full of sorrow and -compassion, continued to regard the richly robed priest with a -bitter smile. The priest stood motionless, with hanging hands -and staring eyes, as if uncertain what next to say or do; but -he listened silently for what was coming, as did Johannes and -all the others in the church--as if under an overpowering spell. - -Then came the following words, and so long as they sounded no -one could think of anything else--neither of the humble garb of -him who spoke, nor of the incomprehensible subjection of his -gorgeously arrayed listener: - -"But you are not yet a man! Would you be a priest of the Most -High? - -"You are not yet redeemed, nor are these others with you -redeemed, although you make bold to say so in the name of the -Redeemer. - -"Did your Saviour when upon earth wear cloth of silver and of -gold? - -"There is no redemption yet--neither for you nor for any of -yours. The time is not come for the wearing of garments of gold. - -"Mock not, nor slander. Your ostentation is a travesty of the -Most High, and a defamation of your Saviour. - -"Do you esteem the kingdom of God a trifle, that you array -yourself and rejoice, while the world still lies in despair and -in shackles?... - -"You are so commanded to serve your Father in spirit and in -truth, and you have served Him with the letter and with lies. - -"His prophets, who loved the truth better than their lives, you -have burned at the stake, and have made them martyrs.... - -"You pull the carriage of prince and moneyed man, and make -grimaces before the powerful. - -"They build your churches, and you say masses for them, -although they be Satan himself.... - -"What have you done for the sheep committed to your care--for -the poor and bereaved--for the oppressed and the disinherited? - -"Submission you have taught them--ay--submission to Mammon. You -have taught them to bow meekly to Satan. - -"God's light--the light of knowledge--you have withheld from -them. Woe be to you! - -"You have taught them to beg, and to kiss the rod that smote -them. You have cloaked the shame of alms-receiving, and have -prated of honor in servitude. - -"Thus have you humbled man, and disfigured the human soul.... - -"Of the love of the Father you have made commerce--a sinful -merchandise. Not because you love virtue do you preach it, but -because of the sweet profit. You promise deliverance to all -who follow your counsel; but as well can you make a present of -moon and stars. - -"Are you not told to recompense evil with good? And is God less -than man that He should do otherwise? - -"It is well for you that He does not do otherwise, for where -then were your salvation? - -"For you, and you only, are the brood of vipers against whom -is kindled the wrath of Him who was gentle with adulterers and -murderers." - -While speaking, the man had risen to his full height, and he -now appeared, to all there assembled, impressively tall. - -When he had spoken, reaching his right hand backward he grasped -the foot of the great golden crucifix. It snapped off like -glass, and he threw it on the marble floor at the feet of the -priest. The fragment broke into many bits. It was apparently -not wood, but plaster. - -"Sacrilege!" cried the priest, in a stifled voice, as if -the sound were wrung from his throat. His eyes seemed to be -starting out of his great purple face. - -The man quietly replied: - -"No, but my right; for you are the sacrilegist and the -blasphemer who makes of the Son of man a hideous caricature." - -Then the priest stepped forward, and gripped Markus by the -wrist. The latter made no resistance, but cried in a loud voice -that reverberated through the church: - -"Do your work, Caiaphas!" - -After that he suffered himself to be led away to the sacristy. - - -The Image in the Forum - -BY ROBERT BUCHANAN - -(English novelist and dramatist, 1814-1901) - - Not Baal, but Christus-Jingo! Heir - Of him who once was crucified! - The red stigmata still are there, - The crimson spear-wounds in the side; - But raised aloft as God and Lord, - He holds the Money-bag and Sword. - - See, underneath the Crown of Thorn, - The eye-balls fierce, the features grim! - And merrily from night to morn - We chaunt his praise and worship him - Great Christus-Jingo, at whose feet - Christian and Jew and Atheist meet! - - A wondrous god! most fit for those - Who cheat on 'Change, then creep to prayer; - Blood on his heavenly altar flows, - Hell's burning incense fills the air, - And Death attests in street and lane - The hideous glory of his reign. - - O gentle Jew, from age to age - Walking the waves thou could'st not tame, - This god hath ta'en thy heritage, - And stolen thy sweet and stainless Name! - To him we crawl and bend the knee, - Naming thy Name, but scorning Thee! - - -The Quest - -BY FREDERIK VAN EEDEN - -(Sequel to the scene quoted on page 360. Jesus has been held -for examination as to his sanity) - -"Does he often have those whims, Johannes," asked Dr. Cijfer, -"when he will not speak?" - -"He has no whims," said Johannes, stoutly. - -"Why, then, will he not reply?" - -"I think you would not answer me," returned Johannes, "if I -were to ask you if you were mad." - -The two learned men exchanged smiles. - -"That is a somewhat different situation," said Bommeldoos, -haughtily. - -"He was not questioned in such a blunt manner as that," -explained Doctor Cijfer. "I asked about his extraction, his -age, the health of his father and mother, about his own youth, -and so forth--the usual memory promptings. Will you not give -us some further information concerning him? Remember, it is of -real importance to your brother." - -"Mijnheer," said Johannes, "I know as little as yourself about -all that...." - -There was a knock at the door. The nurse came and said, "Here -is the patient." Then he let Markus in.... - -Markus had on a dark-blue linen blouse, such as all the -patients of the working-class wear. He stood tall and erect, -and Johannes observed that his face was less pale and sad than -usual. The blue became his dark curling hair, and Johannes felt -happy and confident as he looked at him--standing there so -proud and calm and handsome. - -"Take a seat," said Dr. Cijfer. - -But Markus seemed not to have heard, and remained standing, -while he nodded kindly and reassuringly to Johannes. - -"Observe his pride," said Professor Bommeldoos, in Latin to Dr. -Cijfer. - -"The proud find pride, and the gloomy, gloom; but the glad find -gladness, and the lowly, humility," said Markus. - -Dr. Cijfer stood up, and took his measuring instrument from the -table. Then, in a quiet, courteous tone, he said: - -"Will you not permit us, Mijnheer, to take your head measure? -It is for a scientific purpose?" - -"It gives no pain," added Bommeldoos. - -"Not to the body," said Markus. - -Said Dr. Cijfer, "There is nothing in it to offend one. I have -had it done to myself many a time." - -"There is a kind of opinionativeness and denseness that offend." - -Bommeldoos flushed. "Opinionativeness and denseness! Mine, -perchance? Am I such an ignoramus? Opinionated and stupid!" - -"Colleague!" exclaimed Dr. Cijfer, in gentle expostulation. -And then, as he enclosed Markus's head with the shining -craniometer, he gave the measurement figures. A considerable -time passed, nothing being heard save the low voice of the -doctor dictating the figures. Then, as if proceeding with his -present occupation, taking advantage of what he considered a -compliant mood of the patient, the crafty doctor fancied he saw -his opportunity, and said: - -"Your parents certainly dwelt in another country--one more -southerly and more mountainous." - -But Markus removed the doctor's hand, with the instrument, from -his head, and looked at him piercingly. - -"Why are you not sincere?" he then asked, with gentle stress. -"How can truth be found through untruth?" - -Dr. Cijfer hesitated, and then did exactly what Father Canisius -had done--something which, later, he was of the opinion he -ought not to have done: he argued with him. - -"But if you will not give me a direct reply I am obliged to get -the truth circuitously." - -Said Markus, "A curved sword will not go far into a straight -scabbard." - -Professor Bommeldoos grew impatient, and snapped at the doctor -aside, in a smothered voice: "Do not argue, Colleague, do not -argue! Megalomaniacs are smarter, and sometimes have subtler -dialectic faculties than you have. Just let _me_ conduct the -examination." - -And then, after a loud "h'm! h'm!" he said to Markus: - -" ... Now just tell me, frankly, my friend, are you a prophet? -An apostle? Are you perhaps the King? Or are you God himself?" - -Markus was silent. - -"Why do you not answer now?" - -"Because I am not being questioned." - -"Not being questioned! What, then, am I now doing?" - -"Raving," said Markus. - -Bommeldoos flushed, and lost his composure. - -"Be careful, my friend. You must not be impertinent. Remember -that we may decide your fate here." - -Markus lifted his head, with a questioning air, so earnest that -the professor held his peace. - -"With whom rests the decision of our fate?" asked Markus. Then, -pointing with his finger: "Do you consider yourself the one to -decide?" - -After that he uttered not a word. Dr. Cijfer questioned with -gentle stress, Professor Bommeldoos with vehement energy; but -Markus was silent, and seemed not to notice that there were -others in the room. - -"I adhere to my diagnosis, Colleague," said Bommeldoos. - -Dr. Cijfer rang, and ordered the nurse to come. - -"Take the patient to his ward again. He will remain, for the -present, under observation." - -Markus went, after making a short but kindly inclination of the -head to Johannes. - -"Will you not tell us now, Johannes, what you know of this -person?" asked Dr. Cijfer. - -"Mijnheer," replied Johannes, "I know but little more of him -than you do yourself. I met him two years ago, and he is my -dearest friend; but I have seen him rarely, and have never -inquired about his life nor his origin." - -"Remarkable!" exclaimed Dr. Cijfer. - -"Once again, Colleague, I stand by my diagnosis," said -Bommeldoos. "Initial paranoia, with megalomaniacal symptoms, on -the basis of hereditary inferiority, with vicarious genius." - -[Illustration: ECCE HOMO - -CONSTANTIN MEUNIER - -(_Belgian sculptor, 1831-1905_)] - -[Illustration: DESPISED AND REJECTED OF MEN - -SIGISMUND GOETZE - -(_Contemporary German painter_)] - - -The Swordless Christ - -BY PERCY ADAMS HUTCHISON - -(American poet, born 1875) - -"_Vicisti Galilaee_" - - Ay, down the years behold he rides, - The lowly Christ, upon an ass; - But conquering? Ten shall heed the call, - A thousand idly watch him pass: - - They watch him pass, or lightly hold - In mock lip-loyalty his name: - A thousand--were they his to lead! - But meek, without a sword, he came. - - A myriad horsemen swept the field - With Attila, the whirlwind Hun; - A myriad cannon spake for him, - The silent, dread Napoleon. - - For these had ready spoil to give, - Had reeking spoil for savage hands; - Slaves, and fair wives, and pillage rare: - The wealth of cities: teeming lands. - - And if the world, once drunk with blood, - Sated, has turned from arms to peace, - Man hath not lost his ancient lusts; - The weapons change; war doth not cease. - - The mother in the stifling den, - The brain-dulled child beside the loom, - The hordes that swarm and toil and starve-- - We laugh, and tread them to their doom. - - They shriek, and cry their prayers to Christ; - And lift wan faces, hands that bleed: - In vain they pray, for what is Christ? - A leader--without men to lead. - - Ah, piteous Christ afar he rides! - We see him, but the face is dim; - We that would leap at crash of drums - Are slow to rise and follow him. - - -How Long, O Lord - -BY HALL CAINE - -(English novelist and dramatist, born 1853) - -Look down, O Lord, look down. Are the centuries a waste? Nigh -upon two thousand years have gone since Thou didst walk the -world, and the face of things is not unchanged. In _Thy_ Name -now doth the Pharisee give alms in the street to the sound of a -trumpet going before him. In Thy Name now doth the Levite pass -by on the other side when a man hath fallen among thieves. In -Thy Name now doth the lawyer lay on the poor burdens grievous -to be borne. In Thy Name now doth the priest buy and sell the -glad tidings of the kingdom, giving for the gospel of God -the commandments of men, living in rich men's houses, faring -sumptuously every day, praying with his lips, "Give us this day -our daily bread," but saying to his soul, "Soul, thou hast much -goods laid up for many years: take thine ease, eat, drink, and -be merry." - -Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Is it this -Thy gospel that yields that Thy fruit? Then will the master of -the vineyard come shortly and say, "Cut it down; why cumbereth -it the ground?" - - -In a Siberian Prison Church - -(_From "Resurrection"_) - -BY LEO TOLSTOY - -(See pages 88, 110, 148, 276) - -The service began. - -It consisted of the following. The priest, having dressed -himself up in a strange and very inconvenient garb of gold -cloth, cut and arranged little bits of bread on a saucer and -then put most of them in a cup with wine, repeating at the same -time different names and prayers. Meanwhile the deacon first -read Slavonic prayers, difficult to understand in themselves, -and rendered still more incomprehensible by being read very -fast; he then sang them turn and turn about with the convicts. - -The essence of the service consisted in the supposition that -the bits of bread cut up by the priest and put into the wine, -when manipulated and prayed over in a certain way, turned into -the flesh and blood of God. - -These manipulations consisted in the priest, hampered by the -gold cloth sack he had on, regularly lifting and holding up -his arms and then sinking to his knees and kissing the table -and all that was on it; but chiefly in his taking a cloth by -two of its corners and waving it rhythmically and softly over -the silver saucer and the golden cup. It was supposed that at -this point the bread and the wine turned into flesh and blood; -therefore this part of the service was performed with the -utmost solemnity. And the convicts made the sign of the cross, -and bowed, first at each sentence, then after every two, and -then after three; and all were very glad when the glorification -ended and the priest shut the book with a sigh of relief and -retired behind the partition. One last act remained. The priest -took from a table a large gilt cross with enamel medallions -at the ends, and came out into the center of the church with -it. First the inspector came up and kissed the cross, then -the jailers, and then the convicts, pushing and jostling, and -abusing each other in whispers. The priest, talking to the -inspector, pushed the cross and his hand, now against the -mouths and now against the noses of the convicts, who were -trying to kiss both the cross and the hand of the priest. And -thus ended the Christian service, intended for the comfort and -edification of these brothers who had gone astray. - -And none of these present, from the inspector down, seemed -conscious of the fact that this Jesus, whose name the priest -repeated such a great number of times, whom he praised with -all these curious expressions, had forbidden the very things -that were being done there; that he had not only prohibited -this meaningless much-speaking and the blasphemous incantation -over the bread and wine, but had also, in the clearest words, -forbidden men to call other men their master or to pray in -temples; had taught that every one should pray in solitude; -had forbidden to erect temples, saying that he had come to -destroy them, and that one should worship not in a temple, but -in spirit and in truth; and, above all, that not only had he -forbidden to judge, to imprison, to torment, to execute men, as -was done here, but had even prohibited any kind of violence, -saying that he had come to give freedom to the captives. - -No one present seemed conscious that all that was going on here -was the greatest blasphemy, and a mockery of that same Christ -in whose name it was being done. No one seemed to realize that -the gilt cross with the enamel medallions at the ends, which -the priest held out to the people to be kissed, was nothing but -the emblem of that gallows on which Christ had been executed -for denouncing just what was going on here. That these priests, -who imagined they were eating and drinking the body and blood -of Christ in the form of bread and wine, did in reality eat -and drink his flesh and his blood, only not as wine and bits -of bread, but by ensnaring "these little ones" with whom he -identified himself, by depriving them of the greatest blessings -and submitting them to most cruel torments, and by hiding from -men the tidings of great joy which he had brought--that thought -did not enter the mind of any one present. - - -Before a Crucifix - -BY ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE - -(English poet of nature and liberty, 1837-1909) - - Here, down between the dusty trees, - At this lank edge of haggard wood, - Women with labor-loosened knees, - With gaunt backs bowed by servitude, - Stop, shift their loads, and pray, and fare - Forth with souls easier for the prayer. - - The suns have branded black, the rains - Striped gray this piteous God of theirs; - The face is full of prayers and pains, - To which they bring their pains and prayers; - Lean limbs that shew the laboring bones, - And ghastly mouth that gapes and groans. - - God of this grievous people, wrought - After the likeness of their race, - By faces like thine own besought, - Thine own blind helpless, eyeless face, - I too, that have nor tongue nor knee - For prayer, I have a word to thee. - - It was for this then, that thy speech - Was blown about the world in flame - And men's souls shot up out of reach - Of fear or lust or thwarting shame-- - That thy faith over souls should pass - As sea-winds burning the grey grass? - - It was for this, that prayers like these - Should spend themselves about thy feet, - And with hard overlabored knees - Kneeling, these slaves of men should beat - Bosoms too lean to suckle sons - And fruitless as their orisons? - - It was for this, that men should make - Thy name a fetter on men's necks, - Poor men made poorer for thy sake, - And women withered out of sex? - It was for this, that slaves should be, - Thy word was passed to set men free? - - The nineteenth wave of the ages rolls - Now deathward since thy death and birth. - Hast thou fed full men's starved-out souls? - Hast thou brought freedom upon earth? - Or are there less oppressions done - In this wild world under the sun? - - Nay, if indeed thou be not dead, - Before thy terrene shrine be shaken, - Look down, turn usward, bow thine head; - O thou that wast of God forsaken, - Look on thine household here, and see - These that have not forsaken thee. - - Thy faith is fire upon their lips, - Thy kingdom golden in their hands; - They scourge us with thy words for whips, - They brand us with thy words for brands; - The thirst that made thy dry throat shrink - To their moist mouths commends the drink.... - - O sacred head, O desecrate, - O labor-wounded feet and hands, - O blood poured forth in pledge to fate - Of nameless lives in divers lands, - O slain and spent and sacrificed - People, the grey-grown speechless Christ! - - Is there a gospel in the red - Old witness of thy wide-mouthed wounds? - From thy blind stricken tongueless head - What desolate evangel sounds - A hopeless note of hope deferred? - What word, if there be any word? - - O son of man, beneath man's feet - Cast down, O common face of man - Whereon all blows and buffets meet, - O royal, O republican - Face of the people bruised and dumb - And longing till thy kingdom come!... - - The tree of faith ingraft by priests - Puts its foul foliage out above thee, - And round it feed man-eating beasts - Because of whom we dare not love thee; - Though hearts reach back and memories ache, - We cannot praise thee for their sake.... - - Nay, if their God and thou be one, - If thou and this thing be the same, - Thou shouldst not look upon the sun; - The sun grows haggard at thy name. - Come down, be done with, cease, give o'er; - Hide thyself, strive not, be no more. - - - - -BOOK VIII - -_The Church_ - -Contains passages, both of exhortation and denunciation, -dealing with the relation of the church toward modern problems, -and the effort to bring back a property-strangled institution -to the revolutionary gospel of its founder. - - -God and My Neighbor - -BY ROBERT BLATCHFORD - -(See pages 66, 121, 170) - -"For all that, Robert, you're a notorious Infidel." I -paused--just opposite the Tivoli--and gazed moodily up and down -the Strand. - -As I have remarked elsewhere, I like the Strand. It is a very -human place. But I own that the Strand lacks dignity and -beauty, and that amongst its varied odors the odor of sanctity -is scarcely perceptible. - -There are no trees in the Strand. The thoroughfare should be -wider. The architecture is, for the most part, banal. For a -chief street in a Christian capital, the Strand is not eloquent -of high national ideals. - -There are derelict churches in the Strand, and dingy, blatant -taverns, and strident signs and hoardings; and there are slums -hard by. - -There are thieves in the Strand, and prowling vagrants, and -gaunt hawkers, and touts, and gamblers, and loitering failures, -with tragic eyes and wilted garments; and prostitutes plying -for hire. - -And east and west, and north and south of the Strand, there -is London. Is there a man amongst all London's millions brave -enough to tell the naked truth about the vice and crime, the -misery and meanness, the hypocrisies and shames of the great, -rich, heathen city? Were such a man to arise amongst us and -voice the awful truth, what would his reception be? How would -he fare at the hands of the Press, and the Public--and the -Church? - -As London is, so is England. This is a Christian country. -What would Christ think of Park Lane, and the slums, and the -hooligans? What would He think of the Stock Exchange, and the -music hall, and the race-course? What would He think of our -national ideals? What would He think of the House of Peers, and -the Bench of Bishops, and the Yellow Press? - -Pausing again, over against Exeter Hall, I mentally -apostrophize the Christian British people. "Ladies and -Gentlemen," I say, "you are Christians in name, but I discern -little of Christ in your ideals, your institutions, or your -daily lives. You are a mercenary, self-indulgent, frivolous, -boastful, blood-guilty mob of heathen. I like you very much, -but that is what you are. And it is you--_you_ who call men -'Infidels.' You ridiculous creatures, what do you mean by it?" - -If to praise Christ in words, and deny Him in deeds, be -Christianity, then London is a Christian city, and England is -a Christian nation. For it is very evident that our common -English ideals are anti-Christian, and that our commercial, -foreign, and social affairs are run on anti-Christian lines. - -Renan says, in his _Life of Jesus_, that "were Jesus to return -amongst us He would recognize as His disciples, not those who -imagine they can compress Him into a few catechismal phrases, -but those who labour to carry on his work." - -My Christian friends, I am a Socialist, and as such believe in, -and work for, universal freedom, and universal brotherhood, and -universal peace. - -And you are Christians, and I am an "Infidel." Well, be it even -so. - - -FROM THE GOSPEL OF LUKE - -When he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, -saying, if thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy -day, the things which belong unto thy peace! - - -From the Bottom Up - -BY ALEXANDER IRVINE - -(The life-story of an Irish peasant lad, born 1863, who -became in turn stableman, man-of-war's-man, slum-missionary, -clergyman, and Socialist agitator) - -After some years' experience in missions and mission churches, -I would find it very hard if I were a workingman living in a -tenement not to be antagonistic to them; for, in large measure, -such work is done on the assumption that people are poor and -degraded through laxity in morals. The scheme of salvation is -a salvation for the individual; social salvation is out of the -question. Social conditions cannot be touched, because in all -rotten social conditions, there is a thin red line which always -leads to the rich man or woman who is responsible for them. - -Coming in contact with these ugly social facts continuously, -led me to this belief. It came very slowly; as did also the -opinion that the missionary himself or the pastor, be he as -wise as Solomon, as eloquent as Demosthenes, as virtuous as St. -Francis, has no social standing whatever among the people whose -alms support the institutions, religious and philanthropic, of -which he is the executive head. The fellowship of the saints is -a pure fiction, has absolutely no foundation in fact in a city -like New York except as the poor saints have it by themselves. - - -FROM THE GOSPEL OF JOHN - -If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: -for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can -he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we -from him, that he who loveth God love his brother also. - - -The Inside of the Cup[A] - -[A] By permission of the Macmillan Co. - -BY WINSTON CHURCHILL - - (One of the most popular of American novelists, born 1871. This story - has for its theme the failure of the Church in the face of modern - social problems. In the following scene a rich man is rebuked by his - pastor) - -The perceptions of the banker were keen, and his sense of -security was brief. Somehow, as he met the searching eye of -the rector, he was unable to see the man as a visionary, but -beheld and,--to do him justice--felt a twinge of respect for -an adversary worthy of his steel. He, who was accustomed -to prepare for clouds when they were mere specks on his -horizon, paused even now to marvel why he had not dealt -with this. Here was a man--a fanatic, if he liked--but -still a man who positively did not fear him, to whom his -wrath and power were as nothing! A new and startling and -complicated sensation--but Eldon Parr was no coward. If he -had, consciously or unconsciously, formerly looked upon the -clergyman as a dependent, Hodder appeared to be one no more. -The very ruggedness of the man had enhanced, expanded--as -it were--until it filled the room. And Hodder had, with an -audacity unparalleled in the banker's experience, arraigned by -implication his whole life, managed to put him on the defensive. - -"But if that has become your philosophy," the rector -said--"that a man must look out for himself--what is it in you -that impels you to give these large sums for the public good?" - -"I should suppose that you, as a clergyman, might understand -that my motive is a Christian one." - -Hodder sat very still, but a higher light came into his eyes. - -"Mr. Parr," he replied, "I have been a friend of yours, and I -am a friend still. And what I am going to tell you is not only -in the hope that others may benefit, but that your own soul -may be saved. I mean that literally--your own soul. You are -under the impression that you are a Christian, but you are not -and never have been one. And you will not be one until your -whole life is transformed, until you become a different man. -If you do not change, it is my duty to warn you that sorrow -and suffering, the uneasiness which you now know, and which -drive you on, in search of distraction, to adding useless sums -of money to your fortune--this suffering, I say, will become -intensified. You will die in the knowledge of it, and live on -after, in the knowledge of it." - -In spite of himself, the financier drew back before this -unexpected blast, the very intensity of which had struck a -chill of terror in his inmost being. He had been taken off his -guard,--for he had supposed the day long past--if it had ever -existed--when a spiritual rebuke would upset him; the day long -past when a minister _could_ pronounce one with any force. That -the Church should ever again presume to take herself seriously -had never occurred to him. And yet--the man had denounced -him in a moment of depression, of nervous irritation and -exasperation against a government which had begun to interfere -with the sacred liberty of its citizens, against political -agitators who had spurred that government on. The world was -mad. No element, it seemed, was now content to remain in its -proper place. His voice, as he answered, shook with rage,--all -the greater because the undaunted sternness by which it was -confronted seemed to reduce it to futility. - -"Take care!" he cried, "take care! You, nor any other man, -clergyman or no clergyman, have any right to be the judge of my -conduct." - -"On the contrary," said Hodder, "if your conduct affects the -welfare, the progress, the reputation of the church of which I -am rector, I have the right. And I intend to exercise it. It -becomes my duty, however painful, to tell you, as a member of -the Church, wherein you have wronged the Church and wronged -yourself." - -He didn't raise his tone, and there was in it more of sorrow -than of indignation. The banker turned an ashen gray.... A -moment elapsed before he spoke, a transforming moment. He -suddenly became ice. - -"Very well," he said. "I can't pretend to account for these -astounding views you have acquired--and I am using a mild term. -Let me say this" (he leaned forward a little, across the desk): -"I demand that you be specific. I am a busy man, I have little -time to waste, I have certain matters before me which must be -attended to to-night. I warn you that I will not listen any -longer to vague accusations." - -It was Hodder's turn to marvel. Did Eldon Parr, after all, have -no sense of guilt? Instantaneously, automatically, his own -anger rose. - -"You may be sure, Mr. Parr, that I should not be here unless I -were prepared to be specific. And what I am going to say to you -I have reserved for your ear alone, in the hope that you will -take it to heart while it is not yet too late, and amend your -life accordingly...." - -(The clergyman tells the banker of lives that have been ruined -by his financial dishonesties.) - -"I am not talking about the imperfect code of human justice -under which we live, Mr. Parr," he cried. "This is not a case -in which a court of law may exonerate you, it is between -you and your God. But I have taken the trouble to find out, -from unquestioned sources, the truth about the Consolidated -Tractions Company--I shall not go into the details at -length--they are doubtless familiar to you. I know that the -legal genius of Mr. Langmaid, one of my vestry, made possible -the organization of the company, and thereby evaded the plain -spirit of the law of the state. I know that one branch line -was bought for two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and -capitalized for three millions, and that most of the others -were scandalously over-capitalized. I know that while the -coming transaction was still a secret, you and other gentlemen -connected with the matter bought up large interests in other -lines, which you proceeded to lease _to yourselves_ at -guaranteed dividends which these lines do not earn. I know -that the first large dividend was paid out of capital. And the -stock which you sold to poor Garvin was so hopelessly watered -that it never could have been anything but worthless. If, in -spite of these facts, you do not deem yourself responsible for -the misery which has been caused, if your conscience is now -clear, it is my duty to tell you that there is a higher bar of -justice." - -The intensity of the fire of the denunciation had, indeed, -a momentary yet visible effect in the banker's expression. -Whatever the emotions thus lashed to self-betrayal, anger, -hatred,--fear, perhaps, Hodder could not detect a trace of -penitence; and he was aware, on the part of the other, of -a supreme, almost spasmodic effort for self-control. The -constitutional reluctance of Eldon Parr to fight openly could -not have been more clearly demonstrated. - -"Because you are a clergyman, Mr. Hodder," he began, "because -you are the rector of St. John's, I have allowed you to say -things to me which I would not have permitted from any other -man. I have tried to take into account your point of view, -which is naturally restricted, your pardonable ignorance of -what business men, who wish to do their duty by Church and -State, have to contend with. When you came to this parish you -seemed to have a sensible, a proportional view of things; you -were content to confine your activities to your own sphere, -content not to meddle with politics and business, which you -could, at first hand, know nothing about. The modern desire -of clergymen to interfere in these matters has ruined the -usefulness of many of them. - -"I repeat, I have tried to be patient. I venture to hope, -still, that this extraordinary change in you may not be -permanent, but merely the result of a natural sympathy with the -weak and unwise and unfortunate who are always to be found in a -complex civilization. I can even conceive how such a discovery -must have shocked you, temporarily aroused your indignation, -as a clergyman, against the world as it is--and, I may add, -as it has always been. My personal friendship for you, and my -interest in your future welfare impel me to make a final appeal -to you not to ruin a career which is full of promise...." - -"I hinted to you awhile ago of a project I have conceived and -almost perfected of gifts on a much larger scale than I have -ever attempted." The financier stared at him meaningly. "And I -had you in mind as one of the three men whom I should consult, -whom I should associate with myself in the matter. We cannot -change human nature, but we can better conditions by wise -giving. I do not refer now to the settlement house, which I am -ready to help make and maintain as the best in the country, -but I have in mind a system to be carried out with the consent -and aid of the municipal government, of playgrounds, baths, -parks, places of recreation, and hospitals, for the benefit of -the people, which will put our city in the very forefront of -progress. And I believe, as a practical man, I can convince you -that the betterment which you and I so earnestly desire can be -brought about in no other way. Agitation can only result in -anarchy and misery for all." - -Hodder's wrath, as he rose from his chair, was of the sort -that appears incredibly to add to the physical stature,--the -bewildering spiritual wrath which is rare indeed, and carries -all before it. - -"Don't tempt me, Mr. Parr!" he said. "Now that I know the -truth, I tell you frankly I would face poverty and persecution -rather than consent to your offer. And I warn you once more not -to flatter yourself that existence ends here, that you will -not be called to answer for every wrong act you have committed -in accumulating your fortune, that what you call business -is an affair of which God takes no account. What I say may -seem foolishness to you, but I tell you, in the words of that -Foolishness, that it will not profit you to gain the whole -world and lose your own soul. You remind me that the Church in -old time accepted gifts from the spoils of war, and I will add -of rapine and murder. And the Church today, to repeat your -own parallel, grows rich with money wrongfully got. Legally? -Ah, yes, legally, perhaps. But that will not avail you. And -the kind of church you speak of--to which I, to my shame, once -consented--Our Lord repudiates. It is none of his. I warn you, -Mr. Parr, in his Name, first to make your peace with your -brothers before you presume to lay another gift on the altar." - -During this withering condemnation of himself Eldon Parr sat -motionless, his face grown livid, an expression on it that -continued to haunt Hodder long afterwards. An expression, -indeed, which made the banker almost unrecognizable. - -"Go," he whispered, his hand trembling visibly as he pointed -towards the door. "Go--I have had enough of this." - - -Trinity Church - -BY EDWIN DAVIES SCHOONMAKER - -(Contemporary American poet) - - In vain she points her finger to the sky - And sends her voice along the famous street, - Admonishing how the mortal hours fleet - And bidding men bethink that they must die. - Tearing the coat of Christ they jostle by - And ply their gambling at her very feet. - "Prepare, prepare, prepare thy God to meet!" - She loudly calls. They do not heed her. Why? - - Thou, stuffed with tithes of them that traffic here, - Flesh of their flesh, and with thy spotted hand - Buying and selling, fattening year by year, - How darest thou rebuke this venal band? - Thou mocker of the man of Galilee, - Prepare to meet thy God, thou Pharisee. - -[Illustration: TO SUSTAIN THE BODY OF THE CHURCH, IF YOU PLEASE - -DENIS AUGUSTE MARIE RAFFET - -(_French illustrator, 1804-1860_)] - -[Illustration: CHRIST - -JOHN MOWBRAY-CLARKE - -(_Contemporary American sculptor_)] - - -The Church and the Workers - -BY WALTER RAUSCHENBUSCH - -(See page 346) - -The stratification of society is becoming more definite in -our country, and the people are becoming more conscious of -it. The industrial conflicts make them realize how their -interests diverge from those of the commercial class. As that -consciousness increases, it becomes harder for the two classes -to meet in the expression of Christian faith and love--in -prayer meetings, for instance. When the Christian business man -is presented as a model Christian, working people are coming -to look with suspicion on these samples of our Christianity. -I am not justifying that, but simply stating the fact. They -disapprove of the Christianity of the churches, not because it -is too good, but because it is not good enough. The working -people are now developing the principle and practice of -solidarity, which promises to be one of the most potent ethical -forces of the future, and which is essentially more Christian -than the covetousness and selfishness which we regard as the -indispensable basis of commerce. If this is a correct diagnosis -of our condition, is it strange that the Church is unable -to evangelize a class alienated from it by divergent class -interests and class morality? - - -Tainted Wealth - -BY JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE - -(See page 298) - - Capacious is the Church's belly; - Whole nations it has swallowed down, - Yet no dyspepsia 'neath its gown; - The Church alone, in jewels drest, - Your "tainted wealth" can quite digest. - - -The Collection - -BY ERNEST HOWARD CROSBY - -(American writer and social reformer, 1856-1907) - - I passed the plate in church. - - There was little silver, but the crisp bank-notes heaped themselves up - high before me; - - And ever as the pile grew, the plate became warmer and warmer until it - burned my fingers, and a smell of scorching flesh rose from it, and I - perceived that some of the notes were beginning to smoulder and curl, - half-browned, at the edges. - - And then I saw thru the smoke into the very substance of the money, - and I beheld what it really was; - - I saw the stolen earnings of the poor, the wide margins of wages pared - down to starvation; - - I saw the underpaid factory girl eking out her living on the street, - and the overworked child, and the suicide of the discharged miner; - - I saw poisonous gases from great manufactories spreading disease and - death; ... - - I saw hideousness extending itself from coal mine and foundry over - forest and river and field; - - I saw money grabbed from fellow grabbers and swindlers, and underneath - them the workman forever spinning it out of his vitals.... - - I saw all this, and the plate burned my fingers so that I had to hold - it first in one hand and then in the other; and I was glad when the - parson in his white robes took the smoking pile from me on the chancel - steps and, turning about, lifted it up and laid it on the altar. - - It was an old-time altar indeed, for it bore a burnt offering of flesh - and blood--a sweet savor unto the Moloch whom these people worship - with their daily round of human sacrifices. - - The shambles are in the temple as of yore, and the tables of the - money-changers, waiting to be overturned. - - -BY ÉMILE DE LAVELAYE - -(Belgian economist, 1822-1892) - -If Christianity were taught and understood conformably to the -spirit of its Founder, the existing social organism could not -last a day. - - -The Voice of the Early Church - -BY CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA - -(Greek Church; 150-215) - -I know that God has given us the use of goods, but only as far -as is necessary; and He has determined that the use be common. -It is absurd and disgraceful for one to live magnificently and -luxuriously when so many are hungry. - - -BY TERTULLIAN - -(Earliest of the Latin fathers; 155-222) - -All is common with us except women. Jesus was our man, God -and brother. He restored unto all men what cruel murderers -took from them by the sword. Christians have no master and no -Christian shall be bound for bread and raiment. The land is no -man's inheritance; none shall possess it as property. - - -BY ST. CYPRIAN - -(Latin; 200-258) - -No man shall be received into our commune who sayeth that the -land may be sold. God's footstool is not property. - - -BY ST. BASIL - -(Greek Church; 329-379) - -Which things, tell me, are yours? Whence have you brought -your goods into life? You are like one occupying a place in a -theatre, who should prohibit others from entering, treating -that as his own which was designed for the common use of all. -Such are the rich. Because they preoccupy common goods, they -take these goods as their own. If each one would take that -which is sufficient for his needs, leaving what is superfluous -to those in distress, no one would be rich, no one poor.... The -rich man is a thief. - - -BY ST. AMBROSE - -(Latin; 340-397) - -How far, O rich, do you extend your senseless avarice? Do -you intend to be the sole inhabitants of the earth? Why do -you drive out the fellow sharers of nature, and claim it all -for yourselves? The earth was made for all, rich and poor, -in common. Why do you rich claim it as your exclusive right? -The soil was given to the rich and poor in common--wherefore, -oh, ye rich, do you unjustly claim it for yourselves alone? -Nature gave all things in common for the use of all; usurpation -created private rights. Property hath no rights. The earth is -the Lord's, and we are his offspring. The pagans hold earth as -property. They do blaspheme God. - - -BY ST. JEROME - -(Latin; 340-420) - -All riches come from iniquity, and unless one has lost, another -cannot gain. Hence that common opinion seems to me to be very -true, "the rich man is unjust, or the heir an unjust one." -Opulence is always the result of theft, if not committed by the -actual possessor, then by his predecessor. - - -BY ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM - -(Greek Church; 347-407) - -Tell me, whence are you rich? From whom have you received? -From your grandfather, you say; from your father. Are you -able to show, ascending in the order of generation, that that -possession is just throughout the whole series of preceding -generations? Its beginning and root grew necessarily out of -injustice. Why? Because God did not make this man rich and -that man poor from the beginning. Nor, when He created the -world, did He allot much treasure to one man, and forbid -another to seek any. He gave the same earth to be cultivated -by all. Since, therefore, His bounty is common, how comes -it that you have so many fields, and your neighbor not even -a clod of earth?... The idea we should have of the rich and -covetous--they are truly as robbers, who, standing in the -public highway, despoil the passers. - - -BY ST. AUGUSTINE - -(Latin; 354-430) - -The superfluities of the rich are the necessaries of the poor. -They who possess superfluities, possess the goods of others. - - -BY ST. GREGORY THE GREAT - -(Latin; 540-604) - -They must be admonished who do not seek another's goods, yet do -not give of their own, that they may know that the earth from -which they have received is common to all men, and therefore -its products are given in common to all. They, therefore, -wrongly think they are innocent who claim for themselves -the common gift of God. When they do not give what they have -received, they assist in the death of neighbors, because daily -almost as many of the poor perish as have been deprived of -means which the rich have kept to themselves. When we give -necessaries to the needy we do not bestow upon them our goods; -we return to them their own; we pay a debt of justice rather -than fulfil a work of mercy. - - -The Annexing of Christianity[A] - -[A] By permission of Doubleday, Page & Co. - -(_From "The Call of the Carpenter"_) - -BY BOUCK WHITE - -(See page 353) - -The annexing process was started by a Roman citizen named -Saul. Formerly a Jew, he deserted his nationality and with it -his former name, and called himself thereafter Paul. Paul was -undeniably sincere. He believed that in reinterpreting the -Christian faith so as to make it acceptable to the Romans he -was doing that faith a service. His make-up was imperial rather -than democratic. Both by birth and training he was unfitted to -enter into the working-class consciousness of Galileans. He was -in culture a Hellenist, in religion a Pharisee, in citizenship -a Roman. From the first strain, Hellenism, he received a bias -in the direction of philosophy rather than economics; from the -second, his Pharisaism, he received a bias toward aloofness, -otherworldliness; and from the third, his Romanism, he received -a bias toward political acquiescence and the preservation of -the status quo.... - -Paul planned to make Christianity the religion of the Roman -Empire. It needed a religion badly. The catalogue of its -vices, in the forepart of the Epistle to the Romans, is proof. -Paul the Roman citizen saw nothing but excellence in Rome's -world-wide empire. Only, it must be redeemed from its laxity -of morals. Therefore he would bring to it the Christ as its -cleanser and thereby its perpetuator. It was the test of loyal -citizenship among the Romans to seek out in every part of the -world that which was most rare and valued, and bring it back -to Rome as a gift. Thus her sons went forth and returned laden -with richest trophies to lay at her feet. They brought to her -pearls from India, gold chariots from Babylon, elephants from -interior Africa, high-breasted virgins from the Greek isles, -Phidian marbles from Athens. Paul also would be a bringer of -gifts to the Rome that had honored him and his fathers with the -high honor of citizenship. And the gift he would bring and lay -at her feet would be the richest of them all--a religion.... - -Paul was a stockholder in Rome's world corporation. And that -stock by slow degrees had blinded him to the injustice of -a social system in whose dividends he himself shared. This -explains in large part why he accepted the political status -quo, and preached its acceptance by others. Students of ethics -have difficulty in reconciling Aristotle's defence of human -servitude, "slavery is a law of nature which is advantageous -and just," with his insight and logic in other matters. The -difficulty resolves itself when it is recalled that Aristotle -possessed thirteen slaves, and therefore had exactly thirteen -arguments for the righteousness of slavery. Seneca, gifted -in other things with fine powers of moral philosophy, saw no -monstrousness in Nero that he should rebuke--Seneca was a -favorite with Nero, and was using that favoritism to amass -an enormous fortune. Paul was too highly educated--using the -term in its academic sense--to be at one with the unbookish -Galileans, and he was personally too much the gainer from -Rome's empire of privilege to share the insurrectionary spirit -of the Son of Mary.... - -Paul was under the spell of Rome's material greatness. His -heart was secretly enticed by her triumphal arches, her -literature, her palaces on the Palatine, her baths, porticos of -philosophy, gymnasia, schools of rhetoric, her athletic games -in the arena. He thought of her history, her jurisprudence, -her military might, the starry names in her roll of glory, her -sweep of empire from the Thames to the Tigris, and from the -Rhine to the deserts of Africa; and when, to this summary, -came the pleasant reflection that he was a part of this -world corporation, one of the privileged few to share in its -profits, it was not hard for him to find reasons to justify his -desertion of that poverty-stricken and fanatically democratic -race of Israel off there in unimportant Palestine. - -A true Roman, Paul preaches to the proletariat the duty of -political passivity. To the Carpenter, with his splendid -worldliness, the premier qualification for character was -self-respect, and the alertness and mastery of environment -which go with self-respect. But to Paul the primate virtue is -submissiveness--"the powers that be!" He sought to cure the -seditiousness of the working class by drawing off their gaze -to a crown of righteousness reserved in heaven for them--a -gaseous felicity beyond the stars. Israel, holding fast to -the enrichment of the present life, had kept its religion -from getting off into fog lands, by seeking "a city that hath -foundations." But Paul sought to hush all these "worldly" aims; -he wooed the toiling masses to desire "a building of God, a -house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." He was a -true yoke-fellow of Pylades, the Roman play-actor, who, wishing -to justify his usefulness to the master class, said to Augustus -that "it was for the emperor's advantage that the people should -have their attention fixed on the playhouse rather than on -politics." - - -Preface to "Major Barbara" - -BY G. BERNARD SHAW - -(See pages 193, 212, 263) - -Churches are suffered to exist only on condition that they -preach submission to the State as at present capitalistically -organized. The Church of England itself is compelled to add to -the thirty-six articles in which it formulates its religious -tenets, three more in which it apologetically protests that the -moment any of these articles comes in conflict with the State -it is to be entirely renounced, abjured, violated, abrogated -and abhorred, the policeman being a much more important person -than any of the Persons of the Trinity. And this is why no -tolerated Church nor Salvation Army can ever win the entire -confidence of the poor. It must be on the side of the police -and the military, no matter what it believes or disbelieves; -and as the police and the military are the instruments by -which the rich rob and oppress the poor (on legal and moral -principles made for the purpose), it is not possible to be on -the side of the poor and of the police at the same time. Indeed -the religious bodies, as the almoners of the rich, become a -sort of auxiliary police, taking off the insurrectionary edge -of poverty with coals and blankets, bread and treacle, and -soothing and cheering the victims with hopes of immense and -inexpensive happiness in another world, when the process of -working them to premature death in the service of the rich is -complete in this. - - -Prince Hagen - -BY UPTON SINCLAIR - - (Prince Hagen, ruler of the Nibelungs, a race of gold-hoarding gnomes, - comes up to visit the land of the earth-men, and study Christian - civilization. He finds a number of ideas worth taking back to his - underground home) - -Prince Hagen paused for a moment and puffed in silence; then -suddenly he remarked: "Do you know that it is a very wonderful -idea--that immortality? Did you ever think about it?" - -"Yes," I said, "a little." - -"I tell you, the man who got that up was a world-genius. When -I saw how it worked, it was something almost too much for -me to believe; and still I find myself wondering if it can -last. For you know if you can once get a man believing in -immortality, there is no more left for you to desire; you can -take everything in the world he owns--you can skin him alive -if it pleases you--and he will bear it all with perfect good -humor. I tell you what, I lie awake at night and dream about -the chances of getting the Nibelungs to believe in immortality; -I don't think I can manage it, but it is a stake worth playing -for. I say the phrases over to myself--you know them all--'It -is better to give than to receive'--'Lay not up for yourself -treasures on earth'--'Take no heed, saying what shall ye eat!' -As a matter of fact, I fancy the Nibelungs will prove pretty -tough at reforming, but it is worth any amount of labor. -Suppose I could ever get them to the self-renouncing point! -Just fancy the self-renunciation of a man with a seventy-mile -tunnel full of gold!" - -Prince Hagen's eyes danced; his face was a study. I watched him -wonderingly. "Why do you go to all that bother?" I demanded, -suddenly. "If you want the gold, why don't you simply kill the -Nibelungs and take it?" - -"I have thought of that," he replied; "I might easily manage -it all with a single revolver. But why should I kill the geese -that lay me golden eggs? I want not only the gold they have, -but the gold that they will dig through the centuries that are -to come; for I know that the resources of Nibelheim, if they -could only be properly developed, would be simply infinite. So -I have made up my mind to civilize the people and develop their -souls." - -"Explain to me just how you expect to get their gold," I said. - -"Just as the capitalist is getting it in New York," was the -response. "At present the Nibelungs hide their wealth; I mean -to broaden their minds, and establish a system of credit. -I mean to teach them ideals of usefulness and service, to -establish the arts and sciences, to introduce machinery -and all the modern improvements that tend to increase the -centralization of power; I shall be master--just as I am -here--because I am the strongest, and because I am not a dupe." - -"I see," I said; "but all this will take a long time." - -"Yes," said he, "I know; it is the whole course of history -to be lived over again. But there will be no mistakes and no -groping in this case, for I know the way, and I am king. It -will be a sort of benevolent despotism--the ideal form of -government, as I believe." - -"And you are sure there is no chance of your plans failing?" - -"Failing!" he laughed. "You should have seen how they have -worked so far." - -"You have begun applying them?" - -"I have been down to Nibelheim twice since the death of dear -grandpa," said the prince. "The first time, as you imagine, -there was tremendous excitement, for all Nibelheim knew what -a bad person I had been, and stood in terror of my return. -I got them all together and told them the truth--that I had -become wise and virtuous, that I meant to respect every man's -property, and that I meant to consecrate my whole endeavor to -the developing of the resources of my native land. And then -you should have witnessed the scene! They went half wild with -rejoicing; they fell down on their knees and thanked me with -tears in their eyes: I played the _pater patriae_ in a fashion -to take away your breath. And afterwards I went on to explain -to them that I had discovered very many wonderful things -up on the earth; that I was going to make a law forbidding -any of them to go there, because it was so dangerous, but -that I myself was going to brave all the perils for their -sakes. I told them about a wonderful animal that was called a -steam-drill, and that ate fire, and dug out gold with swiftness -beyond anything they could imagine. I said that I was going -to empty all my royal treasure caves, and take my fortune and -some of theirs to the earth to buy a few thousand of these -wonderful creatures; and I promised them that I would give them -to the Nibelungs to use, and they might have twice as much gold -as they would have dug with their hands, provided they would -give me the balance. Of course they agreed to it with shouts -of delight, and the contracts were signed then and there. -They helped me get out all my gold, and I took them down the -steam-drills, and showed them how to manage them; so before -very long I expect to have quite a snug little income." - - -The Prince - -BY NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI - -(Italian courtier, author of a famous treatise on statecraft: -1469-1527) - -A prince has to have particular care that, to see and to hear -him, he appears all goodness, integrity, humanity and religion, -which last he ought to pretend to more than ordinarily. For -everybody sees, but few understand; everybody sees how you -appear, but few know what in reality you are, and those few -dare not oppose the opinion of the multitude, who have the -majesty of their prince to defend them. - - -Children of the Dead End[A] - -[A] By permission of E. P. Dutton & Co. - -BY PATRICK MACGILL - -(See pages 32, 47, 122) - -Nearly every second year the potatoes went bad; then we were -always hungry, although Farley McKeown, a rich merchant in the -neighboring village, let my father have a great many bags of -Indian meal on credit. A bag contained sixteen stone of meal -and cost a shilling a stone. On the bag of meal Farley McKeown -charged sixpence a month interest; and fourpence a month on a -sack of flour which cost twelve shillings. All the people round -about were very honest, and paid up their debts when they were -able. Usually when the young went off to Scotland or England -they sent home money to their fathers and mothers, and with -this money the parents paid for the meal to Farley McKeown. -"What doesn't go to the landlord goes to Farley McKeown," was a -Glenmornan saying. - -The merchant was a great friend of the parish priest, who -always told the people if they did not pay their debts they -would burn for ever and ever in hell. "The fires of eternity -will make you sorry for the debts that you did not pay," said -the priest. "What is eternity?" he would ask in a solemn voice -from the altar steps. "If a man tried to count the sands on -the sea-shore and took a million years to count every single -grain, how long would it take him to count them all? A long -time, you'll say. But that time is nothing to eternity. Just -think of it! Burning in hell while a man, taking a million -years to count a grain of sand, counts all the sand on the -sea-shore. And this because you did not pay Farley McKeown his -lawful debts, his lawful debts within the letter of the law." -That concluding phrase, "within the letter of the law," struck -terror into all who listened, and no one, maybe not even the -priest himself, knew what it meant. - - -Incantations - -BY MAX EASTMAN - -(Editor of "The Masses," born 1883) - -I remember a vesper service at Ravello in Italy. I remember -that the exquisite and pathetically resplendent little chapel -was filled with ragged and dirty-smelling and sweet, sad-eyed -mothers. Some carried in their arms their babies, some carried -only a memory in their haggard eyes. They were all poor. -They were all sad in that place. They were mothers. Mothers -wrinkle-eyed, stooped, worn old, but yet gentle--O, so gentle -and eager to believe that it would all be made up to them and -their beloved in Heaven! I see their bodies swaying to the -chant of meaningless long syllables of Latin magic, I see them -worked upon by those dark agencies of candle, and minor chord, -and incense, and the unknown tongue, and I see that this little -dirt-colored coin clutched so tight in their five fingers is -going to be given up, with a kind of desperate haste, ere the -climax of these incantations is past. Poor, anguished dupes of -the hope of Heaven, poor mothers, pinching your own children's -bellies to fatten the wallets of those fat priests! - - -Exit Salvatore - -BY CLEMENT WOOD - -(American poet, born 1888) - - Salvatore's dead--a gap - Where he worked in the ditch-edge, shovelling mud; - Slanting brow; a head mayhap - Rather small, like a bullet; hot southern blood; - Surly now, now riotous - With the flow of his joy; and his hovel bare, - As his whole life is to us-- - A stone in his belly the whole of his share. - - Body starved, but the soul secure, - Masses to save it from Purgatory, - And to dwell with the Son and the Virgin pure-- - Lucky Salvatore! - - Salvatore's glad, for see - On the hearse and the coffin, purple and black, - Tassels, ribbons, broidery - Fit for the Priest's or the Pope's own back; - Flowers costly, waxen, gay, - And the mates from the ditch-edge, pair after pair; - Dirging band, and the Priest to pray, - And the soul of the dead one pleasuring there. - - Body starved, and the mind as well. - Peace--let him rot in his costly glory, - Cheated no more with a Heaven or Hell-- - Exit Salvatore. - - -FROM MICAH - -Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and -rulers of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert -all equity. They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with -iniquity. The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests -thereof teach for hire, and the prophets divine for money.... -Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and -Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as -the high places of a forest. - - -The Saint - -BY ANTONIO FOGAZZARO - - (Italian poet and novelist, 1842-1911. A devout Catholic, he - endeavored to reform the Church from within. The present novel created - a tremendous sensation in Italy, and was placed upon the "Index." In - this scene "the Saint" pleads with the Pope) - -"May I continue, Your Holiness?" - -The Pope, who while Benedetto had been speaking had kept his -eyes fixed on his face, now bowed his head slightly, in answer. - -"The third evil spirit which is corrupting the Church does -not disguise itself as an angel of light, for it well knows -it cannot deceive; it is satisfied with the garb of common, -human honesty. This is the spirit of avarice. The Vicar of -Christ dwells in this royal palace as he dwelt in his episcopal -palace, with the pure heart of poverty. Many venerable pastors -dwell in the Church with the same heart, but the spirit of -poverty is not preached sufficiently, not preached as Christ -preached it. The lips of Christ's ministers are too often -over-complaisant to those who seek riches. There are those -among them who bow the head respectfully before the man who has -much, simply because he has much; there are those who let their -tongues flatter the greedy, and too many preachers of the word -and of the example of Christ deem it just for them to revel in -the pomp and honors attending on riches, to cleave with their -souls to the luxury riches bring. Father, exhort the clergy to -show those greedy for gain, be they rich or poor, more of that -charity which admonishes, which threatens, which rebukes. Holy -Father!----" - -Benedetto ceased speaking. There was an expression of fervent -appeal in the gaze fixed upon the Pope. - -"Well?" the Pontiff murmured. - -Benedetto spread wide his arms, and continued: - -"The Spirit urges me to say more. It is not the work of a day, -but let us prepare for the day--not leaving this task to the -enemies of God and of the Church--let us prepare for the day -on which the priests of Christ shall set the example of true -poverty; when it shall be their duty to live in poverty, as it -is their duty to live in chastity; and let the words of Christ -to the Seventy-two serve them as a guide in this. Then the Lord -will surround the least of them with such honors, with such -reverence as does not to-day exist in the hearts of the people -for the princes of the Church. They will be few in number, but -they will be the light of the world. Holy Father, are they that -to-day? Some among them are, but the majority shed neither -light nor darkness." - -At this point the Pontiff for the first time bowed his head in -sorrowful acquiescence. - - -The New Rome - -BY ROBERT BUCHANAN - -(See page 367) - - A thousand starve, a few are fed, - Legions of robbers rack the poor, - The rich man steals the widow's bread, - And Lazarus dies at Dives' door; - The Lawyer and the Priest adjust - The claims of Luxury and Lust - To seize the earth and hold the soil, - To store the grain they never reap; - Under their heels the white slaves toil, - While children wail and women weep!-- - The gods are dead, but in their name - Humanity is sold to shame, - While (then as now!) the tinsel'd Priest - Sitteth with robbers at the feast, - Blesses the laden blood-stain'd board, - Weaves garlands round the butcher's sword, - And poureth freely (now as then) - The sacramental blood of Men! - - -The Priest and the Devil - -BY FÉODOR DOSTOYEVSKY - -(The Russian realist, 1821-1881, wrote this little story upon -the wall of his Siberian prison) - -"Hello, you little fat father!" the devil said to the priest. -"What made you lie so to those poor, misled people? What -tortures of hell did you depict? Don't you know they are -already suffering the tortures of hell in their earthly lives? -Don't you know that you and the authorities of the State are -my representatives on earth? It is you that make them suffer -the pains of hell with which you threaten them. Don't you know -this? Well, then, come with me!" - -The devil grabbed the priest by the collar, lifted him high -in the air, and carried him to a factory, to an iron foundry. -He saw the workmen there running and hurrying to and fro, and -toiling in the scorching heat. Very soon the thick, heavy air -and the heat are too much for the priest. With tears in his -eyes, he pleads with the devil: "Let me go! Let me leave this -hell!" - -"Oh, my dear friend, I must show you many more places." The -devil gets hold of him again and drags him off to a farm. There -he sees workmen threshing the grain. The dust and heat are -insufferable. The overseer carries a knout, and unmercifully -beats anyone who falls to the ground overcome by hard toil or -hunger. - -Next the priest is taken to the huts where these same workers -live with their families--dirty, cold, smoky, ill-smelling -holes. The devil grins. He points out the poverty and hardships -which are at home here. - -"Well, isn't this enough?" he asks. And it seems as if even -he, the devil, pities the people. The pious servant of God can -hardly bear it. With uplifted hands he begs: "Let me go away -from here. Yes, yes! This is hell on earth!" - -"Well, then, you see. And you still promise them another hell. -You torment them, torture them to death mentally when they are -already all but dead physically. Come on! I will show you one -more hell--one more, the very worst." - -He took him to a prison and showed him a dungeon, with its -foul air and the many human forms, robbed of all health and -energy, lying on the floor, covered with vermin that were -devouring their poor, naked, emaciated bodies. - -"Take off your silken clothes," said the devil to the -priest, "put on your ankles heavy chains such as these poor -unfortunates wear; lie down on the cold and filthy floor--and -then talk to them about a hell that still awaits them!" - -"No, no!" answered the priest, "I cannot think of anything more -dreadful than this. I entreat you, let me go away from here!" - -"Yes, this is hell. There can be no worse hell than this. Did -you not know it? Did you not know that these men and women whom -you are frightening with the picture of a hell hereafter--did -you not know that they are in hell right here, before they die?" - - -Work According to the Bible - -(A pamphlet written by T. M. Bondareff, a Siberian peasant and -ex-serf, at the age of sixty-seven) - -They often arrest thieves in the world; but these culprits -are rather rogues than thieves. I have laid hands on the real -thief, who has robbed God and the church. He has stolen the -primal commandment which belongs to us who till the fields. I -will point him out. It is he who does not produce his bread -with his own hands, but eats the fruit of others' toil. -Seize him and lead him away to judgment. All crimes such as -robberies, murders, frauds and the like arise from the fact -that this commandment is hidden from man. The rich do all they -can to avoid working with their hands, and the poor to rid -themselves of the necessity. The poor man says, "There are -people who can live on others' labor; why should not I?" and -he kills, steals and cheats in consequence. Behold now what -harm can be done by white hands, more than all that good grimy -hands can repair upon the earth! You spread out before the -laborer the idleness of your life, and thus take away the force -from his hands. Your way of living is for us the most cruel -of offences, and a shame withal. You are a hundred-fold more -wise and learned than I am, and for that reason you take my -bread. But because you are wise you ought rather to have pity -on me who am weak. It is said, "Love thy neighbor as thyself." -I am your neighbor, and you are mine. Why are we coarse and -untaught? Because we produce our own bread, and yours too! Have -we any time to study and educate ourselves? You have stolen our -brains as well as our bread by trickery and violence. - -How blind thou art, O wise man; thou that readest the -scriptures, and seest not the way in which thou mightest free -thyself, and the flock committed to thee, from the burden of -sin! Thy blindness is like unto that of Balaam, who, astride -his ass, saw not the angel of God armed with a sword of fire -standing in the way before him. Thou art Balaam, I am the ass, -and thou hast ridden upon my back from childhood! - - -Resurrection - -BY LEO TOLSTOY - - (In this novel the greatest of modern religious teachers has presented - his indictment of the government and church of his country. The hero - is a Russian prince who in early youth seduces a peasant girl, and in - after life meets her, a prostitute on trial for murder. He follows - her to Siberia, in an effort to reclaim her. Near the end of his - story Tolstoi introduces this scene. The Englishman may be said to - represent modern science, which asks questions and accumulates futile - statistics; while the old man voices the peculiar Christian Anarchism - of the author, who at the age of eighty-two left his home and wandered - out into the steppes to die) - -In one of the exiles' wards, Nehlúdof [the prince] recognized -the strange old man he had seen crossing the ferry that -morning. This tattered and wrinkled old man was sitting on -the floor by the beds, barefooted, wearing only a dirty -cinder-colored shirt, torn on one shoulder, and similar -trousers. He looked severely and inquiringly at the new-comers. -His emaciated body, visible through the holes in his dirty -shirt, looked miserably weak, but in his face was more -concentrated seriousness and animation than even when Nehlúdof -saw him crossing the ferry. As in all the other wards, so here -also the prisoners jumped up and stood erect when the official -entered; but the old man remained sitting. His eyes glittered -and his brow frowned wrathfully. - -"Get up!" the inspector called out to him. - -The old man did not rise, but only smiled contemptuously. - -"Thy servants are standing before thee, I am not thy servant. -Thou bearest the seal...." said the old man, pointing to the -inspector's forehead. - -"Wha--a--t?" said the inspector threateningly, and made a step -towards him. - -"I know this man," said Nehlúdof. "What is he imprisoned for?" - -"The police have sent him here because he has no passport. -We ask them not to send such, but they will do it," said the -inspector, casting an angry side glance at the old man. - -"And so it seems thou, too, art one of Antichrist's army?" said -the old man to Nehlúdof. - -"No, I am a visitor," said Nehlúdof. - -"What, hast thou come to see how Antichrist tortures men? Here, -see. He has locked them up in a cage, a whole army of them. Men -should eat bread in the sweat of their brow. But He has locked -them up with no work to do, and feeds them like swine, so that -they should turn into beasts." - -"What is he saying?" asked the Englishman. - -Nehlúdof told him the old man was blaming the inspector for -keeping men imprisoned. - -"Ask him how he thinks one should treat those who do not keep -the laws," said the Englishman. - -Nehlúdof translated the question. - -The old man laughed strangely, showing his regular teeth. - -"The laws?" he repeated with contempt. "First Antichrist -robbed everybody, took all the earth, and all rights away from -them--took them all for himself--killed all those who were -against him--and then He wrote laws forbidding to rob and to -kill. He should have written those laws sooner." - -Nehlúdof translated. The Englishman smiled. - -"Well, anyhow, ask him how one should treat thieves and -murderers now?" - -Nehlúdof again translated the question. - -"Tell him he should take the seal of Antichrist off from -himself," the old man said, frowning severely; "then he will -know neither thieves nor murderers. Tell him so." - -"He is crazy," said the Englishman, when Nehlúdof had -translated the old man's words; and shrugging his shoulders he -left the cell. - -"Do thine own task and leave others alone. Every one for -himself. God knows whom to execute, whom to pardon, but we do -not know," said the old man. "Be your own chief, then chiefs -will not be wanted. Go, go," he added, frowning angrily, and -looking with glittering eyes at Nehlúdof, who lingered in -the ward. "Hast thou not gazed enough on how the servants of -Antichrist feed lice on men? Go! Go!" - - -Sunday - -(_From "Challenge"_) - -BY LOUIS UNTERMEYER - -(See pages 42, 418) - - It was Sunday-- - Eleven in the morning; people were at church-- - Prayers were in the making; God was near at hand-- - Down the cramped and narrow streets of quiet Lawrence - Came the tramp of workers marching in their hundreds; - Marching in the morning, marching to the grave-yard, - Where, no longer fiery, underneath the grasses, - Callous and uncaring, lay their friend and sister. - In their hands they carried wreaths and drooping flowers, - Overhead their banners dipped and soared like eagles-- - Aye, but eagles bleeding, stained with their own heart's blood-- - Red, but not for glory--red, with wounds and travail, - Red, the buoyant symbol of the blood of all the world. - So they bore their banners, singing toward the grave-yard, - So they marched and chanted, mingling tears and tributes, - So, with flowers, the dying went to deck the dead. - - Within the churches people heard - The sound, and much concern was theirs-- - God might not hear the Sacred Word-- - God might not hear their prayers! - - _Should such things be allowed these slaves-- - To vex the Sabbath peace with Song, - To come with chants, like marching waves, - That proudly swept along._ - - _Suppose God turned to these--and heard! - Suppose He listened unawares-- - God might forget the Sacred Word, - God might forget their prayers!_ - - And so (the tragic irony) - The blue-clad Guardians of the Peace - Were sent to sweep them back--to see - The ribald Song should cease; - - To scatter those who came and vexed - God with their troubled cries and cares. - Quiet--so God might hear the text; - The sleek and unctuous prayers! - - Up the rapt and singing streets of little Lawrence - Came the stolid soldiers; and, behind the bluecoats, - Grinning and invisible, bearing unseen torches, - Rode red hordes of anger, sweeping all before them. - Lust and Evil joined them--Terror rode among them; - Fury fired its pistols; Madness stabbed and yelled. - Through the wild and bleeding streets of shuddering Lawrence, - Raged the heedless panic, hour-long and bitter. - Passion tore and trampled; men once mild and peaceful, - Fought with savage hatred in the name of Law and Order. - And, below the outcry, like the sea beneath the breakers, - Mingling with the anguish, rolled the solemn organ.... - - Eleven in the morning--people were at church-- - Prayers were in the making--God was near at hand-- - It was Sunday! - - -BY ISAIAH - -Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto -the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is -the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord.... -Bring no more vain oblations.... When ye spread forth your -hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea when ye make many -prayers I will not hear; your hands are full of blood. - - -To the Preacher - -(_From "In This Our World"_) - -BY CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN - -(See pages 200, 209) - - Preach about yesterday, Preacher! - The time so far away: - When the hand of Deity smote and slew, - And the heathen plagued the stiff-necked Jew; - Or when the Man of Sorrow came, - And blessed the people who cursed his name-- - Preach about yesterday, Preacher, - Not about today! - - Preach about tomorrow, Preacher! - Beyond this world's decay: - Of the sheepfold Paradise we priced - When we pinned our faith to Jesus Christ; - Of those hot depths that shall receive - The goats who would not so believe-- - Preach about tomorrow, Preacher, - Not about today! - - Preach about the old sins, Preacher! - And the old virtues, too: - You must not steal nor take man's life, - You must not covet your neighbor's wife, - And woman must cling at every cost - To her one virtue, or she is lost-- - Preach about the old sins, Preacher! - Not about the new! - - Preach about the other man, Preacher! - The man we all can see! - The man of oaths, the man of strife, - The man who drinks and beats his wife, - Who helps his mates to fret and shirk - When all they need is to keep at work-- - Preach about the other man, Preacher! - Not about me! - - -The Reluctant Briber - -BY LINCOLN STEFFENS - -(The president of a powerful public service corporation has -become disturbed in conscience, and calls in a student of -social conditions) - -"You're unhappy because you are bribing and corrupting, and you -ask my advice. Why? I'm no ethical teacher. You're a churchman. -Why don't you go to your pastor?" - -"Pastor!" he exclaimed, and he laughed. The scorn of that -laugh! "Pastor!" - -He turned and walked away, to get control, no doubt. I kept -after him. - -"Yes," I insisted, "you should go to the head of your church -for moral counsel, and--for economic advice you should go to -the professor of economics in----" - -He stopped me, facing about. "Professor!" he echoed, and he -didn't reflect my tone. - -I was serious. I wanted to get something from him. I wanted to -know why our practical men do not go to these professions for -help, as they go to lawyers and engineers. And this man had -given time and money to the university in his town and to his -church, as I reminded him. - -"You support colleges and churches, you and your kind do," I -said. "What for?" - -"For women and children," he snapped from his distance. - - -BY SAVONAROLA - -(Italian religious reformer, 1452-1498; hanged and burned by -his enemies) - -But dost thou know what I would tell thee? In the primitive -church, the chalices were of wood, the prelates of gold. In -these days the church hath chalices of gold and prelates of -wood. - - -The Preacher - -(_From "The Canterbury Tales"_) - -BY GEOFFREY CHAUCER - -(Early English poet, 1340-1400) - - Than peyne I me to strecche forth my necke, - And est and west upon the people I bekke, - As doth a pigeon, syttyng on a loft; - Myn hondes and my tonge move so oft, - That it is joye to see my busynesse. - Of avarice and of suche cursedness - Is al my preching, for to make hem free - To give their pence, and namely unto me.... - Therfor my theem is yit, and ever was, - The root of evils is cupidity. - Thus can I preche agayn the same vice - Which that I use, and that is avarice. - But though myself be gilty in the same, - Yit can I maken other folks to blame. - - -Twentieth Century Socialism - -BY EDMOND KELLY - -(American lawyer and Socialist, 1851-1909) - -It seems inconceivable that the same civilization should -include two bodies of men living in apparent harmony and -yet holding such opposite and inconsistent views of man as -economists on the one hand and theologians on the other. To -these last, man has no economic needs; this world does not -count; it is merely a place of probation, mitigated sometimes, -it is true, by ecclesiastical pomp and episcopal palaces; -but serving for the most part as a mere preparation for a -future existence which will satisfy the aspirations of the -human soul--the only thing that does count, in this world -or the next. So while to the economist man is all hog, to -the theologian he is all soul; and between the two the devil -secures the vast majority. - - -The True Faith - -(_From "A Lay Sermon to Preachers"_) - -BY HENRY ARTHUR JONES - -(English dramatist, born 1851) - -I believe--I stand accountant for the words to That which gave -me the power of thinking and writing them--I believe that if -the time and money and thought now given in England to the -propagation of wholly incredible doctrines, which are no sooner -uttered in one pulpit than they are repudiated in another--if -this time and money and thought were given to the understanding -and scattering abroad of the simplest laws of national economy, -of physiology, of health and beauty, in another generation our -England would be greater and mightier than she has ever been. -I believe a knowledge of the necessity of fresh air, of the -value of beauty, of the certain disease and national corruption -and deathfulness hidden in our present commercial system, to -be worth far more than all the books on theology ever written. -I believe faith in constant ventilation and constant outdoor -exercise to be a greater religious necessity than faith in any -doctrine of any sect in England today. - - -God in the World - -(_From "Gitanjali"_) - -BY RABINDRANATH TAGORE - -(Most popular of Hindoo poets, who recently achieved -international fame, and received the Nobel prize) - -Leave this chanting and singing and telling of beads! Whom dost -thou worship in this lonely dark corner of a temple with doors -all shut? Open thine eyes and see thy God is not before thee! - -He is there where the tiller is tilling the hard ground and -where the pathmaker is breaking stones. He is with them in sun -and in shower, and his garment is covered with dust. Put off -thy holy mantle and even like him come down on the dusty soil! - -Deliverance? Where is this deliverance to be found? Our master -himself has joyfully taken upon him the bonds of creation; he -is bound with us all for ever. - -Come out of thy meditations and leave aside thy flowers and -incense! What harm is there if thy clothes become tattered and -stained? Meet him and stand by him in toil and in sweat of thy -brow. - - -Priests - -(_From "Songs for the New Age"_) - -BY JAMES OPPENHEIM - -(See pages 45, 129, 147) - - Priests are in bad odor, - And yet there shall be no lack of them. - The skies shall not lack a spokesman, - Nor the spirit of man a voice and a gesture. - - Not garbed nor churched, - Yet, as of old, in loneliness and anguish, - They shall come eating and drinking among us, - With scourge, pity, and prayer. - - -Brotherhood - -(_From "The Book of The People"_) - -BY ROBERT DE LAMENNAIS - -(French philosopher and religious reformer, 1782-1854) - -Your task is to form the universal family, to build the City of -God, and by a continuous labor gradually to translate His work -in Humanity into fact. - -When you love one another as brothers, and treat each other -reciprocally as such; when each one, seeking his own good in -the good of all, shall identify his own life with the life of -all, his own interests with the interests of all, and shall be -always ready to sacrifice himself for all the members of the -common family--then most of the ills which weigh upon the human -race will vanish, as thick mists gathered upon the horizon -vanish at the rising of the sun. - - - - -BOOK IX - -_The Voice of the Ages_ - -Records from all the past history of mankind from twenty-five -different races; the earliest being about 3500 B. C. - - -The Suppressions of History - -(_From "The Ancient Lowly"_) - -BY C. OSBORNE WARD - -(American historian, who was forced to publish at his own -expense the results of his life-time researches into the early -history of the working class) - -The great strikes and uprisings of the working people of the -ancient world are almost unknown to the living age. It matters -little how accounts of five immense strike-wars, involving -destruction of property and mutual slaughter of millions of -people, have been suppressed, or have otherwise failed to reach -us; the fact remains that people are absolutely ignorant of -these great events. A meagre sketch of Spartacus may be seen -in the encyclopedias, but it is always ruined and its interest -pinched and blighted by being classed with crime, its heroes -with criminals, its theme with desecration. Yet Spartacus was -one of the great generals of history; fully equal to Hannibal -and Napoleon, while his cause was much more just and infinitely -nobler, his life a model of the beautiful and virtuous, his -death an episode of surpassing grandeur. - -Still more strange is it, that the great ten-years' war of -Eunus should be unknown. He marshalled at one time an army of -two hundred thousand soldiers. He manœuvered them and fought -for ten full years for liberty, defeating army after army -of Rome. Why is the world ignorant of this fierce, epochal -rebellion? Almost the whole matter is passed over in silence by -our histories of Rome. In these pages it will be read as news, -yet should a similar war rage in our day, against a similar -condition of slavery, its cause would not only be considered -just, but the combatants would have the sympathy and support of -the civilized world. - -The great system of labor organization explained in these -pages must likewise be regarded as a chapter of news. The -portentous fact has lain in abeyance century after century, -with the human family in profound ignorance of an organization -of trades and other labor unions so powerful that for hundreds -of years they undertook and successfully conducted the business -of manufacture, of distribution, of purveying provisions to -armies, of feeding the inhabitants of the largest cities in the -world, of inventing, supplying and working the huge engines of -war, and of collecting customs and taxes--tasks confided to -their care by the state. - -Our civilization has a blushingly poor excuse for its profound -ignorance of these facts; for the evidences have existed from -much before the beginning of our era.... They are growing fewer -and dimmer as their value rises higher in the estimation of a -thinking, appreciative, gradually awakening world. - - -Agis - -BY PLUTARCH - - (Greek historian, A. D. 50-120; author of numerous biographical - sketches. It has been said: He stands before us as the legate, the - ambassador, and the orator on behalf of those institutions whereby the - old-time men were rendered wise and virtuous) - -When the love of gold and silver had once gained admittance -into the Lacedæmonian commonwealth, it was quickly followed by -avarice and baseness of spirit in the pursuit of it, and by -luxury, effeminacy and prodigality in the use. Then Sparta fell -from almost all her former virtue and repute.... - -For the rich men without scruple drew the estate into their own -hands, excluding the rightful heirs from their succession; and -all the wealth being centered upon the few, the generality were -poor and miserable. Honorable pursuits, for which there was -no longer leisure, were neglected; the state was filled with -sordid business, and with hatred and envy of the rich.... - -Agis, therefore, believing it a glorious action, as in truth -it was, to equalize and repeople the state, began to sound the -inclinations of the citizens. He found the young men disposed -beyond his expectation; they were eager to enter with him upon -the contest in the cause of virtue, and to fling aside, for -freedom's sake, their old manner of life, as readily as the -wrestler does his garment. But the old men, habituated and -confirmed in their vices, were most of them alarmed. These men -could not endure to hear Agis continually deploring the present -state of Sparta, and wishing she might be restored to her -ancient glory.... - -Agis, nevertheless, little regarding these rumours, took the -first occasion of proposing his measure to the council, the -chief articles of which were these: That every one should be -free from their debts; all the lands to be divided into equal -portions.... - -The people were transported with admiration of the young man's -generosity, and with joy that, after three hundred years' -interval, at last there had appeared a king worthy of Sparta. -But, on the other side, Leonidas was now more than ever averse, -being sensible that he and his friends would be obliged to -contribute with their riches, and yet all the honour and -obligation would redound to Agis. [Sparta had two kings, -Leonidas and Agis.] - -From this time forward, as the common people followed Agis, -so the rich men adhered to Leonidas. They besought him not to -forsake their cause; and with persuasions and entreaties so far -prevailed with the council of Elders, whose power consisted in -preparing all laws before they were proposed to the people, -that the designed measure was rejected, though but by one vote. - -[Attacked by his enemies, Agis sought refuge in a temple.] -Leonidas proceeded also to displace the ephors, and to choose -others in their stead; then he began to consider how he -might entrap Agis. At first, he endeavored by fair means to -persuade him to leave the sanctuary, and partake with him in -the kingdom. The people, he said, would easily pardon the -errors of a young man, ambitious of glory. But finding Agis was -suspicious, and not to be prevailed with to quit his sanctuary, -he gave up that design; yet what could not then be effected by -the dissimulation of an enemy, was soon after brought to pass -by the treachery of friends. - -Amphares, Damochares, and Arcesilaus often visited Agis, and he -was so confident of their fidelity that after a while he was -prevailed on to accompany them to the baths, which were not -far distant, they constantly returning to see him safe again -in the temple. They were all three his familiars; and Amphares -had borrowed a great deal of plate and rich household stuff -from the mother of Agis, and hoped if he could destroy her and -the whole family, he might peaceably enjoy those goods. And -he, it is said, was the readiest of all to serve the purposes -of Leonidas, and being one of the ephors, did all he could to -incense the rest of his colleagues against Agis. These men, -therefore, finding that Agis would not quit his sanctuary, but -on occasion would venture from it to go to the bath, resolved -to seize him on the opportunity thus given them. And one day -as he was returning, they met and saluted him as formerly, -conversing pleasantly by the way, and jesting, as youthful -friends might, till coming to the turning of the street which -led to the prison, Amphares, by virtue of his office, laid his -hand on Agis, and told him, "You must go with me, Agis, before -the other ephors, to answer for your misdemeanors." At the same -time Damochares, who was a tall, strong man, drew his cloak -tight around his neck, and dragged him after by it, whilst the -others went behind to thrust him on. So that none of Agis' -friends being near to assist him, nor any one by, they easily -got him into the prison, where Leonidas was already arrived, -with a company of soldiers, who strongly guarded all the -avenues; the ephors also came in, with as many of the Elders as -they knew to be true to their party, being desirous to proceed -with some semblance of justice. And thus they bade him give -an account of his actions. To which Agis, smiling at their -dissimulation, answered not a word. Amphares told him it was -more seasonable for him to weep, for now the time was come in -which he should be punished for his presumption. Another of the -ephors, as though he would be more favorable, and offering as -it were an excuse, asked him whether he was not forced to what -he did by Agesilaus and Lysander. But Agis answered, he had not -been constrained by any man, nor had any other intent in what -he did but to follow the example of Lycurgus, and to govern -conformably to his laws. The same ephor asked him whether now -at least he did not repent his rashness. To which the young man -answered that though he were to suffer the extremest penalty -for it, yet he could never repent of so just and glorious a -design. Upon this they passed sentence of death on him, and -bade the officers carry him to the Dechas, as it is called, a -place in the prison where they strangle malefactors. And when -the officers would not venture to lay hands on him, and the -very mercenary soldiers declined it, believing it an illegal -and a wicked act to lay violent hands on a king, Damochares, -threatening and reviling them for it, himself thrust him into -the room. - -For by this time the news of his being seized had reached many -parts of the city, and there was a concourse of people with -lights and torches about the prison gates, and in the midst of -them the mother and the grandmother of Agis, crying out with a -loud voice that their king ought to appear, and to be heard and -judged by the people. But this clamour, instead of preventing, -hastened his death; his enemies fearing, if the tumult should -increase, he might be rescued during the night out of their -hands. - -Agis, being now at the point to die, perceived one of the -officers bitterly bewailing his misfortune. "Weep not, friend," -said he, "for me, who die innocent, by the lawless act of -wicked men. My condition is much better than theirs." As soon -as he had spoken these words, not showing the least sign of -fear, he offered his neck to the noose. - - -The Labor Problem in Egypt - -(_From the Book of Exodus_) - -(Hebrew, B. C. Fourteenth Century; a record of one of the -earliest of labor disputes) - -Pharaoh said, "Who is the Lord, that I should hearken unto his -voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, and moreover I -will not let Israel go.... Wherefore do ye, Moses and Aaron, -loose the people from their work? get you unto your burdens.... -Let heavier work be laid upon the men, that they may labour -therein; and let them not regard lying words.... Ye are idle, -ye are idle; therefore ye say, Let us go and sacrifice to the -Lord. Go therefore now, and work; for there shall no straw be -given you, yet shall ye deliver the tale of bricks." - -And the officers of the children of Israel did see that they -were in evil case, when it was said, "Ye shall not minish aught -from your bricks, your daily task." - -And they met Moses and Aaron, who stood in the way, as they -came forth from Pharaoh: and they said unto them, "The Lord -look upon you and judge; because you have made our savour to -be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his -servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us." - -And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, "Lord, wherefore -hast thou evil entreated this people? Why is it that thou hast -sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he -hath evil entreated this people; neither hast thou delivered -thy people at all." - -Then the Lord said unto Moses, "Now shalt thou see what I will -do to Pharaoh: for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and -with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land." - - -The People - -BY TOMMASO CAMPANELLA - -(Italian philosopher, 1568-1639. Translation by John Addington -Symonds) - - The people is a beast of muddy brain - That knows not its own strength, and therefore stands - Loaded with wood and stone; the powerless hands - Of a mere child guide it with bit and rein; - One kick would be enough to break the chain, - But the beast fears, and what the child demands - It does; nor its own terror understands, - Confused and stupefied by bugbears vain. - Most wonderful! With its own hand it ties - And gags itself--gives itself death and war - For pence doled out by kings from its own store. - Its own are all things between earth and heaven; - But this it knows not; and if one arise - To tell this truth, it kills him unforgiven. - - -FROM ECCLESIASTES - -(Hebrew, B.C. 200) - -Then I returned and saw all oppressions that are done under the -sun: and behold, the tears of such as were oppressed, and they -had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors there -was power, but they had no comforter. Wherefore I praised the -dead which are already dead more than the living which are yet -alive; yea, better than them both did I esteem him which hath -not yet been, who hath not seen the evil work that is done -under the sun. - - -Tiberius Gracchus - -(_Tribune of the Roman People_) - -BY PLUTARCH - -(Greek, A.D. 50-120) - -Tiberius, maintaining an honorable and just cause, and -possessed of eloquence sufficient to have made a less -creditable action appear plausible, was no safe or easy -antagonist, when, with the people crowding around the hustings, -he took his place and spoke in behalf of the poor. "The savage -beasts," said he, "in Italy, have their particular dens, they -have their places of repose and refuge; but the men who bear -arms, and expose their lives for the safety of their country, -enjoy in the meantime nothing in it but the air and light; and, -having no houses or settlements of their own, are constrained -to wander from place to place with their wives and children." -He told them that the commanders were guilty of a ridiculous -error, when, at the head of their armies, they exhorted the -common soldiers to fight for their sepulchers and altars; when -not any amongst so many Romans is possessed of either altar -or monument, neither have they any houses of their own, or -hearths of their ancestors to defend. They fought indeed and -were slain, but it was to maintain the luxury and the wealth of -other men. They were styled the masters of the world, but had -not one foot of ground they could call their own. - - -Captive Good Attending Captain Ill - -BY EURIPIDES - -(Athenian tragic poet, B.C. 480-406; the most modern of ancient -writers. Translation by John Addington Symonds) - - Doth some one say that there be gods above? - There are not; no, there are not. Let no fool, - Led by the old false fable, thus deceive you. - Look at the facts themselves, yielding my words - No undue credence; for I say that kings - Kill, rob, break oaths, lay cities waste by fraud, - And doing thus are happier than those - Who live calm pious lives day after day. - How many little states that serve the gods - Are subject to the godless but more strong, - Made slaves by might of a superior army! - - -Poverty - -BY ALCAEUS - -(Greek lyric poet, B.C. 611-580; banished for his resistance to -tyrants. Translation by Sir William Jones) - - The worst of ills, and hardest to endure, - Past hope, past cure, - Is Penury, who, with her sister-mate - Disorder, soon brings down the loftiest state, - And makes it desolate. - This truth the sage of Sparta told, - Aristodemus old,-- - "Wealth makes the man." On him that's poor - Proud Worth looks down, and Honor shuts the door. - - -The Beggar's Complaint - -(Ancient Japanese classic) - - The heaven and earth they call so great, - For me are very small; - The sun and moon they call so bright, - For me ne'er shine at all. - - Are all men sad, or only I? - And what have I obtained-- - What good the gift of mortal life, - That prize so rarely gained-- - - If nought my chilly back protects - But one thin grass-cloth coat, - In tatters hanging like the weeds - That on the billows float? - - If here in smoke-stained, darksome hut, - Upon the bare cold ground, - I make my wretched bed of straw, - And hear the mournful sound-- - - Hear how mine aged parents groan, - And wife and children cry, - Father and mother, children, wife, - Huddling in misery-- - - If in the rice-pan, nigh forgot, - The spider hangs its nest, - And from the hearth no smoke goes up - Where all is so unblest? - - Shame and despair are mine from day to day, - But, being no bird, I cannot fly away. - - -Free Labor - -BY HAGGAI - -(Hebrew prophet, B.C. 515) - -He that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with -holes. - - -Plutus - -BY ARISTOPHANES - - (Greek comedy writer and satirist; B.C. 450-380. There is probably not - a Socialist in the world who has not been asked the question: "Who - will do the dirty work?" It is interesting to see this difficulty set - forth in a comedy which was staged in Athens in the year 408 B.C. - Chremylus and Blepsidemus, two citizens, have taken in charge Plutus, - the god of wealth, who is blind. They have undertaken to cure him of - his blindness; but an old hag by the name of Poverty appears, and - offers to convince them that their success would mean a calamity to - the human race) - - CHREMYLUS:--As matters now stand (who will dare contradict it?) -the life of us men is compos'd - Of a system where folly, absurdity, madness, ay, raving -downright is disclosed; - Since, how many a knave we see revel in wealth--the rich heap -of his ill-gotten store-- - And how many a good man, by fortune unblest, with thee begging -bread at the door! (_Turns to Poverty._) - I say, then, there is but one thing to be done, and if we -succeed, what a prize - Will we bring to mankind! That thing it will be--to give Plutus -the use of his eyes. - - POVERTY:--A pest on your prate, and palavering stuff! back! -begone with ye, blockheads, to school! - You pair of old dotards, you drivelling comrades in trifling -and playing the fool! - If the plan ye propose be accomplish'd at last nothing worse -could mankind e'er befall, - Than that Plutus should have the full use of his eyes, and -bestow himself equal on all! - See you not, that at once, to all arts there would be, to each -craft that you reckon, an end? - If these were exploded (so much to your joy), say who _then_ -should there be, who would lend - To the forge, to the hammer, the adze or the loom--to the rule -or the mallet--his hand? - Not a soul! The mechanic, the carpenter, shipwright--would all -be expelled from the land. - Where would tailor, or cobbler, or dyer of leather, or -bricklay'r, or tanner be found? - Who would e'er condescend in this golden vacation, to till, for -his bread's sake, the ground? - - BLEPSIDEMUS:--Hold, hold, jade! Whatever essentials of life in -your catalogue's column you string, - Our servants, of course, shall provide us. - - POVERTY:--Your servants? and whence do you think _they_ shall spring? - - BLEPSIDEMUS:--We shall buy them with cash-- - - POVERTY:--But with cash all the world as well as yourself is supplied! - Who will care about selling? - - BLEPSIDEMUS:--Some dealer, no doubt, coming down from the Thessaly -side, - (A rare kidnapping nest) who may wish to secure a good bargain to -profit the trade. - - POVERTY (_impatiently_):--You will not understand! In the lots of -mankind when this grand revolution is made - 'Twill at once put an end to all wants--and of course then, the -kidnapper's business will cease: - For who will court danger, and hazard his life, when, grown rich, -he may live at his ease? - Thus each for himself will be forced to turn plowman, to dig and -to delve and to sweat; - Wearing out an existence more grievous by far than he ever -experienced yet. - - CHREMYLUS:--Curses on you! - - POVERTY:--You'll not have a bed to lie down on--no goods of the -sort will be seen! - Not a carpet to tread on--for who, pray, will weave one, when -well stock'd his coffers have been? - Farewell to your essences, perfumes, pastilles! When you lead -to the altar your bride - Farewell to your roseate veil's drooping folds, the bright hues -of its glittering pride! - Yet forsooth "to be rich"--say what is it, without all these -gew-gaws to swell the detail? - Now with me, every item that wish can suggest springs abundant -and never can fail; - For who, but myself, urges on to his toil, like a mistress, and -drives the mechanic? - If he flags, I but show him my face at the door, and he hies to -his work in a panic! - - CHREMYLUS:--Pshaw! What good can _you_ bring but sores, -blisters and blains, on the wretch as he shivering goes - From the baths' genial clime driv'n forth to the cold, at the -certain expense of his toes? - What, but poor little urchins, whose stomachs are craving, and -little old beldames in shoals; - And lice by the thousand, mosquitoes and flies? (I can't count -you the cloud as it rolls!) - Which keep humming and buzzing about one, a language denying -the respite of sleep, - In a strain thus consoling--"Poor starveling, awake, tho to -hunger!"--yet up you must leap! - Add to this, that you treat us with rags to our backs and a -bundle of straw for a bed - (Woe betide the poor wretch on whose carcass the bugs of that -ravenous pallet have fed!) - For a carpet, a rotten old mat--for a pillow, a great stone -picked out of the street-- - And for porridge, or bread, a mere leaf of radish, or stem of a -mallow, to eat. - The head that remains of some wreck of a pitcher, by way of a -seat you provide; - For the trough we make use of in kneading, we're driven to -shift with a wine barrel's side,-- - And this, too, all broken and split:--in a word, your -magnificent gifts to conclude, - (_Ironically_) To mankind you indeed are a blessed dispenser of -mighty and manifold good!... - On my word, dame, your fav'rites are happily off, after -striving and toiling to save, - If at last they are able to levy enough to procure them a -cheque to the grave! - - -The Lawyer and the Farmer - -(Egyptian; B.C. 1400, or earlier. A letter from a father to his -son, exhorting him to stick to the study of his profession) - -It is told to me that thou hast cast aside learning, and givest -thyself to dancing; thou turnest thy face to the work in the -fields, and castest the divine words behind thee. - -Behold, thou rememberest not the condition of the fellah -(farmer) when the harvest is taken over. The worms carry off -half the corn, and the hippopotamus devours the rest; mice -abound in the fields, and locusts arrive; the cattle devour, -the sparrows steal. How miserable is the lot of the fellah! -What remains on the threshing-floor, robbers finish it up. The -bronze ... are worn out, the horses die with threshing and -plowing. Then the scribe (lawyer) moors at the bank, who is -to take over the harvest for the government; the attendants -bear staves, the negroes carry palm sticks. They say, "Give -corn!" But there is none. They beat the fellah prostrate; they -bind him and cast him into the canal, throwing him headlong. -His wife is bound before him, his children are swung off; his -neighbors let them go, and flee to look after their corn. - -But the scribe is the leader of labor for all; he reckons to -himself the produce in winter, and there is none that appoints -him his tale of produce. Behold, now thou knowest! - - -Farmer and Lawyer Again - -(_From "The Vision of Piers Plowman"_) - -BY WILLIAM LANGLAND - -(One of the earliest of English social protests, a picture of -the misery of the workers of the fourteenth century) - - Some were for ploughing, and played full seldom, - Set their seed and sowed their seed and sweated hard, - To win what wastrels with gluttony destroy.... - There wandered a hundred in hoods of silk, - Serjeants they seemed, and served at the Bar, - Pleading the Law for pennies and for pounds, - Unlocking their lips never for love of our Lord. - Thou mightest better mete the mist on Malvern hills - Than get a mutter from their mouths--save thou show thy money! - - -The Agitator - -BY ISAIAH - -(Hebrew prophet, B.C. 740) - - For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, - And for Jerusalem's sake will I not rest, - Until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, - And the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. - Upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, have I set watchmen, - Who shall never hold their peace, day and night. - Go through, go through the gates; - Prepare ye the way of the people! - Lift up a standard to the peoples! - - -The Muckraker in Persia - -BY NIZAMI - -(Persian poet, A.D. 1200) - -There was a king who oppressed his subjects. An informer came -to him, and said, "A certain old man has in private called thee -a tyrant, a disturber, and bloodthirsty." The king, enraged, -said, "Even now I put him to death." While the king made -preparations for the execution, a youth ran to the old man, and -said, "The king is ill-disposed to thee; hasten to assuage his -wrath." The sage performed his ablutions, took his shroud, and -went to the king. The tyrant, seeing him, clapped his hands -together, and with eye hungry for revenge, cried, "I hear thou -hast given loose to thy speech; thou hast called me revengeful, -an oppressive demon." The sage replied, "I have said worse of -thee than what thou repeatest. Old and young are in peril from -thy action; town and village are injured by thy ministry. Apply -thy understanding, and see if it be true; if it be not, slay me -on a gibbet. I am holding a mirror before thee; when it shows -thy blemishes truly, it is a folly to break the mirror. Break -thyself!" - -The king saw the rectitude of the sage, and his own -crookedness. He said, "Remove his burial spices, and his -shroud; bring to him sweet perfumes, and the robe of honor." He -became a just prince, cherishing his subjects. Bring forward -thy rough truth; truth from thee is victory; it shall shine as -a pearl. - - -The System - -BY JEREMIAH - -(Hebrew prophet, B.C. 630) - -For among my people are found wicked men; they lay wait, as he -that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men. As a cage -is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit; therefore -they are become great, and waxen rich. They are waxen fat, they -shine; yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked; they judge -not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; -and the right of the needy do they not judge. Shall I not visit -them for these things? saith the Lord; shall not my soul be -avenged on such a nation as this? A wonderful and horrible -thing is committed in the land; the prophets prophesy falsely, -and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to -have it so; and what will ye do in the end thereof? - - -Grafters in Athens - -(_From "The Frogs"_) - -BY ARISTOPHANES - -(Greek comedy, produced B.C. 405) - - Keep silence--keep peace--and let all the profane - From our holy solemnity duly refrain; - Whose souls unenlightened by taste, are obscure; - Whose poetical notions are dark and impure; - Whose theatrical conscience - Is sullied by nonsense; - Who never were train'd by the mighty Cratinus - In mystical orgies poetic and vinous; - Who delight in buffooning and jests out of season; - Who promote the designs of oppression and treason; - Who foster sedition, and strife, and debate; - All traitors, in short, to the stage and the state; - Who surrender a fort, or in private, export - To places and harbors of hostile resort, - Clandestine consignments of cables and pitch; - In the way the Thorycion grew to be rich - From a scoundrelly dirty collector of tribute! - All such we reject and severely prohibit: - All statesmen retrenching the fees and the salaries - Of theatrical bards, in revenge for the railleries, - And jests, and lampoons, of this holy solemnity, - Profanely pursuing their personal enmity, - For having been flouted, and scoff'd, and scorn'd, - All such are admonish'd and heartily warn'd! - We warn them once, - We warn them twice, - We warn and admonish--we warn them thrice, - To conform to the law, - To retire and withdraw-- - While the Chorus again with the formal saw - (Fixt and assign'd to the festive day) - Move to the measure and march away! - - -Pure Food Agitation - -BY MARTIN LUTHER - -(German religious reformer, 1483-1564) - -They have learned the trick of placing such commodities as -pepper, ginger, saffron, in damp vaults or cellars in order -to increase the weight.... Nor is there a single article of -trade whatever out of which they cannot make unfair profit by -false measuring, counting or weighing. They produce artificial -colors, or they put the pretty things at the top and bottom -and the ugly ones in the middle; and indeed there is no end to -their trickery, and no one tradesman will trust another, for -they know each other's ways. - - -Wall Street - -BY HABAKKUK - -(Hebrew prophet. B.C. 600) - -They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in -their net, and gather them in their drag; therefore they -sacrifice unto their nets, and burn incense unto their drags; -because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous. - - -BY MARTIAL - -(Latin poet, A.D. 43-104) - -If you are a poor man now, Aemilianus, a poor man you will -always be. Nowadays, riches are bestowed on no one but the -rich. - - -BY CATO, THE CENSOR - -(Latin, B.C. 234-149) - -Small thieves lie in towers fastened to wooden blocks; big ones -strut about in gold and silver. - - -Prosperity - -(_From the Book of Job_) - -(Hebrew, B.C. Fourth Century) - -Thou hast taken pledges of thy brother for nought, and stripped -the naked of their clothing. Thou hast not given water to the -weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry. -But as for the mighty man, he had the earth; and the honourable -man, he dwelt in it. Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the -arms of the fatherless have been broken. - - -The Leading Citizen - -BY HORACE - -(Latin poet, B.C. 65-8. Translation by John Milton) - - Whom do we count a good man? Whom but he - Who keeps the laws and statutes of the senate, - Who judges in great suits and controversies, - Whose witness and opinion wins the cause? - But his own house, and the whole neighborhood, - Sees his foul inside through his whited skin. - - -Hong's Experiences in Hades - -BY IM BANG - -(Korean poet, 1640-1722) - -The next hell had inscribed on it, "Deceivers." I saw in it -many scores of people, with ogres that cut the flesh from their -bodies, and fed it to starving demons. These ate and ate, and -the flesh was cut and cut till only the bones remained. When -the winds of hell blew, then flesh returned to them; then -metal snakes and copper dogs crowded in to bite them and suck -their blood. Their screams of pain made the earth to tremble. -The guides said to me, "When these offenders were on earth -they held high office, and while they pretended to be true -and good they received bribes in secret and were doers of all -evil. As Ministers of State they ate the fat of the land and -sucked the blood of the people, and yet advertised themselves -as benefactors and were highly applauded. While in reality -they lived as thieves, they pretended to be holy, as Confucius -and Mencius were holy. They were deceivers of the world, and -robbers, and so are punished thus." - - -Monopolies - -BY MARTIN LUTHER - -(A picture of the conditions which brought on the Peasants' War -in Germany, 1525) - -Before all, if the princes and lords wish to fulfill the duties -of their office they must prohibit and banish the vicious -system of monopolies, which is altogether unendurable in town -or country. As for the trading companies, they are thoroughly -corrupt and made up of great injustices. They have every sort -of commodity in their own power and they do with them just as -they please, raise or lower the prices at their own convenience -and crush and ruin all the small shop people--just as the pike -does with the small fish in the water--as if they were lords -over God's creatures and exempt from all laws of authority and -religion.... How can it be godly and just that in so short a -time a man should grow so rich that he can outbid kings and -emperors? They have brought things to such a pass that all -the rest of the world must carry on business with risk and -damage, gaining today, losing tomorrow, while they continually -grow richer and richer, and make up for their losses by higher -profits; so it is no wonder that they are appropriating to -themselves the riches of the whole world. - - -Intemperate Speech - -(_From the Epistle of James_) - -(A.D. 100 to 120) - -Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that -shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your -garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are cankered; -and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall -eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasures -together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the laborers -who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back -by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are -entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. Ye have lived in -pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your -hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed -the just: and he doth not resist you. Be patient, therefore, -brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman -waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long -patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be -ye also patient; stablish your hearts; for the coming of the -Lord draweth nigh. - - -Government - -BY MARCUS AURELIUS - -(Roman emperor and philosopher, A.D. 121-180) - -And these your professed politicians, the only true practical -philosophers of the world (as they think themselves) so full -of affected gravity, or such professed lovers of virtue and -honesty, what wretches be they in very deed; how vile and -contemptible in themselves! O man, what ado dost thou make! - - -Murder by Statute - -(_From "The Sayings of Mencius"_) - -(Chinese classic, B.C. 300) - -King Hwuy of Leang said, "I wish quietly to receive your -instructions." Mencius replied, "Is there any difference between -killing a man with a stick, and with a sword?" "There is not," -was the answer. - -Mencius continued, "Is there any difference between doing it -with a sword and with government measures?" "There is not," was -the answer again. - -Mencius then said, "In your stalls there are fat beasts; in -your stables there are fat horses. But your people have the -look of hunger, and in the fields are those who have died of -famine. This is leading on beasts to devour men. Beasts devour -one another, and men hate them for doing so. When he who is -called the parent of the people conducts his government so as -to be chargeable with leading on beasts to devour men, where is -that parental relation to the people?" - - -Rebuking a Tyrant - -BY SADI - -(Persian poet, A.D. 1200) - -In a certain year I was sitting retired in the great mosque at -Damascus, at the head of the tomb of Yahiya the prophet (on -whom be peace!). One of the kings of Arabia, who was notorious -for his injustice, happened to come on a pilgrimage, and having -performed his devotions, he uttered the following words: "The -poor and the rich are servants of this earth, and those who are -richest have the greatest wants." He then looked towards me, -and said, "Because dervishes are strenuous and sincere in their -commerce with heaven, unite your prayers with mine, for I am in -dread of a powerful enemy." - -I replied, "Show mercy to the weak peasant, that you may not -experience difficulty from a strong enemy. It is criminal to -crush the poor and defenceless subjects with the arm of -power. He liveth in dread who befriendeth not the poor; for -should his foot slip, no one layeth hold of his hand. Whosoever -soweth bad seed, and looketh for good fruit, tortureth his -imagination in vain, making a false judgment of things. -Take the cotton out of thine ear, and distribute justice to -mankind; for if thou refusest justice, there will be a day of -retribution. - -"The children of Adam are limbs of one another, and are all -produced from the same substance; when the world gives pain to -one member, the others also suffer uneasiness. Thou who art -indifferent to the sufferings of others deservest not to be -called a man." - -[Illustration: THE DESPOTIC AGE - -ISIDORE KONTI (_American sculptor, born 1862; group from the -Buffalo Exposition_)] - -[Illustration: THE SEA OF BLOOD - -"COURAGE, YOUR MAJESTY, ONLY ONE STEP MORE" - -(_Example of Russian cartooning, published at the height of the -Revolution of 1905_)] - - -The Eloquent Peasant - -(Egyptian, B.C. 2000 or earlier) - -An interesting primitive protest against injustice is the story -of the Eloquent Peasant, which was one of the most popular of -ancient Egyptian tales, and is found in scores of different -papyri. The story narrates how a peasant named Rensi was robbed -of his asses by the henchmen of a certain grand steward. In -spite of all threats the peasant persisted in appealing against -the robber to the grand steward himself. The scene is described -in "Social Forces and Religion in Ancient Egypt," by James -Henry Breasted, as follows: - -"It is a tableau which epitomizes ages of social history in the -East: on the one hand, the brilliant group of the great man's -sleek and subservient suite, the universal type of the official -class; and, on the other, the friendless and forlorn figure -of the despoiled peasant, the pathetic personification of the -cry for social justice. This scene is one of the earliest -examples of that Oriental skill in setting forth abstract -principles, so wonderfully illustrated later in the parables -of Jesus. Seeing that the grand steward makes no reply, the -peasant makes another effort to save his family and himself -from the starvation which threatens them. He steps forward and -with amazing eloquence addresses the great man in whose hands -his case now rests, promising him a fair voyage as he embarks -on the canal, and voicing the fame of the grand steward's -benevolence, on which he had reckoned. 'For thou art the father -of the orphan, the husband of the widow, the brother of the -forsaken, the kilt of the motherless. Let me put thy name in -this land above every good law, O leader free from avarice, -great man free from littleness, who destroys falsehood and -brings about truth. Respond to the cry which my mouth utters; -when I speak, hear thou. Do justice, thou who art praised, whom -the praised praise. Relieve my misery. Behold me, I am heavy -laden; prove me, lo I am in sorrow.'" - -To follow the account of the incident in other records, the -grand steward is so much pleased with the peasant's eloquence -that he goes to the king and tells him about it. "My Lord, I -have found one of these peasants, excellent of speech, in very -truth; stolen are his goods, and he has come to complain to me -of the matter." - -His majesty says, "As thou wishest that I may see health, -lengthen out his complaint, without reply to any of his -speeches! He who desireth him to continue speaking should be -silent; behold, bring us his words in writing that we may -listen to them." - -So he keeps the peasant pleading for many days. The story -quotes nine separate speeches, of constantly increasing -bitterness and pathos. The peasant is beaten by the servants of -the grand steward, but still he comes. "Thou art appointed to -hear causes, to judge two litigants, to ward off the robber. -But thou makest common cause with the thief.... Thou art -instructed, thou art educated, thou art taught--but not for -robbery. Thou art accustomed to do like all men, and thy kin -are likewise ensnared. Thou the rectitude of all men, art the -chief transgressor of the whole land. The gardener of evil -waters his domain with iniquity that his domain may bring forth -falsehood, in order to flood the estate with wickedness." - -In spite of his eloquence, the grand steward remains unmoved. -The peasant appeals to the gods of Justice; and in the ninth -address he threatens to make his plea to the god Anubis, who -is the god of the dead--meaning thereby that he will commit -suicide. None of the extant papyri informs us as to the outcome -of the whole proceedings. - - -Prayers Without Answer - -(_From The Iliad_) - -BY HOMER - -(Greek epic poet, B.C. 700?) - - Prayers are Jove's daughters of celestial race, - Lame are their feet, and wrinkled is their face; - With homely mien and with dejected eyes, - Constant they follow where injustice flies. - Injustice, suave, erect, and unconfined, - Sweeps the wide earth, and tramples o'er mankind-- - While prayers to heal her wrongs move slow behind. - - -The Suffering of Women - -BY HERBERT SPENCER - -(English philosopher, 1820-1903) - -In the history of humanity as written, the saddest part -concerns the treatment of women; and had we before us its -unwritten history we should find this part still sadder. I -say the saddest part because there have been many things -more conspicuously dreadful--cannibalism, the torturing of -prisoners, the sacrifice of victims to ghosts and gods--these -have been but occasionally; whereas the brutal treatment of -woman has been universal and constant. If looking first at -their state of subjection among the semi-civilized we pass to -the uncivilized, and observe the lives of hardship borne by -nearly all of them; if we then think what must have gone on -among those still ruder peoples who, for so many thousands of -years roamed over the uncultivated earth; we shall infer that -the amount of suffering which has been and is borne by women is -utterly beyond imagination. - - -Divorce in Ancient Babylon - -(_From the Code of Hammurabi_) - -(B.C. 2250) - -Anu and Baal called me, Hammurabi, the exalted prince, the -worshipper of the gods, to cause justice to prevail in the -land, to destroy the wicked and evil, to prevent the strong -from oppressing the weak, to enlighten the land and to further -the welfare of the people. Hammurabi, the governor named by -Baal am I, who brought about plenty and abundance. - -§ 142: If a woman shall hate her husband and say: "Thou shalt -not have me," they shall inquire into her antecedents for her -defects.... If she have not been a careful mistress, have -gadded about, have neglected her house and have belittled her -husband, they shall throw that woman into the water. - - -The Parable of the Hungry Dog - -(_From the Gospel of Buddha_) - -(Hindu Bible, B.C. 600) - -There was a wicked tyrant; and the god Indra, assuming the -shape of a hunter, came down upon earth with the demon Matali, -the latter appearing as a dog of enormous size. Hunter and dog -entered the palace, and the dog howled so woefully that the -royal buildings shook with the sound to their very foundations. -The tyrant had the awe-inspiring hunter brought before his -throne and inquired after the cause of the terrible bark. The -hunter said, "The dog is hungry," whereupon the frightened -king ordered food for him. All the food prepared at the royal -banquet disappeared rapidly in the dog's jaws, and still he -howled with portentous significance. More food was sent for, -and all the royal store-houses were emptied, but in vain. Then -the tyrant grew desperate and asked: "Will nothing satisfy the -cravings of that woeful beast?" "Nothing," replied the hunter, -"nothing except perhaps the flesh of all his enemies." "And -who are his enemies?" anxiously asked the tyrant. The hunter -replied: "The dog will howl as long as there are people -hungry in the kingdom, and his enemies are those that practice -injustice and oppress the poor." The oppressor of the people, -remembering his evil deeds, was seized with remorse, and for -the first time in his life he began to listen to the teachings -of righteousness. - - -The Nature of Kings - -(_From the First Book of Samuel_) - -(Hebrew, B.C. Eleventh Century) - -And Samuel told all the words of the Lord unto the people that -asked of him a king. And he said: "This will be the manner of -the king that shall reign over you; he will take your sons, -and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be -his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots. And he -will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over -fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his -harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments -of his chariots. And he will take your daughters to be -confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers. And he will -take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even -the best of them, and give them to his servants. And he will -take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give -to his officers, and to his servants. And he will take your -menservants, and your maidservants, and your goodliest young -men, and your asses, and put them to his work. He will take the -tenth of your sheep; and ye shall be his servants. And ye shall -cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have -chosen you; and the Lord will not hear you in that day." - - -King Yu's Misgovernment - -(_From the She-ching_) - -(Chinese classic, B.C. 1000) - - A fish in some translucent lake - Must ever live to fear a prey - He cannot hide himself away - From those who come the fish to take. - I, too, may not escape the eyes - Of those who cause these miseries; - My sorrowing heart must grieve to know - My country's deep distress and woe. - - -Slavery - -(_From the Edda_) - -(Scandinavian legends of great antiquity, collected, A.D. 1100, -by Saemund) - -King Frothi called his slaves renowned for strength, Fenia and -Menia, and bade them grind for gold. The maidens ground through -many years, they ground endless treasures; but at last they -grew weary. Then Frothi said, "Grind on! Rest ye not, sleep ye -not, longer than the cuckoo is silent, or a verse can be sung." -The weary slaves ground on, till lo! from the mighty mill is -poured forth an army of men. Now lies Frothi slain amid his -gold. Now is Frothi's peace forever ended. - - -The Power of Justice - -BY MANU - -(Hindu poet, B.C. 1200) - -Iniquity, committed in this world, produces not fruit -immediately, but, like the earth, in due season, and advancing -by little and little, it eradicates the man who committed it. - -He grows rich for a while through unrighteousness; then he -beholds good things; then it is that he vanquishes his foes; -but he perishes at length from his whole root upwards. - -Justice, being destroyed, will destroy; being preserved, will -preserve; it must never therefore be violated. Beware, O judge! -lest justice, being overturned, overturn both us and thyself. - - -Legislators - -BY ISAIAH - -(Hebrew prophet, B.C. 740) - -Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write -grievousness which they have prescribed; to turn aside the -needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor -of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they -may rob the fatherless! And what will ye do in the day of -visitation, and in the desolation which shall come from far? -to whom will ye flee for help? and where will ye leave your -glory? Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners, and -they shall fall under the slain. For all this his anger is not -turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. - - -Concerning Wealth - -HESIOD - -(Greek poet, B.C. 650) - - Who, or by open force, or secret stealth, - Or perjured wiles, amasses wealth, - (Such many are, whom thirst of gain betrays) - The gods, all seeing, shall o'ercloud his days; - His wife, his children, and his friends shall die, - And, like a dream, his ill-got riches fly. - - -(_From the Instructions of Ptah-Hotep_) - -(Egyptian, B.C. 3550; the oldest book in the world) - -If thou be great, after being of no account, and hast gotten -riches after squalor, being foremost in these in the city, and -hast knowledge concerning useful matters, so that promotion is -come unto thee; then swathe not thine heart in thine hoard, for -thou art become a steward of the endowment of the God. Thou art -not the last, others shall be thine equal, and to them shall -come what has come to thee. - - -(_From the Icelandic, Eleventh Century_) - - I saw the well-filled barns - Of the child of wealth; - Now leans he on the staff of the beggar. - Thus are riches, - As the glance of an eye, - They are an inconstant friend. - - -BY VIRGIL - -(Latin epic poet, B.C. 70-19) - - Curst greed of gold, what crimes thy tyrant power has caused! - - -(_From the "Antigone" of Sophocles_) - -(Greek tragic poet, B.C. 440) - - No such ill device - Ever appeared, as money to mankind: - This is it that sacks cities, this routs out - Men from their homes, and trains and turns astray - The minds of honest mortals, setting them - Upon base actions; this revealed to men - Habits of all misdoing, and cognizance - Of every work of wickedness. - - -(_From the Book of Good Counsels_) - -(Sanscrit, B.C. 300) - - Wealth is friends, home, father, brother, title to respect, and fame; - Yea, and wealth is held for wisdom--that it should be so is shame. - - -(_From the "Medea" of Euripides_) - -(Greek tragic poet, B.C. 431) - - Speak not so hastily: the gods themselves - By gifts are swayed, as fame relates; and gold - Hath a far greater influence o'er the souls - Of mortals than the most persuasive words. - - -(_From "The Convivio" of Dante Alighieri_) - -(Italian epic poet, 1265-1321) - -I affirm that gain is precisely that which comes oftener to the -bad than to the good; for illegitimate gains never come to the -good at all, because they reject them. And lawful gains rarely -come to the good, because, since much anxious care is needful -thereto, and the anxious care of the good man is directed to -weightier matters, rarely does the good man give sufficient -attention thereto. Wherefore it is clear that in every way the -advent of these riches is iniquitous.... - -Let us give heed to the life of them who chase riches, and see -in what security they live when they have gathered of them, how -content they are, how reposeful! And what else, day by day, -imperils and slays cities, countries and single persons so much -as the new amassing of wealth by anyone? Which amassing reveals -new longings, the goal of which may not be reached without -wrong to someone.... - -Wherefore the baseness of riches is manifest enough by reason -of all their characteristics, and so a man of right appetite -and of true knowledge never loves them; and not loving them -does not unite himself to them, but ever wishes them to be far -removed from him, save as they be ordained to some necessary -service.... - - -The Perfect City - -(_From "The Republic" of Plato_) - -(Greek philosopher, B.C. 429-347) - -We have, it seems, discovered other things, which our guardians -must by all means watch against, that they may nowise escape -their notice and steal into the city. - -What kinds of things are these? - -Riches, said I, and poverty. - - -Concerning Independence - -BY LUCRETIUS - -(Latin poet, B.C. 95-52) - - But if men would live up to reason's rules, - They would not bow and scrape to wealthy fools. - - -(_From The Hitopadesa_) - -(Hindu religious work, B.C. 250) - -It is better to abandon life than flatter the base. -Impoverishment is better than luxury through another's wealth. -Not to attend at the door of the wealthy, and not to use the -voice of petition, these imply the best life of a man. - - -BY XENOPHON - -(Greek historian, B.C. Fourth Century) - -If you perfume a slave and a freeman, the difference of their -birth produces none in the smell; and the scent is perceived as -soon in the one as the other; but the odor of honorable toil, -as it is acquired with great pains and application, is ever -sweet and worthy of a brave man. - - -BY DANTE ALIGHIERI - -(Italian epic poet, 1265-1321) - -What! You say a horse is noble because it is good in itself, -and the same you say of a falcon or a pearl; but a man shall be -called noble because his ancestors were so? Not with words, but -with knives must one answer such a beastly notion. - - -BY OMAR KHAYYAM - -(Persian poet, Eleventh Century) - -In this world he who possesses a morsel of bread, and some -nest in which to shelter himself, who is master or slave of no -man, tell that man to live content; he possesses a very sweet -existence. - - -Oh! Freedom - -(_Negro Slave Song_) - - Oh! Freedom, oh! Freedom, - Oh! Freedom, over me; - And before I'll be a slave - I'll be buried in my grave, - And go home to my God - And be free. - - -Fredome - -BY JOHN BARBOUR - -(English poet, Fourteenth Century) - - A! fredome is a nobill thing! - Fredome mayse man to haiff liking! - Fredome all solace to man giffis: - He levys at ese that frely levys; - A noble hart may haiff nane ease, - Na ellys nocht that may him plese, - Gyff fredome failythe: for fre liking - Is yearnyt ow'r all othir thing - Na he, that ay hase levyt fre, - May nocht knaw weill the propyrte, - The angry, na the wretchyt dome, - That is cowplyt to foule thyrldome. - Bot gyff he had assayit it, - Than all perquer he suld it wyt; - And suld think fredome mar to pryse - Than all the gold in warld that is. - - -A Home of Righteousness - -(_Ancient Greek Inscription_) - -Piety has raised this house from the first foundation even -to the lofty roof; for Macedonius fashioned not his wealth -by heaping up from the possessions of others with plundering -sword, nor has any poor man here wept over his vain and -profitless toil, being robbed of just hire; and as rest from -labor is kept inviolate by the just man, so let the works of -pious mortals endure. - - -Palaces - -(_From the Book of Enoch_) - -(Hebrew work of the Second Century, B.C., preserved only in the -Ethiopic tongue) - -Woe unto you who despise the humble dwelling and inheritance -of your fathers! Woe unto you who build your palaces with the -sweat of others! Each stone, each brick of which it is built, -is a sin! - - -Pride in Poverty - -BY CONFUCIUS - -(Chinese philosopher, B. C. 500) - -Riches and honor are what men desire; but if they attain to -them by improper ways, they should not continue to hold them. -Poverty and low estate are what men dislike; but if they are -brought to such condition by improper ways, they should not -feel shame for it. - - -Millionaires in Rome - -BY CICERO - -(Latin statesman and orator, B. C. 106-43) - -As to their money, and their splendid mansions, and their -wealth, and their lordship, and the delights by which they are -chiefly attracted, never in truth have I ranked them amongst -things good or desirable; inasmuch as I saw for a certainty -that in the abundance of these things men longed most for the -very things wherein they abounded. For never is the thirst of -cupidity filled nor sated. And not only are they tortured by -the longing to increase their possessions, but they are also -tortured by fear of losing them. - - -The Ruling Classes - -BY EZEKIEL - -(Hebrew prophet, B. C. 600) - -The word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy -against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say unto them, -Thus saith the Lord God unto the shepherds: Woe be to the -shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! Should not the -shepherds feed the flocks? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you -with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the -flock. The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have -ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that -which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was -driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but -with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. And they were -scattered, because there is no shepherd.... My sheep wandered -through all the mountains, and upon every high hill; yea, my -flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and none -did search or seek after them. Therefore ye shepherds, hear the -word of the Lord; as I live, saith the Lord God, ... Behold, -I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at -their hand.... I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to -lie down.... And they shall no more be a prey to the heathen, -neither shall the beast of the land devour them; but they shall -dwell safely, and none shall make them afraid. And ye my flock, -the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the -Lord God. - - -Ladies of Fashion - -BY ISAIAH - -(Hebrew prophet, B.C. 740) - -The Lord standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge the -people. The Lord will enter into judgment with the ancients -of his people, and the princes thereof; for ye have eaten up -the vineyard; the spoil of the poor is in your houses. What -mean ye that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces -of the poor? saith the Lord God of Hosts. Moreover the Lord -saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with -stretched forth necks and wanton eyes, walking and mincing -as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet; therefore -the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the -daughters of Zion, and the Lord will discover their secret -parts. In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of -their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, -and their round tires like the moon, the chains, and the -bracelets, and the mufflers, the bonnets, and the ornaments of -the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings, -the rings, and nose jewels, the changeable suits of apparel, -and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins, the -glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the veils. And -it shall come to pass that instead of sweet smell there shall -be stink; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of well -set hair, baldness; and instead of a stomacher a girding of -sackcloth; and burning instead of beauty. Thy men shall fall -by the sword, and thy mighty in the war. And her gates shall -lament and mourn; and she being desolate shall sit upon the -ground. - - -Concerning Justice - -(Ancient Hindu Proverb) - -Justice is so dear to the heart of Nature, that if in the -last day one atom of injustice were found, the universe would -shrivel like a snake-skin to cast it off forever. - - -BY MARCUS AURELIUS - -(Roman emperor, A.D. 121-180) - -In the whole constitution of man, I see not any virtue contrary -to justice, whereby it may be resisted and opposed. - - -BY SADI - -(Persian poet, A.D. 1200) - -Take heed that he weep not; for the throne of the Almighty is -shaken to and fro when the orphan sets a-crying. Beware of the -groans of the wounded souls, since the hidden sore will at -length break out; oppress not to the utmost a single heart, for -a single sigh has power to overset a whole world. - - -(_From "The Koran"_) - -(Bible of Mohammedanism; Arabic, A.D. 600) - -Justice is an unassailable fortress, built on the brow of -a mountain which cannot be overthrown by the violence of -torrents, nor demolished by the force of armies. - -"Do you desire," said Abdallah, "to bring the praise of mankind -upon your action? Then desire not unjustly, or even by your -right, to grasp that which belongs to another." - - -(Arabian proverb, Sixteenth Century) - -The exercise of equity for one day is equal to sixty years -spent in prayer. - - -BY NINTOKU - -(Japanese emperor, Fourth Century) - -If the people are poor, I am the poorest. - - -Solon - -BY PLUTARCH - -(Greek historian, A.D. 50-120) - -The Athenians fell into their old quarrels about the -government, there being as many different parties as there -were diversities in the country. The Hill quarter favoured -democracy, the Plain, oligarchy, and those that lived by the -Seaside stood for a mixed sort of government, and so hindered -either of the other parties from prevailing. And the disparity -of fortune between the rich and the poor at that time also -reached its height; so that the city seemed to be in a truly -dangerous condition, and there appeared no other means for -freeing it from disturbances and settling it but a despotic -power. All the people were indebted to the rich; and either -they tilled their land for their creditors, paying them a sixth -part of the increase, or else they engaged their body for -the debt, and might be seized, and either sent into slavery -at home, or sold to strangers; some (for no law forbade it) -were forced to sell their children, or fly their country to -avoid the cruelty of their creditors; but the most part and -the bravest of them began to combine together and encourage -one another to stand it, to choose a leader, to liberate the -condemned debtors, divide the land, and change the government. - -Then the wisest of the Athenians, perceiving Solon was of all -men the only one not implicated in the troubles, that he had -not joined in the exactions of the rich, and was not involved -in the necessities of the poor, pressed him to succour the -commonwealth and compose the differences.... - -The first thing which he settled was, that what debts remained -should be forgiven, and no man, for the future, should engage -the body of his debtor for security. - - -Concerning Land - -BY SOLON - -(Greek lawgiver, B.C. 639-559) - - The mortgage stones that covered her, by me - Removed, the land that was a slave is free. - - -DEUTERONOMY - -(Hebrew, B.C. 700?) - -These are the statutes and judgments, which ye shall observe to -do in the land, which the Lord God of thy fathers giveth thee -to possess it, all the days that ye live upon the earth.... At -the end of every seven years thou shalt make a release. And -this is the manner of the release: Every creditor that lendeth -ought unto his neighbor shall release it, he shall not exact it -of his neighbor, or of his brother; because it is called the -Lord's release. - - -LEVITICUS - -(Hebrew law-book, B.C. 700?) - -And the Lord spake unto Moses in Mount Sinai, saying: ... "The -land shall not be sold for ever; for the land is mine; for ye -are strangers and sojourners with me." - - -(_From, "Discourse on the Origin of Inequality"_) - -BY JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU - -(French novelist and philosopher, 1712-1778; father of the -French Revolution) - -The first man who, having enclosed a piece of ground, bethought -himself of saying, _This is mine_, and found people simple -enough to believe him, was the real founder of civil society. -From how many crimes, wars and murders, from how many horrors -and misfortunes might not any one have saved mankind, by -pulling up the stakes, or filling up the ditch, and crying to -his fellows, "Beware of listening to this impostor; you are -undone if you once forget that the fruits of the earth belong -to us all, and the earth itself to nobody." - - -Radicalism - -BY CONFUCIUS - -(Chinese philosopher, B.C. 500) - -Things have their root and their completion. It cannot be that -when the root is neglected, what springs from it will be well -ordered. - - -Seeking Causes - -BY PLATO - -(Greek philosopher and poet, B.C. 428-347) - -Neither drugs nor charms nor burnings will touch a deep-lying -political sore any more than a deep bodily one; but only right -and utter change of constitution; and they do but lose their -labor who think that by any tricks of law they can get the -better of those mischiefs of commerce, and see not that they -hew at a hydra. - - -Concerning Usury[A] - -[A] As used in the Bible, and other ancient writings, the -word usury means, not excessive interest-taking, but all -interest-taking whatever. - -(_From "The Koran"_) - -(Arabic, A.D. 600) - -To him who is of kin to thee give his due, and to the poor and -to the wayfarer: this will be best for those who seek the face -of God; and with them it shall be well. - -Whatever ye put out at usury to increase it with the substance -of others shall have no increase from God: but whatever ye -shall give in alms, as seeking the face of God, shall be -doubled to you. - - -(_From the Psalms_) - -(Hebrew, B.C. 200) - -Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy -holy hill? - -He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and -speaketh the truth in his heart.... - -He that putteth his money not out to usury, nor taketh reward -against the innocent. He that doeth these things shall never be -moved. - - -BY ARISTOTLE - -(Greek philosopher, B.C. Fourth Century) - -Usury is the most reasonably detested of all forms of -money-making; it is most against nature. - - -(_From "Essay on Riches"_) - -BY FRANCIS BACON, LORD VERULAM - -(English philosopher and statesman, 1561-1626) - -The ways to enrich are many, and most of them foul.... - -Usury is the certainest means of gain, though one of the -worst; as that whereby a man doth eat his bread with sweat of -another's face, and besides, doth plough upon Sundays. - - -Solidarity - -BY MARCUS AURELIUS - -(Roman emperor, A.D. 121-180) - -As thou thyself, whoever thou art, wert made for the perfection -and consummation of a common society; so must every action of -thine tend to the perfection and consummation of a life that -is truly sociable. Whatever action of thine that, either -immediately or afar off, hath not reference to the common -good, that is an exorbitant and disorderly action; yea, it is -seditious; as one among the people who from a general consent -and unity should factiously divide and separate himself. - - -Socialism - -BY WANG-AN-SHIH - -(Chinese statesman, Eleventh Century) - -The State should take the entire management of commerce, -industry, and agriculture into its own hands, with a view to -succoring the working classes and preventing their being ground -to the dust by the rich. - - -The Promise - -(_From the Psalms_) - -(Hebrew, B.C. 200) - -The Lord shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, -and him that hath no helper. He shall spare the poor and needy, -and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their -soul from deceit and violence; and precious shall their blood -be in his sight. - - -The Co-operative Commonwealth - -BY ISAIAH II, THE PROPHET OF THE EXILE - -(B.C. 550) - -And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall -plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not -build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another -eat; for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and -mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. - - - - -BOOK X - -_Mammon_ - - Wealth, and the crimes that are committed in its name, and the - protests of the spirit of humanity against its power in society. - - -Paradise Lost - -BY JOHN MILTON - -(English lyric and epic poet, 1608-1674) - - Mammon led them on-- - Mammon, the least erected spirit that fell - From Heaven; for even in Heaven his looks and thoughts - Were always downward bent, admiring more - The riches of Heaven's pavement, trodden gold, - Than aught divine or holy else enjoyed - In vision beatific. By him first - Men also, and by his suggestion taught, - Ransacked the centre, and with impious hands - Rifled the bowels of their mother earth - For treasures better hid. Soon had his crew - Opened into the hill a spacious wound, - And digged out ribs of gold. Let none admire - That riches grow in Hell; that soil may best - Deserve the precious bane. - - -Miss Kilmansegg: Her Moral - -BY THOMAS HOOD - -(See pages 59, 171) - - Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold! - Bright and yellow, hard and cold, - Molten, graven, hammer'd, and roll'd; - Heavy to get, and light to hold; - Hoarded, barter'd, bought, and sold, - Stolen, borrow'd, squander'd, doled: - Spurn'd by the young, but hugg'd by the old - To the very verge of the churchyard mould; - Price of many a crime untold: - Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold! - Good or bad a thousand-fold! - How widely its agencies vary-- - To save--to ruin--to curse--to bless-- - As even its minted coins express, - Now stamp'd with the image of Good Queen Bess, - And now of a bloody Mary. - - -Northern Farmer: New Style - -BY ALFRED TENNYSON - -(See page 77) - - Dosn't thou 'ear my 'erse's legs, as they canters awaäy, - Proputty, proputty, proputty--that's what I 'ears 'em saäy. - Proputty, proputty, proputty--Sam, thou's an ass for thy paäins, - Theer's moor sense i' one o' 'is legs nor in all thy braäins. - - Me an' thy muther, Sammy, 'as beän a-talkin' o' thee; - Thou's beän talkin' to muther, an' she beän a tellin' it me. - Thou'll not marry for munny--thou's sweet upo' parson's lass-- - Noä--thou'll marry for luvv--an' we boäth on us thinks tha an ass. - - Seeä'd her todaäy goä by--Saäint's daäy--they was ringing the bells. - She's a beauty thou thinks--an' soä is scoors o' gells, - Them as 'as munny an' all--wot's a beauty?--the flower as blaws. - But proputty, proputty sticks, an' proputty, proputty graws. - - Doänt't be stunt: taäke time: I knaws what maäkes tha sa mad. - Warn't I craäzed fur the lasses mysén when I wur a lad? - But I knaw'd a Quaäker feller as often 'as towd ma this: - "Doän't thou marry for munny, but goä wheer munny is!" - - -Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep - -BY JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER - -(American capitalist, born 1839) - -Then, and indeed for many years after, it seemed as though -there was no end to the money needed to carry on and develop -the business. As our successes began to come, I seldom put my -head upon the pillow at night without speaking a few words to -myself in this wise: - -"Now a little success, soon you will fall down, soon you will -be overthrown. Because you have got a start, you think you are -quite a merchant; look out, or you will lose your head--go -steady." These intimate conversations with myself, I am sure, -had a great influence on my life. - - -From Ecclesiasticus - -A merchant shall hardly keep himself from wrong-doing; and a -huckster shall not be acquitted of sin. - - -Past and Present - -BY THOMAS CARLYLE - -(See pages 31, 74, 133) - -What is it, if you pierce through his Cants, his oft-repeated -Hearsays, what he calls his Worships and so forth,--what is -it that the modern English soul does, in very truth, dread -infinitely, and contemplate with entire despair? What _is_ his -Hell, after all these reputable, oft-repeated Hearsays, what is -it? With hesitation, with astonishment, I pronounce it to be: -The terror of "Not succeeding"; of not making money, fame, or -some other figure in the world,--chiefly of not making money! -Is not that a somewhat singular Hell? - -[Illustration: MAMMON - -GEORGE FREDERICK WATTS - -(_English painter, member of the Royal Academy, 1817-1904_)] - -[Illustration: MARRIAGE À LA MODE - -WILLIAM HOGARTH - -(_Old English artist, 1697-1764._ - -_Famous painting, representing an alliance between the son of -a broken-down old nobleman and the daughter of a rich city -merchant_)] - - -Dipsychus - -BY ARTHUR HUGH CLOUGH - -(English poet and scholar, friend of Tennyson and Matthew -Arnold, 1819-1861) - - As I sat at the café, I said to myself, - They may talk as they please about what they call pelf, - They may sneer as they like about eating and drinking, - - But help it I cannot, I cannot help thinking, - How pleasant it is to have money, heigh ho! - How pleasant it is to have money. - - I sit at my table _en grand seigneur_, - And when I have done, throw a crust to the poor; - Not only the pleasure, one's self, of good living, - But also the pleasure of now and then giving. - So pleasant it is to have money, heigh ho! - So pleasant it is to have money.... - - I drive through the streets, and I care not a d--n; - The people they stare, and they ask who I am; - And if I should chance to run over a cad, - I can pay for the damage if ever so bad. - So pleasant it is to have money, heigh ho! - So pleasant it is to have money. - - We stroll to our box and look down on the pit, - And if it weren't low should be tempted to spit; - We loll and we talk until people look up, - And when it's half over we go out to sup. - So pleasant it is to have money, heigh ho! - So pleasant it is to have money. - - The best of the tables and best of the fare-- - And as for the others, the devil may care; - It isn't our fault if they dare not afford - To sup like a prince and be drunk as a lord. - So pleasant it is to have money, heigh ho! - So pleasant it is to have money. - - -Utopia - -BY SIR THOMAS MORE - -(See page 160) - -They marveile also that golde, whych of the owne nature is a -thinge so unprofytable, is nowe amonge all people in so hyghe -estimation, that man him selfe, by whome, yea and for the use -of whome it is so much set by, is in muche lesse estimation, -then the golde it selfe. In so muche that a lumpyshe -blockehedded churle, and whyche hathe no more wytte then an -asse, yea and as ful of noughtynes as of follye, shall have -nevertheless manye wyse and good men in subjectyon and bondage, -only for this, bycause he hath a greate heape of golde. Whyche -yf it shoulde be taken from hym by anye fortune, or by some -subtyll wyle and cautele of the lawe, (whyche no lesse then -fortune dothe bothe raise up the lowe, and plucke downe the -highe) and be geven to the moste vile slave and abject dryvell -of all his housholde, then shortely after he shal goo into the -service of his servaunt, as an augmentation or overplus beside -his money. But they muche more marvell at and detest the madnes -of them, whyche to those riche men, in whose debte and daunger -they be not, do give almost divine honoures, for none other -consideration, but bicause they be riche: and yet knowing them -to bee suche nigeshe penny fathers, that they be sure as longe -as they live, not the worthe of one farthinge of that heape -of gold shall come to them. These and such like opinions have -they conceaved, partely by education, beinge brought up in that -common wealthe, whose lawes and customes be farre different -from these kindes of folly, and partely by good litterature and -learning. - - -The Crown of Wild Olive - -BY JOHN RUSKIN - -(See page 106) - -It is physically impossible for a well-educated, intellectual, -or brave man to make money the chief object of his thoughts; -as physically impossible as it is for him to make his dinner -the principal object of them. All healthy people like their -dinners, but their dinner is not the main object of their -lives. So all healthily minded people like making money--ought -to like it, and to enjoy the sensation of winning it: but the -main object of their life is not money; it is something better -than money. - - -Don Juan - -BY LORD BYRON - -(See pages 233, 340) - - Oh, Gold! Why call we misers miserable? - Theirs is the pleasure that can never pall; - Theirs is the best bower-anchor, the chain-cable - Which holds fast other pleasures great and small. - Ye who but see the saving man at table - And scorn his temperate board, as none at all, - And wonder how the wealthy can be sparing, - Know not what visions spring from each cheese-paring.... - - Perhaps he hath great projects in his mind - To build a college, or to found a race, - An hospital, a church--and leave behind - Some dome surmounted by his meagre face; - Perhaps he fain would liberate mankind, - Even with the very ore that makes them base; - Perhaps he would be wealthiest of his nation, - Or revel in the joys of calculation.... - - "Love rules the camp, the court, the grove--for love - Is heaven, and heaven is love:" so sings the bard; - Which it were rather difficult to prove - (A thing with poetry in general hard). - Perhaps there may be something in "the grove," - At least it rhymes to "love"; but I'm prepared - To doubt (no less than landlords of their rental) - If "courts" and "camps" be quite so sentimental. - - But if Love don't, _Cash_ does, and Cash alone: - Cash rules the grove, and fells it too besides; - Without cash, camps were thin, and courts were none; - Without cash, Malthus tells you, "take no brides." - So Cash rules Love the ruler, on his own - High ground, as virgin Cynthia sways the tides: - And as for "Heaven being Love," why not say honey - Is wax? Heaven is not Love, 'tis Matrimony. - - -BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE - -(See page 181) - - Gold? yellow, glittering, precious gold?... - This yellow slave - Will knit and break religions; bless the accursed; - Make the hoar leprosy adored; place thieves, - And give them title, knee and approbation - With senators on the bench. - - -The Cave of Mammon - -(_From "The Faerie Queene"_) - -BY EDMUND SPENSER - -(Old English poet, 1552-1599) - - At last he came unto a gloomy glade - Cover'd with boughs and shrubs from heavens light, - Whereas he sitting found in secret shade - An uncouth, salvage, and uncivile wight, - Of griesly hew and fowle ill-favour'd sight; - His face with smoke was tand, and eies were bleard, - His head and beard with sout were ill bedight, - His cole-blacke hands did seem to have ben seard - In smythes fire-spitting forge, and nayles like clawes appeard.... - - And round about him lay on every side - Great heapes of gold that never could be spent; - Of which some were rude owre, not purifide, - Of Mulcibers devouring element; - Some others were new driven, and distent - Into great ingowes and to wedges square; - Some in round plates withouten moniment; - But most were stampt, and in their metal bare - The antique shapes of kings and kesars straung and rare.... - - "What secret place," quoth he, "can safely hold - So huge a mass, and hide from heavens eie? - Or where hast thou thy wonne, that so much gold - Thou canst preserve from wrong and robbery?" - "Come thou," quoth he, "and see." So by and by - Through that black covert he him led, and fownd - A darksome way, which no man could descry, - That deep descended through the hollow grownd, - And was with dread and horror compassèd arownd.... - - So soon as Mammon there arrived, the dore - To him did open and affoorded way: - Him followed eke Sir Guyon evermore, - Ne darknesse him ne daunger might dismay. - Soone as he entred was, the dore streightway - Did shutt, and from behind it forth there lept - An ugly feend, more fowle then dismall day: - The which with monstrous stalke behind him stept, - And ever as he went dew watch upon him kept. - - Well hopèd hee, ere long that hardy guest, - If ever covetous hand, or lustfull eye, - Or lips he layd on thing that likte him best, - Or ever sleepe his eie-strings did untye, - Should be his pray: and therefore still on hye - He over him did hold his cruell clawes, - Threatning with greedy gripe to doe him dye, - And rend in peeces with his ravenous pawes, - If ever he transgrest the fatall Stygian lawes. - - In all that rowme was nothing to be seene - But huge great yron chests, and coffers strong, - All bard with double bends, that none could weene - Them to efforce by violence or wrong; - On every side they placèd were along. - But all the grownd with sculs was scattered - And dead mens bones, which round about were flong; - Whose lives, it seemed, whilome there was shed, - And their vile carcases now left unburièd. - - -Mammon Marriage - -BY GEORGE MACDONALD - -(Scotch novelist and clergyman, 1824-1905) - - The croak of a raven hoar! - A dog's howl, kennel-tied! - Loud shuts the carriage-door: - The two are away on their ghastly ride - To Death's salt shore! - - Where are the love and the grace? - The bridegroom is thirsty and cold! - The bride's skull sharpens her face! - But the coachman is driving, jubilant, bold, - The devil's pace. - - The horses shiver'd and shook - Waiting gaunt and haggard - With sorry and evil look; - But swift as a drunken wind they stagger'd - 'Longst Lethe brook. - - Long since, they ran no more; - Heavily pulling they died - On the sand of the hopeless shore - Where never swell'd or sank a tide, - And the salt burns sore. - - Flat their skeletons lie, - White shadows on shining sand; - The crusted reins go high - To the crumbling coachman's bony hand - On his knees awry. - - Side by side, jarring no more, - Day and night side by side, - Each by a doorless door, - Motionless sit the bridegroom and bride - On the Dead-Sea-shore. - - -Snobs and Marriage - -(_From "The Book of Snobs"_) - -BY WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY - -(English novelist and satirist of manners, 1811-1863) - -People dare not be happy for fear of Snobs. People dare not -love for fear of Snobs. People pine away lonely under the -tyranny of Snobs. Honest kindly hearts dry up and die. Gallant -generous lads, blooming with hearty youth, swell into bloated -old bachelorhood, and burst and tumble over. Tender girls -wither into shrunken decay, and perish solitary, from whom -Snobbishness has cut off the common claim to happiness and -affection with which Nature endowed us all. My heart grows sad -as I see the blundering tyrant's handiwork. As I behold it I -swell with cheap rage, and glow with fury against the Snob. -Come down, I say, thou skulking dullness. Come down, thou -stupid bully, and give up thy brutal ghost! And I arm myself -with the sword and spear, and taking leave of my family, go -forth to do battle with that hideous ogre and giant, that -brutal despot in Snob Castle, who holds so many gentle hearts -in torture and thrall. - - -In Bohemia - -BY JOHN BOYLE O'REILLY - -(Irish-born American journalist, 1844-1890) - - The thirsty of soul soon learn to know - The moistureless froth of the social show, - The vulgar sham of the pompous feast - Where the heaviest purse is the highest priest; - The organized charity, scrimped and iced, - In the name of a cautious, statistical Christ. - - -Vanity Fair - -(_From "The Pilgrim's Progress"_) - -BY JOHN BUNYAN - -(English thinker and religious rebel, who was put in prison and -there wrote one of the world's great allegories; 1628-1688) - -Then I saw in my dream, that when they were got out of the -wilderness, they presently saw a town before them, and the name -of that town is Vanity; and at the town there is a fair kept, -called Vanity Fair. It is kept all the year long.... At this -fair are all such merchandise sold as houses, lands, trades, -places, honors, preferments, titles, countries, kingdoms, -lusts, pleasures; and delights of all sorts, such as harlots, -wives, husbands, children, masters, servants, lives, blood, -bodies, souls, silver, gold, precious stones, and what not. - -And moreover, at this fair there are at all times to be seen -jugglings, cheats, games, plays, fools, apes, knaves, and -rogues, and that of every kind. - -Here are to be seen, too, and that for nothing, thefts, -murders, adulteries, false-swearers, and that of a blood-red -color. - - -The Sins of Society - -BY BERNARD VAUGHAN - -(The sermons of a Jesuit priest, in Mayfair, London, which -caused great excitement among the "Smart Set") - -Society nowadays, as we all know, is every bit as material -as it was when Dives was alive. It still cares very little, -indeed, for what it cannot either put on or into itself. It -is self-centred. Its fair votaries must be set up by the best -man-milliner, and fed up by the best man-cook; and then, -provided they are known at the opera by their diamonds, in -Mayfair by their motors, and at Cowes by their yacht, nothing -else matters, especially if they happen to have a house at -Ascot and a launch at Henley for the racing weeks. - -It is not so much persons as things that count in this age of -materialism. Hence there is but one sin less pardonable than -that of being dull, and that is being poor. After all, there -may be some excuse for dulness if you have money, but there -is simply none at all for poverty, which like dirt on one's -shoes, or dust on one's gown, must be brushed away from sight -as soon as possible. Not even poor relatives are tolerated or -recognized, except occasionally on an "off-day," when, like -some unfortunate governesses in such households, they may be -asked to look in at tea-time, when nobody is there. Surely -all this is very contemptible, and altogether unworthy of old -English traditions. Yes, but old English traditions, with -rare exceptions, are being swept away by the incoming tide -of millionaire wealth, so that, nowadays, it matters little -what you are, but much, nay, everything, what you have. If you -command money, you command the world. If you have none, you are -nobody, though you be a prince. - - -(_From a leading London newspaper_) - -Father Vaughan's knotted lash is sharp, and he wields it -sternly, but it does not raise one weal on the delicate flesh -of these massaged and manicured Salomes and Phrynes. His scorn -is savage, but it does not produce more than a polite smile -on these soft, faultless faces. His contempt is bitter, but -it does not make a single modish harlot blush. They are dimly -amused by the excitement of the good man. They are not in the -least annoyed. They are, on the contrary, eager to ask him to -dinner. What a piquant sensation to serve adultery with the -sauce of asceticism! - -Father Vaughan says that if King Herod and Herodias and Salome -were to arrive in Mayfair they would be petted by the Smart -Set. The good father, in the innocence of his heart, underacts -the role of Sa-vaughan-rola. Herod and Herodias and Salome -have arrived. They are here. We know them. We see them daily. -Their names are in the newspapers. They were at Ascot. They -are present at the smartest weddings at St. George's, Hanover -Square. Do we despise them? Do we boycott them? Do we cut -them. By no means. We honor and reverence them. We may talk -about their bestialities in the privacy of the boudoir and the -smoking-room, but in public the theme is discreetly evaded. - - -Fifth Avenue, 1915 - -BY HERMANN HAGEDORN - -(American poet, born 1882. The following poem is a _rondel_, -an interesting case of the use of an artificial old French -verse-form in a vital way) - - The motor cars go up and down, - The painted ladies sit and smile. - Along the sidewalks, mile on mile, - Parade the dandies of the town. - - The latest hat, the latest gown, - The tedium of their souls beguile. - The motor cars go up and down, - The painted ladies sit and smile. - - In wild and icy waters drown - A thousand for a rock-bound isle. - Ten thousand in a black defile - Perish for justice or a crown. - The motor cars go up and down.... - - -Hotel Life[A] - -[A] Copyright, 1905. By permission of Charles Scribner's Sons. - -(_From "The House of Mirth"_) - -BY EDITH WHARTON - -(Contemporary American novelist) - -The environment in which Lily found herself was as strange -to her as its inhabitants. She was unacquainted with the -world of the fashionable New York hotel--a world over-heated, -over-upholstered, and overfitted with mechanical appliances -for the gratification of fantastic requirements, while the -comforts of a civilized life were as unattainable as in a -desert. Through this atmosphere of torrid splendor moved wan -beings as richly upholstered as the furniture, beings without -definite pursuits or permanent relations, who drifted on a -languid tide of curiosity from restaurant to concert-hall, from -palm-garden to music-room, from "art-exhibit" to dressmaker's -opening. High-stepping horses or elaborately equipped motors -waited to carry these ladies into vague metropolitan distances, -whence they returned, still more wan from the weight of their -sables, to be sucked back into the stifling inertia of the -hotel routine. Somewhere behind them in the background of -their lives, there was doubtless a real past, peopled by real -human activities: they themselves were probably the product of -strong ambitions, persistent energies, diversified contacts -with the wholesome roughness of life; yet they had no more real -existence than the poet's shades in limbo. - -Lily had not been long in this pallid world without discovering -that Mrs. Hatch was its most substantial figure.... The daily -details of her existence were as strange to Lily as its general -tenor. The lady's habits were marked by an Oriental indolence -and disorder peculiarly trying to her companion. Mrs. Hatch -and her friends seemed to float together outside the bounds -of time and space. No definite hours were kept; no fixed -obligations existed: night and day floated into one another -in a blur of confused and retarded engagements, so that one -had the impression of lunching at the tea-hour, while dinner -was often merged in the noisy after-theatre supper which -prolonged Mrs. Hatch's vigil until daylight. Through this -jumble of futile activities came and went a strange throng of -hangers-on--manicures, beauty-doctors, hair-dressers, teachers -of bridge, of French, of "physical development." ... Mrs. Hatch -swam in a haze of indeterminate enthusiasms, of aspirations -culled from the stage, the newspapers, the fashion-journals, -and a gaudy world of sport still more completely beyond her -companion's ken. - - -The Parasitic Female - -(_From "Woman and Labor"_) - -BY OLIVE SCHREINER - -(In the preface to this book, it is explained that it is -only a faint sketch from memory of part of a great work, the -manuscript of which was destroyed during the Boer war) - -In place of the active laboring woman, upholding society by her -toil, had come the effete wife, concubine or prostitute, clad -in fine raiment, the work of others' fingers; fed on luxurious -viands, the result of others' toil, waited on and tended by the -labor of others. The need for her physical labor having gone, -and mental industry not having taken its place, she bedecked -and scented her person, or had it bedecked and scented for -her, she lay upon her sofa, or drove or was carried out in her -vehicle, and, loaded with jewels, she sought by dissipations -and amusements to fill up the inordinate blank left by the -lack of productive activity. And the hand whitened and the -frame softened, till at last, the very duties of motherhood, -which were all the constitution of her life left her, became -distasteful, and, from the instant when her infant came damp -from her womb, it passed into the hands of others, to be -tended and reared by them; and from youth to age her offspring -often owed nothing to her personal toil. In many cases so -complete was her enervation, that at last the very joy of -giving life, the glory and beatitude of a virile womanhood, -became distasteful; and she sought to evade it, not because of -its interference with more imperious duties to those already -born of her, or to her society, but because her existence of -inactivity had robbed her of all joy in strenuous exertion -and endurance in any form. Finely clad, tenderly housed, life -became for her merely the gratification of her own physical and -sexual appetites, and the appetites of the male, through the -stimulation of which she could maintain herself. And, whether -as kept wife, kept mistress, or prostitute, she contributed -nothing to the active and sustaining labors of her society. -She had attained to the full development of that type which, -whether in modern Paris or New York or London, or in ancient -Greece, Assyria, or Rome, is essentially one in its features, -its nature, and its results. She was the "fine lady," the human -female parasite--the most deadly microbe which can make its -appearance on the surface of any social organism. - -Wherever in the history of the past this type has reached its -full development and has comprised the bulk of the females -belonging to any dominant class or race, it has heralded its -decay. In Assyria, Greece, Rome, Persia, as in Turkey today, -the same material conditions have produced the same social -disease among the wealthy and dominant races; and again and -again, when the nation so affected has come into contact with -nations more healthily constituted, this diseased condition has -contributed to its destruction. - - -In the Market-Place - -(_From "Beyond the Breakers"_) - -BY GEORGE STERLING - -(California poet, born 1869) - - In Babylon, high Babylon, - What gear is bought and sold? - All merchandise beneath the sun - That bartered is for gold; - Amber and oils from far beyond - The desert and the fen, - And wines whereof our throats are fond-- - Yea! and the souls of men! - - In Babylon, grey Babylon, - What goods are sold and bought? - Vesture of linen subtly spun, - And cups from agate wrought; - Raiment of many-colored silk - For some fair denizen, - And ivory more white than milk-- - Yea! and the souls of men!... - - In Babylon, sad Babylon, - What chattels shall invite? - A wife whenas your youth is done, - Or leman for a night. - Before Astarte's portico - The torches flare again; - The shadows come, the shadows go-- - Yea! and the souls of men! - - In Babylon, dark Babylon, - Who take the wage of shame? - The scribe and singer, one by one, - That toil for gold and fame. - They grovel to their masters' mood - The blood upon the pen - Assigns their souls to servitude-- - Yea! and the souls of men! - - -Dinner à la Tango - -BY EDWIN BJÖRKMAN - -(American critic, born in Sweden 1866) - -It is after eight o'clock in one of the smaller dining-rooms of -a fashionable New York hotel. The middle of the room is cleared -for dancing. At one end a small orchestra is working furiously -at a melody that affects the mind like the triple-distilled -essence of nervous unrest. Every table is occupied by merry -groups of men and women in evening dress. Above our heads are -strung almost invisible wires, to which are attached colored -lanterns, gaudy mechanical butterflies, and huge red and green -toy balloons. Just as we enter, a stoutish, heavy-faced chap -with a monocle slaps the next man on the back and cries out: - -"We must be gay, old boy!" - -The open square in the middle is filled with dancers. They trip -and slide and dip. They side-step and back-step and gyrate. -They wave their arms like pump-handles, or raise them skyward, -palm to palm, as if in prayer. There are among them young girls -with shining faces full of inarticulate desire; simpering -young men with a leer lurking at the bottom of their vacant -stares; stiff-legged and white-haired old men with drooping -eyelids; and stern-jawed matrons with hand-made faces of a -startling purple hue. But on every face, young or old, bright -or dull, there beams a smile or clings a smirk, for the spirit -of the place demands gaiety at any price. - -On the tables are strewn gaily trimmed packages that open with -a report, and yield up gaily colored paper caps. Rubicund -gentlemen place the caps over their bald spots, while women -pick the big butterflies to pieces, and put the fragments into -their hair until they look like barbarous princesses. Men and -women drink and dance, feast and flirt, sing and laugh and -shout.... - -Gay is the scene indeed: gay the music and the laughter; gay -the wine that sparkles in the glasses; gay the swirling, -swaying maze of dancing couples; gay the bright balloons and -brilliant dresses of the women. And it is as if my mind's eye -saw these words written in burning letters on the wall: - - _Leave care behind, all ye that enter here!_ - -But out there on Fifth Avenue a lot of unkempt, unreasonable -men and women are marching savagely behind a black flag. - - -Evils of Gold - -BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE - -(See pages 181, 492) - - O thou sweet king killer, and dear divorce - 'Twixt natural son and sire! thou bright defiler - Of Hymen's purest bed! thou valiant Mars; - Thou ever young, fresh, loved, and delicate wooer, - Whose blush doth thaw the consecrated snow - That lies on Dian's lap! thou visible god, - That solder'st close impossibilities, - And mak'st them kiss; that speak'st with every tongue, - To every purpose! O thou touch of hearts! - Think, thy slave, man, rebels; and by thy virtue - Set them into confounding odds, that beasts - May have the world in empire. - - -The Theory of the Leisure Class[A] - -[A] By permission of the Macmillan Co. - -BY THORSTEIN VEBLEN - -(American university professor) - -The function of dress as an evidence of ability to pay does -not end with simply showing that the wearer consumes valuable -goods in excess of what is required for physical comfort. -Simple conspicuous waste of goods is effective and gratifying -as far as it goes; it is good _prima facie_ evidence of -pecuniary success, and consequently _prima facie_ evidence -of social worth. But dress has subtler and more far-reaching -possibilities than this crude, first-hand evidence of -wasteful consumption only. If, in addition to showing that -the wearer can afford to consume freely and uneconomically, -it can also be shown in the same stroke that he or she is not -under the necessity of earning a livelihood, the evidence of -social worth is enhanced in a very considerable degree. Our -dress, therefore, in order to serve its purpose effectually, -should not only be expensive, but it should also make plain -to all observers that the wearer is not engaged in any kind -of productive labor. In the evolutionary process by which our -system of dress has been elaborated into its present admirably -perfect adaptation to its purpose, this subsidiary line of -evidence has received due attention. A detailed examination -of what passes in popular apprehension for elegant apparel -will show that it is contrived at every point to convey the -impression that the wearer does not habitually put forth -any useful effort. It goes without saying that no apparel -can be considered elegant, or even decent, if it shows the -effect of manual labor on the part of the wearer, in the way -of soil or wear. The pleasing effect of neat and spotless -garments is chiefly, if not altogether, due to their carrying -the suggestion of leisure--exemption from personal contact -with industrial processes of any kind. Much of the charm -that invests the patent-leather shoe, the stainless linen, -the lustrous cylindrical hat, and the walking-stick, which -so greatly enhance the native dignity of a gentleman, comes -of their pointedly suggesting that the wearer cannot when so -attired bear a hand in any employment that is directly and -immediately of any human use.... - -The dress of women goes even farther than that of men in the -way of demonstrating the wearer's abstinence from productive -employment. It needs no argument to enforce the generalization -that the more elegant styles of feminine bonnets go even -farther towards making work impossible than does the man's -high hat. The woman's shoe adds the so-called French heel -to the evidence of enforced leisure afforded by its polish; -because this high heel obviously makes any, even the simplest -and most necessary manual work extremely difficult. The like -is true even in a higher degree of the skirt and the rest of -the drapery which characterizes woman's dress. The substantial -reason for our tenacious attachment to the skirt is just this: -it is expensive and it hampers the wearer at every turn and -incapacitates her for all useful exertion. The like is true of -the feminine custom of wearing the hair excessively long. - -But the woman's apparel not only goes beyond that of the modern -man in the degree in which it argues exemption from labor; it -also adds a peculiar and highly characteristic feature which -differs in kind from anything habitually practiced by the men. -This feature is the class of contrivances of which the corset -is the typical example. The corset is, in economic theory, -substantially a mutilation, undergone for the purpose of -lowering the subject's vitality and rendering her permanently -and obviously unfit for work. It is true, the corset impairs -the personal attractions of the wearer, but the loss suffered -on that score is offset by the gain in reputability which comes -of her visibly increased expensiveness and infirmity. It may -broadly be set down that the womanliness of woman's apparel -resolves itself, in point of substantial fact, into the more -effective hindrance to useful exertion offered by the garments -peculiar to women. - - -The Vanity of Human Wishes - -BY SAMUEL JOHNSON - -(English essayist and poet, 1709-1784. The poem from which -these lines are taken is a paraphrase of the Roman poet Juvenal) - - But, scarce observed, the knowing and the bold - Fall in the general massacre of gold; - Wide wasting pest! that rages unconfined, - And crowds with crimes the records of mankind; - For gold his sword the hireling ruffian draws, - For gold the hireling judge distorts the laws; - Wealth heaped on wealth, nor truth nor safety buys, - The dangers gather as the treasures rise. - - -Letters from a Chinese Official - -BY G. LOWES DICKINSON - - (This little book, published anonymously, was taken for a genuine - document by many critics, among others, Mr. William Jennings Bryan, - who wrote an elaborate answer to it. The writer is an English - university lecturer) - -When I review my impressions of the average English citizen, -impressions based on many years' study, what kind of man do I -see? I see one divorced from Nature, but unreclaimed by Art; -instructed, but not educated; assimilative, but incapable -of thought. Trained in the tenets of a religion in which he -does not believe--for he sees it flatly contradicted in every -relation of life--he dimly feels that it is prudent to conceal -under a mask of piety the atheism he is hardly intelligent -enough to avow. His religion is conventional; and, what is -more important, his morals are as conventional as his creed. -Charity, chastity, self-abnegation, contempt of the world and -its prizes--these are the words on which he has been fed from -his childhood upward. And words they have remained, for neither -has he anywhere seen them practiced by others, nor has it ever -occurred to him to practice them himself. Their influence, -while it is strong enough to make him a chronic hypocrite, is -not so strong as to show him the hypocrite he is. Deprived -on the one hand of the support of a true ethical standard, -embodied in the life of the society of which he is a member, -he is duped, on the other, by lip-worship of an impotent -ideal. Abandoned thus to his instinct, he is content to do as -others do, and, ignoring the things of the spirit, to devote -himself to material ends. He becomes a mere tool; and of such -your society is composed. By your works you may be known. Your -triumphs in the mechanical arts are the obverse of your failure -in all that calls for spiritual insight. - - -Stupidity Street - -BY RALPH HODGSON - -(Contemporary English poet, who publishes his work in tiny -pamphlets with quaint illustrations) - - I saw with open eyes - Singing birds sweet - Sold in the shops - For the people to eat, - Sold in the shops of - Stupidity Street. - - I saw in vision - The worm in the wheat; - And in the shops nothing - For people to eat; - Nothing for sale in - Stupidity Street. - - -The Souls of Black Folk - -BY W. E. BURGHARDT DU BOIS - -(Professor in the University of Atlanta, born 1868; a prominent -advocate of the rights of his race) - -In the Black World, the Preacher and Teacher embodied once -the ideals of this people,--the strife for another and a -juster world, the vague dream of righteousness, the mystery of -knowing; but today the danger is that these ideals, with their -simple beauty and weird inspiration, will suddenly sink to a -question of cash and a lust for gold. Here stands this black -young Atalanta, girding herself for the race that must be run; -and if her eyes be still toward the hills and sky as in the -days of old, then we may look for noble running; but what if -some ruthless or wily or even thoughtless Hippomenes lay golden -apples before her? What if the negro people be wooed from a -strife for righteousness, from a love of knowing, to regard -dollars as the be-all and the end-all of life? What if to the -Mammonism of America be added the rising Mammonism of the -re-born South, and the Mammonism of this South be reinforced -by the budding Mammonism of its half-awakened black millions? -Whither, then, is the new-world quest of Goodness and Beauty -and Truth gone glimmering? - - -Co-operation and Nationality - -BY "A.E." (GEORGE W. RUSSELL) - -(See page 252) - -When steam first began to puff and wheels go round at so -many revolutions per minute, the wild child humanity, who -had hitherto developed his civilization in picturesque -unconsciousness of where he was going, and without any set -plan, was caught and put in harness. What are called business -habits were invented to make the life of man run in harmony -with the steam engine, and his movements rival the train in -punctuality. The factory system was invented, and it was an -instantaneous success. Men were clothed with cheapness and -uniformity. Their minds grew numerously alike, cheap and -uniform also. They were at their desks at nine o'clock, or at -their looms at six. They adjusted themselves to the punctual -wheels. The rapid piston acted as pacemaker, and in England, -which started first in the modern race for wealth, it was an -enormous advantage to have tireless machines of superhuman -activity to make the pace, and nerve men, women and children -to the fullest activity possible. Business methods had a long -start in England, and irregularity and want of uniformity -became after a while such exceptions that they were regarded as -deadly sins. The grocer whose supplies of butter did not arrive -week after week by the same train, at the same hour, and of the -same quality, of the same color, the same saltness, and in the -same kind of box, quarrelled with the wholesaler, who in his -turn quarrelled with the producer. Only the most machine-like -race could win custom. After a while every country felt it had -to be drilled or become extinct. Some made themselves into -machines to enter the English market, some to preserve their -own markets. Even the indolent Oriental is getting keyed up, -and in another fifty years the Bedouin of the desert will be at -his desk and the wild horseman of Tartary will be oiling his -engines. - - -The Communist Manifesto - -BY KARL MARX AND FREDERICK ENGELS - -(Published in 1848, the charter of the modern Socialist -movement) - -The bourgeoisie, wherever it has got the upper hand, has put -an end to all feudal, patriarchal, idyllic relations. It has -pitilessly torn asunder the motley feudal ties that bound -man to his "natural superiors," and has left remaining no -other nexus between man and man than naked self-interest, -than callous "cash payment." It has drowned the most heavenly -ecstasies of religious fervor, of chivalrous enthusiasm, of -philistine sentimentalism, in the icy water of egotistical -calculation. It has resolved personal worth into exchange -value, and in place of the numberless indefeasible chartered -freedoms, has set up that single, unconscionable freedom--Free -Trade. - - -Portrait of an American - -BY LOUIS UNTERMEYER - -(See pages 42, 418) - - He slobbers over sentimental plays - And sniffles over sentimental songs. - He tells you often how he sadly longs - For the ideals of the dear old days. - In gatherings he is the first to raise - His voice against "our country's shameful wrongs." - He storms at greed. His hard, flat tone prolongs - The hymns and mumbled platitudes of praise. - - I heard him in his office Friday past. - "Look here," he said, "their talk is all a bluff; - You mark my words, this thing will never last. - Let them walk out--they'll come back quick enough. - We'll have all hands at work--and working fast! - How do they think we're running this--for _love_?" - - -A Living Wage - -BY J. PIERPONT MORGAN - -(American banker; testimony before the United States Commission -on Industrial Relations) - -QUESTION: Do you consider ten dollars a week enough for a -'longshoreman with a family to support? - -ANSWER: If that's all he can get, and he takes it, I should say -it's enough. - - -Impressions - -BY HAROLD MONRO - -(Contemporary English poet) - - He's something in the city. Who shall say - His fortune was not honorably won? - Few people can afford to give away - As he, or help the poor as he has done. - - Neat in his habits, temperate in his life: - Oh, who shall dare his character besmirch? - He scarcely ever quarrels with his wife, - And every Sabbath strictly goes to church. - - He helps the village club, and in the town - Attends parochial meetings once a week, - Pays for each purchase ready-money down: - Is anyone against him?--Who will speak? - - There is a widow somewhere in the north, - On whom slow ruin gradually fell, - While she, believing that her God was wroth, - Suffered without a word--or she might tell. - - And there's a beggar somewhere in the west, - Whose fortune vanished gradually away: - Now he but drags his limbs in horror lest - Starvation feed on them--or he might say. - - And there are children stricken with disease, - Too ignorant to curse him, or too weak. - In a true portrait of him all of these - Must figure in the background--they shall speak. - - -New Varieties of Sin - -(_From "Sin and Society"_) - -BY EDWARD ALSWORTH ROSS - -(American college professor, born 1866, a prominent advocate of -academic freedom) - -Today the sacrifice of life incidental to quick success rarely -calls for the actual spilling of blood. How decent are the -pale slayings of the quack, the adulterator, and the purveyor -of polluted water, compared with the red slayings of the -vulgar bandit or assassin! Even if there is blood-letting, the -long-range, tentacular nature of modern homicide eliminates -all personal collision. What an abyss between the knife-play -of brawlers and the law-defying neglect to fence dangerous -machinery in a mill, or to furnish cars with safety couplers! -The providing of unsuspecting passengers with "cork" -life-preservers secretly loaded with bars of iron to make up -for their deficiency in weight of cork, is spiritually akin -to the treachery of Joab, who, taking Amasa by the beard "to -kiss him," smote Amasa "in the fifth rib"; but it wears a very -different aspect. The current methods of annexing the property -of others are characterized by a pleasing indirectness and -refinement. The furtive, apprehensive manner of the till-tapper -or the porch-climber would jar disagreeably upon the tax-dodger -"swearing off" his property, or the city official concealing -a "rake-off" in his specifications for a public building. The -work of the card-sharp and the thimblerigger shocks a type of -man that will not stick at the massive "artistic swindling" of -the contemporary promoter.... - -One might suppose that an exasperated public would sternly -castigate these modern sins. But the fact is, the very -qualities that lull the conscience of the sinner blind the -eyes of the on-lookers. People are sentimental, and bastinado -wrong-doing not according to its harmfulness, but according to -the infamy that has come to attach to it. Undiscerning, they -chastise with scorpions the old authentic sins, but spare the -new. They do not see that boodling is treason, that blackmail -is piracy, that embezzlement is theft, that speculation -is gambling, that tax dodging is larceny, that railroad -discrimination is treachery, that the factory labor of children -is slavery, that deleterious adulteration is murder. It has not -come home to them that the fraudulent promoter "devours widows' -houses," that the monopolist "grinds the faces of the poor," -that mercenary editors and spellbinders "put bitter for sweet -and sweet for bitter." The cloven hoof hides in patent leather; -and to-day, as in Hosea's time, the people "are destroyed for -lack of knowledge." The mob lynches the red-handed slayer, -when it ought to keep a gallows Haman-high for the venal mine -inspector, the seller of infected milk, the maintainer of a -fire-trap theatre. The child-beater is forever blasted in -reputation, but the exploiter of infant toil, or the concocter -of a soothing syrup for the drugging of babies, stands a pillar -of society. The petty shoplifter is more abhorred than the -stealer of a franchise, and the wife-whipper is outcast long -before the man who sends his over-insured ship to founder with -its crew. - - -BY JACK LONDON - -Far better to have the front of one's face pushed in by the -fist of an honest prize-fighter than to have the lining of -one's stomach corroded by the embalmed beef of a dishonest -manufacturer. - - -Tono-Bungay - -BY H. G. WELLS - - (English novelist, born 1866; author of many strange romances of - modern science, and later, of penetrating studies of social injustice - and hypocrisy. The present novel tells of the career of a financial - potentate who begins life with a patent-medicine business) - -It was my uncle's genius that did it. No doubt he -needed me--I was, I will admit, his indispensable right -hand; but his was the brain to conceive. He wrote every -advertisement; some of them even he sketched. You must -remember that his were the days before the _Times_ -took to enterprise and the vociferous hawking of that -antiquated _Encyclopædia_. That alluring, button-holing, -let-me-just-tell-you-quite-soberly-something-you-ought-to-know -style of newspaper advertisement, with every now and then a -convulsive jump of some attractive phrase into capitals, was -then almost a novelty. "Many people who are MODERATELY well -think they are QUITE well," was one of his early efforts. The -jerks in capitals were, "DO NOT NEED DRUGS OR MEDICINE," and -"SIMPLY A PROPER REGIMEN TO GET YOU IN TONE." One was warned -against the chemist or druggist who pushed "much-advertised -nostrums" on one's attention. That trash did more harm than -good. The thing needed was regimen--and Tono-Bungay! - -Very early, too, was that bright little quarter column, at -least it was usually a quarter column in the evening papers: -"HILARITY--TONO-BUNGAY. Like Mountain Air in the Veins." -The penetrating trio of questions: "Are you bored with your -Business? Are you bored with your Dinner? Are you bored with -your Wife?"--that, too, was in our Gower Street days. Both -these we had in our first campaign when we worked London south, -central, and west; and then, too, we had our first poster,--the -HEALTH, BEAUTY AND STRENGTH one. That was his design; I happen -still to have got by me the first sketch he made for it.... - -By all modern standards the business was, as my uncle would -say, "absolutely _bona fide_." We sold our stuff and got the -money, and spent the money honestly in lies and clamor to sell -more stuff. Section by section we spread it over the whole -of the British Isles; first working the middle-class London -suburbs, then the outer suburbs, then the home counties, -then going (with new bills and a more pious style of "ad") -into Wales, a great field always for a new patent-medicine, -and then into Lancashire. My uncle had in his inner office a -big map of England, and as we took up fresh sections of the -local press and our consignments invaded new areas, flags -for advertisements and pink underlines for orders showed our -progress. - -"The romance of modern commerce, George!" my uncle would say, -rubbing his hands together and drawing in air through his -teeth. "The romance of modern commerce, eh? Conquest. Province -by Province. Like sogers." - -We subjugated England and Wales; we rolled over the Cheviots -with a special adaptation containing eleven per cent. of -absolute alcohol; "Tono-Bungay: Thistle Brand." We also had -the Fog poster adapted to a kilted Briton in a misty Highland -scene.... - -As I look back at them now, those energetic years seem all -compacted to a year or so; from the days of our first hazardous -beginning in Farrington Street with barely a thousand pounds' -worth of stuff or credit all told--and that got by something -perilously like snatching--to the days when my uncle went to -the public on behalf of himself and me (one-tenth share) and -our silent partners, the drug wholesalers and the printing -people and the owner of that group of magazines and newspapers, -to ask with honest confidence for £150,000. Those silent -partners were remarkably sorry, I know, that they had not taken -larger shares and given us longer credit when the subscriptions -came pouring in. My uncle had a clear half to play with -(including the one-tenth understood to be mine). - -£150,000--think of it!--for the goodwill in a string of lies -and a trade in bottles of mitigated water! Do you realize the -madness of the world that sanctions such a thing? Perhaps you -don't. At times use and wont certainly blinded me. If it had -not been for Ewart, I don't think I should have had an inkling -of the wonderfulness of this development of my fortunes; I -should have grown accustomed to it, fallen in with all its -delusions as completely as my uncle presently did. He was -immensely proud of the flotation. "They've never been given -such value," he said, "for a dozen years." But Ewart, with his -gesticulating hairy hands and bony wrists, is single-handed -chorus to all this as it plays itself over again in my memory, -and he kept my fundamental absurdity illuminated for me during -all this astonishing time. - -"It's just on all fours with the rest of things," he remarked; -"only more so. You needn't think you're anything out of the -way." - - -Man the Reformer - -BY RALPH WALDO EMERSON - -(See page 235) - -It is only necessary to ask a few questions as to the progress -of the articles of commerce from the fields where they grew, -to our houses, to become aware that we eat and drink and -wear perjury and fraud in a hundred commodities. We are all -implicated in this charge. The sins of our trade belong to -no class, to no individual. Everybody partakes, everybody -confesses, yet none feels himself accountable. The trail of -the serpent reaches into all the lucrative professions and -practices of man. Nay, the evil custom reaches into the whole -institution of property, until our laws which establish and -protect it seem not to be the issue of love and reason, but of -selfishness. - - -To a Certain Rich Young Ruler - -BY CLEMENT WOOD - -(A sonnet which was widely circulated at the time of the -Colorado coal-strike of 1913-14) - - White-fingered lord of murderous events, - Well are you guarding what your father gained; - With torch and rifle you have well maintained - The lot to which a heavenly providence - Has called you; laborers, risen in defense - Of liberty and life, lie charred and brained - About your mines, whose gutted hills are stained - With slaughter of these newer innocents. - - Ah, but your bloody fingers clenched in prayer! - Your piety, which all the world has seen! - The godly odor spreading through the air - From your efficient charity machine! - Thus you rehearse for your high rôle up there, - Ruling beside the lowly Nazarene! - - -FROM THE POLITICS OF ARISTOTLE - -(See page 480) - -A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to -religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment -from a ruler whom they consider godfearing and pious. On the -other hand, they do less easily move against him, believing -that he has the gods on his side. - - -BY AMOS - -(Hebrew prophet, B. C. 760) - -I hate, I despise your feasts, and I will take no delight in -your solemn assemblies. Yea, though you offer me your burnt -offerings and meal offerings, I will not accept them; neither -will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou -away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the -melody of thy viols. But let judgment roll down as waters, and -righteousness as a mighty stream. - - -Concerning Charity - -BY JOHN R. LAWSON - - (Part of a statement before the United States Commission on Industrial - Relations, 1915. The writer was the representative of the miners in - charge of the Colorado strike, and went to work as a pit-boy at the - age of eight) - -There is another cause of industrial discontent. This is the -skillful attempt that is being made to substitute Philanthropy -for Justice. There is not one of these foundations, now -spreading their millions over the world in showy generosity, -that does not draw those millions from some form of industrial -injustice. It is not _their_ money that these lords of -commercialized virtue are spending, but the withheld wages of -the American working-class. - -I sat in this room and heard a great philanthropist read the -list of activities of his Foundation "to promote the well-being -of mankind." An international health commission to extend to -foreign countries and peoples the work of eradicating the -hookworm; the promotion of medical education and health in -China; the investigations of vice conditions in Europe; one -hundred thousand dollars for the American Academy in Rome, -twenty thousand a year for widows' pensions in New York, one -million for the relief of Belgians, thirty-four millions for -the University of Chicago, thirty-four millions for a General -Education Board. A wave of horror swept over me during that -reading, and I say to you that that same wave is now rushing -over the entire working-class of the United States. Health for -China, a refuge for birds in Louisiana, food for the Belgians, -pensions for New York widows, university training for the -elect--and never a thought or a dollar for the many thousands -of men, women and children who starved in Colorado, for the -widows robbed of husbands and children of their fathers, by -law-violating conditions in the mines. There are thousands of -this great philanthropist's former employees in Colorado today -who wish to God that they were in Belgium to be fed, or birds -to be cared for tenderly. - - -Crowds - -BY GERALD STANLEY LEE - -(Contemporary American author and lecturer, formerly a -clergyman) - -As I have watched my fellow human beings, what I have come to -want most of all in this world is the inspired employer--or -what I have called the inspired millionaire or organizer; the -man who can take the machines off the backs of the people, and -take the machines out of their wits, and make the machines free -their bodies and serve their souls. - -If we ever have the inspired employer, he will have to be made -by the social imagination of the people, by creating the spirit -of expectation and challenge toward the rich among the masses -of the people.... - -Nothing is more visionary than trying to run a world without -dreams, especially an economic world. It is because even bad -dreams are better in this world than having no dreams at all -that bad people so-called are so largely allowed to run it. - -In the final and practical sense, the one factor in economics -to be reckoned with is Desire. - - -The Dying Boss - -BY LINCOLN STEFFENS - - (American writer upon social problems, born 1866. A story of the - political leader of a corrupt city, who lies upon his death-bed, and - has asked to have the meaning of his own career made plain to him) - -"What kind of a kid were you, Boss?" I began. - -"Pretty tough, I guess," he answered. - -"Born here?" - -"Yes; in the Third Ward." - -"Tough then as it is now?" - -"Tougher," he said. - -"Produces toughness the way Kansas produces corn," I remarked. -"Father?" I asked. - -"Kept a saloon; a driver before that." - -"Mother a girl of the ward?" - -"Yes," he said. "She was brought up there; but she came to this -country with her father from England, as a baby." - -"What sort of woman was she?" - -"Quiet," he said; "always still; silent-like; a worker. Kept -the old man straight--some; and me too--'s well as she could. -She's th' one that got him off th' wagon and started in th' -liquor business." - -"You were poor people?" - -"Yes." - -"And common?" - -"Y-yes-s." - -"A child of the people," I commented: "the common people." - -He nodded, wondering. - -"One of the great, friendless mass of helpless humanity?" - -He nodded. - -"That wasn't your fault, was it?" I said. "Not to blame for -that? That's not your sin, is it?" - -He shook his head, staring, and he was so mystified that I -said that most people were "pretty terribly punished for being -born poor and common." He nodded, but he wasn't interested or -enlightened, apparently. "And you learned, somehow, that the -thing to do was to get yourself on, get up out of it, make a -success of your life?" - -"Yes," he said slowly. "I don't know how, but I did get that, -somehow." - -"That was the ideal they taught you," I said. "Never heard of -getting everybody on and making a success of society; of the -city and State?" - -But this line of questioning was beyond him. I changed my -tack.... - -"In that first interview we had," I said, "you insisted that, -while the business boss was the real boss, the sovereign, you -had some power of your own. And you described it today as the -backing of your own ward, which, you said, you had in your -pocket. When you became boss, you got the backing, the personal -support, of other wards, didn't you?" - -"Seven of 'em," he counted. "Made th' leaders myself." - -"And you developed a big personal following in other wards, -too?" - -"Sure," he said; "in every one of them. I was a popular leader; -not only a boss, but a friend with friends, lots of 'em. The -people liked me." - -"That's the point," I said. "The people liked you." - -He nodded warmly. - -"The common people," I went on, and he was about to nod, but -he didn't. And his fingers became still. "Your own people--the -great helpless mass of the friendless mob--liked you." His eyes -were fixed on mine. "They followed you; they trusted you." - -I paused a moment, then I asked: "Didn't they, Boss?" - -"Yes," he said with his lips alone. - -"They didn't set a watch on you, did they?" I continued. "They -voted as you bade them vote, elected the fellows you put on the -tickets of their party for them. And, after they elected them, -they left it to them, and to you, to be true to them; to stick -to them; to be loyal." - -His eyes fell to his fingers, and his fingers began again to -pick. - -"And when your enemies got after you and accused you," I said, -"the people stuck by you?" - -No answer; only the fingers picked. - -"The great, friendless mass--the hopeful, hopeless -majority--they were true to you and the party, and they -re-elected you." - -His eyes were on mine again, and there was light in them; but -it was the reflected light of fire, and it burned. - -"And you--you betrayed them," I said; and I hurried on, piling -on the fuel, all I had. "They have power, the people have, -and they have needs, great common needs; and they have great -common wealth. All your fat, rich franchises, all your great -social values, the values added to land and franchise by the -presence of the great, common, numerous mass, all the city's -public property--all are theirs, their common property. They -own enough in common to meet all their great common needs, and -they have an organization to keep for them and to develop for -their use and profit all these great needed social values. It -is the city; the city government; city, State, and national. -And they have, they breed in their own ranks, men like you, -natural political leaders, to go into public life and lead -them, teach them, represent them. And they leave it all to -you, trusting you. And you, all of you--not you alone, Boss, -but all of you: ward leaders; State leaders; all the national -political bosses--you all betray them. You receive from them -their votes, so faithfully given, and you transform them into -office-holders whom you teach or corrupt and compel to obey -you. So you reorganize the city government. You, not the Mayor, -are the head of it; you, not the council, are its legislature; -you, not the heads of departments, are the administrators of -the property and the powers of the people of your city; the -common, helpless, friendless people. And, having thus organized -and taken over all this power and property and--this beautiful -faith, you do not protect their rights and their property. -What do you do with it, Boss?" - -He started. He could not answer. I answered for him: - -"You sell 'em out; you turn over the whole thing--the city, -its property, and its people--to Business, to the big fellows; -to the business leaders of the people. You deliver, not only -franchises, privileges, private rights and public properties, -and values, Boss: you--all of you together--have delivered the -government itself to these men, so that today this city, this -State, and the national government represent, normally, not the -people, not the great mass of common folk, who need protection, -but--Business; preferably bad business; privileged business; a -class; a privileged class." - -He had sunk back among the pillows, his eyes closed, his -fingers still. I sounded him. - -"That's the system," I repeated. "It's an organization of -social treason, and the political boss is the chief traitor. It -couldn't stand without the submission of the people; the real -bosses have to get that. They can't buy the people--too many of -them; so they buy the people's leaders, and the disloyalty of -the political boss is the key to the whole thing." - -These was no response. I plumbed him again. - -"And you--you believe in loyalty, Boss," I said--"in being true -to your own." His eyes opened. "That's your virtue, you say, -and you said, too, that you have practiced it." - -"Don't," he murmured. - - -A Ballad of Dead Girls - -BY DANA BURNET - -(American poet, born 1888) - - Scarce had they brought the bodies down - Across the withered floor, - Than Max Rogosky thundered at - The District Leader's door. - - Scarce had the white-lipped mothers come - To search the fearful noon, - Than little Max stood shivering - In Tom McTodd's saloon! - - In Tom McTodd's saloon he stood, - Beside the silver bar, - Where any honest lad may stand, - And sell his vote at par. - - "Ten years I've paid the System's tax," - The words fell, quivering, raw; - "And now I want the thing I bought-- - Protection from the law!" - - The Leader smiled a twisted smile: - "Your doors were locked," he said. - "You've overstepped the limit, Max-- - A hundred women ... dead!" - - Then Max Rogosky gripped the bar - And shivered where he stood. - "You listen now to me," he cried, - "Like business fellers should! - - "I've paid for all my hundred dead, - I've paid, I've paid, I've paid." - His ragged laughter rang, and died-- - For he was sore afraid. - - "I've paid for wooden hall and stair, - I've paid to strain my floors, - I've paid for rotten fire-escapes, - For all my bolted doors. - - "Your fat inspectors came and came-- - I crossed their hands with gold. - And now I want the thing I bought, - The thing the System sold." - - The District Leader filled a glass - With whiskey from the bar, - (The little silver counter where - He bought men's souls at par.) - - And well he knew that he must give - The thing that he had sold, - Else men should doubt the System's word, - Keep back the System's gold. - - The whiskey burned beneath his tongue: - "A hundred women dead! - I guess the Boss can fix it up, - Go home--and hide," he said. - - * * * * * - - All day they brought the bodies down - From Max Rogosky's place-- - And oh, the fearful touch of flame - On hand and breast and face! - - All day the white-lipped mothers came - To search the sheeted dead; - And Horror strode the blackened walls. - Where Death had walked in red. - - But Max Rogosky did not weep. - (He knew that tears were vain.) - He paid the System's price, and lived - To lock his doors again. - - -BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE - -(See pages 181, 492, 507) - - The strongest castle, tower and town, - The golden bullet beats it down. - - -The Miner's Tale - -BY MAY BEALS - -(A tragedy at Coal Creek, Tennessee, May 19, 1902) - - The lord of us he lay in his bed-- - Good right had he, good right! - But we were up before night had fled, - Out to the mine in the dawning red; - Slaves were we all, by hunger led - Into the land of night. - - The master knew of our danger well, - We also knew--we knew. - His greed for profits had served him well, - But he over-reached him, as fate befell, - And I alone am left to tell, - Death's horrors I lived through - - The master dreamed, mayhap, of his gold, - But we were awake--awake, - Buried alive in the black earth's mold; - And some who yet could a pencil hold, - Wrote till their hands in death grew cold, - For wife or sweetheart's sake. - - Letters they wrote of farewell--farewell, - To mother, sweetheart, wife: - What words of comfort could they tell-- - Comfort for those who loved them well, - Up from the jaws of the earth's black hell - That was crushing out their life. - - The master cursed, as masters do-- - Good right had he, good right! - But the fear of our vengeance stirred him, too; - He sailed, with some of his pirate crew, - To Europe, and reveled a year or two; - Great might has he--great might! - - -Romance - -BY SEYMOUR DEMING - -(Contemporary American writer) - -The old idea of romance: The country boy goes to the city, -marries his employer's daughter, enslaves some hundreds of his -fellow humans, gets rich, and leaves a public library to his -home town. - -The new idea of romance: To undo some of the mischief done by -the old idea of romance. - - -The Soul's Errand - -BY SIR WALTER RALEIGH - -(Written by the English soldier and statesman, 1552-1618, just -before his execution) - - Go, Soul, the body's guest, - Upon a thankless errand; - Fear not to touch the best; - The truth shall be thy warrant: - Go, since I needs must die, - And give them all the lie. - - Go tell the Court it glows - And shines like rotten wood; - Go tell the Church it shows - What's good, but does no good: - If Court and Church reply - Give Court and Church the lie. - - Tell Potentates they live - Acting, but oh! their actions; - Not loved, unless they give, - Nor strong but by their factions: - If Potentates reply, - Give Potentates the lie. - - Tell men of high condition, - That rule affairs of state, - Their purpose is ambition; - Their practice only hate: - And if they do reply, - Then give them all the lie.... - - Tell Physic of her boldness; - Tell Skill it is pretension; - Tell Charity of coldness; - Tell Law it is contention: - And if they yield reply, - Then give them all the lie.... - - So when thou hast, as I - Commanded thee, done blabbing; - Although to give the lie - Deserves no less than stabbing: - Yet stab at thee who will, - No stab the Soul can kill. - - -December 31st - -BY LASCELLES ABERCROMBIE - -(Contemporary English poet) - - What is he hammering there, - That devil swinking in Hell? - Oh, he forges a cunning New Year, - God knows he does it well. - - Mill and harrow and rake, - A restless enginery - Of men and women to make - Cruelty, Harlotry. - - -Sisters of the Cross of Shame - -BY DANA BURNET - -(See page 531) - - The Sisters of the Cross of Shame, - They smile along the night; - Their houses stand with shuttered souls - And painted eyes of light. - - Their houses look with scarlet eyes - Upon a world of sin; - And every man cries, "Woe, alas!" - And every man goes in. - - The sober Senate meets at noon, - To pass the Woman's Law, - The portly Churchmen vote to stem - The torrent with a straw. - - The Sister of the Cross of Shame, - She smiles beneath her cloud-- - (She does not laugh till ten o'clock, - And then she laughs too loud.) - - And still she hears the throb of feet - Upon the scarlet stair, - And still she dons the cloak of shame - That is not hers to wear. - - The sons of saintly women come - To kiss the Cross of Shame; - Before them, in another time, - Their worthy fathers came.... - - And no man tells his son the truth, - Lest he should speak of sin; - And every man cries, "Woe, alas!" - And every man goes in. - - -Bringing the Light - -(_From "A Bed of Roses"_) - -BY W. L. GEORGE - - (Contemporary English novelist. The life-story of a woman wage-earner - who is driven by the pressure of want to a career of shame. In the - following scene she argues with a suffrage-worker, who has called upon - her, in ignorance of her true character) - -The woman's eyes were rapt, her hands tightly clenched, her -lips parted, her cheeks a little flushed. But Victoria's face -had hardened suddenly. - -"Miss Welkin," she said quietly, "has anything struck you about -this house, about me?" - -The suffragist looked at her uneasily. - -"You ought to know whom you are talking to," Victoria went on, -"I am a.... I am a what you would probably call ... well, not -respectable." - -A dull red flush spread over Miss Welkin's face, from the line -of her tightly pulled hair to her stiff white collar; even her -ears went red. She looked away into a corner. - -"You see," said Victoria, "it's a shock, isn't it? I ought not -to have let you in. It wasn't quite fair, was it?" - -"Oh, it isn't that, Mrs. Ferris," burst out the suffragist, -"I'm not thinking of myself.... Our cause is not the cause of -rich women or poor women, of good women or bad; it's the cause -of woman. Thus, it doesn't matter who she is, so long as there -is a woman who stands aloof from us there is still work to do. -I know that yours is not a happy life; and we are bringing the -light." - -"The light!" echoed Victoria bitterly. "You have no idea, I -see, of how many people there are who are bringing the light -to women like me. There are various religious organizations -who wish to rescue us and house us comfortably under the -patronage of the police, to keep us nicely and feed us on what -is suitable for the fallen; they expect us to sew ten hours a -day for these privileges, but that is by the way. There are -also many kindly souls who offer little jobs as charwomen to -those of us who are too worn out to pursue our calling; we -are offered emigration as servants in exchange for the power -of commanding a household; we are offered poverty for luxury, -service for domination, slavery to women instead of slavery to -men. How tempting it is!" ... - -The suffragist said nothing for a second. She felt shaken by -Victoria's bitterness.... "The vote does not mean everything," -she said reluctantly. "It will merely ensure that we rise like -the men when we are fit." - -"Well, Miss Welkin, I won't press that. But now, tell me, if -women got the vote to-morrow, what would it do for my class?" - -"It would be raised...." - -"No, no, we can't wait to be raised. We've got to live, and -if you 'raise' us we lose our means of livelihood. How are -you going to get to the root cause and lift us, not the next -generation, at once out of the lower depths?" - -The suffragist's face contracted. - -"Everything takes time," she faltered. "Just as I couldn't -promise a charwoman that her hours would go down and her wages -go up the next day, I can't say that ... of course your case is -more difficult than any other, because ... because...." - -"Because," said Victoria coldly, "I represent a social -necessity. So long as your economic system is such that there -is not work for the asking for every human being--work, mark -you, fitted to strength and ability--so long on the other hand -as there is such uncertainty as prevents men from marrying, so -long as there is a leisure class who draw luxury from the labor -of other men; so long will my class endure as it endured in -Athens, in Rome, in Alexandria, as it does now from St. John's -Wood to Pekin." - - -The Selling of Love - -(_From "Love's Coming of Age"_) - -BY EDWARD CARPENTER - -(See page 186) - -The commercial prostitution of love is the last outcome of -our whole social system, and its most clear condemnation. -It flaunts in our streets, it hides itself in the garment -of respectability under the name of matrimony, it eats in -actual physical disease and death right through our midst; -it is fed by the oppression and the ignorance of women, by -their poverty and denied means of livelihood, and by the -hypocritical puritanism which forbids them by millions not only -to gratify but even to speak of their natural desires; and it -is encouraged by the callousness of an age which has accustomed -men to buy and sell for money every most precious thing--even -the life-long labor of their brothers, therefore why not also -the very bodies of their sisters? - - -The Butcher's Stall - -(_From "Les Villes Tentaculaires:" The Octopus Cities_) - -BY ÉMILE VERHAEREN - - (Belgian poet, born 1855. When Maurice Maeterlinck was suggested as a - member of the French Academy, he recommended that the honor should be - conferred upon Verhaeren instead. Beginning his career as a decadent - and victim of disease, Verhaeren evolved into a rhapsodist of modern - civilization. No poet has ever approached him in the portrayal and - interpretation of factories, forges, railroads, and all the phenomena - of industrialism. Of late he has become an ardent Socialist. The poem - here quoted is from a book portraying the sins and agonies of great - cities. Only portions of the poem could be printed in a work intended - for general circulation in English; but even of these passages the - editor will venture the assertion that never before has the horror of - prostitution been so packed into human speech) - - Hard by the docks, soon as the shadows fold - The dizzy mansion-fronts that soar aloft, - When eyes of lamps are burning soft, - The shy, dark quarter lights again its old - Allurement of red vice and gold. - - Women, blocks of heaped, blown meat, - Stand on low thresholds down the narrow street, - Calling to every man that passes; - Behind them, at the end of corridors, - Shine fires, a curtain stirs - And gives a glimpse of masses - Of mad and naked flesh in looking-glasses. - Hard by the docks - The street upon the left is ended by - A tangle of high masts and shrouds that blocks - A sheet of sky; - Upon the right a net of grovelling alleys - Falls from the town--and here the black crowd rallies - And reels to rotten revelry. - - It is the flabby, fulsome butcher's stall of luxury, - Time out of mind erected on the frontiers - Of the city and the sea. - - Far-sailing melancholy mariners - Who, wet with spray, thru grey mists peer, - Cabin-boys cradled among the rigging, and they who steer - Hallucinated by the blue eyes of the vast sea-spaces, - All dream of it, evoke it when the evening falls; - Their raw desire to madness galls; - The wind's soft kisses hover on their faces; - The wave awakens rolling images of soft embraces; - And their two arms implore - Stretched in a frantic cry towards the shore. - - And they of offices and shops, the city tribes, - Merchants precise, keen reckoners, haggard scribes, - Who sell their brains for hire, and tame their brows, - When the keys of desks are hanging on the wall, - Feel the same galling rut at even-fall, - And run like hunted dogs to the carouse. - Out of the depths of dusk come their dark flocks, - And in their hearts debauch so rudely shocks - Their ingrained greed and old accustomed care, - That they are racked and ruined by despair. - - It is the flabby, fulsome butcher's stall of luxury, - Time out of mind erected on the frontiers - Of the city and the sea. - - Come from what far sea-isles or pestilent parts? - Come from what feverish or methodic marts? - Their eyes are filled with bitter, cunning hate, - They fight their instincts that they cannot sate; - Around red females who befool them, they - Herd frenzied till the dawn of sober day. - The panelling is fiery with lewd art; - Out of the wall nitescent knick-knacks dart; - Fat Bacchuses and leaping satyrs in - Wan mirrors freeze an unremitting grin.... - - And women with spent loins and sleeping croups - Are piled on sofas and arm-chairs in groups, - With sodden flesh grown vague, and black and blue - With the first trampling of the evening's crew. - One of them slides a gold coin in her stocking; - Another yawns, and some their knees are rocking; - Others by bacchanalia worn out, - Feeling old age, and, sniffing them, Death's snout, - Stare with wide-open eyes, torches extinct, - And smooth their legs with hands together linked.... - - It is the flabby, fulsome butcher's stall of luxury, - Wherein Crime plants his knives that bleed, - Where lightning madness stains - Foreheads with rotting pains, - Time out of mind erected on frontiers that feed - The city and the sea. - - -Fomá Gordyéeff - -BY MAXIM GORKY - - (Perhaps the most famous novel of the Russian writer, the life-story - of the son of a prosperous merchant, a youth who wrecks himself in a - vain search for some outlet for his energies, and at the end commits - suicide) - -"Where is the merchant to spend his energy? He cannot spend -much of it on the Exchange, so he squanders the excess of his -muscular capital in drinking-bouts in _kabaky_; for he has -no conception of other applications of his strength, which -are more productive, more valuable to life. He is still a -beast, and life has already become to him a cage, and it is -too narrow for him with his splendid health and predilection -for licentiousness. Hampered by culture, he at once starts to -lead a dissolute life. The debauch of a merchant is always the -revolt of a captive beast. Of course this is bad. But, ah! it -will be worse yet, when this beast shall have gathered some -sense and shall have disciplined it. Believe me, even then he -will not cease to create scandals, but they will be historical -events. For they will emanate from the merchant's thirst for -power; their aim will be the omnipotence of one class, and the -merchant will not be particular about the means toward the -attainment of this aim. - -"Where am I to make use of my strength, since there is no -demand for it? I ought to fight with robbers, or turn a robber -myself. In general I ought to do something big. And that would -be done, not with the head, but with the arms and breast. While -here we have to go to the Exchange and try to aim well to make -a rouble. What do we need it for? And what is it, anyway? Has -life been arranged in this form forever? What sort of life is -it, if everyone finds it too narrow for him? Life ought to be -according to the taste of man. If it is narrow for me; I must -move it asunder that I may have more room. I must break it -and reconstruct it. But how? That's where the trouble lies! -What ought to be done that life may be freer? That I don't -understand, and that's all there is to it!" - - -Venus Pandemos - -BY RICHARD DEHMEL - -(Contemporary German poet, born 1863) - - This was the last time. I was lounging in - The night-café that lights the suburb gloom, - Tired with the reek of sultry sofa plush, - And with my glowing toddy, and the steam - Of women sweating in their gowns: tired, lustful. - - Clouds of tobacco smoke were wavering through - The laughter and the haggling cries and shrieks - Of painted women and the men they drew. - The rattling at the sideboard of the spoons - Cheered on the hubbub of the mart of love - Uninterrupted like a tambourine.... - - I was about to choose, when, where I sate, - The crimson curtain of the door was split, - And a fresh couple entered. A cold draught - Cut through the heated room, and some one swore; - But through the crowd the pair stepped noiselessly. - Over against me at the transverse end - Of the corridor, whence they could sweep the room, - They took their seats. The chandelier of bronze - Hung o'er them like an awning heavy, old. - And no one seemed to know the couple, but - At my right hand I heard a hoarse voice pipe: - "I must have come across that pair before." - - He sat quite still. The loud gray of the air - Almost recoiled before his callous brow, - Which wan as wax rose into his sparse hair. - His great pale eye-lids hung down deep and shut, - On both sides lay around his sunken nose - Their shadows, and through his thin beard shone the skin. - And only when the woman at his side, - Less tall than he, and of a lissom shape, - Hissed, giggling, in his ear some obscene word, - Half rose of one black eye the heavy lid, - And slowly round he turned his long, thin neck, - As when a vulture lunges at a corpse. - - And silent and more silent grew the room; - All eyes were fixed upon the silent guest, - And on the woman squatted, strange to see. - "She is quite young"--a whispering round me went; - And with a child's greed she was drinking milk. - Yet almost old she seemed to me, whenever - Her tongue shot through a gap in her black teeth, - Her pointed tongue out of her hissing mouth, - While her gray, eager glance took in the room; - The gaslight in it shone like poisonous green. - - And now she rose. He had not touched his glass; - A great coin lit the table. She went out; - He automatically followed her. - The crimson curtain round the door fell to, - Once more the cold draught shivered through the heat, - But no one cursed. Through me a shiver ran. - - I did not choose a partner--suddenly - I knew them: it was Syphilis and Death. - - - - -BOOK XI - -_War_ - -Pictures of a terrible evil, and denunciations of it, which -will be found especially timely at the present hour. - - -I Sing the Battle - -(_From "The Cry of Youth"_) - -BY HARRY KEMP - -(See pages 37, 351) - - I sing the song of the great clean guns that belch forth death at will. - Ah, but the wailing mothers, the lifeless forms and still! - - I sing the songs of the billowing flags, the bugles that cry before. - Ah, but the skeletons flapping rags, the lips that speak no more! - - I sing the clash of bayonets and sabres that flash and cleave. - And wilt thou sing the maimed ones, too, that go with pinned-up sleeve? - - I sing acclaimèd generals that bring the victory home. - Ah, but the broken bodies that drip like honey-comb! - - I sing of hearts triumphant, long ranks of marching men. - And wilt thou sing the shadowy hosts that never march again? - - -War - -(_From "Beyond the Breakers"_) - -BY GEORGE STERLING - -(See page 504) - - The night was on the world, and in my sleep - I heard a voice that cried across the dark: - "Give steel!" And gazing I beheld a red, - Infernal stithy. There were Titans five - Assembled, thewed and naked and malign - Against the glare. One to the furnace throat, - Whence issued screams, fed shapes of human use-- - The hammer, axe and plow. Those molten soon, - Another haled the dazzling ingot forth - With tongs, and gave it to the anvil. Two, - With massy sledges throbbing at the task, - Harried the gloom with unenduring stars - And poured a clangorous music on the dark, - With loud, astounding shock and counter-shock - Incessant. And the fifth colossus stood - The captain of that labor. From his form - Spread wings more black than Hell's high-altar--ribbed - As are the vampire-bat's. The night grew old, - And I was then aware they shaped a sword.... - - In that domain and interval of dream - 'Twas dawn upon the headlands of the world, - And I, appalled, beheld how men had reared - A mountain, dark below the morning star-- - A peak made up of houses and of herds, - Of cradles, yokes and all the handiwork - Of man. Upon its crest were gems and gold, - Rare fabrics, and the woof of humble looms. - Harvests and groves and battlements were made - Part of its ramparts, and the whole was drenched - With oil and wine and honey. Then thereon - Men bound their sons, the fair, alert and strong, - Sparing no household. And when all were bound, - Brands were brought forth: the mount became a pyre. - Black from that red immensity of flame, - A tower of smoke, upcoiling to the sky, - Was shapen by the winds, and took the form - Of him who in the stithy gave command. - A shadow between day and men he stood; - His eyes looked forth on nothingness; his wings - Domed desolations, and the scarlet sun - Glowed through their darkness like a seal that God - Might set on Hell forever. Then the pyre - Shrank, and he reeled. Whereat, to save that shape - Their madness had evoked in death and pain, - Men rose and made a second sacrifice. - - -Sartor Resartus - -BY THOMAS CARLYLE - -(See pages 31, 74, 133, 488) - -What, speaking in quite unofficial language, is the net-purport -and upshot of war? To my own knowledge, for example, there -dwell and toil, in the British village of Dumdrudge, usually -some five hundred souls. From these, by certain "Natural -Enemies" of the French, there are successfully selected, during -the French war, say thirty able-bodied men: Dumdrudge, at -her own expense, has suckled and nursed them: she has, not -without difficulty and sorrow, fed them up to manhood, and even -trained them to crafts, so that one can weave, another build, -another hammer, and the weakest can stand under thirty stone -avoirdupois. Nevertheless, amid much weeping and swearing, -they are selected; all dressed in red, and shipped away, at -the public charges, some two thousand miles, or say only to -the south of Spain; and fed there till wanted. And now to that -same spot, in the south of Spain, are thirty similar French -artisans, from a French Dumdrudge, in like manner wending; -till at length, after infinite effort, the two parties come -into actual juxtaposition, and Thirty stands fronting Thirty, -each with a gun in his hand. Straightway the word "Fire!" is -given and they blow the souls out of one another, and in place -of sixty brisk useful craftsmen, the world has sixty dead -carcasses, which it must bury, and anew shed tears for. Had -these men any quarrel? Busy as the Devil is, not the smallest! -They lived far enough apart; were the entirest strangers; -nay, in so wide a Universe, there was even, unconsciously, -by Commerce, some mutual helpfulness between them. How then? -Simpleton! their Governors had fallen out; and, instead of -shooting one another, had the cunning to make these poor -blockheads shoot.--Alas, so is it in Deutschland, and hitherto -in all other lands; still as of old, "what devilry soever Kings -do, the Greeks must pay the piper!"--In that fiction of the -English Smollett, it is true, the final Cessation of War is -perhaps prophetically shadowed forth; where the two Natural -Enemies, in person, take each a Tobacco-pipe, filled with -Brimstone; light the same, and smoke in one another's faces, -till the weaker gives in: but from such predicted Peace-Era, -what blood-filled trenches, and contentious centuries, may -still divide us! - - -The Soldier's Oath - -BY KAISER WILHELM OF GERMANY - -(Speech delivered in 1891) - -Recruits! Before the altar and the servant of God you have -given me the oath of allegiance. You are too young to know -the full meaning of what you have said, but your first care -must be to obey implicitly all orders and directions. You have -sworn fidelity to me, you are the children of my guard, you -are my soldiers, you have surrendered yourselves to me, body -and soul. Only one enemy can exist for you--my enemy. With the -present Socialist machinations, it may happen that I shall -order you to shoot your own relatives, your brothers, or even -your parents--which God forbid--and then you are bound in duty -implicitly to obey my orders. - - -The Coming of War - -BY LEO TOLSTOY - -(See pages 88, 110, 148, 276, 374, 416) - -The bells will peal, long-haired men will dress in golden sacks -to pray for successful slaughter. And the old story will begin -again, the awful customary acts. - -The editors of the daily Press will begin virulently to stir -men up to hatred and manslaughter in the name of patriotism, -happy in the receipt of an increased income. Manufacturers, -merchants, contractors for military stores, will hurry joyously -about their business, in the hope of double receipts. - -All sorts of Government officials will buzz about, foreseeing -a possibility of purloining something more than usual. The -military authorities will hurry hither and thither, drawing -double pay and rations, and with the expectation of receiving -for the slaughter of other men various silly little ornaments -which they so highly prize, as ribbons, crosses, orders, and -stars. Idle ladies and gentlemen will make a great fuss, -entering their names in advance for the Red Cross Society, and -ready to bind up the wounds of those whom their husbands and -brothers will mutilate; and they will imagine that in so doing -they are performing a most Christian work. - -And, smothering despair within their souls by songs, -licentiousness, and wine, men will trail along, torn -from peaceful labor, from their wives, mothers and -children--hundreds of thousands of simple-minded, good-natured -men with murderous weapons in their hands--anywhere they may be -driven. - -They will march, freeze, hunger, suffer sickness, and die from -it, or finally come to some place where they will be slain by -thousands or kill thousands themselves with no reason--men whom -they have never seen before, and who neither have done nor -could do them any mischief. - -And when the number of sick, wounded, and killed becomes so -great that there are not hands enough left to pick them up, -and when the air is so infected with the putrefying scent -of the "food for powder" that even the authorities find it -disagreeable, a truce will be made, the wounded will be picked -up anyhow, the sick will be brought in and huddled together in -heaps, the killed will be covered with earth and lime, and once -more all the crowd of deluded men will be led on and on till -those who have devised the project, weary of it, or till those -who thought to find it profitable receive their spoil. - -And so once more men will be made savage, fierce, and brutal, -and love will wane in the world, and the Christianizing of -mankind, which has already begun, will lapse for scores and -hundreds of years. And so once more the men who reaped profit -from it all, will assert with assurance that since there has -been a war there must needs have been one, and that other wars -must follow, and they will again prepare future generations for -a continuance of slaughter, depraving them from their birth. - - -Slavery - -BY WILLIAM COWPER - -(English poet, 1731-1800) - - O for a lodge in some vast wilderness, - Some boundless contiguity of shade, - Where rumor of oppression and deceit, - Of unsuccessful or successful war, - Might never reach me more. My ear is pained, - My soul is sick, with every day's report - Of wrong and outrage with which earth is filled. - There is no flesh in man's obdurate heart, - It does not feel for man; the natural bond - Of brotherhood is severed as the flax - That falls asunder at the touch of fire. - He finds his fellow guilty of a skin - Not colored like his own; and having power - To enforce the wrong, for such a worthy cause - Dooms and devotes him as his lawful prey. - Lands intersected by a narrow frith - Abhor each other. Mountains interposed - Make enemies of nations, who had else - Like kindred drops been mingled into one. - Thus man devotes his brother, and destroys; - And, worse than all, and most to be deplored, - As human nature's broadest, foulest blot, - Chains him, and tasks him, and exacts his sweat - With stripes, that Mercy, with a bleeding heart, - Weeps when she sees inflicted on a beast. - - -The Biglow Papers - -BY JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL - -(These poems, first published in the _Atlantic Monthly_ in -1846, voiced the bitter opposition of New England to the -Mexican war as a slave-holders' enterprise) - - Thrash away, you'll _hev_ to rattle - On them kittle-drums o' yourn,-- - 'Tain't a knowin' kind o' cattle - Thet is ketched with mouldy corn; - Put in stiff, you fifer feller, - Let folks see how spry you be,-- - Guess you'll toot till you are yeller - 'Fore you git ahold o' me!... - - Ez fer war, I call it murder,-- - There you hev it plain an' flat; - I don't want to go no furder - Than my Testyment fer that; - God hez sed so plump an' fairly, - It's ez long ez it is broad, - An' you've got to git up airly - Ef you want to take in God. - - 'Tain't your eppyletts an' feathers - Make the thing a grain more right; - 'Tain't afollerin' your bell-wethers - Will excuse ye in His sight; - Ef you take a sword an' dror it, - An' go stick a feller thru, - Guv'mint ain't to answer for it, - God'll send the bill to you. - - Wut's the use o' meetin'-goin' - Every Sabbath, wet or dry, - Ef it's right to go amowin' - Feller-men like oats an' rye? - I dunno but wut it's pooty - Trainin' round in bobtail coats,-- - But it's curus Christian dooty - This 'ere cuttin' folks's throats.... - - Tell ye jest the eend I've come to - Arter cipherin' plaguey smart, - An' it makes a handy sum, tu, - Any gump could larn by heart; - Laborin' man an' laborin' woman - Hev one glory an' one shame. - Ev'y thin' thet's done inhuman - Injers all on 'em the same. - - 'Tain't by turnin' out to hack folks - You're agoin' to git your right, - Nor by lookin' down on black folks - Coz you're put upon by white; - Slavery ain't o' nary color, - 'Tain't the hide thet makes it wus, - All it keers fer in a feller - 'S jest to make him fill its pus. - - -To a Nine-inch Gun - -BY P. F. MCCARTHY - -(This poem came to the New York _World_ office on a crumpled -piece of soiled paper. The author's address was given as Fourth -Bench, City Hall Park) - - Whether your shell hits the target or not, - Your cost is Five Hundred Dollars a Shot. - You thing of noise and flame and power, - We feed you a hundred barrels of flour - Each time you roar. Your flame is fed - With twenty thousand loaves of bread. - Silence! A million hungry men - Seek bread to fill their mouths again. - - -Kruppism - -(_From "The Present Hour"_) - -BY PERCY MACKAYE - -(American poet and dramatist, born 1875) - - Crowned on the twilight battlefield, there bends - A crooked iron dwarf, and delves for gold, - Chuckling: "One hundred thousand gatlings--sold!" - And the moon rises, and a moaning rends - The mangled living, and the dead distends, - And a child cowers on the chartless wold, - Where, searching in his safety vault of mold, - The kobold kaiser cuts his dividends. - - We, who still wage his battles, are his thralls, - And dying do him homage; yea, and give - Daily our living souls to be enticed - Into his power. So long as on war's walls - We build engines of death that he may live, - So long shall we serve Krupp instead of Christ. - - -BY THE EMPRESS CATHERINE II OF RUSSIA - -(1729-1796) - -The only way to save our empires from the encroachment of -the people is to engage in war, and thus substitute national -passions for social aspirations. - - -BY FREDERICK THE GREAT OF PRUSSIA - -(1712-1786) - -If my soldiers were to begin to reflect, not one of them would -remain in the ranks. - - -Our Father Which Art in Heaven - -(_From "The Human Slaughter-House"_) - -BY WILHELM LAMSZUS - -(A novel by a Hamburg school-teacher, published in 1913. -Although banned by the authorities in some places, over 100,000 -copies were sold in Germany in a few weeks) - -We rejoined the Colors on Friday. On Monday we are to move out. -Today, being Sunday, is full-dress Church Parade. - -I slept badly last night, and am feeling uneasy and limp. - -And now we are sitting close-packed in church. - -The organ is playing a voluntary. - -I am leaning back and straining my ears for the sounds in the -dim twilight of the building. Childhood's days rise before my -eyes again. I am watching a little solemn-faced boy sitting -crouched in a corner and listening to the divine service. The -priest is standing in front of the altar, and is intoning the -Exhortation devoutly. The choir in the gallery is chanting -the responses. The organ thunders out and floods through the -building majestically. I am rapt in an ecstasy of sweet terror, -for the Lord God is coming down upon us. He is standing before -me and touching my body, so that I have to close my eyes in a -terror of shuddering ecstasy.... - -That is long, long ago, and is all past and done with, as youth -itself is past and done with.... - -Strange! After all these years of doubt and unbelief, at this -moment of lucid consciousness, the atmosphere of devoutness, -long since dead, possesses me, and thrills me so passionately -that I can hardly resist it. This is the same heavy -twilight--these are the same yearning angel voices--the same -fearful sense of rapture-- - -I pull myself together, and sit bolt upright on the hard wooden -pew. - -In the main and the side aisles below, and in the galleries -above, nothing but soldiers in uniform, and all, with level -faces, turned toward the altar, toward that pale man in his -long dignified black gown, toward that sonorous, unctuous -mouth, from whose lips flows the name of God. - -Look! He is now stretching forth his hands. We incline our -heads. He is pronouncing the Benediction over us in a voice -that echoes from the tomb. He is blessing us in the name of -God, the Merciful. He is blessing our rifles that they may not -fail us; he is blessing the wire-drawn guns on their patent -recoilless carriages; he is blessing every precious cartridge, -lest a single bullet be wasted, lest any pass idly through the -air; that each one may account for a hundred human beings, may -shatter a hundred human beings simultaneously. - -Father in Heaven! Thou art gazing down at us in such terrible -silence. Dost Thou shudder at these sons of men? Thou poor and -slight God! Thou couldst only rain Thy paltry pitch and sulphur -on Sodom and Gomorrah. But we, Thy children, whom Thou hast -created, we are going to exterminate them by high-pressure -machinery, and butcher whole cities in factories. Here we -stand, and while we stretch our hands to Thy Son in prayer, -and cry Hosannah! we are hurling shells and shrapnel in the -face of Thy Image, and shooting the Son of Man down from His -Cross like a target at the rifle-butts. - -And now the Holy Communion is being celebrated. The organ is -playing mysteriously from afar off, and the flesh and blood of -the Redeemer is mingling with our flesh and blood. - -There He is hanging on the Cross above me, and gazing down upon -me. - -How pale those cheeks look! And those eyes are the eyes as of -one dead! Who was this Christ Who is to aid us, and Whose blood -we drink? What was it they once taught us at school? Didst Thou -not love mankind? And didst Thou not die for the whole human -race? Stretch out Thine arms toward me. There is something I -would fain ask of Thee.... Ah! they have nailed Thy arms to the -Cross, so that Thou canst not stretch out a finger toward us. - -Shuddering, I fix my eyes on the corpse-like face and see that -He died long ago, that He is nothing more than wood, nothing -other than a puppet. Christ, it is no longer Thee to whom we -pray. Look there! Look there! It is he. The new patron saint -of a Christian State! Look there! It is he, the great Genghis -Khan. Of him we know that he swept through the history of the -world with fire and sword, and piled up pyramids of skulls. -Yes, that is he. Let us heap up mountains of human heads, and -pile up heaps of human entrails. Great Genghis Khan! Thou, our -patron saint! Do thou bless us! Pray to thy blood-drenched -father seated above the skies of Asia, that he may sweep with -us through the clouds; that he may strike down that accursed -nation till it writhes in its blood, till it never can rise -again. A red mist swims before my eyes. Of a sudden I see -nothing but blood before me. The heavens have opened, and the -red flood pours in through the windows. Blood wells up on the -altar. The walls run blood from the ceiling to the floor, -and--God the Father steps out of the blood. Every scale of his -skin stands erect, his beard and hair drip blood. A giant of -blood stands before me. He seats himself backward on the altar, -and is laughing from thick, coarse lips--there sits the King -of Dahomey, and he butchers his slaves. The black executioner -raises his sword and whirls it above my head. Another moment -and my head will roll down on the floor--another moment and the -red jet will spurt from my neck.... Murderers, murderers! None -other than murderers! Lord God in Heaven! - -Then-- - -The church door opens creaking-- - -Light, air, the blue of heaven, burst in. - -I draw a breath of relief. We have risen to our feet, and at -length pass out of the twilight into the open air. - -My knees are still trembling under me. - -We fall into line, and in our hob-nailed boots tramp in step -down the street toward the barracks. When I see my mates -marching beside me in their matter-of-fact and stolid way, -I feel ashamed, and call myself a wretched coward. What a -weak-nerved, hysterical breed, that can no longer look at blood -without fainting! You neurasthenic offspring of your sturdy -peasant forebears, who shouted for joy when they went out to -fight! - -I pull myself together and throw my head back. - -I never was a coward, and eye for eye I have always looked my -man in the face, and will so do this time, too, happen what -may. - - -The War Prayer[A] - -[A] (Quoted by special permission of Harper & Brothers.) - -BY MARK TWAIN - - (American humorist. See page 265. This "War Prayer," withheld from - publication until after Mark Twain's death, pictures the assembling - of soldiers in church, and the prayer of the chaplain for victory. - In answer to the prayer, God sends down a white-robed messenger, who - voices the unspoken meaning of the prayer.) - -"O Lord our God, help us to tear their soldiers to bloody -shreds with our shells; help us to cover their smiling fields -with the pale forms of their patriot dead; help us to drown -the thunder of the guns with the wounded, writhing in pain; -help us to lay waste their humble homes with a hurricane of -fire; help us to wring the hearts of their unoffending widows -with unavailing grief; help us to turn them out roofless with -their little children to wander unfriended through wastes of -their desolated land in rags and hunger and thirst, sport of -the sun-flames of summer and the icy winds of winter, broken -in spirit, worn with travail, imploring Thee for the refuge of -the grave and denied it--for our sakes, who adore Thee, Lord, -blast their hopes, blight their lives, protract their bitter -pilgrimage, make heavy their steps, water their way with their -tears, stain the white snow with the blood of their wounded -feet! We ask of one who is the Spirit of love and who is the -ever-faithful refuge and friend of all that are sore beset, and -seek His aid with humble and contrite hearts. Grant our prayer, -O Lord, and Thine shall be the praise and honor and glory now -and ever, Amen." - -(After a pause.) "Ye have prayed it; if ye still desire it, -speak!--the messenger of the Most High waits." - - -The Illusion of War - -BY RICHARD LE GALLIENNE - -(American poet, born in England, 1866) - - War I abhor, and yet how sweet - The sound along the marching street - Of drum and fife, and I forget - Wet eyes of widows, and forget - Broken old mothers, and the whole - Dark butchery without a soul. - - Without a soul, save this bright drink - Of heady music, sweet as hell; - And even my peace-abiding feet - Go marching with the marching street-- - For yonder, yonder goes the fife, - And what care I for human life! - - The tears fill my astonished eyes, - And my full heart is like to break; - And yet 'tis all embannered lies, - A dream those little drummers make. - - O, it is wickedness to clothe - Yon hideous grinning thing that stalks, - Hidden in music, like a queen, - That in a garden of glory walks, - Till good men love the thing they loathe. - - Art, thou hast many infamies, - But not an infamy like this-- - Oh, snap the fife, and still the drum, - And show the monster as she is! - - -Lay Down Your Arms - -BY BARONESS BERTHA VON SUTTNER - - (Austrian novelist and peace advocate, 1850-1914. Her protest against - war, published in 1889, made a deep impression throughout Europe. In - the following scene a woman is taken to visit a field of battle with - the hospital-corps) - -No more thunder of artillery, no more blare of trumpets, no -more beat of drum; only the low moans of pain and the rattle -of death. In the trampled ground some redly-glimmering pools, -lakes of blood; all the crops destroyed, only here and there a -piece of land left untouched, and still covered with stubble; -the smiling villages of yesterday turned into ruins and -rubbish. The trees burned and hacked in the forests, the hedges -torn with grape-shot. And on this battle-ground thousands and -thousands of men dead and dying--dying without aid. No blossoms -of flowers are to be seen on wayside or meadow; but sabres, -bayonets, knapsacks, cloaks, overturned ammunition wagons, -powder wagons blown into the air, cannon with broken carriages. -Near the cannon, whose muzzles are black with smoke, the ground -is bloodiest. There the greatest number and the most mangled -of dead and half-dead men are lying, literally torn to pieces -with shot; and the dead horses, and the half-dead which raise -themselves on their feet--such feet as they have left--to sink -again; then raise themselves up once more and fall down again, -till they only raise their head to shriek out their pain-laden -death-cry. There is a hollow way quite filled with corpses -trodden into the mire. The poor creatures had taken refuge -there no doubt to get cover, but a battery has driven over -them, and they have been crushed by the horses' hoofs and the -wheels. Many of them are still alive--a pulpy, bleeding mass, -but "still alive". - -And yet there is still something more hellish even than -all this, and that is the appearance of the most vile scum -of humanity, as it shows itself in war--the appearance and -activity of "the hyenas of the battlefield." "Then slink on -the monsters who grope after the spoils of the dead, and bend -over the corpses and over the living, mercilessly tearing off -their clothes from their bodies. The boots are dragged off the -bleeding limbs, the rings off the wounded hands, or to get the -ring the finger is simply chopped off, and if a man tries to -defend himself from such a sacrifice, he is murdered by these -hyenas; or, in order to make him unrecognizable, they dig his -eyes out." - -I shrieked out loud at the doctor's last words. I again saw the -whole scene before me, and the eyes into which the hyena was -plunging his knife were Frederick's soft, blue, beloved eyes. - -"Pray, forgive me, dear lady, but it was by your own wish----" - -"Oh, yes; I desire to hear it all. What you are now describing -was the night that follows the battle; and these scenes are -enacted by the starlight?" - -"And by torchlight. The patrols which the conquerors send out -to survey the field of battle carry torches and lanterns, and -red lanterns are hoisted on signal poles to point out the -places where flying hospitals are to be established." - -"And next morning, how does the field look?" - -"Almost more fearful still. The contrast between the bright -smiling daylight and the dreadful work of man on which it -shines has a doubly-painful effect. At night the entire picture -of horror is something ghostly and fantastic. By daylight it -is simply hopeless. Now you see for the first time the mass -of corpses lying around on the lanes, between the fields, -in the ditches, behind the ruins of walls. Everywhere dead -bodies--everywhere. Plundered, some of them naked; and just -the same with the wounded. Those who, in spite of the nightly -labor of the Sanitary Corps, are still always lying around in -numbers, look pale and collapsed, green or yellow, with fixed -and stupefied gaze, or writhing in agonies of pain, they beg -any one who comes near to put them to death. Swarms of carrion -crows settle on the tops of the trees, and with loud croaks -announce the bill of fare of the tempting banquet. Hungry dogs, -from the villages around, come running by and lick the blood -from wounds. Further afield there are a few hyenas to be seen, -who are still carrying on their work hastily. And now comes the -great interment." - -"Who does that--the Sanitary Corps?" - -"How could they suffice for such a mass of work? They have -fully enough to do with the wounded." - -"Then troops are detailed for the work?" - -"No. A crowd of men impressed, or even offering themselves -voluntarily--loiterers, baggage people, who are supporting -themselves by the market-stalls, baggage-wagons and so forth, -and who now have been hunted away by the force of the military -operations, together with the inhabitants of the cottages -and huts--to dig trenches--good large ones, of course--wide -trenches, for they are not made deep--there is no time for -that. Into these the dead bodies are thrown, heads up or heads -down just as they come to hand. Or it is done in this way: -A heap is made of the corpses, and a foot or two of earth -is heaped up over them, and then it has the appearance of a -tumulus. In a few days rain comes on and washes the covering -off the festering dead bodies! but what does that matter? The -nimble, jolly grave-diggers do not look so far forward. For -jolly, merry workmen they are, that one must allow. Songs are -piped out there, and all kinds of dubious jokes made--nay, -sometimes a dance of hyenas is danced round the open trench. -Whether life is still stirring in several of the bodies that -are shovelled into it or are covered with the earth, they give -themselves no trouble to think. The thing is inevitable, for -the stiff cramp often comes on after wounds. Many who have been -saved by accident have told of the danger of being buried alive -which they have escaped. But how many are there of those who -are not able to tell anything! If a man has once got a foot or -two of earth over his mouth he may well hold his tongue." - - -Before Sedan - -BY AUSTIN DOBSON - -(English poet and essayist, born 1840) - - Here in this leafy place - Quiet he lies, - Cold, with his sightless face - Turned to the skies; - 'Tis but another dead; - All you can say is said. - - Carry his body hence,-- - Kings must have slaves; - Kings climb to eminence - Over men's graves; - So this man's eye is dim;-- - Throw the earth over him. - - -Doubt - -(_From "The Present Hour"_) - -BY PERCY MACKAYE - -(One of a group of six sonnets, entitled "Carnage," written in -September, 1914) - - So thin, so frail the opalescent ice - Where yesterday, in lordly pageant, rose - The monumental nations--the repose - Of continents at peace! Realities - Solid as earth they seemed; yet in a trice - Their bastions crumbled in the surging floes - Of unconceivable, inhuman woes, - Gulfed in a mad, unmeaning sacrifice. - - We, who survive that world-quake, cower and start, - Searching our hidden souls with dark surmise: - So thin, so frail--is reason? Patient art-- - Is it all a mockery, and love all lies? - Who sees the lurking Hun in childhood's eyes? - Is hell so near to every human heart? - - -The Wife of Flanders - -BY GILBERT K. CHESTERTON - -(See page 180) - - Low and brown barns, thatched and repatched and tattered, - Where I had seven sons until to-day-- - A little hill of hay your spur has scattered.... - This is not Paris. You have lost your way. - - You, staring at your sword to find it brittle, - Surprised at the surprise that was your plan; - Who, shaking and breaking barriers not a little, - Find never more the death-door of Sedan. - - Must I for more than carnage call you claimant, - Pay you a penny for each son you slay? - Man, the whole globe in gold were no repayment - For what you have lost. And how shall I repay? - - What is the price of that red spark that caught me - From a kind farm that never had a name? - What is the price of that dead man they brought me? - For other dead men do not look the same. - - How should I pay for one poor graven steeple - Whereon you shattered what you shall not know? - How should I pay you, miserable people? - How should I pay you everything you owe? - - Unhappy, can I give you back your honor? - Tho' I forgave, would any man forget? - While all our great green earth has, trampled on her, - The treason and terror of the night we met. - - Not any more in vengeance or in pardon, - One old wife bargains for a bean that's hers, - You have no word to break; no heart to harden. - Ride on and prosper. You have lost your spurs. - - -Buttons - -BY CARL SANDBURG - -(Contemporary American poet) - - I have been watching the war map slammed up for advertising in -front of the newspaper office. - Buttons--red and yellow buttons--blue and black buttons--are -shoved back and forth across the map. - - A laughing young man, sunny with freckles, - Climbs a ladder, yells a joke to somebody in the crowd, - And then fixes a yellow button one inch west - And follows the yellow button with a black button one inch west. - - (Ten thousand men and boys twist on their bodies in a red soak -along a river edge, - Gasping of wounds, calling for water, some rattling death in -their throats.) - Who by Christ would guess what it cost to move two buttons one -inch on the war map here in front of the newspaper office where -the freckle-faced young man is laughing to us? - - -The Wine Press - -BY ALFRED NOYES - -(English poet, born 1880) - - A Murdered man, ten miles away, - Will hardly shake your peace, - Like one red stain upon your hand; - And a tortured child in a distant land - Will never check one smile to-day, - Or bid one fiddle cease. - - -_The News_ - - It comes along a little wire, - Sunk in a deep sea; - It thins in the clubs to a little smoke - Between one joke and another joke, - For a city in flames is less than the fire - That comforts you and me. - - -_The Diplomats_ - - Each was honest after his way, - Lukewarm in faith, and old; - And blood, to them, was only a word, - And the point of a phrase their only sword, - And the cost of war, they reckoned it - In little disks of gold. - - They were cleanly groomed. They were not to be bought. - And their cigars were good. - But they had pulled so many strings - In the tinselled puppet-show of kings - That, when they talked of war, they thought - Of sawdust, not of blood; - - Not of the crimson tempest - Where the shattered city falls: - They thought, behind their varnished doors, - Of diplomats, ambassadors, - Budgets, and loans and boundary-lines, - Coercions and re-calls. - - -_The Charge_ - - _Slaughter! Slaughter! Slaughter!_ - The cold machines whirred on. - And strange things crawled amongst the wheat - With entrails dragging round their feet, - And over the foul red shambles - A fearful sunlight shone.... - - The maxims cracked like cattle-whips - Above the struggling hordes. - They rolled and plunged and writhed like snakes - In the trampled wheat and the blackthorn brakes, - And the lightnings leapt among them - Like clashing crimson swords. - - The rifles flogged their wallowing herds, - Flogged them down to die. - Down on their slain the slayers lay, - And the shrapnel thrashed them into the clay, - And tossed their limbs like tattered birds - Thro' a red volcanic sky. - - -War - -(_From "Songs of Joy"_) - -BY WILLIAM H. DAVIES - -(An English poet whose "Autobiography of a Super-tramp" was -given to the world with an introduction by Bernard Shaw) - - Ye Liberals and Conservatives, - Have pity on our human lives, - Waste not more blood on human strife; - Until we know some way to use - This human blood we take or lose, - 'Tis sin to sacrifice our life. - - When pigs are stuck we save their blood - And make puddings for our food, - The sweetest and the cheapest meat; - And many a woman, man and boy - Have ate those puddings with great joy, - And oft-times in the open street. - - Let's not have war till we can make, - Of this sweet life we lose or take, - Some kind of pudding of man's gore; - So that the clergy in each parish - May save the lives of those that famish - Because meat's dear and times are poor. - - -In Praise of the Warrior - -(_From "Don Quixote"_) - -BY MIGUEL DE CERVANTES - -(Best known of Spanish novelists, 1547-1616; himself a soldier, -captured and made a galley-slave in Algiers) - -I am not a barbarian, and I love letters, but let us beware -of according them pre-eminence over arms, or even an equality -with arms. The man of letters, it is very true, instructs and -illuminates his fellows, softens manners, elevates minds, and -teaches us justice, a beautiful and sublime science. But the -warrior makes us observe justice. His object is to procure us -the first and sweetest of blessings, peace, gentlest peace, so -necessary to human happiness. This peace, adorable blessing, -gift divine, source of happiness, this peace is the object of -war. The warrior labors to procure it for us, and the warrior -therefore performs the most useful labor in the world. - - -Song of the Exposition - -BY WALT WHITMAN - -(See pages 184, 268) - - Away with themes of war! away with War itself! - Hence from my shuddering sight, to never more return, that show -of blacken'd, mutilated corpses! - That hell unpent, and raid of blood--fit for wild tigers, or -for lop-tongued wolves--not reasoning men! - And in its stead speed Industry's campaigns! - With thy undaunted armies, Engineering! - Thy pennants, Labor, loosen'd to the breeze! - Thy bugles sounding loud and clear! - - -Woman and War - -(_From "Woman and Labor"_) - -BY OLIVE SCHREINER - -(See pages 240, 246, 504) - -In supplying the men for the carnage of a battlefield, women -have not merely lost actually more blood, and gone through a -more acute anguish and weariness, in the months of bearing and -in the final agony of child-birth, than has been experienced -by the men who cover it; but, in the months of rearing that -follow, the women of the race go through a long, patiently -endured strain which no knapsacked soldier on his longest -march has ever more than equalled; while, even in the matter -of death, in all civilized societies, the probability that the -average woman will die in child-birth is immeasurably greater -than the probability that the average male will die in battle. - -There is, perhaps, no woman, whether she have borne children, -or be merely potentially a child-bearer, who could look -down upon a battlefield covered with slain, but the thought -would rise in her, "So many mothers' sons! So many young -bodies brought into the world to lie there! So many months of -weariness and pain while bones and muscles were shaped within! -So many hours of anguish and struggle that breath might be! So -many baby mouths drawing life at women's breasts;--all this, -that men might lie with glazed eyeballs, and swollen faces, and -fixed, blue, unclosed mouths, and great limbs tossed--this, -that an acre of ground might be manured with human flesh, that -next year's grass or poppies or karoo bushes may spring up -greener and redder, where they have lain, or that the sand of a -plain may have the glint of white bones!" And we cry, "Without -an inexorable cause, this must not be!" No woman who is a woman -says of a human body, "It is nothing!" - - -The Arsenal at Springfield - -BY HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW - -(Probably the most popular of American poets, 1807-1882) - - This is the Arsenal. From floor to ceiling, - Like a huge organ, rise the burnished arms; - But from their silent pipes no anthem pealing - Startles the villages with strange alarms. - - Ah! what a sound will rise--how wild and dreary-- - When the death-angel touches those swift keys! - What loud lament and dismal Miserere - Will mingle with their awful symphonies! - - I hear even now the infinite fierce chorus-- - The cries of agony, the endless groan, - Which, through the ages that have gone before us, - In long reverberations reach our own.... - - Is it, O man, with such discordant noises, - With such accursed instruments as these, - Thou drownest Nature's sweet and kindly voices, - And; arrest the celestial harmonies? - - Were half the power that fills the world with terror, - Were half the wealth bestowed on camps and courts, - Given to redeem the human mind from error, - There were no need of arsenals or forts. - - -War and Peace - -BY BENJAMIN FRANKLIN - -(American statesman, 1706-1790) - -I join with you most cordially in rejoicing at the return of -peace. I hope it will be lasting, and that mankind will at -length, as they call themselves reasonable creatures, have -reason enough to settle their differences without cutting -throats; for, in my opinion, there never was a good war or a -bad peace. What vast additions to the conveniences and comforts -of life might mankind have acquired, if the money spent in -wars had been employed in works of utility! What an extension -of agriculture, even to the tops of the mountains; what -rivers rendered navigable, or joined by canals; what bridges, -aqueducts, new roads, and other public works, edifices and -improvements, rendering England a complete paradise, might not -have been obtained by spending those millions in doing good, -which in the last war have been spent in doing mischief--in -bringing misery into thousands of families, and destroying the -lives of so many working people, who might have performed the -useful labors. - - -A Prayer of the Peoples - -(_From "The Present Hour"_) - -BY PERCY MACKAYE - -(See pages 561, 572) - - God of us who kill our kind! - Master of this blood-tracked Mind - Which from wolf and Caliban - Staggers toward the star of Man-- - Now, on Thy cathedral stair, - God, we cry to Thee in prayer! - - Where our stifled anguish bleeds - Strangling through Thine organ reeds, - Where our voiceless songs suspire - From the corpses in Thy choir-- - Through Thy charred and shattered nave, - God, we cry on Thee to save! - - Save us from our tribal gods! - From the racial powers, whose rods-- - Wreathed with stinging serpents--stir - Odin and old Jupiter - From their ancient hells of hate - To invade Thy dawning state.... - - Lord, our God! to whom, from clay, - Blood and mire, Thy peoples pray-- - Not from Thy cathedral's stair - Thou hearest:--Thou criest _through_ our prayer - For our prayer is but the gate: - We, who pray, ourselves are fate. - - -War - -BY THE GREAT INDIAN, CHIEF JOSEPH - - Hear me, my warriors; my heart is sick and sad; - Our chiefs are killed, - The old men are all dead, - It is cold and we have no blankets; - The little children are freezing to death. - Hear me, my warriors; my heart is sick and sad; - From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever! - - -A Project for a Perpetual Peace - -BY JEAN JACQUES ROUSSEAU - -(A document published 1756 in which the French philosopher -outlined in detail a plan for a European federation, which -seems in 1915 to have become the next step in civilization) - -As a more noble, useful, and delightful Project never engaged -the human mind, than that of establishing a perpetual peace -among the contending nations of Europe, never did a writer -lay a better claim to the attention of the public than he who -points out the means to carry such a design into execution. It -is indeed very difficult for a man of probity and sensibility, -not to be fired with a kind of enthusiasm on such a subject; -nay, I am not clear that the very illusions of a heart truly -humane, whose warmth makes everything easily surmountable, are -not in this case more eligible than that rigid and forbidding -prudence, which finds in its own indifference and want of -public spirit, the chief obstacle to everything that tends to -promote the public good. - -I doubt not that many of my readers will be forearmed with -incredulity, to withstand the pleasing temptation of being -persuaded; and indeed I sincerely lament their dullness in -mistaking obstinacy for wisdom. But I flatter myself, that -many an honest mind will sympathize with me in that delightful -emotion, with which I take up the pen to treat of a subject so -greatly interesting to the world. I am going to take a view, at -least in imagination, of mankind united by love and friendship: -I am going to take a contemplative prospect of an agreeable -and peaceful society of brethren, living in constant harmony, -directed by the same maxims, and joint sharers of one common -felicity; while, realizing to myself so affecting a picture, -the representation of such imaginary happiness will give me the -momentary enjoyment of a pleasure actually present. - - -Let the People Vote on War - -BY ALLEN L. BENSON - -(American Socialist writer, born 1871) - -Each voter should sign his or her name to the ballot that is -voted. In counting, the ballots for war should be kept apart -from the ballots against war. In the event of more than half of -the population voting for war, those who voted for war should -be sent to the front in the order in which they appeared at -their respective polling places. Nobody who voted against war -should be called to serve until everybody who voted for war had -been sent to the front. - -[Illustration: WAR - -ARNOLD BÖCKLIN - -(_German painter, 1827-1901. Painting in the Dresden Gallery_)] - -[Illustration: - - LONDON - - PAUL GUSTAVE - DORÉ - - _French illustrator, - 1833-1883._ - - (_His pictures for - Dante's "Inferno" - are well known_) -] - - -Anti-Militarism - -(_From "The Red Wave"_) - -BY JOSEPH-HENRY ROSNY, THE ELDER - - (French novelist, member of the Académie des Goncourts; born 1856. - A novel of revolutionary Syndicalism. The present scene describes - a debate organized between champions of the revolutionary and the - conservative labor unions, the "Reds" and the "Yellows"; a grand - Homeric combat of ideas, in which the audience is wrought to a furious - pitch of excitement, and does as much talking as the orators. In the - following extract, from about forty pages of mingled eloquence and - humor, the champion of the "Reds" announces "the grave and dreadful - problem of anti-militarism") - -A long shudder agitated the hostile crowds. All the wild beasts -quivered in their cages. Rougemont, immobile, scarcely raised -his hand; never before had his voice sounded more grave and -more pathetic. - -"Ah, yes! Question profound and dreadful. No one has been -troubled by it more than I, for I am not among those bold -internationalists who deny their country. I love my land of -France. To make our happiness perfect, we must have the land -of France. But who would dare to say that we, the poor, are -any other thing upon that land than food for suffering and -food for barracks? The worst Prussian, provided that he owns -a coin of a hundred sous--is he not superior to the unhappy -wretch who rummages in empty pockets? All the pleasures, all -the beauty, all the luxury, our most beautiful daughters, -belong to the rich cosmopolitan: he possesses the enchanter's -ring. If you have nothing, you will live more a stranger in -your country than the dog of a swindling millionaire. If you -have nothing, you will be insulted, scorned, hunted, locked in -prison for vagabondage. _La patrie!_ _La patrie_ of the poor! -It is a fable, a symbol, an inscription upon a military-list or -a school-book--the most bitter derision! Your right, unhappy -ones--it is to suffer and defend the soil, which belongs to -your master, to him who possesses. For him, for him alone, our -France devotes each year a billion francs for army and navy.... - -"It is necessary purely and simply to suppress the budget of -the army and navy," thundered Rougemont, with such force that -he broke the tumult. "France must give all at once, without -hesitation, the example of disarmament. And that would be a -thing so grand and so beautiful that the entire universe would -applaud, that all humanity would turn toward her. From that day -alone we should be at the head of the nations, and our country -would become the country of free men!" - -"Under the heel of Wilhelm!" - -"A Poland!" - -"Guts for the cats!" - -"Sold! Rubbish! Meat for sheenies!" - -"... living in boiling water like lobsters!" - -All at once, the tumult sank. The voice of the orator forced -itself upon the ear, high as a bell, precise as a clarion. -"Free, superb, and triumphant! Queen of the peoples, goddess -of the unfortunate! If we should disarm, before ten years, -France would become a land of pilgrimage, the Mecca of men. -Before twenty years, the other nations would have followed her -example. As for making of us a Poland, let them try it! Have -you then forgotten the teachings of history? Do you not know -that our grand armies, our innumerable victories--we have won -as many victories as all the rest of Europe together--have only -ended in the crushing of Waterloo and the collapse of Sedan? On -the contrary, Italy, dismembered for centuries, Italy, which -cannot count its defeats, is become a free nation. That is -because it is inhabited by a race, clean and well-defined, upon -which the foreigner has been unable to impress his mark. France -enslaved, she, the most intelligent of nations, she who has had -the most influence upon minds and hearts! Come now, that is -not possible, that will never happen! But the people who would -howl indignation at the dismembering of a disarmed France, -would let a war-like France go down to ruin: she would be only -one country like the others. So, I repeat it without scruple: -it is necessary that we should give the magnificent example of -disarmament. Only then shall we be a nation loved and admired -among nations. Only then will all hearts turn toward us. Only -then will the idea that anyone could touch France seem a -sacrilege such as no tyrant would risk!" - - -The Dawn - -BY ÉMILE VERHAEREN - - (In this play the Belgian poet has voiced his hopes for the - regeneration of human society. The city of Oppidomagne is besieged by - a hostile army, and the revolutionists in both armies conspire and - revolt. The gates of the city are thrown open, and the end of war - declared. A captain in the hostile army is speaking over the body of - Hérénian, leader of the revolutionists in the city) - -I was his disciple, and his unknown friend. His books were -my Bible. It is men like this who give birth to men like me, -faithful, long obscure, but whom fortune permits, in one -overwhelming hour, to realize the supreme dream of their -master. If fatherlands are fair, sweet to the heart, dear -to the memory, armed nations on the frontiers are tragic and -deadly; and the whole world is yet bristling with nations. -It is in their teeth that we throw them this example of our -concord. (Cheers.) They will understand some day the immortal -thing accomplished here, in this illustrious Oppidomagne, -whence the loftiest ideas of humanity have taken flight, one -after another, through all the ages. For the first time since -the beginning of power, since brains have reckoned time, two -races, one renouncing its victory, the other its humbled -pride, are made one in an embrace. The whole earth must needs -have quivered, all the blood, all the sap of the earth must -have flowed to the heart of things. Concord and good will -have conquered hate. (Cheers.) Human strife, in its form of -bloodshed, has been gainsaid. A new beacon shines on the -horizon of future storms. Its steady rays shall dazzle all -eyes, haunt all brains, magnetize all desires. Needs must we, -after all these trials and sorrows, come at last into port, -to whose entrance it points the way, and where it gilds the -tranquil masts and vessels. - -(Enthusiasm of all; the people shout and embrace. The former -enemies rise and surround the speaker. Those of Oppidomagne -stretch their arms towards him.) - - -The Springtime of Peace - -(_From "Studies in Socialism"_) - -BY JEAN LÉON JAURÉS - - (Editor of _l'Humanité_, and leader of the French Socialist movement, - 1859-1914; probably the most eminent of Socialist parliamentarians, - assassinated by a fanatic at the outbreak of the war with Germany. The - following is the peroration of a speech delivered at an Anglo-French - parliamentary dinner, 1903) - -The majesty of suffering labor is no longer dumb: it speaks now -with a million tongues, and it asks the nations not to increase -the ills which crush down the workers by an added burden of -mistrust and hate, by wars and the expectation of wars. - -Gentlemen, you may ask how and when and in what form this -longing for international concord will express itself to some -purpose.... I can only answer you by a parable which I gleaned -by fragments from the legends of Merlin, the magician, from the -Arabian Nights, and from a book that is still unread. - -Once upon a time there was an enchanted forest. It had been -stripped of all verdure, it was wild and forbidding. The trees, -tossed by the bitter winter wind that never ceased, struck one -another with a sound as of breaking swords. When at last, after -a long series of freezing nights and sunless days that seemed -like nights, all living things trembled with the first call of -spring, the trees became afraid of the sap that began to move -within them. And the solitary and bitter spirit that had its -dwelling within the hard bark of each of them said very low, -with a shudder that came up from the deepest roots: "Have a -care! If thou art the first to risk yielding to the wooing of -the new season, if thou art the first to turn thy lancelike -buds into blossoms and leaves, their delicate raiment will be -torn by the rough blows of the trees that have been slower to -put forth leaves and flowers." - -And the proud and melancholy spirit that was shut up within the -great Druidical oak spoke to its tree with peculiar insistence: -"And wilt thou, too, seek to join the universal love-feast, -thou whose noble branches have been broken by the storm?" - -Thus, in the enchanted forest, mutual distrust drove back the -sap, and prolonged the death-like winter even after the call of -spring. - -What happened at last? By what mysterious influence was the -grim charm broken? Did some tree find the courage to act alone, -like those April poplars that break into a shower of verdure, -and give from afar the signal for a renewal of all life? Or did -a warmer and more life-giving beam start the sap moving in all -the trees at once? For lo! in a single day the whole forest -burst forth into a magnificent flowering of joy and peace. - - -BY MICAH - -(Hebrew prophet, B. C. 700) - -He shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations -afar off: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, -and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a -sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. -But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig -tree; and none shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the -Lord of hosts hath spoken it. - - - - -BOOK XII - -_Country_ - -The higher patriotism; the duty of man to his country as seen -from the point of view of those who would make the country the -parent and friend of all who dwell in it. - - -Our Country - -(_Read July 4, 1883_) - -BY JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER - -(New England Quaker poet, 1807-1892; a prominent anti-slavery -advocate) - - We give thy natal day to hope, - O country of our love and prayer! - Thy way is down no fatal slope, - But up to freer sun and air. - - Tried as by furnace fires, and yet - By God's grace only stronger made, - In future task before thee set - Thou shalt not lack the old-time aid. - - Great, without seeking to be great - By fraud of conquest; rich in gold, - But richer in the large estate - Of virtue which thy children hold. - - With peace that comes of purity, - And strength to simple justice due-- - So runs our loyal dream of thee; - God of our fathers! make it true. - - O land of lands! to thee we give - Our love, our trust, our service free; - For thee thy sons shall nobly live, - And at thy need shall die for thee. - - -The New Freedom - -BY WOODROW WILSON - -(President of the United States, born 1856. The following is -from his campaign speeches, 1912) - -Are we preserving freedom in this land of ours, the hope of all -the earth? Have we, inheritors of this continent and of the -ideals to which the fathers consecrated it,--have we maintained -them, realizing them, as each generation must, anew? Are we, -in the consciousness that the life of man is pledged to higher -levels here than elsewhere, striving still to bear aloft the -standards of liberty and hope; or, disillusioned and defeated, -are we feeling the disgrace of having had a free field in which -to do new things and of not having done them? - -The answer must be, I am sure, that we have been in a fair -way of failure,--tragic failure. And we stand in danger of -utter failure yet, except we fulfil speedily the determination -we have reached, to deal with the new and subtle tyrannies -according to their deserts. Don't deceive yourselves for -a moment as to the power of the great interests which now -dominate our development. They are so great that it is almost -an open question whether the government of the United States -can dominate them or not. Go one step further, make their -organized power permanent, and it may be too late to turn back. -The roads diverge at the point where we stand. - - -An Ode in Time of Hesitation - -BY WILLIAM VAUGHN MOODY - -(In these noble words the poet voices his pain at the -Philippine war, and the wave of "imperialism" which then swept -over America) - - Was it for this our fathers kept the law? - This crown shall crown their struggle and their ruth? - Are we the eagle nation Milton saw - Mewing its mighty youth, - Soon to possess the mountain winds of truth, - And be a swift familiar of the sun - Where aye before God's face his trumpets run? - Or have we but the talons and the maw, - And for the abject likeness of our heart - Shall some less lordly bird be set apart?-- - Some gross-billed wader where the swamps are fat? - Some gorger in the sun? Some prowler with the bat? - - Ah, no! - We have not fallen so. - We are our fathers' sons: let those who lead us know!... - We charge you, ye who lead us, - Breathe on their chivalry no hint of stain! - Turn not their new-world victories to gain! - One least leaf plucked for chaffer from the bays - Of their dear praise, - One jot of their pure conquest put to hire, - The implacable republic will require; - With clamor, in the glare and gaze of noon, - Or subtly, coming as a thief at night, - But surely, very surely, slow or soon - That insult deep we deeply will requite. - Tempt not our weakness, our cupidity! - For save we let the island men go free, - Those baffled and dislaureled ghosts - Will curse us from the lamentable coasts - Where walk the frustrate dead, - The cup of trembling shall be drained quite, - Eaten the sour bread of astonishment, - With ashes of the heart shall be made white - Our hair, and wailing shall be in the tent; - Then on your guiltier head - Shall our intolerable self-disdain - Wreak suddenly its anger and its pain; - For manifest in that disastrous light - We shall discern the right - And do it, tardily.--O ye who lead, - Take heed! - Blindness we may forgive, but baseness we will smite. - - -The Price of Liberty - -BY THOMAS JEFFERSON - -(See pages 228, 332) - -Cherish the spirit of our people and keep alive their -attention. Do not be too severe upon their errors, but reclaim -them by enlightening them. If once they become inattentive to -public affairs, you and I, and Congress and Assemblies, judges -and governors, shall all become wolves. It seems to be the law -of our general nature, in spite of individual exceptions; and -experience declares that man is the only animal which devours -his own kind; for I can apply no milder term to the governments -of Europe, and to the general prey of the rich on the poor. - - -To the Goddess of Liberty - -(_New York Harbor_) - -BY GEORGE STERLING - -(See pages 504, 552) - - Oh! is it bale-fire in thy brazen hand-- - The traitor-light set on betraying coasts - To lure to doom the mariner? Art thou - Indeed that Freedom, gracious and supreme, - By France once sighted over seas of blood-- - A beacon to the ages, and their hope, - A star against the midnight of the race, - A vision, an announcement? Art thou she - For whom our fathers fought at Lexington - And trod the ways of death at Gettysburg? - Thy torch is lit, thy steadfast hand upheld, - Before our ocean-portals. For a sign - Men set thee there to welcome--loving men, - With faith in man. Thou wast upraised to tell, - To simple souls that seek from over-seas - Our rumored liberty, that here no chains - Are on the people, here no kings can stand, - Nor the old tyranny confound mankind, - Sapping with craft the ramparts of the Law - - For such, O high presentment of their dream! - Thy pathless sandals wait upon the stone, - Thy tranquil face looks evermore to sea: - Now turn, and know the treason at thy back! - Turn to the anarchs' turrets, and behold - The cunning ones that reap where others sow! - - In those great strongholds lifted to the sun - They plot dominion. Thronèd greeds conspire, - Half allied in a brotherhood malign, - Against the throneless many.... - - Would One might pour within thy breast of bronze - Spirit and life! Then should thy loyal hand - Cast down its torch, and thy deep voice should cry: - "Turn back! Turn back, O liberative ships! - Be warned, ye voyagers! From tyranny - To vaster tyranny ye come! Ye come - From realms that in my morning twilight wait - My radiant invasion. But these shores - Have known me and renounced me. I am raised - In mockery, and here the forfeit day - Deepens to West, and my indignant Star - Would hide her shame with darkness and the sea-- - A sun of doom forecasting on the Land - The shadow of the sceptre and the sword." - - -To the United States Senate - -BY VACHEL LINDSAY - -(Upon the arrival of the news that the United States Senate had -declared the election of William Lorimer good and valid) - - And must the Senator from Illinois - Be this squat thing, with blinking, half-closed eyes? - This brazen gutter idol, reared to power - Upon a leering pyramid of lies? - - And must the Senator from Illinois - Be the world's proverb of successful shame, - Dazzling all State house flies that steal and steal, - Who, when the sad State spares them, count it fame? - - If once or twice within his new won hall - His vote had counted for the broken men; - If in his early days he wrought some good-- - We might a great soul's sins forgive him then. - - But must the Senator from Illinois - Be vindicated by fat kings of gold? - And must he be belauded by the smirched, - The sleek, uncanny chiefs in lies grown old? - - Be warned, O wanton ones, who shielded him-- - Black wrath awaits. You all shall eat the dust. - You dare not say: "Tomorrow will bring peace; - Let us make merry, and go forth in lust." - - What will you trading frogs do on a day - When Armageddon thunders thro' the land; - When each sad patriot rises, mad with shame, - His ballot or his musket in his hand? - - -The Duty of Civil Disobedience - -BY HENRY DAVID THOREAU - -(See page 295) - -What is the price-current of an honest man and patriot today? -They hesitate, and they regret, and sometimes they petition; -but they do nothing in earnest and with effect. They will wait, -well disposed, for others to remedy the evil, that they may no -longer have it to regret. At most, they give only a cheap vote -and a feeble countenance and God-speed, to the right, as it -goes by them. - - -A Prophecy - -(_Written during the Revolutionary War_) - -BY THOMAS JEFFERSON - -(See pages 228, 332, 596) - -The spirit of the times may alter, will alter. Our rulers will -become corrupt, our people careless. A single zealot may become -persecutor, and better men be his victims. It can never be too -often repeated that the time for fixing essential right, on a -legal basis, is while our rulers are honest, ourselves united. -_From the conclusion of this war we shall be going down hill._ -It will not then be necessary to resort every moment to the -people for support. They will be forgotten, therefore, and -their rights disregarded. They will forget themselves in the -sole faculty of making money, and will never think of uniting -to effect a due respect for their rights. The shackles, -therefore, which shall not be knocked off at the conclusion of -this war, will be heavier and heavier, till our rights shall -revive or expire in a convulsion. - - -An Election Campaign in New York - -(_From "The House of Bondage"_) - -BY REGINALD WRIGHT KAUFFMAN - -(See pages 53, 167) - -For many days previously, any outsider, reading the newspapers -or attending the mass-meetings in Cooper Union and Carnegie -Hall, would have supposed that a prodigious battle was waging -and that the result would be, until the last shot, in doubt. -There were terrible scareheads, brutal cartoons, and extra -editions. As the real problem was whether one organization -of needy men should remain in control, or whether another -should replace it, there were few matters of policy to be -discussed; and so the speechmaking and the printing resolved -themselves into personal investigations, and attacks upon -character. Private detectives were hired, records searched, -neighbors questioned, old enemies sought out, and family feuds -revived. Desks were broken open, letters bought, anonymous -communications mailed, boyhood indiscretions unearthed, and -women and men hired to wheedle, to commit perjury, to entrap. -Whatever was discovered, forged, stolen, manufactured--whatever -truth or falsehood could be seized by whatever means--was -blazoned in the papers, shrieked by the newsboys, bawled from -the cart-tails at the corners under the campaign banners, in -the light of the torches and before the cheering crowds. It -would be all over in a very short while; in a very short while -there would pass one another, with pleasant smiles, in court, -at church, and along Broadway, the distinguished gentlemen that -were now, before big audiences, calling one another adulterers -and thieves; but it is customary for distinguished gentlemen so -to call one another during a manly campaign in this successful -democracy of ours, and it seems to be an engrossing occupation -while the chance endures. - - -The Doom of Empires - -BY ROBERT G. INGERSOLL - -(American lawyer and lecturer, 1833-1899) - -The traveler standing amid the ruins of ancient cities and -empires, seeing on every side the fallen pillar and the -prostrate wall, asks why did these cities fall, why did these -empires crumble? And the Ghost of the Past, the wisdom of ages, -answers: These temples, these palaces, these cities, the ruins -of which you stand upon, were built by tyranny and injustice. -The hands that built them were unpaid. The backs that bore -the burdens also bore the marks of the lash. They were built -by slaves to satisfy the vanity and ambition of thieves and -robbers. For these reasons they are dust. - -Their civilization was a lie. Their laws merely regulated -robbery and established theft. They bought and sold the bodies -and souls of men, and the mournful wind of desolation, sighing -amid their crumbling ruins, is a voice of prophetic warning to -those who would repeat the infamous experiment, uttering the -great truth, that no nation founded upon slavery, either of -body or mind, can stand. - - -The Statue of Liberty - -(_New York Harbor, A.D. 2900_) - -BY ARTHUR UPSON - -(American poet, 1877-1908) - - Here once, the records show, a land whose pride - Abode in Freedom's watchword! And once here - The port of traffic for a hemisphere, - With great gold-piling cities at her side! - Tradition says, superbly once did bide - Their sculptured goddess on an island near, - With hospitable smile and torch kept clear - For all wild hordes that sought her o'er the tide. - 'Twas centuries ago. But this is true: - Late the fond tyrant who misrules our land, - Bidding his serfs dig deep in marshes old, - Trembled, not knowing wherefore, as they drew - From out this swampy bed of ancient mould - A shattered torch held in a mighty hand. - - -BY FRANCIS BACON - -(English philosopher and statesman, father of modern scientific -thought; 1561-1626) - -Let states that aim at greatness take heed how their nobility -and gentlemen do multiply too fast. For that maketh the common -subject grow to be a peasant and base swain, driven out of -heart, and in effect but the gentleman's laborer. - - -BY DANIEL WEBSTER - -(New England statesman and orator, 1782-1852) - -The freest government cannot long endure when the tendency of -the law is to create a rapid accumulation of property in the -hands of a few, and to render the masses poor and dependent. - - -The Deserted Village - -BY OLIVER GOLDSMITH - -(English poet and novelist, 1728-1774) - - Sweet-smiling village, loveliest of the lawn! - Thy sports are fled, and all thy charms withdrawn; - Amidst thy bowers the tyrant's hand is seen, - And desolation saddens all thy green; - One only master grasps the whole domain, - And half a tillage stints thy smiling plain; - No more thy glassy brook reflects the day, - But, choked with sedges, works its weedy way; - Along thy glades, a solitary guest, - The hollow-sounding bittern guards its nest; - Amidst thy desert walks the lapwing flies, - And tires their echoes with unvaried cries; - Sunk are thy bowers in shapeless ruin all, - And the long grass o'ertops the mouldering wall; - And, trembling, shrinking from the spoiler's hand; - Far, far away thy children leave the land. - - Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey, - Where wealth accumulates, and men decay: - Princes and lords may flourish, or may fade-- - A breath can make them, as a breath has made: - But a bold peasantry, their country's pride, - When once destroyed, can never be supplied. - A time there was, ere England's griefs began, - When every rood of ground maintained its man; - For him light labor spread her wholesome store, - Just gave what life required, but gave no more: - His best companions, innocence and health; - And his best riches, ignorance of wealth. - - But times are altered: trade's unfeeling train - Usurp the land, and dispossess the swain; - Along the lawn, where scattered hamlets rose, - Unwieldy wealth and cumbrous pomp repose; - And every want to luxury allied, - And every pang that folly pays to pride, - Those gentle hours that plenty bade to bloom, - Those calm desires that asked but little room, - Those healthful sports that graced the peaceful scene, - Lived in each look, and brightened all the green-- - These, far departing, seek a kinder shore, - And rural mirth and manners are no more.... - - Ye friends to truth, ye statesmen, who survey - The rich man's joys increase, the poor's decay, - 'Tis yours to judge how wide the limits stand - Between a splendid and a happy land. - Proud swells the tide with loads of freighted ore, - And shouting Folly hails them from her shore; - Hoards, e'en beyond the miser's wish, abound, - And rich men flock from all the world around. - Yet count our gains; this wealth is but a name, - That leaves our useful products still the same. - Not so the loss: the man of wealth and pride - Takes up a space that many poor supplied; - Space for his lake, his park's extended bounds, - Space for his horses, equipage, and hounds; - The robe that wraps his limbs in silken sloth, - Has robbed the neighboring fields of half their growth; - His seat, where solitary sports are seen, - Indignant spurns the cottage from the green; - Around the world each needful product flies, - For all the luxuries the world supplies; - While thus the land, adorned for pleasure all, - In barren splendor, feebly waits the fall.... - - Where then, ah! where, shall poverty reside, - To 'scape the pressure of contiguous pride? - If, to some common's fenceless limits strayed, - He drives his flock to pick the scanty blade, - Those fenceless fields the sons of wealth divide, - And even the bare-worn common is denied. - If to the city sped, what waits him there? - To see profusion that he must not share; - To see ten thousand baneful arts combined - To pamper luxury, and thin mankind; - To see each joy the sons of pleasure know - Extorted from his fellow-creatures' woe. - Here while the courtier glitters in brocade, - There the pale artist plies the sickly trade; - Here while the proud their long-drawn pomps display, - There the black gibbet glooms beside the way. - The dome where Pleasure holds her midnight reign, - Here, richly decked, admits the gorgeous train; - Tumultuous grandeur crowds the blazing square-- - The rattling chariots clash, the torches glare. - Sure scenes like these no troubles e'er annoy! - Sure these denote one universal joy! - Are these thy serious thoughts? Ah! turn thine eyes - Where the poor, houseless, shivering female lies; - She once, perhaps, in village plenty blest, - Has wept at tales of innocence distrest; - Her modest looks the cottage might adorn, - Sweet as the primrose peeps beneath the thorn; - Now lost to all--her friends, her virtue fled-- - Near her betrayer's door she lays her head; - And, pinched with cold, and shrinking from the shower, - With heavy heart deplores that luckless hour - When, idly first, ambitious of the town, - She left her wheel, and robes of country brown.... - - O luxury! thou curst by Heaven's decree, - How ill exchanged are things like these for thee! - How do thy potions, with insidious joy, - Diffuse their pleasures only to destroy! - Kingdoms by thee, to sickly greatness grown, - Boast of a florid vigor not their own. - At every draught more large and large they grow, - A bloated mass of rank unwieldy woe; - Till sapped their strength, and every part unsound, - Down, down they sink, and spread a ruin round. - - -England in 1819 - -BY PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY - -(See page 272) - - An old, mad, blind, despised, and dying king,-- - Princes, the dregs of their dull race, who flow - Through public scorn--mud from a muddy spring,-- - Rulers, who neither see, nor feel, nor know, - But leech-like to their fainting country cling, - Till they drop, blind in blood, without a blow-- - A people starved and stabbed in the untilled field,-- - An army, which liberticide and prey - Makes as a two-edged sword to all who wield,-- - Golden and sanguine laws which tempt and slay; - Religion Christless, Godless--a book sealed; - A Senate,--Time's worst statute unrepealed,-- - Are graves, from which a glorious Phantom may - Burst, to illumine our tempestuous day. - - -The Victorian Age - -BY EDWARD CARPENTER - -(See pages 186, 541) - -I found myself--and without knowing where I was--in the middle -of that strange period of human evolution, the Victorian Age, -which in some respects, one now thinks, marked the lowest -ebb of modern civilized society; a period in which not only -commercialism in public life, but cant in religion, pure -materialism in science, futility in social conventions, the -worship of stocks and shares, the starving of the human heart, -the denial of the human body and its needs, the huddling -concealment of the body in clothes, the "impure hush" on -matters of sex, class-division, contempt of manual labor, -and the cruel barring of women from every natural and useful -expression of their lives, were carried to an extremity of -folly difficult for us now to realize. - - -Coronation Day - -(_From "The People of the Abyss"_) - -BY JACK LONDON - -(See pages 62, 125, 139, 519) - -Vivat Rex Eduardus! They crowned a king this day, and there -have been great rejoicing and elaborate tomfoolery, and I am -perplexed and saddened. I never saw anything to compare with -the pageant, except Yankee circuses and Alhambra ballets; nor -did I ever see anything so hopeless and so tragic. - -To have enjoyed the Coronation procession, I should have come -straight from America to the Hotel Cecil, and straight from -the Hotel Cecil to a five-guinea seat among the washed. My -mistake was in coming from the unwashed of the East End. There -were not many who came from that quarter. The East End, as a -whole, remained in the East End and got drunk. The Socialists, -Democrats, and Republicans went off to the country for a breath -of fresh air, quite unaffected by the fact that four hundred -millions of people were taking to themselves a crowned and -anointed ruler. Six thousand five hundred prelates, priests, -statesmen, princes and warriors beheld the crowning, and the -rest of us the pageant as it passed. - -I saw it at Trafalgar Square, "the most splendid site in -Europe," and the very innermost heart of the empire. There -were many thousands of us, all checked and held in order -by a superb display of armed power. The line of march was -double-walled with soldiers. The base of the Nelson Column was -triple-fringed with bluejackets. Eastward, at the entrance to -the square, stood the Royal Marine Artillery. In the triangle -of Pall Mall and Cockspur Street, the statue of George III was -buttressed on either side by the Lancers and Hussars. To the -west were the red-coats of the Royal Marines, and from the -Union Club to the embouchure of Whitehall swept the glittering, -massive curve of the First Life Guards--gigantic men mounted -on gigantic chargers, steel-breastplated, steel-helmeted, -steel-caparisoned, a great war-sword of steel ready to the hand -of the powers that be. And further, throughout the crowd, were -flung long lines of the Metropolitan Constabulary, while in the -rear were the reserves--tall, well-fed men, with weapons to -wield and muscles to wield them in case of need. - -And as it was thus at Trafalgar Square, so was it along the -whole line of march--force, overpowering force; myriads of men, -splendid men, the pick of the people, whose sole function in -life is blindly to obey, and blindly to kill and destroy and -stamp out life. And that they should be well fed, well clothed, -and well armed, and have ships to hurl them to the ends of -the earth, the East End of London, and the "East End" of all -England, toils and rots and dies. - -There is a Chinese proverb that if one man lives in laziness -another will die of hunger; and Montesquieu has said, "The fact -that many men are occupied in making clothes for one individual -is the cause of there being many people without clothes." We -cannot understand the starved and runty toiler of the East End -(living with his family in a one-room den, and letting out the -floor space for lodgings to other starved and runty toilers) -till we look at the strapping Life Guardsmen of the West End, -and come to know that the one must feed and clothe and groom -the other.... - -In these latter days, five hundred hereditary peers own -one-fifth of England; and they, and the officers and servants -under the King, and those who go to compose the powers that -be, yearly spend in wasteful luxury $1,850,000,000, or -£370,000,000, which is thirty-two per cent of the total wealth -produced by all the toilers of the country. - -At the Abbey, clad in wonderful golden raiment, amid fanfare -of trumpets and throbbing of music, surrounded by a brilliant -throng of masters, lords, and rulers, the King was being -invested with the insignia of his sovereignty. The spurs were -placed to his heels by the Lord Great Chamberlain, and a -sword of state, in purple scabbard, was presented him by the -Archbishop of Canterbury, with these words:-- - -"Receive this kingly sword brought now from the altar of God, -and delivered to you by the hands of the bishops and servants -of God, though unworthy." - -Whereupon, being girded, he gave heed to the Archbishop's -exhortation:-- - -"With this sword do justice, stop the growth of iniquity, -protect the Holy Church of God, help and defend widows and -orphans, restore the things that are gone to decay, maintain -the things that are restored, punish and reform what is amiss, -and confirm what is in good order...." - -"And how did you like the procession, mate?" I asked an old man -on a bench in Green Park. - -"'Ow did I like it? A bloomin' good chawnce, sez I to myself, -for a sleep, wi' all the coppers aw'y, so I turned into the -corner there, along wi' fifty others. But I couldn't sleep, -a-lyin' there 'ungry an' thinkin' 'ow I'd worked all the years -'o my life, an' now 'ad no plyce to rest my 'ead; an' the music -comin' to me, an' the cheers an' cannon, till I got almost -a hanarchist an' wanted to blow out the brains o' the Lord -Chamberlain." - -Why the Lord Chamberlain I could not precisely see, nor could -he, but that was the way he felt, he said conclusively, and -there was no more discussion.... - -At three in the morning I strolled up the Embankment. It was -a gala night for the homeless, for the police were elsewhere; -and each bench was jammed with sleeping occupants. There were -as many women as men, and the great majority of them, male and -female, were old. Occasionally a boy was to be seen. On one -bench I noticed a family, a man sitting upright with a sleeping -babe in his arms, his wife asleep, her head on his shoulder, -and in her lap the head of a sleeping youngster. The man's eyes -were wide open. He was staring out over the water and thinking, -which is not a good thing for a shelterless man with a family -to do. It would not be a pleasant thing to speculate upon his -thoughts; but this I know, and all London knows, that the -cases of out-of-works killing their wives and babies is not an -uncommon happening. - -One cannot walk along the Thames Embankment, in the small hours -of morning, from the Houses of Parliament, past Cleopatra's -Needle, to Waterloo Bridge, without being reminded of the -sufferings, seven and twenty centuries old, recited by the -author of "Job":-- - -"There are that remove the landmarks; they violently take away -flocks and feed them. - -"They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the -widow's ox for a pledge. - -"They turn the needy out of the way; the poor of the earth hide -themselves together. - -"Behold, as wild asses in the desert they go forth to their -work, seeking diligently for meat; the wilderness yieldeth them -food for their children. - -"They cut their provender in the field, and they glean the -vintage of the wicked. - -"They lie all night naked without clothing, and have no -covering in the cold. - -"They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace -the rock for want of a shelter. - -"There are that pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take -a pledge of the poor. - -"So that they go about naked without clothing, and being an -hungered they carry the sheaves." - -Seven and twenty centuries agone! And it is all as true and -apposite today in the innermost centre of this Christian -civilisation whereof Edward VII is king. - - -The Wrongfulness of Riches - -BY GRANT ALLEN - -(See page 210) - -Have you ever reflected with what equipment of rights the -average citizen is born endowed in England? With the right -of moving up and down the public roads till he drops from -exhaustion. That is all. Literally and absolutely all. - - -BY WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR - -(English poet and essayist, 1775-1864) - -A want of the necessaries of life, in peasants or artisans, -when the seasons have been favorable, is a certain sign -of defect in the constitution, or of criminality in the -administration. - - -The True Imperialism - -BY WILLIAM WATSON - -(English poet, conspicuous for his courage in opposing the Boer -war; born 1858) - - Here, while the tide of conquest rolls - Against the distant golden shore, - The starved and stunted human souls - Are with us more and more. - - Vain is your Science, vain your Art, - Your triumphs and your glories vain, - To feed the hunger of their heart - And famine of their brain. - - Your savage deserts howling near, - Your wastes of ignorance, vice, and shame,-- - Is there no room for victories here, - No fields for deeds of fame? - - Arise and conquer while ye can - The foe that in your midst resides, - And build within the mind of Man - The Empire that abides. - - -Letters from a Chinese Official - -BY G. LOWES DICKINSON - -(See page 510) - -Like the prince in the fable, you seem to have released from -his prison the genie of competition, only to find that you are -unable to control him. Your legislation for the past hundred -years is a perpetual and fruitless effort to regulate the -disorders of your economic system. Your poor, your drunk, -your incompetent, your aged, ride you like a nightmare. You -have dissolved all human and personal ties, and you endeavor, -in vain, to replace them by the impersonal activity of the -State. The salient characteristic of your civilization is -its irresponsibility. You have liberated forces you cannot -control; you are caught yourselves in your own levers and cogs. -In every department of business you are substituting for the -individual the company, for the workman the tool. The making -of dividends is a universal preoccupation; the well-being of -the laborer is no one's concern but the State's. And this -concern even the State is incompetent to undertake, for the -factors by which it is determined are beyond its control. -You depend on variations of supply and demand which you can -neither determine nor anticipate. The failure of a harvest, the -modification of a tariff in some remote country, dislocates the -industry of millions, thousands of miles away. You are at the -mercy of a prospector's luck, an inventor's genius, a woman's -caprice--nay, you are at the mercy of your own instruments. -Your capital is alive, and cries for food; starve it and it -turns and throttles you. You produce, not because you will, -but because you must; you consume, not what you choose, but -what is forced upon you. Never was any trade so bound as this -which you call free; but it is bound, not by a reasonable will, -but by the accumulated irrationality of caprice. - - -Utopia - -BY SIR THOMAS MORE - -(See pages 160, 490) - -When I consider and way in my mind all these common wealthes, -which now a dayes any where do florish, so god helpe me, I -can perceave nothing but a certain conspiracy of riche men -procuringe theire owne commodities under the name and title -of the commen wealth. They invent and devise all meanes and -craftes, first how to kepe safely, without feare of losing, -that they have unjustly gathered together, and next how to hire -and abuse the worke and laboure of the poore for as litle money -as may be. These devises, when the riche men have decreed to -be kept and observed under coloure of the comminaltie, that -is to saye, also of the pore people, then they be made lawes. -But these most wicked and vicious men, when they have by their -unsatiable covetousnes devided among them selves al those -thinges, whiche woulde have sufficed all men, yet how faire be -they from the welth and felicitie of the Utopian commen wealth? - - -Tales of Two Countries - -BY MAXIM GORKY - - (A volume of short stories representing the later work of the Russian - novelist, the fruit of his sojourn in Capri. It is interesting to note - how this change of environment altered not merely his point of view, - but even his literary style. The following narrative has the clarity - and delicacy of the best French prose. It is the story of an Italian - workingman) - -"I was born naked and stupid, like you and everybody else; -in my youth I dreamed of a rich wife; when I was a soldier I -studied in order to pass the examination for an officer's rank. -I was twenty-three when I felt that all was not as it should be -in this world, and that it was a shame to live as if it were.... - -"We, our whole regiment, were sent to Bologna. The peasantry -there were in revolt, some demanding that the rent of land -should be lowered, others shouting about the necessity for -raising wages: both parties seemed to be in the wrong. 'To -lower rents and increase wages, what nonsense!' thought -I. 'That would ruin the landowners.' To me, who was a -town-dweller, it seemed utter foolishness. I was very -indignant--the heat helped to make one so, and the constant -travelling from place to place and the mounting guard at night. -For, you know, these fine fellows were breaking the machinery -belonging to the landowners; and it pleased them to burn the -corn and to try to spoil everything that did not belong to -them. Just think of it!" - -He sipped his wine and, becoming more animated, went on: "They -roamed about the fields in droves like sheep, always silently, -and as if they meant business. We used to scatter them, -threatening them with our bayonets sometimes. Now and then -we struck them with the butts of our rifles. Without showing -much fear, they dispersed in leisurely fashion, but always -came together again. It was a tedious business, like mass, -and it lasted for days, like an attack of fever. Luoto, our -non-commissioned officer, a fine fellow from Abruzzi, himself a -peasant, was anxious and troubled: he turned quite yellow and -thin, and more than once he said to us: - -"'It's a bad business, boys; it will probably be necessary to -shoot, damn it!' - -"His grumbling upset us still more; and then, you know, from -every corner, from every hillock and tree we could see peeping -the obstinate heads of the peasants; their angry eyes seemed to -pierce us. For these people, naturally enough, did not regard -us in a very friendly light.... - -"Once I stood on a small hillock near an olive grove, guarding -some trees which the peasants had been injuring. At the bottom -of the hill two men were at work, an old man and a youth. They -were digging a ditch. It was very hot, the sun burnt like fire, -one felt irritable, longed to be a fish, and I remember I eyed -them angrily. At noon they both left off work, and got out some -bread and cheese and a jug of wine. 'Oh, devil take them!' -thought I to myself. Suddenly the old man, who previously had -not once looked at me, said something to the youth, who shook -his head disapprovingly, but the old man shouted: 'Go on!' He -said this very sternly. - -"The youth came up to me with the jug in his hand, and said, -not very willingly, you know: 'My father thinks that you would -like a drink and offers you some wine.' - -"I felt embarrassed, but I was pleased. I refused, nodding at -the same time to the old man and thanking him. He responded by -looking at the sky. 'Drink it, signor, drink it. We offer this -to you as a man, not as a soldier. We do not expect a soldier -to become kinder because he has drunk our wine!' - -"'D-- you, don't get nasty,' I thought to myself, and having -drunk about three mouthfuls I thanked him. Then they began -to eat down below. A little later I was relieved by Ugo from -Salertino. I told him quietly that these two peasants were -good fellows. The same night, as I stood at the door of a barn -where the machinery was kept, a slate fell on my head from the -roof. It did not do much damage, but another slate, striking my -shoulder edgewise, hurt me so severely that my left arm dropped -benumbed." - -The speaker burst into a loud laugh, his mouth wide open, his -eyes half-closed. "Slates, stones, sticks," said he, through -his laughter, "in those days and at that place were alive. This -independent action of lifeless things made some pretty big -bumps on our heads. Wherever a soldier stood or walked, a stick -would suddenly fly at him from the ground, or a stone fall upon -him from the sky. It made us savage, as you can guess." - -The eyes of his companion became sad, his face turned pale and -he said quietly: "One always feels ashamed to hear of such -things." - -"What is one to do? People take time to get wise. Then I called -for help. I was led into a house where another fellow lay, his -face cut by a stone. When I asked him how it happened he said, -smiling, but not with mirth: - -"'An old woman, comrade, an old gray witch struck me, and then -proposed that I should kill her!' - -"'Was she arrested?' - -"'I said that I had done it myself, that I had fallen and hurt -myself. The commander did not believe it, I could see it by his -eyes. But, don't you see, it was awkward to confess that I had -been wounded by an old woman. Eh? The devil! Of course they are -hard pressed, and one can understand that they do not love us!' - -"'H'm!' thought I. The doctor came and two ladies with him, one -of them fair and very pretty, evidently a Venetian. I don't -remember the other. They looked at my wound. It was slight, of -course. They applied a poultice and went away.... - -"My comrade and I used to sit at the window. We sat in such a -way that the light did not fall on us, and there once we heard -the charming voice of this fair lady. She and her companion -were walking with the doctor in the garden outside the window -and talking in French, which I understand very well. - -"'Did you notice the color of his eyes?' she asked. 'He is a -peasant of course, and once he has taken off his uniform will -no doubt become a Socialist, like all of them here. People with -eyes like that want to conquer the whole of life, to drive us -out, to destroy us in order that some blind, tedious justice -should triumph!' - -"'Foolish fellows,' said the doctor--'half children, half -brutes.' - -"'Brutes, that is quite true. But what is there childish about -them?' - -"'What about those dreams of universal equality?' - -"'Yes, just imagine it. The fellow with the eyes of an ox, and -the other with the face of a bird--our equals! You and I their -equals, the equals of these people of inferior blood! People -who can be bidden to come and kill their fellows, brutes like -them.' ... - -"She spoke much and vehemently. I listened and thought: 'Quite -right, signora.' I had seen her more than once; and you know, -of course, that no one dreams more ardently of a woman than a -soldier. I imagined her to be kind and clever and warm-hearted; -and at that time I had an idea that the landed nobility were -especially clever, or gifted, or something of the kind. I don't -know why! - -"I asked my comrade: 'Do you understand this language?' - -"No, he did not understand. Then I translated for him the -fair lady's speech. The fellow got as angry as the devil, and -started to jump about the room, his one eye glistening--the -other was bandaged. - -"'Is that so?' he murmured. 'Is that possible? She makes use -of me and does not look upon me as a man. For her sake I allow -my dignity to be offended and she denies it. For the sake of -guarding her property I risk losing my soul.' - -"He was not a fool and felt that he had been very much -insulted, and so did I. The following day we talked about this -lady in a loud voice, not heeding Luoto, who only muttered: - -"'Be careful, boys; don't forget that you are soldiers, and -that there is such a thing as discipline.' - -"No, we did not forget it. But many of us, almost all, to tell -you the truth, became deaf and blind, and these young peasants -made use of our deafness and blindness to very good purpose. -They won. They treated us very well indeed. The fair lady could -have learnt from them: for instance, they could have taught -her very convincingly how honest people should be valued. When -we left the place whither we had come with the idea of shedding -blood, many of us were given flowers. As we marched along the -streets of the village, not stones and slates but flowers -were thrown at us, my friend. I think we had deserved it. One -may forget a cool reception when one has received such a good -send-off." - - -The Rights of Man - -BY THOMAS PAINE - -(English radical writer, who took a prominent part in the -American and French revolutions; 1737-1809) - -The superstitious awe, the enslaving reverence, that formerly -surrounded affluence, is passing away in all countries, -and leaving the possessor of property to the convulsion of -accidents. When wealth and splendor, instead of fascinating the -multitude, excite emotions of disgust; when, instead of drawing -forth admiration, it is beheld as an insult upon wretchedness; -when the ostentatious appearance it makes serves to call the -right of it in question, the case of property becomes critical, -and it is only in a system of justice that the possessor can -contemplate security. - - -BY OTTO VON BISMARCK - -(German statesman, 1815-1898) - -I believe that those who profess horror at the intervention of -the state for the protection of the weak lay themselves open to -the suspicion that they are desirous of using their strength -for the benefit of a portion, for the oppression of the rest. - - -The Demand of Labor - -BY ABRAHAM LINCOLN - - (President of the United States; 1809-1865. A frequently quoted - passage attributed to Lincoln, prophesying the developments of modern - capitalist industry, has been proven to be spurious. It therefore - seems worth stating that the passages quoted in this volume have been - duly verified) - -Inasmuch as most good things are produced by labor, it follows -that all such things ought to belong to those whose labor has -produced them. But it has happened in all ages of the world -that some have labored, and others, without labor, have enjoyed -a large proportion of the fruits. This is wrong, and should -not continue. To secure to each laborer the whole product of -his labor as nearly as possible is a worthy object of any good -government. - - -Bryanism - -(_From the New York "Tribune"_) - - (The following passage is given space as a curiosity of the - class-struggle, and by way of encouragement to social reformers who - may suffer under the lash of capitalist abuse. It is from an editorial - published in one of New York City's most conservative and respectable - journals on the day after the presidential election of 1896; its - subject is the Hon. William Jennings Bryan, now a conservative and - plodding Secretary of State) - -The thing was conceived in iniquity and was brought forth in -sin. It had its origin in a malicious conspiracy against the -honor and integrity of the nation. It gained such monstrous -growth as it enjoyed from an assiduous culture of the basest -passions of the least worthy members of the community. It has -been defeated and destroyed because right is right and God -is God. Its nominal head was worthy of the cause. Nominal, -because the wretched, rattle-pated boy, posing in vapid vanity -and mouthing resounding rottenness, was not the real leader of -that league of hell. He was only a puppet in the blood-imbued -hands of Altgeld, the anarchist, and Debs, the revolutionist, -and other desperadoes of that stripe. But he was a willing -puppet, Bryan was--willing and eager. Not one of his masters -was more apt than he at lies and forgeries and blasphemies -and all the nameless iniquities of that campaign against the -Ten Commandments. He goes down with the cause, and must abide -with it in the history of infamy. He had less provocation than -Benedict Arnold, less intellectual force than Aaron Burr, -less manliness and courage than Jefferson Davis. He was the -rival of them all in deliberate wickedness and treason to -the Republic. His name belongs with theirs, neither the most -brilliant nor the most hateful of the list. Good riddance to -it all, to conspiracy and conspirators, and to the foul menace -of repudiation and anarchy against the honor and life of the -Republic! - - -BY FERDINAND LASSALLE - -(German Socialist leader; 1825-1864) - -It is the opposition of the personal interest of the higher -classes to the development of the nation in culture, which -causes the great and necessary immorality of the higher -classes. - - -The Rough Rider - -BY BLISS CARMAN - -(American poet of nature, born 1861) - - Take up, who will, the challenge; - Stand pat on graft and greed; - Grow sleek on others' labor, - Surfeit on others' need; - Let paid and bloodless tricksters - Devise a legal way - Our common right and justice - "To sell, deny, delay." - - Not yesterday nor lightly - We came to know that breed; - Our quarrel with that cunning - Is old as Runnymede. - We saw enfranchised insult - Deploy in kingly line, - When broke our sullen fury - On Rupert of the Rhine.... - - Now, masking raid and rapine - In debonair disguise, - The foe we thought defeated - Deludes our careless eyes, - Entrenched in law and largess - And the vested wrong of things, - Cloaking a fouler treason - Than any faithless king's. - - He takes our life for wages, - He holds our land for rent, - He sweats our little children - To swell his cent per cent; - With secret grip and levy - On every crumb we eat, - He drives our sons to thieving, - Our daughters to the street.... - - Against the grim defenses - Where might and murrain hide, - Unswerving to the issue - Loose-reined and rough we ride - Full tardily, to rescue - Our heritage from wrong, - And stablish it on manhood, - A thousand times more strong. - - -BY WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE - -(English liberal statesman, 1809-1898) - -In almost every one, if not in every one, of the greatest -political controversies of the last fifty years, whether -they affected the franchise, whether they affected commerce, -whether they affected religion, whether they affected the bad -and abominable institution of slavery, or what subject they -touched, these leisured classes, these educated classes, these -titled classes, have been in the wrong. - - -The Bad Shepherds - -BY OCTAVE MIRBEAU - - (Celebrated French man-of-letters, born 1850. A play, first produced - in 1897, with Sarah Bernhardt in the leading rôle, presenting the - class-struggle from the point of view of the anti-parliamentarian. - At the height of a desperate strike of steel-workers, the leader of - the strikers is addressing a secret gathering in a forest, near a - religious shrine) - -JEAN:--You reproach me--and this is the worst charge you bring -against me--that I refused the meeting with the radical and -socialist deputies who wanted to mix up in our affair, and take -the direction of the strike? - -VOICES:--Yes--yes! Silence! Hear him! - -JEAN:--Your deputies! Ah, if you had seen them at work! And -you, yourselves--have you forgotten the infamous rôle, the -pitiful, sinister comedy they played in the last strike? How, -having pushed the workers to a desperate resistance, they gave -them up weakened, despoiled, bound hands and feet, to the -master--the very day where a last effort, a last surge, would -have compelled him, perhaps, to surrender? Ah, no indeed! I -have not wished that intriguers, under the pretext of defending -you, should come to impose upon you combinations--wherein -you are nothing but a means to maintain and increase their -political power--a prey to satisfy their political appetites! -You have nothing in common with those people! Their interests -are not any more yours--than those of the usurer and the -creditor, of the assassin and his victim! - -VOICE:--Bravo! It's true! Down with politics! Down with the -deputies! - -JEAN:--Understand, then, that they exist only by your -credulity! Your brutalization, they exploit it as a farm--your -servitude, they treat it as an income. They grow fat upon your -poverty and your ignorance, while you are living; and when you -are dead they make a pedestal of your corpses! Is that what you -want? - -VOICE:--No, no. He is right! - -JEAN:--The master is at least a man like yourselves! You have -him before you--you speak to him--you make him angry--you -threaten him--you kill him. At least he has a face, a breast -into which you can thrust a knife! But go now, and move that -being without a face that is called a politician! Go kill -that thing that is known as politics! That slippery and -fugitive thing, that you think you have, and that always -escapes you--that you believe is dead, and it begins once -again--that abominable thing by which all has been made vile, -all corrupted, all bought, all sold--justice, love, beauty! -Which has made of the venality of conscience a national -institution of France--which has done worse yet, since with its -foul slime it has soiled the august face of the poor--worse -yet, since it has destroyed in you the last ideal--the faith -in the Revolution! Do you understand what I have desired of -you--that which I still demand of your energy, your dignity, -your intelligence? I have desired, and I desire, that you -shall show for once, to the world of political parasites, that -new example, fecund and terrible, of a strike made, at last, -by yourselves, for yourselves! And if once more you have to -die, in this struggle which you have undertaken, know how to -die--one time--for yourselves, for your sons, for those who -will be born of your sons--and no more for those who trade upon -your suffering, as always! - -MADELEINE (_a girl-striker, springs up_):--March--march with -him, and no longer with those whose hands are red with the -blood of the poor! March! The road will be long and hard! You -will fall many times upon your broken knees--what matters it? -Stand up and march again! Justice is at the end! - -A VOICE:--We will follow you! - -MADELEINE:--And do not fear death! Love death! Death is -splendid--necessary and divine! It makes life young again! Ah, -do not give your tears! Through all the centuries that you -have wept, who has seen them, who has heard them flow? Give -your blood! If blood is as a hideous spot upon the face of the -hangmen, it shines upon the face of martyrs as an eternal sun! -Each drop of blood that flows from your veins--every stream of -blood that pours from your bosoms--will mean the birth of a -hero--a saint (_pointing to the crucifix_)--a god! Ah, would -that I had a thousand lives, that I might give them all for -you! Would that I had a thousand breasts, so that all that -blood of deliverance and love might pour out upon the ground -where you suffer! - - -The Cultured Classes - -BY JOHANN GOTTLIEB FICHTE - -(German philosopher, 1762-1814) - -It is particularly to the cultured classes that I wish to -direct my remarks in the present address. I implore these -classes to take the initiative in the work of reconstruction, -to atone for their past deeds, and to earn the right to -continue life in the future. It will appear in the course of -this address that hitherto all the advance in the German nation -has originated with the common people; that hitherto all the -great national interests have, in the first instance, been -the affair of the people, have been taken in hand and pushed -forward by the body of the people. - - -The Duty of Civil Disobedience - -BY HENRY DAVID THOREAU - -(See pages 295, 600) - -The mass of men serve the State thus, not as men mainly, but -as machines, with their bodies. They are the standing army, -and the militia, gaolers, constables, posse comitatus, etc. In -most cases there is no free exercise whatever of the judgment -or of the moral sense; but they put themselves on a level -with wood and earth and stones; and wooden men can perhaps be -manufactured that will serve the purpose as well. Such command -no more respect than men of straw or a lump of dirt. They have -the same sort of worth only as horses and dogs. Yet such as -these even are commonly esteemed good citizens. - -Others--as most legislators, politicians, lawyers, ministers, -and office-holders--serve the State chiefly with their heads; -and, as they rarely make any moral distinctions, they are as -likely to serve the devil, without _intending_ it, as God. - -A very few, as heroes, patriots, martyrs, reformers in the -great sense, and _men_, serve the State with their consciences -also, and so necessarily resist it for the most part; and they -are commonly treated as enemies by it. - - -BY RALPH WALDO EMERSON - -(See pages 235, 522) - - Let man serve law for man; - Live for friendship, live for love, - For truth's and harmony's behoof; - The state may follow how it can, - As Olympus follows Jove. - - -The Happiness of Nations - -BY JAMES MACKAYE - -(American writer upon economics, born 1872) - -Everywhere we are taught that "life is sacred," that "liberty -is sacred," that "property is sacred,"--but where are we taught -that happiness is sacred? And yet it is only because of their -relation to happiness that these other things have a trace of -sacredness. - - -Paris - -BY ÉMILE ZOLA - -(See page 91) - -All boiled in the huge vat of Paris; the desires, the deeds -of violence, the strivings of one and another man's will, the -whole nameless medley of the bitterest ferments, whence, in all -purity, the wine of the future would at last flow. - -Then Pierre became conscious of the prodigious work which -went on in the depths of the vat, beneath all the impurity -and waste. What mattered the stains, the egotism and greed of -politicians, if humanity were still on the march, ever slowly -and stubbornly stepping forward! What mattered, too, that -corrupt and emasculate _bourgeoisie_, nowadays as moribund as -the aristocracy, whose place it took, if behind it there ever -came the inexhaustible reserve of men who surged up from the -masses of the country-side and the towns!... If in the depths -of pestilential workshops and factories the slavery of ancient -times subsisted in the wage-earning system, if men still died -of want on their pallets like broken-down beasts of burden, -it was nevertheless a fact that once already, on a memorable -day of tempest, Liberty sprang forth from the vat to wing -her flight throughout the world. And why in her turn should -not Justice spring from it, proceeding from those troubled -elements, freeing herself from all dross, ascending with -dazzling splendor and regenerating the nations? - - -Farewell Address - -BY GEORGE WASHINGTON - -(See page 305) - -Observe good faith and justice toward all nations, cultivate -peace and harmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this -conduct; and can it be that good policy does not equally enjoin -it? It will be worthy of a free, enlightened and at no distant -period a great nation to give to mankind the magnanimous and -too novel example of a people always guided by an exalted -justice and benevolence. Who can doubt but, in the course -of time and things, the fruits of such a plan would richly -repay any temporary advantages which might be lost by a steady -adherence to it; can it be that Providence has not connected -the permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue. The -experiment, at least, is recommended by every sentiment which -enobles human nature. Alas, is it rendered impossible by its -vices? - - -America the Beautiful - -BY KATHARINE LEE BATES - -(Professor at Wellesley College, born 1859. This poem has been -adopted as the official hymn of the American Federation of -Women's Clubs) - - O beautiful for spacious skies, - For amber waves of grain, - For purple mountain majesties - Above the fruited plain! - America! America! - God shed His grace on thee - And crown thy good with brotherhood - From sea to shining sea! - - O beautiful for pilgrim feet, - Whose stern, impassioned stress - A thoroughfare for freedom beat - Across the wilderness! - America! America! - God mend thine every flaw, - Confirm thy soul in self-control, - Thy liberty in law! - - O beautiful for heroes proved - In liberating strife, - Who more than self their country loved, - And mercy more than life! - America! America! - May God thy gold refine, - Till all success be nobleness, - And every gain divine! - - O beautiful for patriot dream - That sees beyond the years - Thine alabaster cities gleam - Undimmed by human tears! - America! America! - God shed His grace on thee - And crown thy good with brotherhood - From sea to shining sea! - - - - -BOOK XIII - -_Children_ - -Social injustice as it bears upon literature and the producers -of literature; pictures of the life of the outcast poet, and of -art in conflict with mammon. - - -The Children of the Poor - -BY VICTOR HUGO - -(See pages 182, 267) - -(_Translated by Algernon Charles Swinburne_) - - Take heed of this small child of earth; - He is great: he hath in him God most high. - Children before their fleshly birth - Are lights alive in the blue sky. - - In our light bitter world of wrong - They come; God gives us them awhile. - His speech is in their stammering tongue, - And his forgiveness in their smile. - - Their sweet light rests upon our eyes. - Alas! their right to joy is plain. - If they are hungry, Paradise - Weeps, and, if cold, Heaven thrills with pain. - - The want that saps their sinless flower - Speaks judgment on sin's ministers. - Man holds an angel in his power. - Ah! deep in Heaven what thunder stirs, - - When God seeks out these tender things - Whom in the shadow where we sleep - He sends us clothed about with wings, - And finds them ragged babes that weep! - - -In a Southern Cotton Mill - -BY ELBERT HUBBARD - -(American author and lecturer, born 1859; died May 7, 1915) - -I thought to lift one of the little toilers to ascertain his -weight. Through his thirty-five pounds of skin and bone there -ran a tremor of fear, and he struggled forward to tie a broken -thread. I attracted his attention by a touch, and offered him a -silver dime. He looked at me dumbly through a face that might -have belonged to a man of sixty, so furrowed, tightly drawn, -and full of pain it was. He did not reach for the money--he -did not know what it was. There were dozens of such children, -in this particular mill. A physician who was with me said that -they would all be dead probably in two years, and their places -filled by others--there were plenty more. Pneumonia carries off -most of them. Their systems are ripe for disease, and when it -comes there is no rebound--no response. Medicine simply does -not act--nature is whipped, beaten, discouraged, and the child -sinks into a stupor and dies. - - -The Flower Factory - -BY FLORENCE WILKINSON EVANS - -(Contemporary American poetess) - - Lizabetta, Marianina, Fiametta, Teresina, - They are winding stems of roses, one by one, one by one, - Little children who have never learned to play; - Teresina softly crying that her fingers ache to-day; - - Tiny Fiametta nodding, when the twilight slips in, gray. - High above the clattering street, ambulance and fire-gong beat, - They sit, curling crimson petals, one by one, one by one. - - Lizabetta, Marianina, Fiametta, Teresina, - They have never seen a rose-bush nor a dew-drop in the sun. - They will dream of the vendetta, Teresina, Fiametta, - Of a Black Hand and a Face behind a grating; - They will dream of cotton petals, endless, crimson, suffocating, - Never of a wild rose thicket or the singing of a cricket, - But the ambulance will bellow through the wanness of their dreams, - And their tired lids will flutter with the street's hysteric screams. - - Lizabetta, Marianina, Fiametta, Teresina, - They are winding stems of roses, one by one, one by one. - Let them have a long, long play-time, Lord of Toil, when toil is done, - Fill their baby hands with roses, joyous roses of the sun. - - -The Beast - -BY BEN B. LINDSEY AND HARVEY J. O'HIGGINS - - ("The Children's Judge," who founded the first children's court - in America, tells the story of his long fight with the powers of - privilege in Colorado. In the following extract, he narrates what came - of a newspaper interview on the subject of the revolting conditions - under which children were kept in prison) - -The result was an article that took even _my_ breath away when -I read it next day on the front page of the newspaper. It was -the talk of the town. It was certainly the talk of the Police -Board; and Mr. Frank Adams talked to the reporters in a high -voice, indiscreetly. He declared that the boys were liars, that -I was "crazy," and that conditions in the jails were as good -as they could be. This reply was exactly what we wished. I -demanded an investigation. The Board professed to be willing, -but set no date. We promptly set one _for_ them--the following -Thursday at two o'clock in my chambers at the Court House--and -I invited to the hearing Governor Peabody, Mayor Wright, -fifteen prominent ministers in the city, and the Police Board -and some members of the City Council. - -On Thursday morning--to my horror--I learned from a friendly -Deputy Sheriff that the subpœnas I had ordered sent to a number -of boys whom I knew as jail victims had not been served. I had -no witnesses. And in three hours the hearing was to begin. I -appealed to the Deputy Sheriff to help me. He admitted that he -could not get the boys in less than two days. "Well then," I -said, "for heaven's sake, get me Mickey." - -And Mickey? Well, Mickey was known to fame as "the worst kid -in town." As such, his portrait had been printed in the -newspapers--posed with his shine-box over his shoulder, a -cigarette in the corner of his grin, his thumbs under his -suspenders at the shoulders, his feet crossed in an attitude -of nonchalant youthful deviltry. He had been brought before -me more than once on charges of truancy, and I had been using -him in an attempt to organize a newsboys' association under -the supervision of the court. Moreover, he had been one of the -boys who had been beaten by the jailer, and I knew he would be -grateful to me for defending him. - -It was midday before the Sheriff brought him to me. "Mickey," I -said, "I'm in trouble, and you've got to help me out of it. You -know I helped _you_." - -"Betcher life yuh did, Judge," he said. "I'm wit' yuh. W'at d' -yuh want?" - -I told him what I wanted--every boy that he could get, who -had been in jail. "And they've got to be in this room by two -o'clock. Can you do it?" - -Mickey threw out his dirty little hand. "Sure I kin. Don't yuh -worry, Judge. Get me a wheel--dhat's all." - -I hurried out with him and got him a bicycle, and he flew off -down Sixteenth Street on it, his legs so short that his feet -could only follow the pedals half way round. I went back to my -chambers to wait.... - -As two o'clock approached, the ministers began to come into my -room, one by one, and take seats in readiness. Mr. Wilson of -the Police Board arrived to represent his fellow-commissioners. -The Deputy District Attorney came, the president of the upper -branch of the City Council came, Mayor Wright came, and even -Governor Peabody came--but no boys! I felt like a man who had -ordered a big dinner in a strange restaurant for a party of -friends, and then found that he had not brought his purse.... -I was just about to begin my apologies when I heard an excited -patter of small feet on the stairs and the shuffle and crowding -of Mickey's cohorts outside in the hall. I threw open the door. -"I got 'em, Judge," Mickey cried. - -He had them--to the number of about twenty. I shook him by the -shoulder, speechless with relief. "I tol' yuh we'd stan' by -yuh, Judge," he grinned. - -He had the worst lot of little jailbirds that ever saw the -inside of a county court, and he pointed out the gem of his -collection proudly--"Skinny," a lad in his teens, who had been -in jail twenty-two times!" All right, boys," I told them, "I -don't know you all, but I'll take Mickey's word for you. You've -all been in jail and you know what you do there--all the dirty -things you hear and see and do yourselves. I want you to tell -some gentlemen in here about it. Don't be scared. They're your -friends the same as I am. The cops say you've been lying to me -about the way things are down in the jails there, and I want -you to tell the truth. Nothing but the truth, now. Mickey, you -pick them out and send them in one by one--your best witnesses -first." - -I went back to my chambers. "Gentlemen," I said, "we're ready." - -I sat down at the big table with the Governor at my right, the -Mayor at my left and the president of the Board of Supervisors -and Police Commissioner Wilson at either end of the table. The -ministers seated themselves in the chairs about my room. (We -allowed no newspaper reporters in, because I knew what sort of -vile and unprintable testimony was coming.) Mickey sent in his -first witness. - -One by one, as the boys came, I impressed upon them the -necessity of telling the truth, encouraged them to talk, and -tried to put them at their ease. I started each by asking him -how often he had been in jail, what he had seen there, and so -forth. Then I sat back and let him tell his story. - -And the things they told would raise your hair. I saw the -blushes rise to the foreheads of some of the ministers at -the first details. As we went on, the perspiration stood -on their faces. Some sat pale, staring appalled at these -freckled youngsters from whose little lips, in a sort of -infantile eagerness to tell all they knew, there came stories -of bestiality that were the more horrible because they were -so innocently, so boldly given. It was enough to make a man -weep; and indeed tears of compassionate shame came to the -eyes of more than one father there, as he listened. One boy -broke down and cried when he told of the vile indecencies -that had been committed upon him by the older criminals; and -I saw the muscles working in the clenched jaws of some of our -"investigating committee"--saw them swallowing the lump in the -throat--saw them looking down at the floor blinkingly, afraid -of losing their self-control. The Police Commissioner made the -mistake of cross-examining the first boy, but the frank answers -he got only exposed worse matters. The boys came and came, till -at last, a Catholic priest, Father O'Ryan, cried out: "My God! -I have had enough!" Governor Peabody said hoarsely: "I never -knew there was such immorality _in the world_!" Some one else -put in, "It's awful,--awful!" in a half groan. - -"Gentlemen," I said, "there have been over two thousand Denver -boys put through those jails and those conditions, in the last -five years. Do you think it should go on any longer?" - -Governor Peabody arose. "No," he said; "no. Never in my life -have I heard of so much rot--corruption--vileness--as I've -heard today from the mouths of these babies. I want to tell -you that nothing I can do in my administration can be of more -importance--nothing I can do will I do more gladly than sign -those bills that Judge Lindsey is trying to get through the -Legislature to do away with these terrible conditions. And if," -he said, turning to the Police Commissioner, "Judge Lindsey is -'_crazy_,' I want my name written under his, among the _crazy_ -people. And if any one says these boys are 'liars,' that man is -a liar himself!" - -Phew! The "committee of investigation" dissolved, the boys -trooped away noisily, and the ministers went back to their -pulpits to voice the horror that had kept them silent in my -small chamber of horrors for two hours. Their sermons went into -the newspapers under large black headlines; and by the end -of the next week our juvenile court bills were passed by the -Legislature and made law in Colorado. - - -The Cry of the Children - -BY ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING - -(See page 644) - - Do ye hear the children weeping, O my brothers, - Ere the sorrow comes with years? - They are leaning their young heads against their mothers-- - And _that_ cannot stop their tears. - The young lambs are bleating in the meadows; - The young birds are chirping in the nest; - The young fawns are playing with the shadows; - The young flowers are blowing toward the west-- - But the young, young children, O my brothers, - They are weeping bitterly! - They are weeping in the playtime of the others, - In the country of the free. - - Do you question the young children in the sorrow - Why their tears are falling so? - The old man may weep for his to-morrow - Which is lost in Long Ago; - The old tree is leafless in the forest, - The old year is ending in the frost, - The old wound, if stricken, is the sorest, - The old hope is hardest to be lost: - But the young, young children, O my brothers, - Do you ask them why they stand - Weeping sore before the bosoms of their mothers, - In our happy Fatherland? - - They look up with their pale and sunken faces, - And their looks are sad to see, - For the man's hoary anguish draws and presses - Down the cheeks of infancy; - "Your old earth," they say, "is very dreary, - Our young feet," they say, "are very weak; - Few paces have we taken, yet are weary-- - Our grave-rest is very far to seek. - Ask the old why they weep, and not the children, - For the outside earth is cold, - And we young ones stand without, in our bewildering, - And the graves are for the old." ... - - "For oh," say the children, "we are weary, - And we cannot run or leap; - If we cared for any meadows, it were merely - To drop down in them and sleep. - Our knees tremble sorely in the stooping, - We fall upon our faces, trying to go; - And, underneath our heavy eyelids drooping, - The reddest flower would look as pale as snow. - For, all day, we drag our burden tiring - Through the coal-dark, underground, - Or, all day, we drive the wheels of iron - In the factories, round and round. - - "For, all day, the wheels are droning, turning; - Their wind comes in our faces, - Till our hearts turn, our head, with pulses burning, - And the walls turn in their places: - Turns the sky in the high window blank and reeling, - Turns the long light that drops adown the wall, - Turn the black flies that crawl along the ceiling, - All are turning, all the day, and we with all. - And all day, the iron wheels are droning, - And sometimes we could pray, - 'O ye wheels,' (breaking out in a mad moaning) - 'Stop! be silent for to-day!'" ... - - They look up, with their pale and sunken faces, - And their look is dread to see, - For they mind you of the angels in their places, - With eyes turned on Deity. - "How long," they say, "how long, O cruel nation, - Will you stand, to move the world, on a child's heart,-- - Stifle down with a mailed heel its palpitation, - And tread onward to your throne amid the mart? - Our blood splashes upward, O gold-heaper, - And your purple shows your path! - But the child's sob in the silence curses deeper - Than the strong man in his wrath." - - - -Child Labor in England - -(_From "An Industrial History of England"_) - -BY HENRY DE B. GIBBINS - -Sometimes regular traffickers would take the place of the -manufacturer, and transfer a number of children to a factory -district, and there keep them, generally in some dark cellar, -till they could hand them over to a mill owner in want of -hands, who would come and examine their height, strength, and -bodily capacities, exactly as did the slave owners in the -American markets. After that the children were simply at the -mercy of their owners, nominally as apprentices, but in reality -as mere slaves, who got no wages, and whom it was not worth -while even to feed and clothe properly, because they were so -cheap and their places could be so easily supplied. It was -often arranged by the parish authorities, in order to get rid -of imbeciles, that one idiot should be taken by the mill owner -with every twenty sane children. The fate of these unhappy -idiots was even worse than that of the others. The secret of -their final end has never been disclosed, but we can form some -idea of their awful sufferings from the hardships of the other -victims to capitalist greed and cruelty. The hours of their -labor were only limited by exhaustion, after many modes of -torture had been unavailingly applied to force continued work. -Children were often worked sixteen hours a day, by day and by -night. - - -Mill Children - -(_From "Processionals"_) - -BY JOHN CURTIS UNDERWOOD - -(American poet, born 1874) - - We have forgotten how to sing: our laughter is a godless thing: -listless and loud and shrill and sly. - We have forgotten how to smile. Our lips, our voices too are -vile. We are all dead before we die. - - Our mothers' mothers made us so: the father that we never know -in blindness and in wantonness - Caused us to come to question you. What is it that you others -do, that profit so by our distress? - - You and your children softly sleep. We and our mothers vigil -keep. You cheated us of all delight, - Ere our sick spirits came to birth: you made our fair and -fruitful earth a nest of pestilence and blight. - - Your black machines are never still, and hard, relentless as -your will, they card us like the cotton waste. - And flesh and blood more cheap than they, they seize and eat -and shred away, to feed the fever of your haste. - - For we are waste and shoddy here, who know no God, no faith but -fear, no happiness, no hope but sleep. - Half imbecile and half obscene we sit and tend each tense -machine, too sick to sigh, too tired to weep, - Until the tortured end of day, when fevered faces turn away, to -see the stars from blackness leap. - -[Illustration: OLIVER TWIST ASKS FOR MORE - -GEORGE CRUIKSHANK - -(_English caricaturist, 1792-1878. One of the illustrations of -the original edition of "Oliver Twist"_)] - -[Illustration: - - A CITIZEN LOST - - RYAN WALKER - - (_American Socialist cartoonist, born 1870_) -] - - -In the Slums of London - -(_From "The People of the Abyss"_) - -BY JACK LONDON - -(See pages 62, 125, 139, 519, 609) - -There is one beautiful sight in the East End, and only one, and -it is the children dancing in the street when the organ-grinder -goes his round. It is fascinating to watch them, the new-born, -the next generation, swaying and stepping, with pretty little -mimicries and graceful inventions all their own, with muscles -that move swiftly and easily, and bodies that leap airily, -weaving rhythms never taught in dancing school. - -I have talked with these children, here, there, and everywhere, -and they struck me as being bright as other children, and -in many ways even brighter. They have most active little -imaginations. Their capacity for projecting themselves into the -realm of romance and fantasy is remarkable. A joyous life is -romping in their blood. They delight in music, and motion, and -color, and very often they betray a startling beauty of face -and form under their filth and rags. - -But there is a Pied Piper of London Town who steals them all -away. They disappear. One never sees them again, or anything -that suggests them. You may look for them in vain among the -generation of grown-ups. Here you will find stunted forms, ugly -faces, and blunt and stolid minds. Grace, beauty, imagination, -all the resiliency of mind and muscle, are gone. Sometimes, -however, you may see a woman, not necessarily old, but twisted -and deformed out of all womanhood, bloated and drunken, lift -her draggled skirts and execute a few grotesque and lumbering -steps upon the pavement. It is a hint that she was once one of -those children who danced to the organ-grinder. Those grotesque -and lumbering steps are all that is left of the promise of -childhood. In the befogged recesses of her brain has arisen -a fleeting memory that she was once a girl. The crowd closes -in. Little girls are dancing beside her, about her, with all -the pretty graces she dimly recollects, but can no more than -parody with her body. Then she pants for breath, exhausted, and -stumbles out through the circle. But the little girls dance on. - -The children of the Ghetto possess all the qualities which make -for noble manhood and womanhood; but the Ghetto itself, like -an infuriated tigress turning on its young, turns upon and -destroys all these qualities, blots out the light and laughter, -and moulds those it does not kill into sodden and forlorn -creatures, uncouth, degraded, and wretched below the beasts of -the field. - - -Slum Children - -(_From "Songs of Joy"_) - -BY WILLIAM H. DAVIES - -(See page 577) - - Your songs at night a drunkard sings, - Stones, sticks and rags your daily flowers; - Like fishes' lips, a bluey white, - Such lips, poor mites, are yours. - - Poor little things, so sad and solemn, - Whose lives are passed in human crowds-- - When in the water I can see - Heaven with a flock of clouds. - - Poor little mites that breathe foul air, - Where garbage chokes the sink and drain-- - Now when the hawthorn smells so sweet, - Wet with the summer rain. - - But few of ye will live for long; - Ye are but small new islands seen, - To disappear before your lives - Can grow and be made green. - - -No. 5 John Street - -BY RICHARD WHITEING - -(See page 137) - -Some are locked in all day, "to keep 'em quiet," while their -owners go forth to work or to booze. The infant faces, lined -with their own dirt, and distorted by the smeared impurities -of the window-panes, seem like the faces of actors made up -for effects of old age. The poor little hands finger the -panes without ceasing, as they might finger prison bars. The -captives crawl over one another like caged insects, and all -their gestures show the irritation of contact. But the clearest -transmission through that foul medium is to the ear rather -than to the eye, in the querulous whimper, at times rising -to a wail, which betokens the agitation of their shattered -nerves. The children playing below look up at them, and beckon -them into the yard, or make faces at them, with the charitable -intent of provoking them to a smile. - - -Locksley Hall Fifty Years After - -BY ALFRED TENNYSON - -(See pages 77, 486) - - Is it well that while we range with Science, glorying in the time, - City children soak and blacken soul and sense in city slime? - There among the gloomy alleys Progress halts on palsied feet; - Crime and hunger cast out maidens by the thousand on the street; - - There the master scrimps his haggard seamstress of her daily bread; - There the single sordid attic holds the living and the dead; - There the smouldering fire of fever creeps across the rotted floor, - And the crowded couch of incest, in the warrens of the poor. - - -Past and Present - -BY THOMAS CARLYLE - -(See pages 31, 74, 133, 488, 553) - -Descend where you will into the lower class, in Town or -Country, by what avenue you will, by Factory Inquiries, -Agricultural Inquiries, by Revenue Returns, by Mining-Laborer -Committees, by opening your own eyes and looking, the same -sorrowful result discloses itself: you have to admit that the -working body of this rich English Nation has sunk or is fast -sinking into a state, to which, all sides of it considered, -there was literally never any parallel. At Stockport Assizes, a -Mother and a Father are arraigned and found guilty of poisoning -three of their children, to defraud a "burial-society" of some -£3 8s. due on the death of each child: they are arraigned, -found guilty; and the official authorities, it is whispered, -hint that perhaps the case is not solitary, that perhaps you -had better not probe farther into that department of things.... -In the British land, a human Mother and Father, of white skin -and professing the Christian religion, had done this thing; -they, with their Irishism and necessity and savagery, had been -driven to do it. Such instances are like the highest mountain -apex emerged into view; under which lies a whole mountain -region and land, not yet emerged. A human Mother and Father had -said to themselves, what shall we do to escape starvation? We -are deep sunk here, in our dark cellar; and help is far.--Yes, -in the Ugolino Hunger-tower stern things happen; best-loved -little Gaddo fallen dead on his father's knees!--The Stockport -Mother and Father think and hint: Our poor little starveling -Tom, who cries all day for victuals, who will see only evil -and not good in this world: if he were out of misery at once; -he well dead, and the rest of us perhaps kept alive? It is -thought, and hinted; at last it is done. And now Tom being -killed, and all spent and eaten, Is it poor little starveling -Jack that must go, or poor little starveling Will?--What a -committee of ways and means! - - -Waifs and Strays - -BY ARTHUR RIMBAUD - -(French poet, 1854-1891) - - Black in the fog and in the snow, - Where the great air-hole windows glow, - With rounded rumps, - - Upon their knees five urchins squat, - Looking down where the baker, hot, - The thick dough thumps. - - They watch his white arm turn the bread, - Ere through an opening flaming red - The loaf he flings. - - They smell the good bread baking, while - The chubby baker with a smile - An old tune sings. - - Breathing the warmth into their soul, - They squat around the red air-hole, - As a breast warm; - - And when, for feasters' midnight bout, - The ready bread is taken out, - In a cake's form-- - - Sigh with low voices like a prayer, - Bending toward the light, down there - Where heaven gleams - - --So eager that they burst their breeches, - And in the winter wind that screeches - Their linen streams! - - -Oliver Twist - -BY CHARLES DICKENS - -(See page 88) - -The room in which the boys were fed, was a large stone hall, -with a copper at one end; out of which the master, dressed in -an apron for the purpose, and assisted by one or two women, -ladled the gruel at meal times. Of this festive composition -each boy had one porringer, and no more--except on occasions of -great public rejoicing, when he had two ounces and a quarter -of bread besides. The bowls never wanted washing. The boys -polished them with their spoons till they shone again; and -when they had performed this operation (which never took very -long, the spoons being nearly as long as the bowls) they would -sit staring at the copper, with such eager eyes, as if they -could have devoured the very bricks of which it was composed; -employing themselves, meanwhile, in sucking their fingers most -assiduously, with the view of catching up any stray splashes of -gruel that might have been cast thereon. Boys have generally -excellent appetites. Oliver Twist and his companions suffered -the tortures of slow starvation for three months; at last they -got so voracious and wild with hunger, that one boy, who was -tall for his age, and hadn't been used to that sort of thing -(for his father had kept a small cook-shop), hinted darkly to -his companions, that unless he had another basin of gruel _per -diem_, he was afraid he might some night happen to eat the -boy who slept next to him, who happened to be a weakly youth -of tender age. He had a wild, hungry eye; and they implicitly -believed him. A council was held; lots were cast who should -walk up to the master after supper that evening, and ask for -more; and it fell to Oliver Twist. - -This evening arrived; the boys took their places. The master, -in his cook's uniform, stationed himself at the copper; his -pauper assistants ranged themselves behind him; the gruel was -served out; and a long grace was said over the short commons. -The gruel disappeared; the boys whispered to each other, and -winked at Oliver; while his next neighbors nudged him. Child as -he was, he was desperate with hunger, and reckless with misery. -He rose from the table; and advancing to the master, basin and -spoon in hand, said, somewhat alarmed at his own temerity: - -"Please, sir, I want some more." - -The master was a fat, healthy man; but he turned very pale. -He gazed in stupefied astonishment on the small rebel for -some seconds, and then clung for support to the copper. The -assistants were paralyzed with wonder; the boys with fear. - -"What!" said the master at length, in a faint voice. - -"Please, sir," replied Oliver, "I want some more." - -The master aimed a blow at Oliver's head with the ladle; -pinioned him in his arms; and shrieked aloud for the beadle. - -The board were sitting in solemn conclave, when Mr. Bumble -rushed into the room in great excitement, and addressing the -gentleman in the high chair, said: - -"Mr. Limbkins, I beg your pardon, sir! Oliver Twist has asked -for more!" - -There was a general start. Horror was depicted on every -countenance. - -"For _more_!" said Mr. Limbkins. "Compose yourself, Bumble, and -answer me distinctly. Do I understand that he asked for more, -after he had eaten the supper allotted by the dietary?" - -"He did, sir," replied Bumble. - -"That boy will be hung," said the gentleman in the white -waistcoat. "I know that boy will be hung." - -Nobody controverted the prophetic gentleman's opinion. An -animated discussion took place. Oliver was ordered into instant -confinement; and a bill was next morning pasted on the outside -of the gate, offering a reward of five pounds to anybody who -would take Oliver Twist off the hands of the parish. In other -words, five pounds and Oliver Twist were offered to any man -or woman who wanted an apprentice to any trade, business, or -calling. - -"I never was more convinced of anything in my life," said the -gentleman in the white waistcoat, as he knocked at the gate and -read the bill the next morning: "I never was more convinced of -anything in my life, than I am that that boy will come to be -hung." - - -The Children's Auction - -BY CHARLES MACKAY - -(English Chartist poet, 1814-1889) - - Who bids for the little children-- - Body, and soul and brain? - Who bids for the little children-- - Young and without a stain? - "Will no one bid," said England, - "For their souls so pure and white, - And fit for all good or evil - The world on their page may write?" - - "We bid," said Pest and Famine; - "We bid for life and limb; - Fever and pain and squalor, - Their bright young eyes shall dim. - When the children grow too many, - We'll nurse them as our own, - And hide them in secret places - Where none may hear their moan." - - "I bid," said Beggary, howling; - "I bid for them one and all! - I'll teach them a thousand lessons-- - To lie, to skulk, to crawl! - They shall sleep in my lair like maggots, - They shall rot in the fair sunshine; - And if they serve my purpose - I hope they'll answer thine." - - "I'll bid you higher and higher," - Said Crime, with a wolfish grin; - "For I love to lead the children - Through the pleasant paths of sin. - They shall swarm in the streets to pilfer, - They shall plague the broad highway, - They shall grow too old for pity - And ripe for the law to slay. - - "Give me the little children, - Ye good, ye rich, ye wise, - And let the busy world spin round - While ye shut your idle eyes; - And your judges shall have work, - And your lawyers wag the tongue, - And the jailers and policemen - Shall be fathers to the young!" - - -A Modest Proposal - -BY JONATHAN SWIFT - -(English man of letters, 1667-1745; dean of St. Patrick's -Cathedral, Dublin. Master of the bitterest satiric pen in -English) - - (_From "A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People - from Being a Burthen to their Parents or Country, and for making them - Beneficial to the Public"_) - -It is a melancholy object to those, who walk through this great -town, or travel in the country, when they see the streets, the -roads, and cabin-doors, crowded with beggars of the female -sex, followed by three, four or six children, _all in rags_, -and importuning every passenger for an alms. These mothers -instead of being able to work for their honest livelihood, are -forced to employ all their time in strolling, to beg sustenance -for their helpless infants, who, as they grow up, either turn -thieves for want of work, or leave their dear Native Country -to fight for the Pretender in Spain, or sell themselves to the -Barbadoes. - -I think it is agreed by all parties, that this prodigious -number of children, in the arms, or on the backs, or at the -heels of their mothers, and frequently of their fathers, is -in the present deplorable state of the kingdom, a very great -additional grievance; and therefore whoever could find out a -fair, cheap and easy method of making these children sound, -useful members of the commonwealth would deserve so well of the -public, as to have his statue set up for a preserver of the -nation. - -But my intention is very far from being confined to provide -only for the children of professed beggars, it is of much -greater extent, and shall take in the whole numbers of infants -at a certain age, who are born of parents in effect as little -able to support them, as those who demand our charity in the -streets.... - -There is another great advantage in my scheme, that it will -prevent those voluntary abortions, and that horrid practice -of women murdering their bastard children, alas, too frequent -among us, sacrificing the poor innocent babes, I doubt, more to -avoid the expense, than the shame, which would move tears and -pity in the most savage and inhuman breast.... - -I have been assured by a very knowing American of my -acquaintance in London that a young healthy child well nursed -is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome -food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no -doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee, or a ragout. - -I do therefore humbly offer it to public consideration, that -of the hundred and twenty thousand children, already computed, -twenty thousand may be reserved for breed, whereof only one -fourth part to be males, which is more than we allow to sheep, -black-cattle, or swine; and my reason is that these children -are seldom the fruits of marriage, a circumstance not much -regarded by our savages; therefore only one male will be -sufficient to serve four females. That the remaining hundred -thousand may at a year old be offered in sale to the persons of -quality, and fortune, through the kingdom, always advising the -mother to let them suck plentifully in the last month, so as to -render them plump, and fat for a good table.... - -I am not so violently bent upon my own opinion, as to reject -any offer, proposed by wise men, which shall be found equally -innocent, cheap, easy, and effectual. But before something of -that kind shall be advanced in contradiction to my scheme, and -offering a better, I desire the author, or authors will be -pleased maturely to consider two points. First, as things now -stand, how they will be able to find food and raiment for an -hundred thousand useless mouths and backs. And secondly, there -being a round million of creatures in human figure, throughout -this kingdom, whose whole subsistence put into a common stock, -would leave them in debt two millions of pounds sterling, -adding those, who are beggars by profession, to the bulk of -farmers, cottagers and laborers with their wives and children, -who are beggars in effect. I desire those politicians, who -dislike my overture, and may perhaps be so bold to attempt an -answer, that they will first ask the parents of these mortals, -whether they would not at this day think it a great happiness -to have been sold for food at a year old, in the manner I -prescribe, and thereby have avoided such a perpetual scene of -misfortunes, as they have since gone through, by the oppression -of landlords, the impossibility of paying rent without money or -trade, the want of common sustenance, with neither house nor -clothes to cover them from the inclemencies of the weather, and -the most inevitable prospect of entailing the like, or greater -miseries upon their breed for ever. - -I profess in the sincerity of my heart that I have not the -least personal interest in endeavoring to promote this -necessary work, having no other motive than the _public good -of my country, by advancing our trade, providing for infants, -relieving the poor, and giving some pleasure to the rich_. -I have no children, by which I can propose to get a single -penny; the youngest being nine years old, and my wife past -child-bearing. - - -Child Labor - -BY CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN - -(See pages 200, 209, 421) - - No fledgling feeds the father bird! - No chicken feeds the hen! - No kitten mouses for the cat-- - This glory is for men: - - We are the Wisest, Strongest Race-- - Loud may our praise be sung! - The only animal alive - That lives upon its young! - - -Mother Wept - -BY JOSEPH SKIPSEY - -(Contemporary English poet, whose work possesses a quaint -simplicity, often suggesting Blake) - - Mother wept, and father sighed; - With delight a-glow - Cried the lad, "Tomorrow," cried, - "To the pit I go." - - Up and down the place he sped,-- - Greeted old and young; - Far and wide the tidings spread; - Clapped his hands and sung. - - Came his cronies; some to gaze - Rapt in wonder; some - Free with counsel; some with praise; - Some with envy dumb. - - "May he," many a gossip cried, - "Be from peril kept;" - Father hid his face and sighed, - Mother turned and wept. - - -A Workingman's Home-Life - -(_From "The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists"_) - -BY ROBERT TRESSALL - - (The life-story of an English house-painter who died of consumption, - leaving behind him a manuscript portraying the pitiful lives of the - half-starved English artisans. Published in book form, it proved to be - one of the literary events of the year 1914) - -"Hark!" said the mother, holding up her finger. - -"Dad!" cried Frankie, rushing to the door and flinging it open. - -He ran along the passage and opened the staircase door before -Owen reached the top of the last flight of stairs. - -"Why ever do you come up at such a rate?" exclaimed Owen's wife -reproachfully, as he came into the room exhausted from the -climb upstairs and sank panting into the nearest chair. - -"I al--ways--for--get," he replied, when he had in some degree -recovered. - -As he lay back in the chair, his face haggard and of a ghastly -whiteness, and with the water dripping from his saturated -clothing, Owen presented a terrible appearance. - -Frankie noticed with childish terror the extreme alarm with -which his mother looked at his father. - -"You're always doing it," he said with a whimper. "How many -more times will mother have to tell you about it before you -take any notice?" - -"It's all right, old chap," said Owen, drawing the child nearer -to him and kissing the curly head. "Listen, and see if you can -guess what I've got for you under my coat." - -"A kitten!" cried the boy, taking it out of its hiding place. -"All black, and I believe it's half a Persian. Just the very -thing I wanted." - -While Frankie amused himself playing with the kitten, which had -been provided with another saucer of bread and milk, Owen went -into the bedroom to put on the dry clothes.... - -After the child was in bed, Owen sat alone by the table in the -draughty sitting-room, thinking. - -Although there was a bright fire, the room was very cold, being -so close to the roof. The wind roared loudly round the gables, -shaking the house in a way that threatened every moment to hurl -it to the ground. - -Staring abstractedly at the lamp, he thought of the future. - -A few years ago the future had seemed a region of wonderful -and mysterious possibilities of good, but to-night the thought -brought no such illusions, for he knew that the story of the -future was to be much the same as the story of the past. He -would continue to work, and they would all three have to go -without most of the necessaries of life. When there was no work -they would starve. - -For himself he did not care much, because he knew that, at -the best--or worst--it would be only a very few years. Even -if he were able to have proper food and clothing, and take -reasonable care of himself, he could not live much longer; but, -when that time came, what was to become of _them_? - -There would be some hope for the boy if he were more robust and -if his character were less gentle and more selfish. In order to -succeed in the world it was necessary to be brutal, selfish, -and unfeeling; to push others aside and to take advantage of -their misfortunes. - -Owen stood up and began walking about the room, oppressed with -a kind of terror. Presently he returned to the fire and began -rearranging his clothes that were drying. He found that the -boots, having been placed too near the fire, had dried too -quickly, and, consequently the sole of one of them had begun -to split away from the upper. He remedied this as well as he -was able, and, while turning the wetter parts of the clothing -to the fire, he noticed the newspaper in the coat pocket. He -drew it out with an exclamation of pleasure. Here was something -to distract his thoughts. But, as soon as he opened the paper, -his attention was riveted by the staring headlines of one of -the principal columns: TERRIBLE DOMESTIC TRAGEDY. _Wife and Two -Children Killed. Suicide of the Murderer._ - -It was one of the ordinary crimes of poverty. The man had been -without employment for many weeks and they had pawned or sold -their furniture and other possessions. But even this resource -must have failed at last, and one day the neighbors noticed -that the blinds remained down and that there was a strange -silence about the house. When the police entered they found, in -one of the upper rooms, the dead bodies of the woman and the -two children, with their throats cut, laid out side by side -upon the bed, which was saturated with their blood. - -There was no bedstead, and no furniture in the room except the -straw mattress and the ragged clothes and blankets upon the -floor. - -The man's body was found in the kitchen, lying with -outstretched arms face downward on the floor, surrounded by -the blood from the terrible wound in his throat, which had -evidently been inflicted by the razor that was grasped in his -right hand. - -No particle of food was found, but, attached to a nail in the -kitchen wall, was a piece of blood-smeared paper, on which was -written in pencil: - -"This is not _my_ crime, but Society's." - -The report went on to explain that the deed must have been -perpetrated during a fit of temporary insanity brought on by -the sufferings the man had endured. - -"Insanity!" muttered Owen, as he read this glib theory. -"Insanity! It seems to me that he would have been insane if he -had _not_ killed them." - -Surely it was wiser and better and kinder to send them all to -sleep than to let them continue to suffer. - -At the same time it seemed strange that the man should have -chosen to do it in that way, when there were so many other -cleaner, easier, and less painful ways of accomplishing his -object. - -One could take poison. Of course, there was a certain amount -of difficulty in procuring it, and one would have to be very -careful not to select a poison that would cause a lot of pain. - -Owen went over to his bookshelf, and took down "The Cyclopedia -of Practical Medicine," an old, rather out-of-date book, which -he thought might contain the required information. He was -astonished to find what a number of poisons there were within -easy reach of whoever wished to make use of them: poisons -which could be relied upon to do their work certainly, quickly, -and without pain. Why, it was not even necessary to buy them; -one could gather them from the hedges by the roadside and in -the fields. - -The more he thought of it the stranger it seemed that such a -clumsy method as a razor should be so popular. Strangulation, -or even hanging would be better than that, though the latter -method could scarcely be adopted in their flat, because there -were no beams or rafters or anything from which it would be -possible to suspend a cord. Still, he could drive some large -nails or hooks into one of the walls. For that matter, there -were already some clothes hooks on some of the doors. He began -to think that this would be a more excellent way than poison: -he could pretend to Frankie that he was going to show him some -new kind of play. The boy would offer no resistance, and in a -few minutes it would all be over. - -He threw down the book and pressed his hands over his ears. He -fancied he could hear the boy's hands and feet beating against -the panels of the door as he struggled in his death agony. - -Then, as his arms fell nervelessly by his side again, he -thought he heard Frankie's voice calling: - -"Dad! Dad!" - -Owen hastily opened the door. - -"Are you calling, Frankie?" - -"Yes. I've been calling you quite a long time." - -"What do you want?" - -"I want you to come here. I want to tell you something." - -"Well, what is it, dear? I thought you were asleep a long time -ago," said Owen, as he came into the room. - -"That's just what I want to speak to you about. The kitten's -gone to sleep all right, but I can't go. I've tried all -different ways, counting and all, but it's no use, so I thought -I'd ask you if you'd mind coming and staying with me, and -letting me hold your hand for a little while, and then p'raps I -could go." - -The boy twined his arms round Owen's neck and hugged him very -tightly. - -"Oh, dad, I love you so much!" he said. "I love you so much I -could squeeze you to death." - -"I'm afraid you will, if you squeeze me so tightly as that." - -The boy laughed softly as he relaxed his hold. - -"That _would_ be a funny way of showing you how much I loved -you, wouldn't it, dad? Squeezing you to death!" - -"Yes, I suppose it would," replied Owen, huskily, as he tucked -the bedclothes round the child's shoulders. "But don't talk any -more, dear, just hold my hand and try to sleep." - -Lying there very quietly, holding his father's hand and -occasionally kissing it, the child presently fell asleep.... - -Owen lay listening to the howling of the wind and the noise -of the rain as it poured heavily on the roof. But it was not -the storm only that kept him awake. Through the dark hours of -the night his thoughts were still haunted by the words on that -piece of blood-stained paper on a kitchen wall: "This is not my -crime, but Society's." - - -Behold the Future - -(_From "The Red Wave"_) - -BY JOSEPH-HENRY ROSNY, THE ELDER - -(A glimpse of the home-life of a Syndicalist leader, an -interesting contrast with the passage from the English book -preceding) - -François raised the little chap in his arms. "Well, my young -rebel, are you happy to be alive? Tomorrow I will teach you a -new game: the dance of the bourgeois." - -He seated himself in an arm-chair and gazed at the child with -the grave and persuasive eyes of a leader of men. "You will -be a good Socialist, eh, little Antoine? You will love men; -you will not separate your life from that of others, like a -Robinson Crusoe of egoism. _Vive la revolution!_" - -"_Vive la revolution!_" cried the child. - -"Behold the future!" said François Rougemont, rocking the -little one upon his knees. "It will see the shining of the -great dawn, the dawn of a humanity as different from our -own as ours is different from the humanity of the pyramids. -Ah, my little man, you will know things beside which steam, -electricity, and radium are as nothing. You will see man in his -beauty, because he will no longer be hungry--and for a hundred -thousand years he has been hungry. He will no longer be hungry, -he will have all his force! He will no longer be hungry, he -will be able to unfold all his genius! He will no longer be -hungry, he will construct beneath the sea tunnels that will go -from one continent to another, and his aeroplanes will fill -the firmament; he will no longer be hungry, and he will build -cities out of fairy tales, with fields and forests upon the -roofs, with bridges of glass over the streets, with elevators -at every corner; he will no longer be hungry, he will draw -enormous energies from the ocean and from the warm bosom of the -earth. Ah! my little boy, in what gardens of enchantment you -are going to live!" - -The little one listened hypnotized; the grandmother was -quivering with happiness. A shining glory passed over their -souls. - - -The Factories - -BY MARGARET WIDDEMER - -(See pages 256, 307) - - I have shut my little sister in from life and light - (For a rose, for a ribbon, for a wreath across my hair), - I have made her restless feet still until the night, - Locked from sweets of summer and from wild spring air; - I who ranged the meadow lands, free from sun to sun, - Free to sing and pull the buds and watch the far wings fly, - I have bound my sister till her playing-time is done-- - Oh, my little sister, was it I?--was it I? - - I have robbed my sister of her day of maidenhood - (For a robe, for a feather, for a trinket's restless spark), - Shut from Love till dusk shall fall, how shall she know good, - How shall she pass scatheless through the sinlit dark? - I who could be innocent, I who could be gay, - I who could have love and mirth before the light went by, - I have put my sister in her mating-time away-- - Sister, my young sister,--was it I?--was it I? - - I have robbed my sister of the lips against her breast - (For a coin, for the weaving of my children's lace and lawn), - Feet that pace beside the loom, hands that cannot rest, - How can she know motherhood, whose strength is gone? - I who took no heed of her, starved and labor-worn, - I against whose placid heart my sleepy gold heads lie, - Round my path they cry to me, little souls unborn, - _God of Life--Creator! It was I! It was I!_ - - -God and the Flowers - -(_From "My Lady of the Chimney-Corner"_) - -BY ALEXANDER IRVINE - -(A tender and loving picture of the author's mother, an Irish -peasant-woman. See page 385) - -That night there was an unusual atmosphere in her corner. She -had a newly tallied cap on her head and her little Sunday shawl -over her shoulders. Her candle was burning and the hearth -stones had an extra coat of whitewash. She drew me up close -beside her and told me a story. - -"Once, a long, long time ago, God, feelin' tired, went to sleep -an' had a nice wee nap on His throne. His head was in His han's -an' a wee white cloud came down an' covered him up. Purty soon -He wakes up an' says He: - -"'Where's Michael?' - -"'Here I am, Father!' said Michael. - -"'Michael, me boy,' says God, 'I want a chariot and a -charioteer!' - -"'Right ye are!' says he. Up comes the purtiest chariot in the -city of Heaven an' the finest charioteer. - -"'Me boy,' says God, 'take a million tons of th' choicest seeds -of th' flowers of Heaven an' take a trip around th' world wi' -them. Scatter them,' says He, 'be th' roadsides an' th' wild -places of th' earth where my poor live.' - -"'Aye,' says the charioteer, 'that's jist like ye, Father. It's -th' purtiest job of m' afther-life an' I'll do it finely.' - -"'It's jist come t' Me in a dream,' says th' Father, 'that th' -rich have all the flowers down there an' th' poor haave nown at -all." - -At this point I got in some questions about God's language and -the kind of flowers. - -"Well, dear," she said, "He spakes Irish t' Irish people, an' -the charioteer was an Irishman." - -"Maybe it was a woman!" I ventured. - -"Aye, but there's no difference up there." - -"Th' flowers," she said, "were primroses, buttercups, an' -daisies, an' th' flowers that be handy t' th' poor, an' from -that day to this there's been flowers a-plenty for all of us -everywhere!" - - -The Leaden-Eyed - -(_From "The Congo"_) - -BY VACHEL LINDSAY - -(See pages 335, 599) - - Let not young souls be smothered out before - They do quaint deeds and fully flaunt their pride. - It is the world's one crime its babes grow dull, - Its poor are ox-like, limp and leaden-eyed. - Not that they starve, but starve so dreamlessly, - Not that they sow, but that they seldom reap, - Not that they serve, but have no gods to serve, - Not that they die, but that they die like sheep. - - -Children and Economics - -(_From "What Is It To Be Educated?"_) - -BY C. HANFORD HENDERSON - -(American educator; born 1861) - -One will not talk economics in any formal way to children. -It is not necessary. But one cannot avoid the economic -implications upon which our current daily life and all history -and literature quite obviously rest. - -Children are very explicit in their interest. They want to know -what the hero feeds upon, how he is dressed, where he sleeps. -If great deeds are in prospect, wars to be waged, palaces to -be built, pleasure parks to be laid out, princesses to be won, -tourneys to be run off, the little reader has a keen eye for -the sinews of war. In every tale worth the telling, the hero -sets out with the express purpose of seeking his fortune. -Parents and teachers do not have to drag in economics by the -heels. They may, of course, ignore the question, and allow the -children to grow up with confused and mediæval ideas; but if -they do so, they fail quite miserably to educate the children -in the fundamentals of a moral individual and social life. -The bread-and-butter question must be met by each parent and -teacher in his own personal life; and in dealing with the -children, it must be met constantly and in the most unexpected -quarters. - - -What to Do - -BY LEO TOLSTOY - -(See pages 88, 110, 148, 276, 374, 416, 555) - -It is very easy to take a child away from a prostitute, or from -a beggar. It is very easy, when one has money, to have him -washed, cleaned and dressed in good clothes, fed up, and even -taught various sciences; but for us who do not earn our own -bread, it is not only difficult to teach him to earn his bread, -it is impossible; because by our example, and even by those -material improvements of his life which cost us nothing, we -teach the opposite. - - -True Education - -(_From "Zadig"_) - -BY VOLTAIRE - -(French philosopher and poet, 1694-1778; a skeptic and bitter -satirist, imprisoned and exiled to England. One of the great -intellectual forces which prepared the French Revolution) - -A widow, having a young son, and being possessed of a handsome -fortune, had given a promise of marriage to two magi, who were -both desirous of marrying her. - -"I will take for my husband," said she, "the man who can give -the best education to my beloved son." - -The two magi contended who should bring him up, and the cause -was carried before Zadig. Zadig summoned the two magi to attend -him. - -"What will you teach your pupil?" he said to the first. - -"I will teach him," said the doctor, "the eight parts of -speech, logic, astrology, pneumatics, what is meant by -substance and accident, abstract and concrete, the doctrine of -the monades, and the pre-established harmony." - -"For my part," said the second, "I will endeavor to give him a -sense of justice, and to make him worthy the friendship of good -men." - -Zadig then cried: "Whether thou art the child's favorite or -not, thou shalt have his mother." - - -New Worlds for Old - -BY H. G. WELLS - -(See page 519) - -The Socialist holds that the community as a whole should be -responsible, and every individual in the community, married or -single, parent or childless, should be responsible, for the -welfare and upbringing of every child born into that community. -This responsibility may be delegated in whole or in part to -parent, teacher, or other guardian--but it is not simply -the right but the duty of the state--that is to say, of the -organized power and intelligence of the community--to direct, -to inquire, and to intervene in any default for the child's -welfare. - - -The Way to Freedom - -BY FRANCISCO FERRER - -(See page 336) - -We must destroy all which in the present school answers to -the organization of constraint, the artificial surroundings -by which children are separated from nature and life, the -intellectual and moral discipline made use of to impose -ready-made ideas upon them, beliefs which deprave and -annihilate natural bent. Without fear of deceiving ourselves, -we can restore the child to the environment which entices -it, the environment of nature in which he will be in contact -with all that he loves, and in which impressions of life will -replace fastidious book-learning. If we did no more than that, -we should already have prepared in great part the deliverance -of the child. - - - - -BOOK XIV - -_Humor_ - -Comedy of the social struggle; masterpieces from those who have -had the courage to fight the battle for social progress with -the weapon of laughter. - - -The Reserved Section - -BY WILBUR D. NESBIT - - (At the time of the great anthracite coal strike of 1902, George F. - Baer, head of the coal trust, was quoted as declaring: "The rights and - interests of the laboring man will be protected and cared for, not - by labor and agitation, but by the Christian men to whom God in his - infinite wisdom has given control of the property interests of this - country") - - In the prehistoric ages, when the world was a ball of mist-- - A seething swirl of something unknown in the planet list; - When the earth was vague with vapor, and formless and dark and void-- - The sport of the wayward comet--the jibe of the asteroid-- - Then the singing stars of morning chanted soft: "Keep out of there! - Keep off that spot which is sizzling hot--it is making coal for Baer!" - - When the pterodactyl ambled, or fluttered, or swam, or jumped, - And the plesiosaurus rambled, all careless of what he bumped, - And the other old time monsters that thrived on the land and sea, - And did not know what their names were, any more than today do we-- - Wherever they went they heard it: "You fellows keep out of there-- - That place which shakes and quivers and quakes--it is making -coal for Baer." - - The carboniferous era consumed but a million years; - It started when earth was shedding the last of her baby tears, - When still she was swaddled softly in clumsily tied on clouds, - When stars from the shop of nature were being turned out in crowds; - But high o'er the favored section this sign said to all: "Beware! - Stay back of the ropes that surround these slopes--they are -making coal for Baer!" - -[Illustration: THE COAL FAMINE - -"PLEASE, GOOD MR. DEVIL, FETCH MY MAMMA, TOO. IT'S SO NICE AND -WARM IN YOUR HOUSE" - -THOMAS THEODOR HEINE - -(_An example of German Socialist cartooning; from -"Simplizissimus"_)] - -[Illustration: MY SOLICITOR SHALL HEAR OF THIS! - -WILL DYSON - - (_Cartoonist of the London "Daily Herald," born 1883. Dyson is - accustomed to describe the plutocracy as "Fat." In the present - instance the great man is discovered seeing himself as others see - him_) #/ ] - - -The Monthly Rent - -(_From "The Game of Life"_) - -BY BOLTON HALL - -(American lawyer and single-taxer, born 1854) - - They sheared the lamb twelve times a year, - To get some money to buy some beer; - The lamb thought this was extremely queer-- - Poor little snow-white lamb!--OLD SONG. - -"God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb," said the deacon. - -"I will shut the gate of the field so as to keep him warm," -said the philanthropist. - -"If you give me the tags of wool," said the charity clipper, -"I'll let the poor creature have half." - -"The lambs we have always with us," said the wool broker. - -"Lambs must always be shorn," said the business man; "hand me -the shears." - -"We should leave him enough wool to make him a coat," said the -profit sharer. - -"His condition is improving," said the land owner, "for his -fleece will be longer next year." - -"We should prohibit cutting his flesh when we shear," said the -legislator. - -"But I intend," said the radical, "to stop this shearing." - -The others united to throw him out; then they divided the wool. - - -Penguin Island - -BY ANATOLE FRANCE - - (French man of letters, born 1844. In this masterpiece of social - satire the aged and half-blind Saint Maël has by mistake baptized a - flock of penguins. After a consultation of the heavenly powers, the - penguins are turned into human beings) - -Now one autumn morning, as the blessed Maël was walking in -the valley of Clange in company with a monk of Yvern called -Bulloch, he saw bands of fierce-looking men loaded with stones -passing along the roads. At the same time he heard in all -directions cries and complaints mounting up from the valley -towards the tranquil sky. - -And he said to Bulloch: - -"I notice with sadness, my son, that since they became men the -inhabitants of this island act with less wisdom than formerly. -When they were birds they only quarrelled during the season -of their love affairs. But now they dispute all the time; they -pick quarrels with each other in summer as well as in winter. -How greatly have they fallen from that peaceful majesty which -made the assembly of the penguins look like the senate of a -wise republic! - -"Look towards Surelle, Bulloch, my son. In yonder pleasant -valley a dozen men penguins are busy knocking each other down -with the spades and picks that they might employ better in -tilling the ground. The women, still more cruel than the men, -are tearing their opponents' faces with their nails. Alas! -Bulloch, my son, why are they murdering each other in this way?" - -"From a spirit of fellowship, father, and through forethought -for the future," answered Bulloch. "For man is essentially -provident and sociable. Such is his character, and it is -impossible to imagine it apart from a certain appropriation of -things. Those penguins whom you see are dividing the ground -among themselves." - -"Could they not divide it with less violence?" asked the aged -man. "As they fight they exchange invectives and threats. I do -not distinguish their words, but they are angry ones, judging -from the tone." - -"They are accusing one another of theft and encroachment," -answered Bulloch. "That is the general sense of their speech." - -At that moment the holy Maël clasped his hands and sighed -deeply. - -"Do you see, my son," he exclaimed, "that madman who with his -teeth is biting the nose of the adversary he has overthrown, -and that other one who is pounding a woman's head with a huge -stone?" - -"I see them," said Bulloch. "They are creating law; they are -founding property; they are establishing the principles of -civilization, the basis of society, and the foundations of the -State." - -"How is that?" asked old Maël. - -"By setting bounds to their fields. That is the origin of all -government. Your penguins, O Master, are performing the most -august of functions. Throughout the ages their work will be -consecrated by lawyers, and magistrates will confirm it." - - -"Mr. Dooley" on Success - -BY FINLEY PETER DUNNE - -(American humorist and social philosopher, born 1867) - -Th' millyionaire starts in as a foreman in a can facthry. By -an' by, he larns that wan iv th' men wurrukin' f'r him has -invinted a top that ye can opin with a pair iv scissors, an' he -throws him down an' takes it away fr'm him. He's a robber, says -ye? He is while he's got th' other man down. But whin he gets -up he's a magnate. - - -Diomedes the Pirate to Alexander - -BY FRANÇOIS VILLON - -(French poet and vagabond, 1431-1484) - -The Emperor reasoned with him: "Why should you desire to be a -pirate?" And the other replied: "Why call me a pirate? Because -you see me going about in a little galley? If I could arm -myself like you, like you I would be an emperor." - - -The Leisure Classes - -ANONYMOUS - - There was a little beggar maid - Who wed a king long, long ago; - Of course the taste that he displayed - Was criticised by folks who know - Just what formalities and things - Are due to beggar maids and kings. - - But straight the monarch made reply: - "There is small difference, as I live, - Between our stations! She and I - Subsist on what the people give. - We do not toil with strength and skill, - And, pleasing Heaven, never will." - - -The Influence of Servants - -(_From "The Reign of Gilt"_) - -BY DAVID GRAHAM PHILLIPS - -(American novelist of radical sympathies, 1867-1911) - -There is a woman in one of our big cities who is now a leader -of fashion, very "classy" indeed, most glib on the subject of -the "traditions of people of our station." Her father was an -excellent peddler, her mother a farmer's daughter who could be -induced to "help out" a neighbor in the rush of the harvest -time. This typical American woman behaved very sensibly so long -as her sensible father and mother were alive and until the -craze for English households arose. She fell into line. But -the haughty servants were most trying at first. For instance, -she loved bread spread with molasses. She ate it before the -butler once; his face told her what a hideous "break" she had -made. She tried to conquer this low taste--never did weak woman -fight harder against the gnawings of sinful appetite. At last -she gave way, and in secret and in stealth indulged. She was -not caught and, encouraged, she proceeded to add one low common -habit to another until she was leading a double life. It had -its terrors; it had its compensating joys. But before she had -gone too far she was happily saved. One morning her maid caught -her, and the whole household was agog. The miseries endured in -the few following weeks completely cured her. She is now in -private, as well as in public, as sound a snob as ever reveled -in "exclusiveness." - - -A Gentleman and His Boots - -(_From "A Traveler from Altruria"_) - -BY WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS - - (The "dean of American novelists," 1837-1919, here gently satirizes - his country. "A Traveler from Altruria" comes to America expecting to - find democracy; at a summer hotel he makes the mistake of helping the - porter to black boots. For this he is rebuked by a friend.) - -"There are a great many things we are willing to do for -ourselves that we are not willing to do for others. But even on -that principle, which I think false and illogical, you could -not be justified. A gentleman is not willing to black _his own_ -boots. It is offensive to his feelings, to his self-respect; -it is something he will not do if he can get anybody else to do -it for him." - -"Then, in America," said the Altrurian, "it is not offensive to -the feelings of a gentleman to let another do for him what he -would not do for himself?" - -"Certainly not." - -"Ah," he returned, "then we understand something altogether -different by the word gentleman in Altruria." - - -Song of the Lower Classes - -BY ERNEST JONES - -(Chartist leader and poet, 1819-1869; sentenced in 1848 to two -years imprisonment) - - We plow and sow, we're so very, very low, - That we delve in the dirty clay; - Till we bless the plain with the golden grain, - And the vale with the fragrant hay. - Our place we know, we're so very, very low, - 'Tis down at the landlord's feet; - We're not too low the grain to grow, - But too low the bread to eat. - - Down, down we go, we're so very, very low, - To the hell of the deep-sunk mines; - But we gather the proudest gems that glow, - When the crown of the despot shines; - And when'er he lacks, upon our backs - Fresh loads he deigns to lay; - We're far too low to vote the tax, - But not too low to pay. - - We're low, we're low--we're very, very low,-- - And yet from our fingers glide - The silken floss and the robes that glow - Round the limbs of the sons of pride; - And what we get, and what we give, - We know, and we know our share; - We're not too low the cloth to weave, - But too low the cloth to wear. - - We're low, we're low, we're very, very low, - And yet when the trumpets ring, - The thrust of a poor man's arm will go - Through the heart of the proudest king. - We're low, we're low--mere rabble, we know-- - We're only the rank and the file; - We're not too low to kill the foe, - But too low to share the spoil. - - -Tom Dunstan: or, the Politician - -("_How Long, O Lord, How Long?_") - -BY ROBERT BUCHANAN - -(See pages 367, 412) - - Cross-legg'd on the board we sat, - Like spiders spinning, - Stitching and sweating, while fat - Old Moses, with eyes like a cat, - Sat greasily grinning; - And here Tom said his say, - And prophesied Tyranny's death; - And the tallow burned all day, - And we stitch'd and stitch'd away - In the thick smoke of our breath. - Poor worn-out slops were we, - With hearts as heavy as lead; - But "Patience! she's coming!" said he; - "Courage, boys! wait and see! - _Freedom's_ ahead!" ... - - But Tom was little and weak, - The hard hours shook him; - Hollower grew his cheek, - And when he began to speak - The coughing took him. - And at last the cheery sound - Of his voice among us ceased, - And we made a purse, all round, - That he mightn't starve, at least. - His pain was awful to see, - Yet there, on his poor sick-bed, - "She's coming, in spite of me! - Courage, and wait!" cried he; - "_Freedom's_ ahead!" - - Ay, now Tom Dunstan's cold, - All life seems duller; - There's a blight on young and old, - And our talk has lost the bold - Red-republican color. - But we see a figure gray, - And we hear a voice of death, - And the tallow burns all day, - And we stitch and stitch away - In the thick smoke of our breath; - Ay, while in the dark sit we, - Tom seems to call from the dead-- - "She's coming! she's coming!" says he; - "Courage, boys! wait and see! - _Freedom's_ ahead!" - - -Lines - -BY STEPHEN CRANE - -(See page 217) - - "Have you ever made a just man?" - "Oh, I have made three," answered God, - "But two of them are dead, - And the third-- - Listen! listen, - And you will hear the thud of his defeat...." - - -The Memoirs of Li Hung Chang - -(See page 196) - -A poor man is ever at a disadvantage in matters of public -concern. When he rises to speak, or writes a letter to his -superiors, they ask: Who is this fellow that offers advice? And -when it is known that he is without coin they spit their hands -at him, and use his letters in the cooks' fires. But if it be -a man of wealth who would speak, or write, or denounce, even -though he have the brain of a yearling dromedary, or a spine as -crooked and unseemly, the whole city listens to his words and -declares them wise. - - -FROM ECCLESIASTICUS - -A rich man speaketh, and all keep silence; and what he saith -they extol to the clouds: A poor man speaketh, and they say, -Who is this? and if he stumble, they will help to overthrow him. - - -The Pauper's Drive - -BY T. NOEL - -(English poet of the Chartist period) - - There's a grim one-horse hearse in a jolly round trot; - To the churchyard a pauper is going, I wot; - The road it is rough, and the hearse has no springs, - And hark to the dirge that the sad driver sings:-- - "Rattle his bones over the stones; - He's only a pauper, whom nobody owns!" - - Oh, where are the mourners? alas! there are none; - He has left not a gap in the world now he's gone, - Not a tear in the eye of child, woman, or man-- - To the grave with his carcase as fast as you can. - "Rattle his bones over the stones; - He's only a pauper, whom nobody owns!" - - What a jolting and creaking, and splashing and din; - The whip how it cracks! and the wheels how they spin! - How the dirt, right and left, o'er the hedges is hurled! - The pauper at length makes a noise in the world. - "Rattle his bones over the stones; - He's only a pauper, whom nobody owns!" ... - - You bumpkin, who stare at your brother conveyed; - Behold what respect to a cloddy is paid, - And be joyful to think, when by death you're laid low - You've a chance to the grave like a gemman to go. - "Rattle his bones over the stones; - He's only a pauper, whom nobody owns!" - - But a truce to this strain--for my soul it is sad, - To think that a heart in humanity clad - Should make, like the brutes, such a desolate end, - And depart from the light without leaving a friend. - Bear softly his bones over the stones; - Though a pauper, he's one whom his Maker yet owns. - - -Complaint to My Empty Purse - -BY GEOFFREY CHAUCER - -(See page 423) - - To you, my purse, and to none other wight - Complain I, for ye be my lady dear! - I am so sorry, now that ye be light; - For certès, but ye make me heavy cheer, - Me were as lief be laid upon my bier; - For which unto your mercy thus I cry: - Be heavy again, or elles might I die! - - Now voucheth safe this day, or it be night, - That I of you the blissful sound may hear, - Or see your colour like the sun bright - That of yellowness had never a peer. - Ye be my life, ye be my hertes stere, - Queen of comfort and of good company: - Be heavy again, or elles might I die! - - -"Mr. Dooley" on Poverty - -(See page 683) - -Wan iv th' sthrangest things about life is that th' poor, who -need th' money th' most, ar-re th' very wans that niver have it. - - -Don Quixote - -BY MIGUEL DE CERVANTES - -(Sancho Panza, the servant of the half-crazed knight, has -accompanied him upon the promise of being promoted to a high -station) - -"Troth, wife," quoth Sancho, "were not I in hopes to see -myself, ere it be long, governor of an island, on my conscience -I should drop down dead on the spot." "Not so, my chicken," -quoth the wife, "'let the hen live, though it be with pip'; -do thou live, and let all the governments in the world go -to the Devil. Thou camest out of thy mother's belly without -government, and thou mayest be carried to thy long home without -government, when it shall please the Lord. How many people in -this world live without government yet do well enough, and are -well looked upon? There is no sauce in the world like hunger; -and as the poor never want that, they always eat with a good -stomach." - - -The Freebooter's Prayer - -(_Scotland, 1405_) - - Thou That willed us naked-born, - Send us meat against the morn-- - Got with right or got with wrong - So we fast not overlong. - Prosper "Snaffle, Spur and Spear!" - Grant us booty, horse and gear; - Save our necks from hempen thrall, - Bless the souls of them that fall. - - -_A Modern Version_ - -(_U. S. A., 1905_) - -BY ARTHUR GUITERMAN - -(Contemporary American poet) - - Thou, Whom rich and poor adore, - Grant me fifty millions more, - Earned or pilfered, foul or pure; - From man's law hold me secure. - So, when I have gained of gold - All my coffers well can hold, - I may give, O Lord, for Thee, - One-sixteenth in Charity. - - -Zadig - -BY VOLTAIRE - -(See page 674) - -The lord of the castle was one of those Arabians who are -commonly called robbers; but he now and then performed some -good actions amidst a multitude of bad ones. He robbed with -furious rapacity, and granted favors with great generosity. - -"May I take the liberty of asking thee," said Zadig, "how long -thou hast followed this noble profession?" - -"From my most tender youth," replied the lord. "I was servant -to a petty, good-natured Arabian, but could not endure the -hardships of my situation. I was vexed to find that fate had -given me no share of the earth which equally belongs to all -men. I imparted the cause of my uneasiness to an old Arabian, -who said to me: - -"'My son, do not despair; there was once a grain of sand that -lamented that it was no more than a neglected atom in the -deserts; at the end of a few years it became a diamond, and it -is now the brightest ornament in the crown of the king of the -Indies.' - -"This discourse made a deep impression on my mind. I was the -grain of sand, and I resolved to become the diamond. I began -by stealing two horses. I soon got a party of companions. I -put myself in a condition to rob small caravans; and thus, -by degrees, I destroyed the difference which had formerly -subsisted between me and other men. I had my share of the good -things of this world; and was even recompensed with usury for -the hardships I had suffered. I was greatly respected, and -became the captain of a band of robbers. I seized this castle -by force. The satrap of Syria had a mind to dispossess me of -it; but I was too rich to have anything to fear. I gave the -satrap a handsome present, by which I preserved my castle, and -increased my possessions. He even appointed me treasurer of -the tributes which Arabia Petraea pays to the king of kings. -I perform my office of receiver with great punctuality; but I -take the freedom to dispense with that of paymaster." - - -For the Other 365 Days - -BY FRANKLIN P. ADAMS - -(Contemporary American humorist) - - Christmas is over. Uncork your ambition! - Back to the battle! Come on, competition! - Down with all sentiment, can scrupulosity! - Commerce has nothing to gain by jocosity; - Money is all that is worth all your labors; - Crowd your competitors, nix on your neighbors! - Push 'em aside in a passionate hurry, - Argue and bustle and bargain and worry! - Frenzy yourself into sickness and dizziness-- - Christmas is over and Business is Business. - - -The Road to Success - -(_From "Random Reminiscences of Men and Events"_) - -BY JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER - -(See page 487) - -If I were to give advice to a young man starting out in life, -I should say to him: If you aim for a large, broad-gauged -success, do not begin your business career, whether you sell -your labor or are an independent producer, with the idea of -getting from the world by hook or crook all you can. In the -choice of your profession or your business employment, let your -first thought be: Where can I fit in so that I may be most -effective in the work of the world? Where can I lend a hand in -a way most effective to advance the general interests? Enter -life in such a spirit, choose your vocation in that way, and -you have taken the first step on the highest road to a large -success. Investigation will show that the great fortunes which -have been made in this country, and the same is probably true -of other lands, have come to men who have performed great and -far-reaching economic services--men who, with great faith in -the future of their country, have done most for the development -of its resources. The man will be most successful who confers -the greatest service on the world. - - -The Latest Decalogue - -BY ARTHUR HUGH CLOUGH - -(See page 488) - - Thou shalt have one God only; who - Would be at the expense of two? - No graven images may be - Worshipped, except the currency. - Swear not at all; for, for thy curse - Thine enemy is none the worse. - At church on Sunday to attend - Will serve to keep the world thy friend. - Honor thy parents; that is, all - From whom advancement may befall. - Thou shalt not kill; but need'st not strive - Officiously to keep alive. - Do not adultery commit; - Advantage rarely comes of it. - Thou shalt not steal; an empty feat, - When it's so lucrative to cheat. - Bear not false witness; let the lie - Have time on its own wings to fly. - Thou shalt not covet, but tradition - Approves all forms of competition. - - -"Mr. Dooley" on the Trusts - -(See pages 683, 692) - -"Mind ye, Jawn, I've no wurrud to say again thim that sets back -in their own house an' lot an' makes th' food iv th' people -dear. They're good men, good men. Whin they tilt the price iv -beef to where wan pound iv it costs as much as many th' man in -this Ar-rchey Road 'd wurruk from th' risin' to th' settin' iv -th' sun to get, they have no thought iv th' likes iv you an' -me. 'Tis aisy come, aisy go with thim; an' ivry cint a pound -manes a new art musoom or a new church, to take th' edge off -hunger. They're all right, thim la-ads with their own porkchops -delivered free at th' door. 'Tis, 'Will ye have a new spring -dress, me dear? Willum, ring thim up, an' tell thim to hist the -price iv beef. If we had a few more pitchers an' statoos in th' -musoom 'twud ilivate th' people a sthory or two. Willum, afther -this steak 'll be twinty cints a pound.' Oh, they're all right, -on'y I was thinkin' iv th' Connock man's fam'ly back iv th' -dumps." - -"For a man that was gay a little while ago, it looks to me as -if you'd grown mighty solemn-like," said Mr. McKenna. - -"Mebbe so," said Mr. Dooley. "Mebbe so. What th' 'ell, annyhow. -Mebbe 'tis as bad to take champagne out iv wan man's mouth as -round steak out iv another's. Lent is near over. I seen Doherty -out shinin' up his pipe that's been behind th' clock since Ash -Winsdah. Th' girls 'll be layin' lilies on th' altar in a day -or two. The springs come on. Th' grass is growin' good; an', if -th' Connock man's children back iv th' dumps can't get meat, -they can eat hay." - - -What the Moon Saw - -BY VACHEL LINDSAY - -(See pages 335, 599, 672) - - Two statesmen met by moonlight. - Their ease was partly feigned. - They glanced about the prairie, - Their faces were constrained. - In various ways aforetime - They had misled the state, - Yet did it so politely - Their henchmen thought them great. - They sat beneath a hedge and spake - No word, but had a smoke. - A satchel passed from hand to hand. - Next day the deadlock broke. - - -Portrait of a Supreme Court Judge - -BY LOUIS UNTERMEYER - -(See pages 42, 418, 515) - - How well this figure represents the Law-- - This pose of neuter Justice, sterile Cant; - This Roman Emperor with the iron jaw, - Wrapped in the black silk of a maiden-aunt. - - -The Furred Law-Cats - -(_From "Pantagruel"_) - -FRANÇOIS RABELAIS - -(French satirist of the middle ages, 1483-1553) - -The Furred Law-Cats are most terrible and dreadful monsters; -they devour little children, and trample over marble stones. -Pray tell me, noble topers, do they not deserve to have their -snouts slit? The hair of their hides doesn't lie outward, but -inwards, and every mother's son of them for his device wears a -gaping pouch, but not all in the same manner; for some wear it -tied to their neck scarfwise, others upon the breech, some on -the side, and all for a cause, with reason and mystery. They -have claws so very strong, long, and sharp that nothing can get -from 'em what is once fast between their clutches. Sometimes -they cover their heads with mortar-like caps, at other times -with mortified caparisons. - -Examine well the countenance of these stout props and pillars -of this catch-coin law and iniquity; and pray observe, that -if you live but six olympiads, and the age of two dogs more, -you'll see these Furred Law-cats lords of all Europe, and in -peaceful possession of all the estates and domains belonging to -it; unless, by divine providence, what's got over the devil's -back is spent under his belly, or the goods which they unjustly -get perish with their prodigal heirs. Take this from an honest -beggar! - -Among 'em reigns the sixth essence; by the means of which they -gripe all, devour all, conskite all, burn all, draw all, hang -all, quarter all, behead all, murder all, imprison all, waste -all, and ruin all, without the least notice of right and wrong; -for among them vice is called virtue; wickedness, piety; -treason, loyalty; robbery, justice. Plunder is their motto, and -when acted by them is approved by all men, except the heretics; -and all this they do because they dare; their authority is -sovereign and irrefragable. Should all their villany be once -displayed in its true colours and exposed to the people, there -never was, is, nor will be any spokesman could save 'em; nor -any magistrate so powerful as to hinder their being burnt alive -in their coney-burrows without mercy. Even their own furred -kittlings, friends and relations would abominate 'em. - - -The Gentleman Inside - -BY DAMON RUNYON - -(Contemporary American writer) - - They's a banker that's a trusty workin' on the warden's books; - I kin see him from the rock pile where I'm sittin', - An' on his case I'm basin' this advice to feller crooks: - You'd better git a plenty while yer gittin'. - Now, this guy wrecked a county an' he copped his neighbor's dough; - He got six hundred thousand, which is some change, as you know; - They give him one or two years, an' the softest job here--Oh - It pays to git a plenty while yer gittin'. - - Wit' me little flask o' nitro an' me bar o' laundry soap, - I blew a safe, an' then, as was befittin', - I took me ten years smilin', glad I didn't get the rope!-- - But the next time! Oh, a plenty while I'm gittin'! - For this guy tore off half a state an' shook the other half; - He robbed his friends an' neighbors an' he handed both the laugh-- - But you oughta heard him holler at that one or two year gaff. - You'd better git a plenty while yer gittin'! - - An' so he's here a trusty, while I wear a ball an' chain-- - (They say he beat most every statoot written.) - He's got a fortune planted an' all I've got's a pain; - You'd better git a plenty while yer gittin'! - He cost the state a million bucks before they put him here; - He had ten lawyers for his trial, w'ich lasted most a year; - An' the jedge who had to sentence him pronounced it wit' a tear-- - It pays to git a plenty while yer gittin'! - - -The Memoirs of Li Hung Chang - -(See pages 196, 689) - -They showed me a beautifully shaped old bell, which is in -Independence Hall, and is called the Bell of Liberty; which -means that at its ringing all men within sound of its voice -know they are free. But they do not ring it any more because it -is cracked. Is Liberty cracked also? - - -Penguin Island - -BY ANATOLE FRANCE - -(See page 681. In the following passage one of the most learned -of the Penguins pays a visit to America) - -After a voyage of fifteen days his steamer entered, during the -night, the harbor of Titanport, where thousands of ships were -anchored. An iron bridge thrown across the water and shining -with lights, stretched between two piers so far apart that -Professor Obnubile imagined he was sailing on the seas of -Saturn, and that he saw the marvellous ring which girds the -planet of the Old Man. And this immense conduit bore upon it -more than a quarter of the wealth of the world. The learned -Penguin, having disembarked, was waited on by automatons in a -hotel forty-eight stories high. Then he took the great railway -that led to Gigantopolis, the capital of New Atlantic. In the -train there were restaurants, gaming-rooms, athletic arenas, -telegraphic, commercial, and financial offices, a Protestant -Church, and the printing-office of a great newspaper, which -latter the doctor was unable to read, as he did not know the -language of the New Atlantans. The train passed along the banks -of great rivers, through manufacturing cities which concealed -the sky with the smoke from their chimneys, towns black in the -day, towns red at night, full of noise by day and full of noise -also by night. - -"Here," thought the doctor, "is a people far too much engaged -in industry and trade to make war. I am already certain that -the New Atlantans pursue a policy of peace. For it is an axiom -admitted by all economists that peace without and peace within -are necessary for the progress of commerce and industry." - -As he surveyed Gigantopolis, he was confirmed in this opinion. -People went through the streets so swiftly propelled by hurry -that they knocked down all who were in their way. Obnubile was -thrown down several times, but soon succeeded in learning how -to demean himself better; after an hour's walking he himself -knocked down an Atlantan. - -Having reached a great square he saw the portico of a palace -in the classic style, whose Corinthian columns reared their -capitals of arborescent acanthus seventy metres above the -stylobate. - -As he stood with his head thrown back admiring the building, a -man of modest appearance approached him and said in Penguin: - -"I see by your dress that you are from Penguinia. I know your -language; I am a sworn interpreter. This is the Parliament -palace. At the present moment the representatives of the States -are in deliberation. Would you like to be present at the -sitting?" - -The doctor was brought into the hall and cast his looks upon -the crowd of legislators who were sitting on cane chairs with -their feet upon their desks. - -The president arose, and, in the midst of general inattention, -muttered rather than spoke the following formulas which the -interpreter immediately translated to the doctor. - -"The war for the opening of the Mongol markets being ended to -the satisfaction of the States, I propose that the accounts be -laid before the finance committee...." - -"Is there any opposition?..." - -"The proposal is carried." - -"The war for the opening of the markets of Third-Zealand being -ended to the satisfaction of the States, I propose that the -accounts be laid before the finance committee...." - -"Is there any opposition?..." - -"The proposal is carried." - -"Have I heard aright?" asked Professor Obnubile. "What? you an -industrial people and engaged in all these wars!" - -"Certainly," answered the interpreter, "these are industrial -wars. Peoples who have neither commerce nor industry are not -obliged to make war, but a business people is forced to adopt -a policy of conquest. The number of wars necessarily increases -with our productive capacity. As soon as one of our industries -fails to find a market for its products a war is necessary to -open new outlets. It is in this way we have had a coal war, a -copper war, and a cotton war. In Third-Zealand we have killed -two-thirds of the inhabitants in order to compel the remainder -to buy our umbrellas and braces." - -At that moment a fat man who was sitting in the middle of the -assembly ascended the tribune. - -"I claim," said he, "a war against the Emerald Republic, which -insolently contends with our pigs for the hegemony of hams and -sauces in all the markets of the universe." - -"Who is that legislator?" asked Doctor Obnubile. - -"He is a pig merchant." - -"Is there any opposition?" said the President. "I put the -proposition to the vote." - -The war against the Emerald Republic was voted with uplifted -hands by a very large majority. - -"What?" said Obnubile to the interpreter; "you have voted a war -with that rapidity and that indifference!" - -"Oh! it is an unimportant war which will hardly cost eight -million dollars." - -"And men...." - -"The men are included in the eight million dollars." - -Then Doctor Obnubile bent his head in bitter reflection. - -"Since wealth and civilization admit of as many causes of -poverty as war and barbarism, since the folly and wickedness -of men are incurable, there remains but one good action to -be done. The wise man will collect enough dynamite to blow -up this planet. When its fragments fly through space an -imperceptible amelioration will be accomplished in the universe -and a satisfaction will be given to the universal conscience. -Moreover, this universal conscience does not exist." - - -"Mr. Dooley" on the Tariff - -(See pages 683, 692, 698) - -"Well," said Mr. Hennessy, "what diff'rence does it make? Th' -foreigner pays th' tax annyhow." - -"He does," said Mr. Dooley, "if he ain't turned back at Castle -Garden." - - -The Preacher and the Slave - -BY J. HILL - -(_Tune: "Sweet Bye and Bye"_) - - (A sample of many parodies upon Christian hymns which are published - by the Industrial Workers of the World, and sung by the migratory - workers of the Far West in their camping-places, known as "jungles." - While this selection and the one following can hardly be classed as - literature, they have their interest as social documents. It was - Napoleon who said that if he could write a country's songs, he would - not care who wrote its laws.) - - Long-haired preachers come out every night, - Try to tell you what's wrong and what's right; - But when asked how 'bout something to eat - They will answer with voices so sweet: - -CHORUS - - You will eat, bye and bye, - In that glorious land above the sky; - Work and pray, live on hay, - You'll get pie in the sky when you die. - - And the Starvation Army they play, - And they sing and they clap and they pray, - Till they get all your coin on the drum, - Then they'll tell you when you're on the bum: (Chorus) - - If you fight hard for children and wife-- - Try to get something good in this life-- - You're a sinner and bad man, they tell, - When you die you will sure go to hell. (Chorus) - - Workingmen of all countries, unite, - Side by side we for freedom will fight; - When the world and its wealth we shall gain - To the grafters we'll sing this refrain: - - -CHORUS - - You will eat, bye and bye, - When you've learned how to cook and to fry; - Chop some wood, 'twill do you good, - And you'll eat in the sweet bye and bye. - - -Work for All but Father - -BY HENRY M. TICHENOR - -(The poet of the _Rip-Saw_, a revolutionary paper of the middle -West which has an immense circulation) - -"Everybody works but father"--God, what a ghastly lay! -"Everybody works but father"--he wants too much pay! Mother -and Ann and Maggie, and tiny Tim and Bill, work like hell for -a paltry wage in the sweatshop and the mill. "Everybody works -but father"--he talks like a fool--he asks enough in wages to -send the kids to school--he wants more for his daily toil than -we pay the wife and brood--he says he ought to have enough to -keep them all in food! "Everybody works but father"--for him -we have no need--all we want of father is just to keep up the -breed. The mother and the babies, that's all we require, the -mother and the babies--those are the ones we hire. Just keep -on breeding babies--that's the bull moose hunch--just keep on -breeding babies, we can work the whole damn bunch! - - -Mr. "Dooley" on Industry - -(See pages 683, 692, 698, 706) - -'Tis a sthrange thing whin we come to think iv it that th' less -money a man gets f'r his wurruk, th' more nicissary it is to -th' wurruld that he shud go on wurrukin'. Ye'er boss can go to -Paris on a combination wedding an' divoorce thrip an' no wan -bothers his head about him. But if ye shud go to Paris--excuse -me f'r laughin' mesilf black in th' face--th' industhrees iv -the counthry pines away. - - -Lines to a Pomeranian Puppy Valued at $3,500 - -BY LOUIS UNTERMEYER - -(See pages 42, 418, 515, 699) - - Often as I strain and stew, - Digging in these dirty ditches, - I have dared to think of you-- - You and all your riches. - - Lackeys help you on and off; - And the bed is silk you lie in; - You have doctors when you cough, - Priests when you are dying. - - Wrapt in soft and costly furs, - All sewed up with careful stitches, - You consort with proper curs - And with perfumed bitches.... - - You don't sweat to struggle free, - Work in rags and rotting breeches-- - Puppy, have a laugh at me - Digging in the ditches! - - -Labor and Capital Are One - -(_From The "Game of Life"_) - -BY BOLTON HALL - -(See page 680) - -"Times are hard," said the Picked Chicken. - -"Why," said the Rat, "this is an era of prosperity; see how I -have feathered my nest." - -"But," said the Picked Chicken, "you have gotten my feathers." - -"You must not think," said the Rat, "that because I get more -comfort you get poorer." - -"But," said the Chicken, "you produce no feathers, and I keep -none--" - -"If you would use your teeth"--interrupted the Rat. - -"If--" said the Picked Chicken. - -"You could lay--" - -"I--" said the Picked Chicken. - -"--up as much as I do," concluded the Rat. - -"Excuse me for living," said the Picked Chicken, "but--" - -"Without consumers like me," said the Rat, "there would be no -demand for the feathers which you produce." - -"I shall vote for a change," said the Picked Chicken. - -"Only those who have feathers should have the Privilege of -voting," remarked the Rat. - - -"Mr. Dooley" on Prosperity - -(See pages 683, 692, 698, 706, 709) - -Yes, Prosperity has come hollerin' an' screamin'. To read th' -papers, it seems to be a kind iv a vagrancy law. No wan can -loaf anny more. Th' end iv vacation has gone f'r manny a happy -lad that has spint six months ridin' through th' counthry, -dodgin' wurruk, or loafin' under his own vine or hat-three. -Prosperity grabs ivry man be th' neck, an' sets him shovellin' -slag or coke or runnin' up an' down a ladder with a hod iv -mortar. It won't let th' wurruld rest.... It goes around like a -polisman givin' th' hot fut to happy people that are snoozin' -in th' sun. 'Get up,' says Prosperity. 'Get up, an' hustle -over to th' rollin' mills: there's a man over there wants ye -to carry a ton iv coal on ye'er back.' 'But I don't want to -wurruk,' says th' lad. 'I'm very comfortable th' way I am.' 'It -makes no difference,' says Prosperity. 'Ye've got to do ye'er -lick. Wurruk, f'r th' night is comin'. Get out, an' hustle. -Wurruk, or ye can't be unhappy; an', if th' wurruld isn't -unhappy, they'se no such a thing as Prosperity." - - -Why the Socialist Party Is Growing - -(_Dedicated to the School of Journalism_) - -BY FRANKLIN P. ADAMS - -(See page 695) - - "A story," the reporter said, "about commercial crime. - A merchant's been convicted of selling phony stuff. - The sentence is a thousand meg and seven years of time--" - "A hundred words," the city Ed. replied, "will be enough." - - "A story," the reporter said, "about a crimson dame - Just landed from the steamer, wearing slippers that are red. - She used to be the Dearest Friend of Emperor Wotsisname--" - "Three columns and a layout!" cried the eager city Ed. - - -The Babble Machines - -(_From "When the Sleeper Wakes"_) - -BY H. G. WELLS - - (One of the writer's earlier romances, telling of a man who sleeps - for two hundred years and wakens to find himself hailed as Master of - the World--through the operation of a bequest of money which has been - accumulating through that time. The power of this wealth is being - wielded in his name by a cynical and unscrupulous oligarchy which has - reduced the populace to a uniformed slave-caste, seething with futile - revolt. The following portrays the newspapers of that new world of - Capitalism triumphant) - -Beyond this place they came into a closed hall, and Graham -discovered the cause of the noise that had perplexed him. -His attention was arrested by a violent, loud hoot, followed -by a vast leathery voice. He stopped and, looking up, beheld -a foolish trumpet face. This was the General Intelligence -Machine. For a space it seemed to be gathering breath, and a -regular throbbing from its cylindrical body was audible. Then -it trumpeted "Galloop, Galloop," and broke out again. - -"Paris is now pacified. All resistance is over. Galloop! The -black police hold every position of importance in the city. -They fought with great bravery, singing songs written in -praise of their ancestors by the poet Kipling. Once or twice -they got out of hand, and tortured and mutilated wounded and -captured insurgents, men and women. Moral--don't go rebelling. -Haha! Galloop, Galloop! They are lively fellows. Lively brave -fellows. Let this be a lesson to the disorderly banderlog -of this city. Yah! Banderlog! Filth of the earth! Galloop, -Galloop!" - -The voice ceased. There was a confused murmur of disapproval -among the crowd. "Damned niggers." A man began to harangue -near them. "Is this the Master's doing, brothers? Is this the -Master's doing?" - -"Black police!" said Graham. "What is that? You don't mean----" - -His companion touched his arm and gave him a warning look, and -forthwith another of these mechanisms screamed deafeningly and -gave tongue in a shrill voice. "Yahaha! Yahah, Yap! Hear a -live paper yelp! Live paper. Yaha! Shocking outrage in Paris. -Yahahah! The Parisians exasperated by the black police to the -pitch of assassination. Dreadful reprisals. Savage times come -again. Blood! Blood! Yahah!" The nearer Babble Machine hooted -stupendously, "Galloop, Galloop," drowned the end of the -sentence, and proceeded in a rather flatter note than before -with novel comments on the horrors of disorder. "Law and order -must be maintained," said the nearer Babble Machine.... - - -The Ballad of Kiplingson - -BY ROBERT BUCHANAN - -(An English poet and journalist, 1841-1901, who through his -lifetime fought valiantly against militarism and imperialism. -See pages 367, 412, 687) - - There came a knock at the Heavenly Gate, where the good St. -Peter sat,-- - "Hi, open the door, you fellah there, to a British rat-tat-tat!" - - The Saint sat up in his chair, rubbed eyes, and prick'd his holy ears, - "Who's there?" he muttered, "a single man, or a regiment of -Grenadiers?" - - "A single man," the voice replied, "but one of prodigious size, - Who claims by Jingo, his patron Saint, the entry to Paradise!" - - The good St. Peter open'd the Gate, but blocking the entry scan'd - The spectacled ghost of a little man, with an infant's flag in -his hand.... - - "Wot! haven't you heard of Kiplingson? whose name and fame have spread - As far as the Flag of England waves, and the Tory prints are read? - - "I was raised in the lap of Jingo, sir, till I grew to the -height of man, - And a wonderful Literary Gent, I emerged upon Hindostan!... - - "And rapid as light my glory spread, till thro' cockaigne it flew, - And I grew the joy of the Cockney cliques, and the pet of the -Jingo Jew! - - "For the Lord my God was a Cockney Gawd, whose voice was a savage yell, - A fust-rate Gawd who dropt, d'ye see, the 'h' in Heaven and Hell!... - - "Oh I was a real Phenomenon," continued Kiplingson, - "The only genius ever born who was Tory at twenty-one!" - - "Alas! and alas!" the good Saint said, a tear in his eye serene, - "A Tory at twenty-one! Good God! At fifty what _would_ you have been? - - "There's not a spirit now here in Heaven who wouldn't at twenty-one - Have tried to upset the very Throne, and reform both Sire and Son! - - "The saddest sight my eyes have seen, down yonder on earth or here, - Is a brat that talks like a weary man, or a youth with a cynic's leer. - - "Try lower down, young man," he cried, and began to close the Gate-- - "Hi, here, old fellah," said Kiplingson, "by Jingo! just you wait-- - - "I've heaps of Criticisms here, to show my claims are true, - That I'm 'cute in almost everything, and have probed Creation through!" - - "And what have you _found_?" the Saint inquired, a frown on his -face benign-- - "The Flag of England!" cried Kiplingson, "and the thin black -penny-a-line! - - "Wherever the Flag of England waves, down go all other flags; - Wherever the thin black line is spread, the Bulldog bites and brags!... - - "O Gawd, beware of the Jingo's wrath! the Journals of Earth are mine! - Across the plains of the earth still creeps the thin black -penny-a-line! - - "For wherever the Flag of England waves"--but here, we grieve to state, - His voice was drown'd in a thunder-crash, for the Saint -bang'd-to the Gate! - - -Militancy - -BY ISRAEL ZANGWILL - -(See page 136) - -Heckling became a fine art, and even a joyous: for, despite -all the suffering it cost them, they carried it through with -such inexhaustible spirit and invention as to restore a touch -of chic and bravado to our drab life and add to the gaiety -of nations. Miss Pankhurst even managed to badger Cabinet -Ministers in the witness-box.... There was no meeting, however -guarded, to which, by hook or crook, organ-pipe or drain-pipe, -she did not gain admission, padlocking herself against easy -expulsion; while, even were her bodily presence averted, -always, like the horns of Elfland faintly blowing, came from -some well-placed megaphone that inevitable and implacable -slogan "Votes for Women." Chalked on pavement or scrawled -on walls or blazoned on sky-signs, it became a universal, -ubiquitous obsession. Streamers carried it under the terrace -of Parliament or balloons suspended it from above. Cabinet -Ministers were dogged to their privatest haunts, for the -leakages of information were everywhere. Since Christianity no -such force has arisen to divide families. No household, however -Philistine, was safe from a jail-bird. If Lady Anon asked Lady -Alamode when her daughter was coming out, it no longer referred -to the young lady's début. The most obstinate autocrat since -Pharaoh, Mr. Asquith, has been shown similar signs and wonders. -"We are the appointed plagues," said Mrs. Pankhurst, with a -rare touch of humor. And nothing has plagued British society -more than that outbreak of religion which brought disgrace upon -so many respectable homes. Incidentally, the prisons and the -courts were improved by receiving critics instead of criminals. -"We do not care for ourselves," cried Christabel Pankhurst at -the London Police Court, "because prison is nothing to us. But -the injustice done here to thousands of helpless creatures is -too terrible to contemplate." Warders and wardresses, too, -profited by the society of their new prisoners. It was like a -rise in the social scale to them. Nor was even the Bench immune -from education. - -"Boyle!" called the magistrate. "_Miss_ Boyle" corrected the -prisoner. "We always call our prisoners by their surnames," -explained the magistrate. "We are here to teach you better -manners" said the Suffragette. - - -"Mr. Dooley" on Woman Suffrage - -(See pages 683, 692, 698, 706, 709, 711) - -Don't ask f'r rights. Take thim. An' don't let anny wan give -thim to ye. A right that is handed to ye f'r nawthin' has -somethin' the matther with it. It's more than likely it's on'y -a wrong turned inside out. - - -Heloise sans Abelard - -(_A Modern Scholar on a Mediæval Nun_) - -BY JOEL ELIAS SPINGARN - - (A professor in America's most prosperous university was discharged - for his protests against commercialized education. In the following - poem he has paid his respects to his colleagues, likening them to nuns - in a convent, and himself to Heloise, who ran away) - - In the cool, calm palace of prayer - She sought her haven of dreams; - She gave up her dower of air, - Of stars, and cities, and streams. - - On the cold, sweet steps of prayer - She sought what young girls seek; - She laid her bosom bare, - And asked for the stones to speak. - - Who wonders she could not hear - What silence and stones belie? - Who wonders where love may steer? - Not I, not I, not I! - - O passionate Heloise, - I, too, have lived under the ban, - With seven hundred professors, - And not a single man. - - -In the Shadows: the Priest - -BY ARTHUR UPSON - -(American poet, 1877-1908) - - How long is it now, I wonder-- - A thousand years, at least, - Here the dark vault under, - Feet to the East, - Supposed to be Paradise-walking, a purgèd priest! - Well, none of them see me, thank heaven, - As they pass me here on the hill-- - So long as they live they're shriven, - And when they come here--they are still. - - -Thinking - -BY ANATOLE FRANCE - -(See pages 681, 703) - -'Tis a great infirmity to think. God preserve you from it, my -son, as He has preserved His greatest saints, and the souls -whom He loves with especial tenderness and destines to eternal -felicity. - - -The Tail of the World - -BY JOHN AMID - -(Contemporary American poet) - - The world is a beast with a long fur tail, - With an angry tooth, and a biting nail; - And she's headed the way that she ought not to go - For the Lord he designed and decreed her so. - - The point of the game is to drag the beast - While she's headed sou-west, toward the nor-nor-east; - God made the beast, and he drew the plan, - And he left the bulk of the haul to man. - - So primitive man dug a brace for his sandal. - Took hold of the tail, as the logical handle; - Got a last good drink, and a bite of bread, - And pulled till the blood ran into his head. - - At first he gained till it looked like a cinch, - But then the beast crawled back an inch; - And ever since then it's been Nip and Tuck, - Sometimes moving, but oftener stuck. - - Most of the gains have been made by the crowd-- - Sweating nobly, and swearing aloud. - Yet sometimes a single man could land - A good rough jerk, or a hand-over-hand. - - They say Confucius made her come-- - Homer and Dante--they each pulled some! - Bill Schopenhauer's foot slipped, rank, - While Shakespeare, he fetched her a horrible yank. - - The beast has hollered and frequently spit, - Often scratched, and sometimes bit, - And the men who were mauled, or laid out cold, - Were the very ones with the strangle hold. - - Why he did it, I don't know; - But the Lord he designed and decreed it so. - Of course he knew that the game was no cinch, - So he gave man some trifles to help in a pinch. - - One was an instinct, that might be read: - "Lay hold of something, and pull till you're dead!" - Another, that can't be translated as well, - Was, "Le' go my tail--and go to Hell!" - - But the strongest card in the whole blame pack - Was the fine sensation that paid man back; - For the finest feeling that's been unfurled - Is the feel of the fur on the tail of the world! - - - - -BOOK XV - -The Poet - -Social injustice as it bears upon the future generation; -pictures of child labor, and of the degradation of children in -slums; also hopes for the future deliverance of the child. - - -By-the-Way - -(_From "Songs of the Dead End"_) - -BY PATRICK MACGILL - -(See pages 32, 47, 122, 406) - - These be the little verses, rough and uncultured, which - I've written in hut and model, deep in the dirty ditch, - On the upturned hod by the palace made for the idle rich. - - Out on the happy highway, or lines where the engines go, - Which fact you may hardly credit, still for your doubts 'tis so, - For I am the person who wrote them, and surely to God, I know! - - Wrote them beside the hot-plate, or under the chilling skies, - Some of them true as death is, some of them merely lies, - Some of them very foolish, some of them otherwise. - - Little sorrows and hopings, little and rugged Rhymes, - Some of them maybe distasteful to the moral men of our times, - Some of them marked against me in the Book of the Many Crimes. - - These, the Songs of a Navvy, bearing the taint of the brute, - Unasked, uncouth, unworthy, out to the world I put, - Stamped with the brand of labor, the heel of a navvy's boot. - - -Democratic Vistas - -BY WALT WHITMAN - -(See pages 184, 268, 578) - -Literature, strictly considered, has never recognized the -people, and, whatever may be said, does not today. Speaking -generally, the tendencies of literature, as hitherto pursued, -have been to make mostly critical and querulous men. It seems -as if, so far, there were some natural repugnance between a -literary and professional life, and the rude rank spirit of -the democracies. There is, in later literature, a treatment -of benevolence, a charity business, rife enough it is true; -but I know nothing more rare, even in this country, than a fit -scientific estimate and reverent appreciation of the People--of -their measureless wealth of latent worth and capacity, their -vast, artistic contrasts of lights and shades--with, in -America, their entire reliability in emergencies, and a certain -breadth of historic grandeur, of peace or war, far surpassing -all the vaunted samples of book-heroes, or any _haut ton_ -coteries, in all the records of the world.... - -Dominion strong is the body's; dominion stronger is the mind's. -What has filled, and fills today our intellect, our fancy, -furnishing the standards therein, is yet foreign. The great -poems, Shakespeare's included, are poisonous to the idea of -the pride and dignity of the common people, the life-blood of -democracy. The models of our literature, as we get it from -other lands, ultramarine, have had their birth in courts, and -basked and grown in castle sunshine; all smells of princes' -favors. Of workers of a certain sort, we have, indeed, plenty, -contributing after their kind; many elegant, many learned, -all complacent. But touched by the national test, or tried by -the standards of democratic personality, they wither to ashes. -I say I have not seen a single writer, artist, lecturer, or -what not, that has confronted the voiceless but ever erect and -active, pervading, underlying will and typic inspiration of the -land, in a spirit kindred to itself. Do you call these genteel -little creatures American poets? Do you term that perpetual, -pistareen, pastepot work, American art, American drama, taste, -verse? I think I hear, echoed as from some mountain-top afar in -the west, the scornful laugh of the Genius of these States.... - -Did you, too, O friend, suppose democracy was only for -elections, for politics, and for a party name? I say democracy -is only of use there that it may pass on and come to its flower -and fruit in manners, in the highest forms of interaction -between men, and their beliefs--in religion, literature, -colleges, and schools--democracy in all public and private -life, and in the army and navy. - - -Today - -BY HELEN GRAY CONE - -(Contemporary American poet) - - Voice, with what emulous fire thou singest free hearts of old fashion, - English scorners of Spain, sweeping the blue sea-way, - Sing me the daring of life for life, the magnanimous passion - Of man for man in the mean populous streets of To-day! - - Hand, with what color and power thou couldst show, in the ring -hot-sanded, - Brown Bestiarius holding the lean tawn tiger at bay, - Paint me the wrestle of Toil with the wild-beast Want, bare-handed; - Shadow me forth a soul steadily facing Today! - - -What Is Art? - -BY LEO TOLSTOY - -(See pages 88, 110, 148, 276, 374, 416, 555, 674) - -Art of the future, that is to say, such part of art as will -be chosen from among all the art diffused among mankind, -will consist, not in transmitting feelings accessible only -to members of the rich classes, as is the case today, but in -transmitting such feelings as embody the highest religious -perceptions of our times. Only those productions will be -considered art which transmit feelings drawing men together -in brotherly union, or such universal feelings as can unite -all men. Art transmitting feelings flowing from antiquated, -worn-out religious teachings--church art, patriotic art, -voluptuous art, transmitting feelings of superstitious fear, -of pride, of vanity, of ecstatic admiration for national -heroes--art exciting exclusive love of one's own people, or -sensuality, will be considered bad, harmful art, and will be -censured and despised by public opinion. All the rest of art, -transmitting feelings accessible only to a section of the -people, will be considered unimportant, and will be neither -blamed nor praised. And the appraisement of art in general -will devolve, not, as is now the case, on a separate class -of rich people, but on the whole people; so that for a work -to be esteemed good, and to be approved of and diffused, it -will have to satisfy the demands, not of a few people living -in identical and often unnatural conditions, but it will have -to satisfy the demands of all those great masses of people who -are situated in the natural conditions of laborious life. And -the artists producing art will not be, as now, merely a few -people selected from a small section of the nation, members of -the upper classes or their hangers-on, but will consist of all -those gifted members of the whole people who prove capable of, -and are inclined towards, artistic activity. - - -A Catechism for Workers - -BY AUGUST STRINDBERG - - (Swedish poet, dramatist and novelist, 1849-1912; author of over a - hundred volumes, and probably the greatest genius that Sweden has - produced. It is not generally known that he was a Socialist, although - the labor unions and Social-democrats of his country marched in a body - at his funeral. The following are a few paragraphs from a "catechism" - covering every aspect of life from the worker's point of view) - -_What is philosophy_? - -A seeking of the truth. - -_Then how can philosophy be the friend of the upper classes?_ - -The upper classes pay the philosopher, in order that he may -discover only such truths as are expedient in their eyes. - -_But suppose uncomfortable truths should be discovered?_ - -They are called lies, and the philosopher gets no pay. - -_What is history?_ - -The story of the past, presented in a light favorable to the -interests of the upper classes. - -_Suppose the light is unfavorable?_ - -That is scandalous. - -_What is a scandal?_ - -Anything offending the upper classes. - -_What is esthetics?_ - -The art of praising or belittling works of art. - -_What works of art must be praised?_ - -Those that glorify the upper classes. - -Therefore Raphael and Michaelangelo are the most famous -artists, for they glorified the religious falsehoods of -the upper classes. Shakespeare magnified kings, and Goethe -magnified himself, the writer for the upper classes. - -_But how about other works of art?_ - -There must not be others. - - -The Superior Classes - -BY GEORGE D. HERRON - -(American clergyman and college professor, born 1862; resigned -to become an active Socialist) - -It is customary to speak of the unpreparedness of the -proletary for Socialism. But I am sure that, even today, the -working-class would give a vastly better organization of -industrial forces, a profoundly nobler and freer society, than -ever the world has had. The ignorance of the working-class -and the superior intelligence of the privileged class are -superstitions--are superstitions fostered by intellectual -mercenaries, by universities and churches, and by all -the centers of privilege. And the assumption of superior -intelligence on the part of the privileged is not warranted by -a single historical experience. The derangements and miseries -of mankind are precisely due to the ignorant and arrogant rule -of "superior" classes and persons. The mental and spiritual -capacity of these classes is a myth; their so-called culture -but thinly veneers their essential savagery, their social -rapacity and impudence.... - -The system that divides society into classes can bring forth no -true knowledge, no living truth, no industrial competence, no -fundamental social decency. It can only continue the desolation -of labor and increase the blindness and depravity of the -privileged. So long as some people own the tools upon which -others depend for bread, so long as the few possess themselves -of the fruits of the labor of the many, so long as the arts -and the institutions and the sciences are built upon exploited -workers, just so long will our so-called progress be through -the perennial exhaustion of generations and races; just so long -will successive civilizations be but voracious parasites upon -the spirit and body of mankind. - - -The Midnight Lunch Room - -(_From "The Frozen Grail and Other Poems"_) - -BY ELSA BARKER - -(See pages 315, 359) - - With little silver one may enter here, - And yet those hungry faces watch outside - The frosty window--and the door is wide! - The clatter to my unaccustomed ear - Of dishes and harsh tongues, is like a spear - Shaken within the sensitive wounded side - Of Silence. Soiled, indifferent hands provide - Pitiful fare, and cups of pallid cheer. - - In my warm, fragrant home an hour ago - I wrote a sonnet on the peace they win - Who worship Beauty! Let me breathe it low. - What would it mean if chanted in this din? - What would it say to those out in the snow, - Who hunger, and who may not enter in? - - -What Life Means to Me - -(_From "Revolution"_) - -BY JACK LONDON - -(See pages 62, 125, 139, 519, 609, 649) - -I was born into the working class. I early discovered -enthusiasm, ambition, and ideals; and to satisfy these became -the problem of my childlife. My environment was crude and rough -and raw. I had no outlook, but an uplook rather. My place -in society was at the bottom. Here life offered nothing but -sordidness and wretchedness, both of the flesh and the spirit; -for here flesh and spirit were alike starved and tormented. - -Above me towered the colossal edifice of society, and to -my mind the only way out was up. Into this edifice I early -resolved to climb. Up above, men wore black clothes and boiled -shirts, and women dressed in beautiful gowns. Also, there were -good things to eat, and there was plenty to eat. This much for -the flesh. Then there were the things of the spirit. Up above -me, I knew, were unselfishness of the spirit, clean and noble -thinking, keen intellectual living. I knew all this because I -read "Seaside Library" novels, in which, with the exception -of the villains and adventuresses, all men and women thought -beautiful thoughts, spoke a beautiful tongue, and performed -glorious deeds. In short, as I accepted the rising of the sun, -I accepted that up above me was all that was fine and noble and -gracious, all that gave decency and dignity to life, all that -made life worth living and that remunerated one for his travail -and misery. - -But it is not particularly easy for one to climb up out of -the working class--especially if he is handicapped by the -possession of ideals and illusions. I lived on a ranch in -California, and I was hard put to find the ladder whereby to -climb. I early inquired the rate of interest on invested money, -and worried my child's brain into an understanding of the -virtues and excellences of that remarkable invention of man, -compound interest. Further, I ascertained the current rates of -wages for workers of all ages, and the cost of living. From all -these data I concluded that if I began immediately and worked -and saved until I was fifty years of age, I could then stop -working and enter into participation in a fair portion of the -delights and goodnesses that would then be open to me higher up -in society. Of course, I resolutely determined not to marry, -while I quite forgot to consider at all that great rock of -disaster in the working class world--sickness. - -But the life that was in me demanded more than a meager -existence of scraping and scrimping. Also, at ten years of -age, I became a newsboy on the streets of a city, and found -myself with a changed uplook. All about me were still the same -sordidness and wretchedness, and up above me was still the -same paradise waiting to be gained; but the ladder whereby to -climb was a different one. It was now the ladder of business. -Why save my earnings and invest in government bonds, when by -buying two newspapers for five cents, with a turn of the wrist -I could sell them for ten cents and double my capital? The -business ladder was the ladder for me, and I had a vision of -myself becoming a baldheaded and successful merchant prince.... - -[The author became the owner of an oyster-boat, and thereby a -capitalist; but was ruined by the burning of his boat.] - -From then on I was mercilessly exploited by other capitalists. -I had the muscle, and they made money out of it while I made -but a very indifferent living out of it. I was a sailor before -the mast, a longshoreman, a roustabout; I worked in canneries, -and factories, and laundries; I mowed lawns, and cleaned -carpets, and washed windows. And I never got the full product -of my toil. I looked at the daughter of the cannery owner, in -her carriage, and knew that it was my muscle, in part, that -helped drag along that carriage on its rubber tires. I looked -at the son of the factory owner, going to college, and knew -that it was my muscle that helped, in part, to pay for the wine -and good-fellowship he enjoyed. - -But I did not resent this. It was all in the game. They were -the strong. Very well, I was strong. I would carve my way to a -place among them, and make money out of the muscles of other -men. I was not afraid of work. I loved hard work. I would pitch -in and work harder than ever and eventually become a pillar of -society. - -And just then, as luck would have it, I found an employer that -was of the same mind. I was willing to work, and he was more -than willing that I should work. I thought I was learning a -trade. In reality, I had displaced two men. I thought he was -making an electrician out of me; as a matter of fact, he was -making fifty dollars per month out of me. The two men I had -displaced had received forty dollars each per month; I was -doing the work of both for thirty dollars per month. - -This employer worked me nearly to death. A man may love -oysters, but too many oysters will disincline him toward that -particular diet. And so with me. Too much work sickened me. I -did not wish ever to see work again. I fled from work. I became -a tramp, begging my way from door to door, wandering over the -United States, and sweating bloody sweats in slums and prisons. - -I had been born in the working class, and I was now, at the age -of eighteen, beneath the point at which I had started. I was -down in the cellar of society, down in the subterranean depths -of misery about which it is neither nice nor proper to speak. -I was in the pit, the abyss, the human cesspool, the shambles -and the charnel house of our civilization. This is the part of -the edifice of society that society chooses to ignore. Lack of -space compels me here to ignore it, and I shall say only that -the things I there saw gave me a terrible scare.... - -[The author reflected, and decided that it was better to sell -brains than muscle.] Then began a frantic pursuit of knowledge. -I returned to California and opened the books. While thus -equipping myself to become a brain merchant, it was inevitable -that I should delve into sociology. There I found, in a -certain class of books, scientifically formulated, the simple -sociological concepts I had already worked out for myself. -Other and greater minds, before I was born, had worked out all -that I had thought, and a vast deal more. I discovered that I -was a Socialist. - -The Socialists were revolutionists, inasmuch as they -struggled to overthrow the society of the present, and out -of the material to build the society of the future. I, too, -was a Socialist, and a revolutionist. I joined the groups -of working-class and intellectual revolutionists, and for -the first time came into intelligent living. Here I found -keen-flashing intellects and brilliant wits; for here I met -strong and alert-brained, withal horny-handed, members of -the working class; unfrocked preachers too wide in their -Christianity for any congregation of Mammon-worshippers; -professors broken on the wheel of university subservience to -the ruling class and flung out because they were quick with -knowledge which they strove to apply to the affairs of mankind. - -Here I found, also, warm faith in the human, glowing idealism, -sweetness of unselfishness, renunciation and martyrdom--all -the splendid, stinging things of the spirit. Here life was -clean, noble, and alive. Here life rehabilitated itself, became -wonderful and glorious; and I was glad to be alive. I was -in touch with great souls who exalted flesh and spirit over -dollars and cents; and to whom the thin wail of the starved -slum-child meant more than all the pomp and circumstance of -commercial expansion and world-empire. All about me were -nobleness of purpose and heroism of effort, and my days and -nights were sunshine and starshine, all fire and dew, with -before my eyes, ever burning and blazing, the Holy Grail, -Christ's own Grail, the warm human, long suffering and -maltreated, but to be rescued and saved at the last.... - -As a brain merchant I was a success. Society opened its -portals to me. I entered right in on the parlor floor, and my -disillusionment proceeded rapidly. I sat down to dinner with -the masters of society, and with the wives and daughters of -the masters of society. The women were gowned beautifully, I -admit; but to my naive surprise I discovered that they were of -the same clay as all the rest of the women I had known down -below in the cellar. "The colonel's lady and Judy O'Grady were -sisters under their skins"--and gowns. - -It was not this, however, so much as their materialism, that -shocked me. It is true these beautifully gowned, beautiful -women prattled sweet little ideals and dear little moralities; -but in spite of their prattle the dominant key of the life -they lived was materialistic. And they were so sentimentally -selfish! They assisted in all kinds of sweet little charities, -and informed one of the fact, while all the time the food they -ate and the beautiful clothes they wore were bought out of -dividends stained with the blood of child labor, and sweated -labor, and of prostitution itself. When I mentioned such facts, -expecting in my innocence that these sisters of Judy O'Grady -would at once strip off their blood-dyed silks and jewels, -they became excited and angry, and read me preachments about -the lack of thrift, the drink, and the innate depravity that -caused all the misery in society's cellar. When I mentioned -that I couldn't quite see that it was the lack of thrift, the -intemperance, and the depravity of a half-starved child of six -that made it work twelve hours every night in a Southern cotton -mill, these sisters of Judy O'Grady attacked my private life -and called me an "agitator"--as though that, forsooth, settled -the argument. - -Nor did I fare better with the masters themselves. I had -expected to find men who were clean, noble and alive, whose -ideals were clean, noble and alive. I went out amongst the men -who sat in the high places, the preachers, the politicians, the -business men, the professors, and the editors. I ate meat with -them, drank wine with them, automobiled with them, and studied -them. It is true, I found many that were clean and noble; but, -with rare exceptions, they were not alive. I do verily believe -I could count the exceptions on the fingers of my two hands. -Where they were not alive with rottenness, quick with unclean -life, they were merely the unburied dead--clean and noble, like -well-preserved mummies, but not alive. In this connection I may -especially mention the professors I met, the men who live up -to that decadent university ideal, "the passionless pursuit of -passionless intelligence." - -I met men who invoked the name of the Prince of Peace in -their diatribes against war, and who put rifles in the hands -of Pinkertons with which to shoot down strikers in their -own factories. I met men incoherent with indignation at the -brutality of prize-fighting, and who, at the same time, were -parties to the adulteration of food that killed each year more -babies than even red-handed Herod had killed.... - -I discovered that I did not like to live on the parlor floor of -society. Intellectually I was bored. Morally and spiritually -I was sickened. I remembered my intellectuals and idealists, -my unfrocked preachers, broken professors, and clean-minded, -class-conscious workingmen. I remembered my days and nights of -sunshine and starshine, where life was all a wild wonder, a -spiritual paradise of unselfish adventure and ethical romance. -And I saw before me, ever blazing and burning, the Holy Grail. - -So I went back to the working-class, in which I had been born -and where I belonged. I care no longer to climb. This imposing -edifice of society above my head holds no delight for me. It -is the foundation of the edifice that interests me. There I am -content to labor, crowbar in hand, shoulder to shoulder with -intellectuals, idealists, and class-conscious workingmen, -getting a solid pry now and again and setting the whole edifice -rocking. Some day, when we get a few more hands and crowbars -to work, we'll topple it over, along with all its rotten -life and unburied dead, its monstrous selfishness and sodden -materialism. Then we'll cleanse the cellar and build a new -habitation for mankind, in which there will be no parlor floor, -in which all the rooms will be bright and airy, and where the -air that is breathed will be clean, noble and alive. - - -Fires - -BY WILFRID WILSON GIBSON - -(Contemporary English poet of the lives of the poor) - - Snug in my easy chair, - I stirred the fire to flame. - Fantastically fair - The flickering fancies came, - Born of heart's desire: - Amber woodlands streaming; - Topaz islands dreaming, - Sunset-cities gleaming, - Spire on burning spire; - Ruddy-windowed taverns; - Sunshine-spilling wines; - Crystal-lighted caverns - Of Golconda's mines; - Summers, unreturning; - Passion's crater yearning; - Troy, the ever-burning; - Shelley's lustral pyre; - Dragon-eyes, unsleeping; - Witches' cauldrons leaping; - Golden galleys sweeping - Out from sea-walled Tyre: - Fancies, fugitive and fair, - Flashed with winging through the air; - Till, dazzled by the drowsy glare, - I shut my eyes to heat and light; - And saw, in sudden night, - Crouched in the dripping dark, - With streaming shoulders stark, - The man who hews the coal to feed my fire. - - -Alton Locke - -BY CHARLES KINGSLEY - -(A young poet is taken out by an old Scotchman, to make his -first acquaintance with the world of misery) - -It was a foul, chilly, foggy Saturday night. From the butchers' -and greengrocers' shops the gas-lights flared and flickered, -wild and ghastly, over haggard groups of slip-shod dirty -women, bargaining for scraps of stale meat and frost-bitten -vegetables, wrangling about short weight and bad quality. -Fish-stalls and fruit-stalls lined the edge of the greasy -pavement, sending up odors as foul as the language of sellers -and buyers. Blood and sewer-water crawled from under doors -and out of spouts, and reeked down the gutters among the -offal, animal and vegetable, in every stage of putrefaction. -Foul vapors rose from cowsheds and slaughter-houses, and the -doorways of undrained alleys, where the inhabitants carried -the filth out on their shoes from the back-yard into the court, -and from the court up into the main street; while above, -hanging like cliffs over the streets--those narrow, brawling -torrents of filth, and poverty, and sin--the houses with their -teeming load of life were piled up into the dingy, choking -night. A ghastly, deafening, sickening sight it was. Go, -scented Belgravian! and see what London is! and then go to the -library which God has given thee--one often fears in vain--and -see what science says this London might be! - -"Ay," he muttered to himself, as he strode along, "sing awa; -get yoursel' wi' child wi' pretty fancies and gran' words, like -the rest o' the poets, and gang to hell for it." - -"To hell, Mr. Mackaye?" - -"Ay, to a verra real hell, Alton Locke, laddie--a warse ane -than ony fiends' kitchen, or subterranean Smithfield that -ye'll hear o' in the pulpits--the hell on earth o' being a -flunkey, and a humbug, and a useless peacock, wasting God's -gifts on your ain lusts and pleasures--and kenning it--and -not being able to get oot o' it, for the chains o' vanity and -self-indulgence. I've warned ye. Now look there----" - -He stopped suddenly before the entrance of a miserable alley-- - -"Look! there's not a soul down that yard but's either beggar, -drunkard, thief, or warse. Write anent that! Say how you -saw the mouth o' hell, and the two pillars thereof at the -entry--the pawn-broker's shop o' one side, and the gin palace -at the other--twa monstrous deevils, eating up men, and women, -and bairns, body and soul. Look at the jaws o' the monsters, -how they open and open, and swallow in anither victim and -anither. Write anent that." - -"What jaws, Mr. Mackaye?" - -"They faulding-doors o' the gin shop, goose. Are na they a -mair damnable man-devouring idol than ony red-hot statue o' -Moloch, or wicker Gogmagog, wherein thae auld Britons burnt -their prisoners? Look at thae bare-footed bare-backed hizzies, -with their arms roun' the men's necks, and their mouths full o' -vitriol and beastly words! Look at that Irishwoman pouring the -gin down the babbie's throat! Look at that rough o' a boy gaun -out o' the pawn shop, where he's been pledging the handkerchief -he stole the morning, into the gin shop, to buy beer poisoned -wi' grains o' paradise, and cocculus indicus, and saut, and a' -damnable, maddening, thirst-breeding, lust-breeding drugs! Look -at that girl that went in wi' a shawl on her back and cam' out -wi'out ane! Drunkards frae the breast! harlots frae the cradle! -damned before they're born! John Calvin had an inkling o' the -truth there, I'm a'most driven to think, wi' his reprobation -deevil's doctrines!" - -"Well--but--Mr. Mackaye, I know nothing about these poor -creatures." - -"Then ye ought. What do ye ken anent the Pacific? [Alton Locke -has been writing poems about the South Sea Islands.] Which is -maist to your business?--thae bare-backed hizzies that play -the harlot o' the other side o' the warld, or these--these -thousands o' bare-backed hizzies that play the harlot o' your -ain side--made out o' your ain flesh and blude? You a poet! -True poetry, like true charity, my laddie, begins at hame. If -ye'll be a poet at a', ye maun be a cockney poet; and while -the cockneys be what they be, ye maun write, like Jeremiah of -old, o' lamentation and mourning and woe, for the sins o' your -people. Gin you want to learn the spirit o' a people's poet, -down wi' your Bible and read thae auld Hebrew prophets; gin ye -wad learn the style, read your Burns frae morning till night; -and gin ye'd learn the matter, just gang after your nose, and -keep your eyes open, and ye'll no miss it." - -"But all this is so--so unpoetical." - -"Hech! Is there no the heeven above them there, and the hell -beneath them? and God frowning, and the deevil grinning? No -poetry there! Is no the verra idea of the classic tragedy -defined to be, man conquered by circumstance? Canna ye see it -there? And the verra idea of the modern tragedy, man conquering -circumstance?--and I'll show you that, too--in mony a garret -where no eye but the gude God's enters, to see the patience, -and the fortitude, and the self-sacrifice, and the luve -stronger than death, that's shining in thae dark places o' the -earth. Come wi' me, and see." - - -The Prophetic Book "Milton" - -BY WILLIAM BLAKE - -(See pages 98, 213) - - And did those feet in ancient time - Walk upon England's mountain green? - And was the holy Lamb of God - On England's pleasant pastures seen? - - And did the countenance divine - Shine forth upon our clouded hills? - And was Jerusalem builded here - Among these dark Satanic mills? - - Bring me my bow of burning gold! - Bring me my arrows of desire! - Bring me my spear: O clouds, unfold! - Bring me my chariot of fire! - - I will not cease from mental fight, - Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand, - Till we have built Jerusalem - In England's green and pleasant land. - - -BY HEINRICH HEINE - -(See pages 97, 222) - -I know not if I deserve that a laurel-wreath should one day -be laid on my coffin. Poetry, dearly as I have loved it, has -always been to me but a divine plaything. I have never attached -any great value to poetical fame; and I trouble myself very -little whether people praise my verses or blame them. But -lay on my coffin a _sword_; for I was a brave soldier in the -Liberation War of humanity. - -[Illustration: THE MILITANT - -CHARLES A. WINTER - -(_Contemporary American illustrator_)] - -[Illustration: - - THE DEATH OF HATTERTON - - HENRY WALLIS - - (_English painter, born 1830_) -] - - -The Last Word - -BY MATTHEW ARNOLD - -(See page 203) - - They out-talk'd thee, hiss'd thee, tore thee. - Better men fared thus before thee; - Fired their ringing shot and pass'd, - Hotly charged--and broke at last. - - Charge once more, then, and be dumb! - Let the victors, when they come, - When the forts of folly fall, - Find thy body by the wall. - - -An Appeal to the Young - -BY PETER KROPOTKIN - -(See pages 308, 312) - -If your heart really beats in unison with that of humanity, if -like a true poet you have an ear for Life, then, gazing out -upon this sea of sorrow whose tide sweeps up around you, face -to face with these people dying of hunger, in the presence of -these corpses piled up in the mines, and these mutilated bodies -lying in heaps on the barricades, looking on these long lines -of exiles who are going to bury themselves in the snows of -Siberia and in the marshes of tropical islands; in full view -of this desperate battle which is being fought, amid the cries -of pain from the conquered and the orgies of the victors, of -heroism in conflict with cowardice, of noble determination face -to face with contemptible cunning--you cannot remain neutral; -you will come and take the side of the oppressed because you -know that the beautiful, the sublime, the spirit of life itself -is on the side of those who fight for light, for humanity, for -justice!... - -It rests with you either to palter continually with your -conscience, and in the end to say, one fine day: "Perish -humanity, provided I can have plenty of pleasures and enjoy -them to the full, so long as the people are foolish enough to -let me." Or, once more the inevitable alternative, to take -part with the Socialists and work with them for the complete -transformation of society. That is the logical conclusion which -every intelligent man must perforce arrive at, provided that he -reasons honestly about what passes around him, and discards the -sophisms which his bourgeois education and the interested views -of those about him whisper in his ear. - - -FROM THE BOOK OF PROVERBS - -Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the -poor and needy. - - -Chants Communal - -BY HORACE TRAUBEL - -(See page 185) - -What can I do? I can talk out when others are silent. I can -say man when others say money. I can stay up when others are -asleep. I can keep on working when others have stopped to play. -I can give life big meanings when others give life little -meanings. I can say love when others say hate. I can say every -man when others say one man. I can try events by a hard test -when others try it by an easy test. - -What can I do? I can give myself to life when other men refuse -themselves to life. - - -No Enemies - -BY CHARLES MACKAY - -(See page 657) - - You have no enemies, you say? - Alas! my friend, the boast is poor; - He who has mingled in the fray - Of duty, that the brave endure, - _Must_ have made foes! If you have none, - Small is the work that you have done. - You've hit no traitor on the hip, - You've dashed no cup from perjured lip, - You've never turned the wrong to right, - You've been a coward in the fight. - - -The Revolution - -BY RICHARD WAGNER - -(See page 236) - -Unhappy man! uplift thine eyes, look up to where a thousand -thousand gather on the hills in joyous expectation of the -dawn! Regard them, they are all thy brothers, sisters, the -troops of those poor wights who hitherto knew naught of life -but suffering, have been but strangers on this earth of Joy; -they all are waiting for that Revolution which affrights thee, -their redeemer from this world of sorrow, creator of a new -world that blesses all! See there, there stream the legions -from the factories; they have made and fashioned lordly -stuffs,--themselves and children, they are naked, frozen, -hungry; for not to them belongs the fruit of all their labor, -but to the rich and mighty one who calls men and the earth his -own! So, there they troop, from fields and farmyards; they have -tilled the earth and turned it to a smiling garden, and fruits -in plenty, enough for all who live, have paid their pains,--yet -poor are they, and naked, starving; for not to them, nor to -others who are needy, belongs earth's blessing, but solely to -the rich and mighty one who calls men and the earth his own. -They all, the hundred-thousands, millions, are camped upon -the hills and gaze into the distance, where thickening clouds -proclaim the advent of emancipating Revolution; they all, to -whom nothing is left to grieve for, from whom men rob the sons -to train them into sturdy gaolers of their fathers; whose -daughters walk the city's streets with burden of their shame, -an offering to the baser lusts of rich and mighty; they all, -with the sallow, careworn faces, the limbs devoured by frost -and hunger, they all who have never known joy, encamp there on -the heights and strain their eyes in blissful expectation of -its coming, and listen in rapt silence to the rustle of the -rising storm, which fills their ears with Revolution's greeting. - - -The Refusal - -(_Addressed to General Sebastiani_) - -BY PIERRE JEAN DE BERANGER - -(French lyric poet, of great popularity, 1780-1857; twice -prosecuted by the government for his republican utterances) - - A minister offers me gold! - Not a creature, of course, to be told, - Not a word to appear in the press! - My wants are but few, to be sure, - And yet, when I think of the poor, - I long to be rich, I confess! - - With the poor, as the world is aware, - Stars and ribands one cannot well share, - But gold is a different thing! - Yes, just for a hundred francs down - I'd cheerfully pawn both my crown - And my sceptre, if I were king! - - When money does come in my way, - It goes the next moment astray, - How and where I can't really explain; - My pocket is cursed with a hole - Which my grandmother, excellent soul, - All her days would have stitched at in vain! - - All the same, my good friend, keep your gold! - In my teens, if the truth must be told, - Proud Freedom I fervently woo'd; - Yes, I, who have vaunted in song - Lax loveliness all my life long, - Am wedded in fact to a prude! - - Ay, Liberty, Sir, you must learn, - Is a bigot inflexibly stern, - Who, heedless of time and of place, - Directly the tinsel she spies - On Servility's livery, cries, - "Away with the rascally lace!" - - Your dross she an insult would deem! - But, frankly, how came you to dream - Of attempting to treat with _my_ muse? - As it is, I'm at least a good "sou," - But lacquer me over, and you - Make me counterfeit ev'n among "sous." - - Keep your pelf; I'm no hero, I fear, - But if the world happens to hear - Of this secret you think so profound, - You'll know whence the story has sprung-- - My heart's like a lyre newly strung, - One touch, and you make it resound! - - -To the Retainers - -(_From "Socialism and Success"_) - -BY W. J. GHENT - -(American Socialist writer, born 1866) - -You retainers and servitors of the men of wealth--you who -from rostrum, pulpit and sanctum, from bar and bench, defend -the existing régime and oppose the struggles of the working -class for a better life; you whose business it is to find a -practical, a judicial, an ethical and even a spiritual sanction -for things as they exist, and who devise the cheap moralities -which are the reflex of the interests of the class that employs -you--there is a word to say to you which needs to be spoken. -Upon those who take part in the forward movement of the time no -more pressing duty is laid than that of telling you in plain -words what millions of men are thinking of you.... - -With what eager impulse and with what compliant will do you -make yourselves the defenders of the present scheme of things -and the assailants of the coming order! Now that in every -civilized land the working class, sick of the reign of cruelty -and wrong, is awakening to a consciousness of its power, and -to a determination to ordain a fairer life, you take upon -yourselves the mission to ridicule its aims and ideals and to -discredit its leaders. - -It is only the unsuccessful, you say, who attack our existing -institutions. You cannot understand, such is your subservient -complacence, that multitudes among this revolutionary working -class are proud of their unsuccess and wear it as a badge of -honor. Pray you, under the existing scheme of things, how many, -and what quality of men achieve "success," and what must they -do to achieve it? It is not, except in rare cases, probity, -honor, truthfulness, nor humaneness, nor fellow service, that -wins this fallacious good. It is, in the majority of cases, -grafting and lying, fawning and cringing, selfishness and -brutality, restrained only by that Chinese ethical standard, -the necessity of "saving your face," that give victory in the -struggle. And the men who are seeking the overthrow of this -system disdain to make use of these means. They leave that -function to you. They do not, like your bishops, lend their -presence to chambers of commerce at banquets, and give to the -gamblers in the world's wealth the benediction of divine favor. -They do not, like your Board of Foreign Missions, solicit the -profits of law breaking and theft for their propaganda, and -promise an intercession at the throne of grace. They do not, -like your college heads, prescribe the dainty punishment of -"social ostracism" for the world's robbers, crying out from -their gables, "Bring on your tainted money!" Nor do they, like -your journalists, make themselves the servile lackeys of the -ruling class; nor, like your economists, constitute themselves -the secular priests of capital, perpetually renewing their -character of "pests of society and persecutors of the poor." -Many of them might be "successful" if they chose to do these -things. Rather they chose, like Francis of Assisi, the bride of -Poverty, instead of the harlot Success. And so you are right in -your statement. But you utter your own condemnation when you -speak it. - - -Ad Valorem - -BY JOHN RUSKIN - -(See pages 106, 491) - -In a community regulated by laws of demand and supply, but -protected from open violence, the persons who become rich are, -generally speaking, industrious, resolute, proud, covetous, -prompt, methodical, sensible, unimaginative, insensitive, and -ignorant. The persons who remain poor are the entirely foolish, -the entirely wise, the idle, the reckless, the humble, the -thoughtful, the dull, the imaginative, the sensitive, the -well-informed, the improvident, the irregularly and impulsively -wicked, the clumsy knave, the open thief, and the entirely -merciful, just, and godly person. - - -The Lost Leader - -BY ROBERT BROWNING - - (Celebrated English poet, 1812-1889. The present poem has been - generally taken to refer to Wordsworth, who became in his old age a - conservative and the poet-laureate of a reactionary government) - - Just for a handful of silver he left us, - Just for a riband to stick in his coat-- - Found the one gift of which fortune bereft us, - Lost all the others she lets us devote; - They, with the gold to give, doled him out silver, - So much was theirs who so little allowed: - How all our copper had gone for his service! - Rags--were they purple, his heart had been proud! - - We that had loved him so, followed him, honored him, - Lived in his mild and magnificent eye, - Learned his great language, caught his clear accents, - Made him our pattern to live and to die! - Shakespeare was of us, Milton was for us, - Burns, Shelley, were with us,--they watch from their graves! - He alone breaks from the van and the freemen, - He alone sinks to the rear and the slaves! - - We shall march prospering,--not thro' his presence; - Songs may inspirit us,--not from his lyre; - Deeds will be done,--while he boasts his quiescence, - Still bidding crouch whom the rest bade aspire: - Blot out his name, then, record one lost soul more, - One task more declined, one more footpath untrod, - One more devil's-triumph and sorrow for angels, - One wrong more to man, one more insult to God! - - -Journalism - -BY JOHN SWINTON - -(One of America's oldest and most beloved journalists was -tendered a banquet by his fellow-editors, and surprised his -hosts by the following words) - -There is no such thing in America as an independent press, -unless it is in the country towns. - -You know it and I know it. There is not one of you who dares to -write his honest opinions, and if you did you know beforehand -that it would never appear in print. - -I am paid $150.00 a week for keeping my honest opinions out of -the paper I am connected with--others of you are paid similar -salaries for similar things--and any of you who would be so -foolish as to write his honest opinions would be out on the -streets looking for another job. - -The business of the New York journalist is to destroy the -truth, to lie outright, to pervert, to vilify, to fawn at the -feet of Mammon, and to sell his race and his country for his -daily bread. - -You know this and I know it, and what folly is this to be -toasting an "Independent Press." - -We are the tools and vassals of rich men behind the scenes. We -are the jumping-jacks; they pull the strings and we dance. Our -talents, our possibilities and our lives are all the property -of other men. We are intellectual prostitutes. - - -The Rebel - -BY HILAIRE BELLOC - -(English historian and poet, born 1871; resigned from -parliament to conduct a campaign against the control of -England's political machinery by vested wealth) - - There is a wall of which the stones - Are lies and bribes and dead men's bones. - And wrongfully this evil wall - Denies what all men made for all, - And shamelessly this wall surrounds - Our homestead and our native grounds. - - But I will gather and I will ride, - And I will summon a countryside, - And many a man shall hear my halloa - Who never had thought the horn to follow; - And many a man shall ride with me - Who never had thought on earth to see - High Justice in her armoury. - - When we find them where they stand, - A mile of men on either hand, - I mean to charge from right away - And force the flanks of their array, - And press them inward from the plains, - And drive them clamoring down the lanes, - And gallop and harry and have them down, - And carry the gates and hold the town. - Then shall I rest me from my ride - With my great anger satisfied. - - Only, before I eat and drink, - When I have killed them all, I think - That I will batter their carven names, - And slit the pictures in their frames, - And burn for scent their cedar door, - And melt the gold their women wore, - And hack their horses at the knees, - And hew to death their timber trees, - And plough their gardens deep and through-- - And all these things I mean to do - For fear perhaps my little son - Should break his hands, as I have done. - - -BY JOHN RUSKIN - -(See pages 106, 491, 752) - -I feel the force of mechanism and the fury of avaricious -commerce to be at present so irresistible, that I have seceded -from the study not only of architecture, but nearly of all art; -and have given myself, as I would in a besieged city, to seek -the best modes of getting bread and water for its multitudes. - - -BY Ō-SHI-O - -(Japanese scholar of the Eighteenth Century) - - I have a suit of new clothes in this happy new year; - Hot rice cake soup is excellent to my taste; - But when I think of the hungry people in this city, - I am ashamed of my fortune in the presence of God. - - -Jean-Christophe - -BY ROMAIN ROLLAND - - (French novelist and critic, born 1866; lecturer at the University - of Paris. This epoch-making ten-volume novel, probably the greatest - published in France since "Les Miserables," tells the life story of - a German-born musician. The following passage describes his attitude - towards the revolutionary movement in Paris) - -Christophe was dragged into the wake of force in the track of -the army of the working-classes in revolt. But he was hardly -aware that it was so; and he would tell his companions in the -restaurant that he was not with them. - -"As long as you are only out for material interests," he would -say, "you don't interest me. The day when you march out for a -belief, then I shall be with you. Otherwise, what have I to -do with the conflict between one man's belly and another's? I -am an artist; it is my duty to defend art; I have no right to -enroll myself in the service of a party. I am perfectly aware -that recently certain ambitious writers, impelled by a desire -for an unwholesome popularity, have set a bad example. It seems -to me that they have not rendered any great service to the -cause which they defended in that way; but they have certainly -betrayed art. It is our business--the artists'--to save the -light of the intellect. We have no right to obscure it with -your blind struggles. Who shall hold the light aloft if we let -it fall? You will be glad enough to find it still intact after -the battle. There must always be workers busy keeping up the -fire in the engine, while there is fighting on the deck of the -ship. To understand everything is to hate nothing. The artist -is the compass which, through the raging of the storm, points -steadily to the north." - -They regarded him as a maker of phrases, and said that, if he -were talking of compasses, it was very clear that he had lost -his: and they gave themselves the pleasure of indulging in -a little friendly contempt at his expense. In their eyes an -artist was a shirker who contrived to work as little and as -agreeably as possible. - -He replied that he worked as hard as they did, even harder, and -that he was not nearly so afraid of work. Nothing disgusted him -so much as _sabotage_, the deliberate bungling of work, and -skulking raised to the level of a principle. - -"All these wretched people," he would say, "afraid for their -own skins!... Good Lord! I've never stopped working since I was -eight. You people don't love your work; at heart you're just -common men.... If only you were capable of destroying the old -world! But you can't do it. You don't even want to. No, you -don't even want to. It is all very well for you to go about -shrieking menace and pretending you're going to exterminate the -human race. You have only one thought: to get the upper hand -and lie snugly in the warm beds of the middle classes...." - -Thereupon they would all lose their tempers and all talk at -once. And in the heat of the argument it would often happen -that Christophe, whirled away by his passion, would become more -revolutionary than the others. In vain did he fight against -it; his intellectual pride, his complacent conception of a -purely esthetic world, made for the joy of the spirit, would -sink deep into the ground at the sight of injustice. Esthetic, -a world in which eight men out of ten live in nakedness and -want, in physical and moral wretchedness? Oh, come! A man must -be an impudent creature of privilege who would dare to claim -as much. An artist like Christophe, in his inmost conscience, -could not but be on the side of the working-classes. What -man more than the spiritual worker has to suffer from the -immorality of social conditions, from the scandalously unequal -partition of wealth among men? The artist dies of hunger or -becomes a millionaire for no other reason than the caprice -of fashion and of those who speculate on fashion. A society -which suffers its best men to die or gives them extravagant -rewards is a monstrous society: it must be swept and put -in order. Every man, whether he works or no, has a right -to a living minimum. Every kind of work, good or mediocre, -should be rewarded, not according to its real value--(who -can be the infallible judge of that?)--but according to the -normal legitimate needs of the worker. Society can and should -assure the artist, the scientist, and the inventor an income -sufficient to guarantee that they have the means and the time -yet further to grace and honor it. Nothing more. The _Gioconda_ -is not worth a million. There is no relation between a sum -of money and a work of art: a work of art is neither above -nor below money: it is outside it. It is not a question of -payment: it is a question of allowing the artist to live. Give -him enough to feed him, and allow him to work in peace. It is -absurd and horrible to try to make him a robber of another's -property. This thing must be put bluntly: every man who has -more than is necessary for his livelihood and that of his -family, and for the normal development of his intelligence, is -a thief and a robber. If he has too much, it means that others -have too little. How often have we smiled sadly to hear tell -of the inexhaustible wealth of France, and the number of great -fortunes--we workers, and toilers, and intellectuals, and men -and women who from our very birth have been given up to the -wearying task of keeping ourselves from dying of hunger, often -struggling in vain, often seeing the very best of us succumbing -to the pain of it all,--we who are the moral and intellectual -treasure of the nation! You who have more than your share of -the wealth of the world are rich at the cost of our suffering -and our poverty. That troubles you not at all; you have -sophistries and to spare to reassure you: the sacred rights of -property, the fair struggle for life, the supreme interests of -that Moloch, the State, and Progress, that fabulous monster, -that problematical Better to which men sacrifice the Good,--the -Good of other men. But for all that, the fact remains, and all -your sophistries will never manage to deny it: "You have too -much to live on. We have not enough. And we are as good as -you. And some of us are better than the whole lot of you put -together." - - -The Problem Play - -BY G. BERNARD SHAW - -(See pages 193, 212, 263, 402) - -When we succeed in adjusting our social structure in such a -way as to enable us to solve social questions as fast as they -become really pressing, they will no longer force their way -into the theatre. Had Ibsen, for instance, had any reason to -believe that the abuses to which he called attention in his -prose plays would have been adequately attended to without his -interference, he would no doubt have gladly left them alone. -The same exigency drove William Morris in England from his -tapestries, his epics, and his masterpieces of printing, to try -and bring his fellow citizens to their senses by the summary -process of shouting at them in the streets and in Trafalgar -Square. John Ruskin's writing began with Modern Painters; -Carlyle began with literary studies of German culture and the -like; both were driven to become revolutionary pamphleteers. If -people are rotting and starving in all directions, and nobody -else has the heart or brains to make a disturbance about it, -the great writers must. - - -Fleet Street Eclogues - -BY JOHN DAVIDSON - - (In these dialogues a number of English journalists discuss their - views of life. The author, by his tragic death, may be said to have - put the seal of sincerity upon his bitter utterances. See page 216) - - I too, for light the world explore, - And, trembling, tread where angels trod; - Devout at every shrine adore, - And follow after each new god. - But by the altar everywhere - I find the money-changer's stall; - And littering every temple-stair - The sick and sore like maggots crawl.... - - And always divers undertones - Within the roaring tempest throb-- - The chink of gold, the laborer's groans, - The infant's wail, the woman's sob. - - Hoarsely they beg of Fate to give - A little lightening of their woe, - A little time to love, to live, - A little time to think and know. - I see where from the slums may rise - Some unexpected dreadful dawn-- - The gleam of steeled and scowling eyes, - A flash of women's faces wan! - - -To a Bourgeois Litterateur - -(_Who referred to a group of agitators as "Professional -Hoboes"_) - -BY MAX EASTMAN - -(See page 408) - - How old, my friend, is that fine-pointed pen - Wherewith in smiling quietude you trace - The maiden maxims of your writing-place, - And o'er this gripped and mortal-sweating den - And battle-pit of hunger, now and then - Dip out, with nice and intellectual grace, - The faultless wisdoms of a nurtured race - Of pale-eyed, pink, and perfect gentlemen? - - How long have art and wit and poetry, - With all their power, been content, like you, - To gild the smiling fineness of the few, - To filmy-curtain what they dare not see - In multudinous reality-- - The rough and bloody soul of what is true? - - -The Scholar as Revolutionist - -(_From "Anatole France"_) - -BY GEORG BRANDES - -(Danish critic, born 1842) - -What gives Anatole France his lasting hold over his hearers is -not his cleverness, but himself--the fact that this savant who -bears the heavy load of three cultures, nay, who is in himself -a whole little culture--this sage, to whom the whole life of -the earth is but an ephemeral eruption on its surface, and who -consequently regards all human endeavor as finally vain--this -thinker, who can see everything from innumerable sides and -might have come to the conclusion that, things being bad at the -best, the existing state of matters was probably as good as the -untried: that this man should proclaim himself a son of the -Revolution, side with the workingman, acknowledge his belief -in liberty, throw away his load and draw his sword--this is -what moves a popular audience, this is what plain people can -understand and can prize. It has shown them that behind the -author there dwells a man--behind the great author a brave man. - - -A Warning - -BY HEINRICH HEINE - -(_Translated by Louis Untermeyer_) - -(See pages 97, 222, 744) - - You will print such books as these! - Then you're lost, my friend, that's certain. - If you wish for gold and honor, - Write more humbly--bend your knees! - - Aye, you must have lost your senses - Thus to speak before the people; - Thus to dare to speak of Preachers - And of Potentates and Princes. - - Friend, you're lost--so it appears-- - For the Princes have long arms, - And the Preachers have long tongues, - --And the masses have long ears! - - -Stoning the Prophets - - (On page 623 appears a sample of the weapons with which Privilege - defends itself upon the political field. It seems worth while to - include at this place a sample of what the revolutionary poet has to - encounter. The following are comments of newspapers and weekly reviews - in London at the time of the first productions of the plays of Henrik - Ibsen, in 1891. They are taken partly from an article by William - Archer, "Ghosts and Gibberings," _Pall Mall Gazette_, April 8, 1891; - and partly from another article by the same writer, "The Mausoleum of - Ibsen," _Fortnightly Review_, July, 1893) - -London _Truth_, March 19, 1891, discussing a reading of -"Ghosts": - - An obscure Scandinavian dramatist and poet, a crazy fanatic, and - determined Socialist, is to be trumpeted into fame for the sake of the - estimable gentleman who can translate his works, and the enterprising - tradesmen who publish them.... The unwomanly woman, the unsexed - female, and the whole army of unprepossessing cranks in petticoats - ... sat open-mouthed and without a blush on their faces, whilst a - Socialist orator read aloud "Ghosts," the most loathsome of Ibsen's - plays.... If you have seen one play by Ibsen you have seen them all. - A disagreeable and nasty woman; an egotistical and preachy man; a - philosophical sensualist; dull and undramatic dialogue. The few - independent people who have sat out a play by Ibsen ... have said to - themselves, Put this stuff before the play-going public, risk it at - the evening theatre, remove your claque, exhaust your attendance of - the Socialistic and the sexless, and then see where your Ibsen will - be. I have never known an audience yet that cared to pay to be bored. - - * * * * * - -London _Daily Telegraph_, reviewing the first performance of -"Ghosts": - - Ibsen's positively abominable play.... This disgusting - representation.... Reprobation due to such as aim at infecting the - modern theatre with poison after desperately inoculating themselves - and others.... An open drain; a loathsome sore unbandaged; a dirty act - done publicly; a lazar-house with all its doors and windows open.... - Candid foulness.... Kotzebue turned bestial and cynical.... Offensive - cynicism.... Ibsen's melancholy and malodorous world.... Absolutely - loathsome and fetid.... Gross, almost putrid indecorum.... Literary - carrion.... Crapulous stuff.... Novel and perilous nuisance. - - * * * * * - -Other London reviews of "Ghosts": - - Unutterably offensive.... Prosecution under Lord Campbell's Act.... - Abominable piece.... Scandalous.--_Standard._ - - Naked loathsomeness.... Most dismal and revolting production.--_Daily - News._ - - Revolting, suggestive and blasphemous.... Characters either - contradictory in themselves, uninteresting or abhorrent.--_Daily - Chronicle._ - - A repulsive and degrading work.--_Queen._ - - Morbid, unhealthy, unwholesome, disgusting story.... A piece to bring - the stage into disrepute and dishonor with every right-thinking man - and woman.--_Lloyds._ - - Merely dull dirt long drawn out.--_Hawk._ - - If any repetition of this outrage be attempted, the authorities will - doubtless wake from their lethargy.--_Sporting and Dramatic News._ - - Most loathsome of all Ibsen's plays.... Garbage and offal.--_Truth._ - - Ibsen's putrid play called "Ghosts." ... So loathsome.--_Academy._ - - As foul and filthy a concoction as has ever been allowed to disgrace - the boards in an English theatre.... Dull and disgusting.... Nastiness - and malodorousness laid on thickly as with a trowel.--_Era._ - - Noisome corruption.--_Stage._ - - -For Hire - -BY MORRIS ROSENFELD - -(See page 56. Translation by Rose Pastor Stokes) - - Work with might and main, - Or with hand or heart, - Work with soul and brain, - Or with holy art, - Thread, or genius' fire-- - Make a vest, or verse-- - If 'tis done for hire, - It is done the worse. - - -A Man of Genius - -(_From "The New Grub Street"_) - -BY GEORGE GISSING - -(A novel portraying the lives of the innumerable hack-writers -who starve in the garrets of modern London. See page 104) - -His name was Harold Biffen, and, to judge from his appearance, -he did not belong to the race of common mortals. His excessive -meagerness would all but have qualified him to enter an -exhibition in the capacity of living skeleton, and the garments -which hung upon this framework would perhaps have sold for -three and sixpence at an old-clothes dealer's. But the man was -superior to these accidents of flesh and raiment. He had a fine -face: large, gentle eyes, nose slightly aquiline, small and -delicate mouth. Thick black hair fell to his coat-collar; he -wore a heavy moustache and a full beard. In his gait there was -a singular dignity; only a man of cultivated mind and grateful -character could move and stand as he did. - -His first act on entering the room was to take from his pocket -a pipe, a pouch, a little tobacco-stopper, and a box of -matches, all of which he arranged carefully on a corner of the -central table. Then he drew forward a chair and seated himself. - -"Take your top-coat off," said Reardon. - -"Thanks, not this evening." - -"Why the deuce not?" - -"Not this evening, thanks." - -The reason, as soon as Reardon sought for it, was obvious. -Biffen had no ordinary coat beneath the other. To have referred -to this fact would have been indelicate; the novelist of -course understood it, and smiled, but with no mirth. - -"Let me have your Sophocles," were the visitor's next words. - -Reardon offered him a volume of the Oxford Pocket Classics. - -"I prefer the Wunder, please." - -"It's gone, my boy." - -"Gone?" - -"Wanted a little cash." - -Biffen uttered a sound in which remonstrance and sympathy were -blended. - -"I'm sorry to hear that; very sorry. Well, this must do. Now, I -want to know how you scan this chorus in the 'Oedipus Rex.'" - -Reardon took the volume, considered, and began to read aloud -with metric emphasis. - -"Choriambics, eh?" cried the other. "Possible, of course; but -treat them as Ionics _a minore_ with an anacrusis, and see if -they don't go better." - -He involved himself in terms of pedantry, and with such delight -that his eyes gleamed. Having delivered a technical lecture, -he began to read in illustration, producing quite a different -effect from that of the rhythm as given by his friend. And the -reading was by no means that of a pedant, rather of a poet. - -For half an hour the two men talked Greek metres as if they -lived in a world where the only hunger known could be satisfied -by grand or sweet cadences.... - -Biffen was always in dire poverty, and lived in the oddest -places; he had seen harder trials than even Reardon himself. -The teaching by which he partly lived was of a kind quite -unknown to the respectable tutorial world. In these days -of examinations, numbers of men in a poor position--clerks -chiefly--conceive a hope that by "passing" this, that, or the -other formal test they may open for themselves a new career. -Not a few such persons nourish preposterous ambitions; there -are warehouse clerks privately preparing (without any means or -prospect of them) for a call to the Bar, drapers' assistants -who "go in" for the preliminary examination of the College -of Surgeons, and untaught men innumerable, who desire to -procure enough show of education to be eligible for a curacy. -Candidates of this stamp frequently advertise in the newspapers -for cheap tuition, or answer advertisements which are intended -to appeal to them; they pay from sixpence to half a crown -an hour--rarely as much as the latter sum. Occasionally it -happened that Harold Biffen had three or four such pupils in -hand, and extraordinary stories he could draw from his large -experience in this sphere.... - - -_Biffen Falls in Love_ - -A fatal day. There was an end of all his peace, all his -capacity for labor, his patient endurance of penury. Once, -when he was about three and twenty, he had been in love with -a girl of gentle nature and fair intelligence; on account -of his poverty, he could not even hope that his love might -be returned, and he went away to bear the misery as best he -might. Since then the life he had led precluded the forming of -such attachments; it would never have been possible for him -to support a wife of however humble origin. At intervals he -felt the full weight of his loneliness, but there were happily -long periods during which his Greek studies and his efforts in -realistic fiction made him indifferent to the curse laid upon -him. But after that hour of intimate speech with Amy, he never -again knew rest of mind or heart.... - -He was not the kind of man that deceives himself as to his own -aspect in the eyes of others. Be as kind as she might, Amy -could not set him strutting Malvolio-wise; she viewed him as -a poor devil who often had to pound his coat--a man of parts -who could never get on in the world--a friend to be thought -of kindly because her dead husband had valued him. Nothing -more than that; he understood perfectly the limits of her -feeling. But this could not put restraint upon the emotion -with which he received any trifling utterance of kindness from -her. He did not think of what was, but of what, under changed -circumstances, might be. To encourage such fantasy was the -idlest self-torment, but he had gone too far in this form of -indulgence. He became the slave of his inflamed imagination.... - -Companionless, inert, he suffered the tortures which are so -ludicrous and contemptible to the happily married. Life was -barren to him, and would soon grow hateful; only in sleep could -he cast off the unchanging thoughts and desires which made all -else meaningless. And rightly meaningless; he revolted against -the unnatural constraints forbidding him to complete his -manhood. By what fatality was he alone of men withheld from the -winning of a woman's love? - -He could not bear to walk the streets where the faces of -beautiful women would encounter him. When he must needs leave -the house, he went about in the poor, narrow ways, where only -spectacles of coarseness, and want, and toil would be presented -to him. Yet even here he was too often reminded that the -poverty-stricken of the class to which poverty is natural were -not condemned to endure in solitude. Only he who belonged to -no class, who was rejected alike by his fellows in privation -and by his equals in intellect, must die without having known -the touch of a loving woman's hand. - -The summer went by, and he was unconscious of its warmth and -light. How his days passed he could not have said.... - -One evening in early autumn, as he stood before the book-stall -at the end of Goodge Street, a familiar voice accosted him. It -was Whelpdale's. A month or two ago he had stubbornly refused -an invitation to dine with Whelpdale and other acquaintances, -and since then the prosperous young man had not crossed his -path. - -"I've something to tell you," said the assailer, taking hold -of his arm. "I'm in a tremendous state of mind, and want -someone to share my delight.... You know Dora Milvain; I have -asked her to marry me, and, by the Powers! she has given me an -encouraging answer! Not an actual yes, but encouraging! She's -away in the Channel Islands, and I wrote----" - -He talked on for a quarter of an hour. Then, with a sudden -movement, the listener freed himself. - -"I can't go any farther," he said hoarsely. "Goodbye!" - -Whelpdale was disconcerted. - -"I have been boring you. That's a confounded fault of mine; I -know it." - -Biffen had waved his hand, and was gone. - -A week or two would see him at the end of his money. He had no -lessons now, and could not write; from his novel nothing was -to be expected. He might apply again to his brother, but such -dependence was unjust and unworthy. And why should he struggle -to preserve a life which had no prospect but of misery?... - -It was in the hours following his encounter with Whelpdale -that he first knew the actual desire of death, the simple -longing for extinction. One must go far in suffering before -the innate will-to-live is thus truly overcome; weariness of -bodily anguish may induce this perversion of the instincts; -less often, that despair of suppressed emotion which had fallen -upon Harold. Through the night he kept his thoughts fixed on -death in its aspect of repose, of eternal oblivion. And herein -he found solace. - -The next night it was the same. Moving among many common needs -and occupations, he knew not a moment's cessation of heartache, -but when he lay down in the darkness a hopeful summons -whispered to him. Night, which had been the worst season of his -pain, had now grown friendly; it came as an anticipation of the -sleep that is everlasting. - -A few more days, and he was possessed by a calm of spirit such -as he had never known. His resolve was taken, not in a moment -of supreme conflict, but as the result of a subtle process by -which his imagination had become in love with death. Turning -from contemplation of life's one rapture, he looked with the -same intensity of desire to a state that had neither fear nor -hope. - -One afternoon he went to the Museum Reading Room, and was busy -for a few minutes in consultation of a volume which he took -from the shelves of medical literature. On his way homeward -he entered two or three chemists' shops. Something of which -he had need could be procured only in very small quantities; -but repetition of his demand in different places supplied him -sufficiently. When he reached his room, he emptied the contents -of sundry little bottles into one larger, and put this in his -pocket. Then he wrote rather a long letter, addressed to his -brother in Liverpool.... - - * * * * * - -"Really," said Jasper, "one can't grieve. There seemed no -possibility of his ever earning enough to live decently -upon. But why the deuce did he go all the way out there? -Consideration for the people in whose house he lived, I dare -say; Biffen had a good deal of native delicacy...." - -"Was he still so very poor?" asked Amy, compassionately. - -"I'm afraid so. His book failed utterly." - -"Oh, if I had imagined him still in such distress, surely I -might have done something to help him!"--So often the regretful -remark of one's friends, when one has been permitted to perish. - - -Letter to the Earl of Chesterfield - -BY SAMUEL JOHNSON - - (English man of letters, 1709-1784; maker of a celebrated English - dictionary, and the subject of one of the world's most famous - biographies. Dr. Johnson might be called the first professional - literary man; the first who lived by his trade and was respected for - it. So the present letter, addressed to one of the most powerful - personages of the time, may be said to mark the end of the age of - patronage in the literary world: the system whereby authors dedicated - their works to noblemen, and received food and favors in return) - -My Lord, I have been lately informed, by the proprietor -of the World, that two papers, in which my Dictionary is -recommended to the publick, were written by your Lordship. To -be so distinguished, is an honour, which, being very little -accustomed to favours from the great, I know not well how to -receive, or in what terms to acknowledge. - -When, upon some slight encouragement, I first visited your -Lordship, I was overpowered, like the rest of mankind, by -the enchantment of your address, and could not forbear to -wish that I might boast myself _Le vainquer du vainqueur de -la terre_;--that I might obtain that regard for which I saw -the world contending; but I found my attendance so little -encouraged, that neither pride nor modesty would suffer me -to continue it. When I had once addressed your Lordship in -publick, I had exhausted all the art of pleasing which a -retired and uncourtly scholar can possess. I had done all that -I could; and no man is well pleased to have his all neglected, -be it ever so little. - -Seven years, my Lord, have now past, since I waited in your -outward rooms, or was repulsed from your door; during which -time I have been pushing my work through difficulties, of which -it is useless to complain, and have brought it, at last, to the -verge of publication, without one act of assistance, one word -of encouragement, or one smile of favour. Such treatment I did -not expect, for I never had a Patron before. - -The shepherd in Virgil grew at last acquainted with Love, and -found him a native of the rocks. - -Is not a Patron, my Lord, one who looks with unconcern on a -man struggling for life in the water, and, when he has reached -ground, encumbers him with help? The notice which you have -been pleased to take of my labours, had it been early, had -been kind; but it has been delayed till I am indifferent, and -cannot enjoy it; till I am solitary, and cannot impart it; till -I am known, and do not want it. I hope it is no very cynical -asperity, not to confess obligations where no benefit has been -received, or to be unwilling that the Publick should consider -me as owing that to a Patron, which Providence has enabled me -to do for myself. - -Having carried my work thus far with so little obligation to -any favourer of learning, I shall not be disappointed though -I should conclude it, if less be possible, with less; for I -have been long wakened from that dream of hope in which I once -boasted myself with so much exultation, - - My Lord, - Your Lordship's most humble - Most obedient servant, - SAM. JOHNSON. - - -Mother Hubbard's Tale - -BY EDMUND SPENSER - -(See page 493) - - Full little knowest thou that hast not tride, - What hell it is in suing long to bide: - To loose good dayes, that might be better spent; - To waste long nights in pensive discontent; - To speed to-day, to be put back to-morrow; - To feed on hope, to pine with feare and sorrow; - To fret thy soule with crosses and with cares; - To eate thy heart through comfortlesse dispaires; - To fawne, to crowche, to waite, to ride, to ronne, - To spend, to give, to want, to be undonne. - Unhappie wight, borne to desastrous end, - That doth his life in so long tendence spend! - - -The Journal of Arthur Stirling - -BY UPTON SINCLAIR - -(A young poet, starving and about to commit suicide, leaves his -farewell testament to the world) - -The poet! He comes with a heart trembling with gladness; he -comes with tears of rapture in his eyes. He comes with bosom -heaving and throat choking and heart breaking. He comes with -tenderness and with trust, with joy in the beauty that he -beholds. He comes a minstrel, with a harp in his hand--and you -set your dogs upon him, you drive him torn and bleeding from -your gates! - -The poet! You make him go out into the market and chaffer for -his bread! You subject him to the same law to which you subject -your loafers and your louts--that he who will not work cannot -eat! Your drones and your drunkards--and your poets! Every man -must earn for himself, every man must pay his way! No man must -ask favors, no man must be helped, no man shall be different -from other men! For shame! For shame!... - -I am to die now, therefore let me write it: that I was a man -of Genius. And that you have trodden me down in the struggle -for existence. I saw things that no other man has ever seen, -I would have written things that no other man can ever write. -And you have trodden me down in the struggle for existence--you -have trodden me down because I could not earn my bread! - -This is what I tell you--this is what I cry out to you, that -the man of Genius _cannot_ earn his bread; that the work by -which he develops his power is something absolutely and utterly -different from the work by which he earns his bread; and that -every hour which he gives to the one, he lessens his power and -his capacity for the other. Every hour that he gives to the -earning of his bread, he takes from his soul, he weakens his -work, he destroys beauty which never again can he know or dream. - -And this again is what I tell you, this again is what I cry -out to you: that the power by which a man of Genius does his -work, and the power by which he earns his bread, are things so -entirely distinct that _they may not occur together at all_! -The man may have both, but then again he may only have the -former. And in that case he will die like a poisoned rat in a -hole. - - -Last Verses - -BY THOMAS CHATTERTON - - (This boy, 1752-1770, came to London friendless and unknown, and on - account of starvation committed suicide at the age of eighteen. He has - become the classic example of the world's mistreatment of its poets. - The reference to Bristol is to his native city) - - Farewell, Bristolia's dingy piles of brick, - Lovers of mammon, worshippers of trick! - Ye spurned the boy who gave you antique lays, - And paid for learning with your empty praise. - Farewell, ye guzzling aldermanic fools, - By nature fitted for corruption's tools! - I go to where celestial anthems swell; - But you, when you depart, will sink to hell. - Farewell, my mother!--cease, my anguished soul, - Nor let distraction's billows o'er me roll! - Have mercy, Heaven! when here I cease to live, - And this last act of wretchedness forgive. - - -The "Pinch of Poverty" - -BY FRANCIS THOMPSON - -(English poet, 1860-1907, who lived neglected and died in -misery) - -'Tis the convinced belief of mankind that to make a poet sing -you must pinch his belly, as if the Almighty had constructed -him like a certain rudimentary vocal doll. - - -Man as God - -(_From "A Ballad in Blank Verse"_) - -BY JOHN DAVIDSON - -(See pages 216, 761) - - How vain! he cried. A God? a mole, a worm! - An engine frail, of brittle bones conjoined; - With tissue packed; with nerves, transmitting force; - And driven by water, thick and coloured red: - That may for some few pence a day be hired - In thousands to be shot at! Oh, a God, - That lies and steals and murders! Such a God - Passionate, dissolute, incontinent! - A God that starves in thousands, and ashamed, - Or shameless in the workhouse lurks; that sweats - In mines and foundries! An enchanted God, - Whose nostrils in a palace breathe perfume, - Whose cracking shoulders hold the palace up, - Whose shoeless feet are rotting in the mire! - - -A Preface to Politics - -BY WALTER LIPPMANN - -(American writer upon public questions, born 1889) - -We have almost no spiritual weapons against classicalism: -universities, churches, newspapers are by-products of a -commercial success; we have no tradition of intellectual -revolt. The American college student has the gravity and -mental habits of a Supreme Court judge; his "wild oats" are -rarely spiritual; the critical, analytical habit of mind is -distrusted. We say that "knocking" is a sign of the "sorehead" -and we sublimate criticism by saying that "every knock is a -boost." America does not play with ideas; generous speculation -is regarded as insincere, and shunned as if it might endanger -the optimism which underlies success. All this becomes such an -insulation against new ideas that when the Yankee goes abroad -he takes his environment with him. - - -Learning - -(_From "Thus Spake Zarathustra"_) - -BY FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE - -(German philosopher, 1844-1900, whose lofty utterance has -suffered from materialistic interpreters) - -As I lay in sleep a sheep ate up the ivy crown of my head--ate -and then said: "Zarathustra is no more a scholar." - -Said it and went strutting away, and proud. A child told it to -me.... - -This is the truth. I am gone out of the house of the scholars, -and have slammed to the door behind me.... - -I am too hot, and burning with my own thoughts; oft will it -take away my breath. I must into the open and out of all dusty -rooms. - -But they sit cool in cool shadows; they wish in all things to -be but spectators, and guard themselves lest they sit where the -sun burn the steps. - -Like those who stand upon the street and stare at the people -who go by; so they wait also and stare at the thoughts that -others have thought. - -If one touches them with the hands, they make dust around them -like meal-sacks, and involuntarily; but who could guess that -their dust comes from corn and the golden rapture of the summer -fields? - - - - -BOOK XVI - -_Socialism_ - -The most eloquent passages from the pens of those who foresee -the definite solution of the problems of economic inequality. - -Every aspect of the Socialist movement is represented. - - -Is It Nothing to You? - -(_From "Merrie England"_) - -BY ROBERT BLATCHFORD - -(See pages 66, 121, 170, 383) - -Go out into the streets of any big English town, and use your -eyes, John. What do you find? You find some rich and idle, -wasting unearned wealth to their own shame and injury, and the -shame and injury of others. You find hard-working people packed -away in vile, unhealthy streets. You find little children, -famished, dirty, and half naked outside the luxurious clubs, -shops, hotels, and theatres. You find men and women overworked -and underpaid. You find vice and want and disease cheek by jowl -with religion and culture and wealth. You find the usurer, -the gambler, the fop, the finnikin fine lady, and you find -the starveling, the slave, the vagrant, the drunkard, and the -harlot. - -Is it nothing to you, John Smith? Are you a citizen? Are you a -man? And will not strike a blow for the right nor lift a hand -to save the fallen, nor make the smallest sacrifice for the -sake of your brothers and your sisters! John, I am not trying -to work upon your feelings. This is not rhetoric, it is hard -fact. Throughout these letters I have tried to be plain and -practical, and moderate. I have never so much as offered you -a glimpse of the higher regions of thought. I have suffered -no hint of idealism to escape me. I have kept as close to the -earth as I could. I am only now talking street talk about the -common sights of the common town. I say that wrong and sorrow -are here crushing the life out of our brothers and sisters. I -say that you, in common with all men, are responsible for the -things that are. I say that it is your duty to seek the remedy; -and I say that if you seek it you will find it. - -These common sights of the common streets, John, are very -terrible to me. To a man of a nervous temperament, at once -thoughtful and imaginative, those sights must be terrible. The -prostitute under the lamps, the baby beggar in the gutter, the -broken pauper in his livery of shame, the weary worker stifling -in his filthy slums, the wage slave toiling at his task, -the sweater's victim "sewing at once, with a double thread, -a shroud as well as a shirt," these are dreadful, ghastly, -shameful facts which long since seared themselves upon my heart. - -All this sin, all this wretchedness, all this pain, in spite of -the smiling fields and the laughing waters, under the awful and -unsullied sky. And no remedy! - -These things I saw, and I knew that I was responsible as a man. -Then I tried to find out the causes of the wrong and the remedy -therefor. It has taken me some years, John. But I think I -understand it now, and I want you to understand it, and to help -in your turn to teach the truth to others. - -Sometimes while I have been writing these letters I have felt -bitter and angry. More than once I have thought that when I -got through the work I would ease my heart with a few lines of -irony or invective. But I have thought better of it. Looking -back now I remember my own weakness, folly, cowardice. I have -no heart to scorn or censure other men. Charity, John, mercy, -John, humility, John. We are poor creatures, all of us. - - -The Sign of the Son of Man - -BY VIDA D. SCUDDER - -(See page 289) - - Thy Kingdom, Lord, we long for, - Where love shall find its own; - And brotherhood triumphant - Our years of pride disown. - Thy captive people languish - In mill and mart and mine; - We lift to Thee their anguish, - We wait Thy promised Sign! - - Thy Kingdom, Lord, Thy Kingdom! - All secretly it grows; - In faithful hearts forever - His seed the Sower sows; - Yet ere its consummation - Must dawn a mighty doom; - For judgment and salvation - The Son of Man shall come. - - If now perchance in tumult - His destined Sign appear,-- - The rising of the people,-- - Dispel our coward fear! - Let comforts that we cherish, - Let old traditions die, - Our wealth, our wisdom perish, - So that He draw but nigh! - - -Poverty Makes All Unhappy - -BY JOHN RUSKIN - -(See pages 106, 491, 752, 756) - -For my own part, I will put up with this state of things, -passively, not an hour longer. I am not an unselfish person, -nor an evangelical one; I have no particular pleasure in doing -good; neither do I dislike doing it so much as to expect to be -rewarded for it in another world. But I simply cannot paint, -nor read, nor look at minerals, nor do anything else I like, -and the very light of the morning sky has become hateful to me, -because of the misery that I know of, and see signs of where I -know it not, which no imagination can interpret too bitterly. - - -The One Duty - -(_From "The Measure of the Hours"_) - -BY MAURICE MAETERLINCK - -(Belgian poet, dramatist and philosopher, born 1862) - -Let us start fairly with the great truth: for those who possess -there is only one certain duty, which is to strip themselves -of what they have so as to bring themselves into the condition -of the mass that possesses nothing. It is understood, in every -clear-thinking conscience, that no more imperative duty exists; -but, at the same time, it is admitted that this duty, for lack -of courage, is impossible of accomplishment. - -For the rest, in the heroic history of duties, even at the -most ardent period, even at the beginning of Christianity and -in the majority of the religious orders that made a special -cult of poverty, this is perhaps the only duty that has -never been completely fulfilled. It behooves us, therefore, -when considering our subsidiary duties, to remember that the -essential one has been knowingly evaded. Let this truth govern -us. Let us not forget that we are speaking in shadow, and that -our boldest, our utmost steps will never lead us to the point -at which we ought to have been from the first. - - -Land Titles - -BY HERBERT SPENCER - -(See page 460) - -It can never be pretended that the existing titles to landed -property are legitimate. The original deeds were written with -the sword, soldiers were the conveyancers, blows were the -current coin given in exchange, and for seals, blood. Those who -say that "time is a great legaliser" must find satisfactory -answers to such questions as--How long does it take for what -was originally wrong to become right? At what rate per annum do -invalid claims become valid? - - -The Rights of Labor - -BY ABRAHAM LINCOLN - -(See pages 234, 623) - -It is assumed that labor is available only in connection with -capital; that nobody labors unless somebody else, owning -capital, somehow by the use of it, induces him to labor. This -assumed, it is next considered whether it is best that capital -shall hire laborers, and thus induce them to work by their own -consent, or buy them and drive them to do it without their -consent. Having proceeded so far, it is naturally concluded -that all laborers are either hired laborers or what we call -slaves. - -Now, there is no such relation between capital and labor as -here assumed.... Labor is prior to and independent of capital. -Capital is only the fruit of labor, could never have existed if -labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, -and deserves much the higher consideration. - - -A Marching Song - -BY ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE - -(See pages 376, 637) - - We mix from many lands, - We march for very far; - In hearts and lips and hands - Our staffs and weapons are; - The light we walk in darkens sun and moon and star. - - It doth not flame and wane - With years and spheres that roll, - Storm cannot shake nor stain - The strength that makes it whole, - The fire that moulds and moves it of the sovereign soul.... - - From the edge of harsh derision, - From discord and defeat, - From doubt and lame division, - We pluck the fruit and eat; - And the mouth finds it bitter, and the spirit sweet.... - - O nations undivided, - O single people and free, - We dreamers, we derided, - We mad blind men that see, - We bear you witness ere ye come that ye shall be. - - Ye sitting among tombs, - Ye standing round the gate, - Whom fire-mouthed war consumes, - Or cold-lipped peace bids wait, - All tombs and bars shall open, every grave and grate.... - - O sorrowing hearts of slaves, - We heard you beat from far! - We bring the light that saves, - We bring the morning star; - Freedom's good things we bring you, whence all good things are.... - - Rise, ere the dawn be risen; - Come, and be all souls fed; - From field and street and prison - Come, for the feast is spread; - Live, for the truth is living; wake, for night is dead. - - -The Duties of Man - -BY GIUSEPPE MAZZINI - -(Italian patriot and statesman, 1805-1872; the deliverer of his -country here urges the deliverance of mankind) - -We improve with the improvement of Humanity; nor without the -improvement of the whole can you hope that your own moral and -material conditions will improve. Generally speaking, you -cannot, even if you would, separate your life from that of -Humanity; you live in it, by it, for it. Your souls, with the -exception of the very few men of exceptional power, cannot -free themselves from the influence of the elements amid which -they exist, just as the body, however robust its constitution, -cannot escape from the effects of corrupt air around it. How -many of you have the strength of mind to bring up your sons to -be wholly truthful, knowing that you are sending them forth -to persecution in a country where tyrants and spies bid them -conceal or deny two-thirds of their real opinions? How many -of you resolve to educate them to despise wealth in a society -where gold is the only power which obtains honors, influence, -and respect, where indeed it is the only protection from the -tyranny and insults of the powerful and their agents? Who is -there among you who in pure love and with the best intentions -in the world has not murmured to his dear ones in Italy, _Do -not trust men_; _the honest man should retire into himself -and fly from public life_; _charity begins at home_,--and -such-like maxims, plainly immoral, but prompted by the general -state of society? What mother is there among you who, although -she belongs to a faith which adores the cross of Christ, the -voluntary martyr for humanity, has not flung her arms around -her son's neck and striven to dissuade him from perilous -attempts to benefit his brothers? And even if you had strength -to teach the contrary, would not the whole of society, with its -thousand voices, its thousand evil examples, destroy the effect -of your words? Can you purify, elevate your own souls in an -atmosphere of contamination and degradation? - -And, to descend to your material conditions, do you think they -can be lastingly ameliorated by anything but the amelioration -of all? Millions of pounds are spent annually here in -England, where I write, by private charity, for the relief of -individuals who have fallen into want; yet want increases here -every year, and charity to individuals has proved powerless to -heal the evil--the necessity of collective organic remedies is -more and more universally felt.... - -There is no hope for you except in universal reform and in -the brotherhood of all the peoples of Europe, and through -Europe of all humanity. I charge you then, O my brothers, by -your duty and by your own interest, not to forget that your -first duties--duties without fulfilling which you cannot hope -to fulfil those owed to family and country--are to Humanity. -Let your words and your actions be for all, since God is for -all, in His Love and in His Law. In whatever land you may be, -wherever a man is fighting for right, for justice, for truth, -there is your brother; wherever a man suffers through the -oppression of error, of injustice, of tyranny, there is your -brother. Free men and slaves, YOU ARE ALL BROTHERS. - - -From Revolution to Revolution - -BY GEORGE D. HERRON - -(See page 730) - -We have talked much of the brotherhood to come; but brotherhood -has always been the fact of our life, long before it became a -modern and insipid sentiment. Only we have been brothers in -slavery and torment, brothers in ignorance and its perdition, -brothers in disease and war and want, brothers in prostitution -and hypocrisy. What happens to one of us sooner or later -happens to all; we have always been unescapably involved in -a common destiny. We are brothers in the soil from which we -spring; brothers in earthquakes, floods and famines; brothers -in la grippe, cholera, smallpox and priestcraft. It is to the -interests of the whole of mankind to stamp out the disease that -may be starting tonight in some wretched Siberian hamlet; to -rescue the children of Egypt and India from the British cotton -mills; to escape the craze and blight of some new superstition -springing up in Africa or India or Boston. The tuberculosis of -the East Side sweatshops is infecting the whole of the city -of New York, and spreading therefrom to the Pacific and back -across the Atlantic. The world constantly tends to the level of -the downmost man in it; and that downmost man is the world's -real ruler, hugging it close to his bosom, dragging it down to -his death. You do not think so, but it is true, and it ought to -be true. For if there were some way by which some of us could -get free apart from others, if there were some way by which -some of us could have heaven while others had hell, if there -were some way by which part of the world could escape some form -of the blight and peril and misery of disinherited labor, then -would our world indeed be lost and damned; but since men have -never been able to separate themselves from one another's woes -and wrongs, since history is fairly stricken with the lesson -that we cannot escape brotherhood of some kind, since the whole -of life is teaching us that we are hourly choosing between -brotherhood in suffering and brotherhood in good, it remains -for us to choose the brotherhood of a co-operative world, with -all its fruits thereof--the fruits of love and liberty. - - -The March of the Workers - -BY WILLIAM MORRIS - -(English poet and artist, 1834-1896; founder of the "Arts and -Crafts" movement, and a lifelong Socialist) - - What is this--the sound and rumor? What is this that all men hear, - Like the wind in hollow valleys when the storm is drawing near, - Like the rolling-on of ocean in the eventide of fear? - 'Tis the people marching on. - - -CHORUS - - Hark the rolling of the thunder! - Lo! the sun! and lo! thereunder - Riseth wrath, and hope, and wonder, - And the host comes marching on. - - Forth they come from grief and torment; on they go towards -health and mirth. - All the wide world is their dwelling, every corner of the earth. - Buy them, sell them for thy service! Try the bargain what 'tis worth, - For the days are marching on. (Chorus) - - Many a hundred years passed over have they labored deaf and blind; - Never tidings reached their sorrow, never hope their toil might find. - Now at last they've heard and hear it, and the cry comes down the wind - And their feet are marching on. (Chorus) - - "Is it war then? Will ye perish as the dry wood in the fire? - Is it peace? Then be ye of us, let your hope be our desire. - Come and live! for life awaketh, and the world shall never tire; - And hope is marching on. (Chorus) - - -The Working Day - -(_From "Capital"_) - -BY KARL MARX - -(A German Jew, father of modern revolutionary Socialism, -1818-1883. Of his epoch-making work the scope of this -collection permits but a brief passage, by way of illustration) - -What is a working day? What is the length of time during -which capital may consume the labor-power whose daily value -it buys? How far may the working-day be extended beyond the -working time necessary for the reproduction of labor-power -itself? It has been seen that to these questions capital -replies: the working day contains the full twenty-four hours, -with the deduction of the few hours of repose without which -labor-power absolutely refuses its services again. Hence it is -self-evident that the laborer is nothing else, his whole life -through, than labor-power; that therefore all his disposable -time is by nature and law labor-time, to be devoted to the -self-expansion of capital. Time for education, for intellectual -development, for the fulfilling of social functions and for -social intercourse, for the free-play of his bodily and mental -activity, even the rest time of Sunday (and that in a country -of Sabbatarians!)--moonshine! But in its blind, unrestrainable -passion, its were-wolf hunger for surplus-labor, capital -oversteps not only the moral, but even the merely physical -maximum bounds of the working-day. It usurps the time for -growth, development, and healthy maintenance of the body. It -steals the time required for the consumption of fresh air -and sunlight. It higgles over a meal-time, incorporating -it where possible with the process of production itself, -so that food is given to the laborer as to a mere means of -production, as coal is supplied to the boiler, grease and oil -to the machinery. It reduces the sound sleep needed for the -restoration, reparation, refreshment of the bodily powers, to -just so many hours of torpor as the revival of an organism, -absolutely exhausted, renders essential. It is not the normal -maintenance of the labor-power which is to determine the -limits of the working-day; it is the greatest possible daily -expenditure of labor-power, no matter how diseased, compulsory -and painful it may be, which is to determine the limits of -the laborers' period of repose. Capital cares nothing for the -length of life of labor-power. All that concerns it is simply -and solely the maximum of labor-power, that can be rendered -fluent in a working-day. It attains this end by shortening -the extent of the laborer's life, as a greedy farmer snatches -increased produce from the soil by robbing it of its fertility. - - -The Organization of Labor - -BY LOUIS BLANC - -(Early French Utopian Socialist, 1811-1882) - -What is competition, from the point of view of the workman? It -is work put up to auction. A contractor wants a workman; three -present themselves. - -"How much for your work?" - -"Half a crown; I have a wife and children." - -"Well; and how much for yours?" - -"Two shillings; I have no children, but I have a wife." - -"Very well; and now how much for yours?" - -"One and eightpence are enough for me; I am single." - -"Then you shall have the work." - -It is done; the bargain is struck. And what are the other two -workmen to do? It is to be hoped they will die quietly of -hunger. But what if they take to thieving? Never fear; we have -the police. To murder? We have the hangman. As for the lucky -one, his triumph is only temporary. Let a fourth workman make -his appearance, strong enough to fast every other day, and his -price will run down still lower; there will be a new outcast, -perhaps a new recruit for the prison. - - -The Wastes of Capitalism - -(_From "The Laws of Social Evolution"_) - -BY THEODOR HERTZKA - - (An Austrian economist, one of the few in the world who have dealt - with the real problem of economic science, the elimination of waste - and the rationalizing of the system of production. In the following - passage he investigates the question what proportion of human labor - is lost through our competitive methods of industry. The passage has - been frequently quoted, in a mistranslation which obscures its real - significance. The following is not so much a translation as a summary - of the essential statements) - -We are to investigate what labor-power is required, under -circumstances now existing in Austria (1886), to produce the -most essential food-stuffs, and suitable housing and clothing. -For every family has been allowed a separate, five-roomed -house, about forty feet square, and calculated to last fifty -years. I have reckoned all men between the ages of sixteen and -fifty as capable of working: there being of such in Austria -about five million. I find that it requires the labor of -615,000 workers to supply the population of 22,000,000 with -food, clothing and shelter: that is to say, it requires only -12.3 per cent of available labor-power, and each worker needs -to labor only six weeks in the year, in order to provide for -himself and his family the necessary means of life. - -In order that no one should conclude that the production of the -luxuries of the better situated part of the population consumes -the balance of the available labor-power, let us add the -labor-cost of all the luxury-industries in the widest sense. -Including the labor-cost of transportation, these require -315,000 workers, or 6.3 per cent of the available labor-power. -As a precaution, I increase the total of 18.6 per cent to 20 -per cent, and so find that by working sixty days in the year, -the actual existing consumption should be fully satisfied. -There remains now this double question: What becomes of the -additional two hundred and forty days, which are actually spent -in labor? What abyss swallows up the other 80 per cent of the -nation's labor-power? And second, how can it be that in spite -of hard work, the majority are the prey of misery, when at the -utmost 20 per cent of the available labor-power should suffice -for the maintenance of all? - - -BY G. BERNARD SHAW - -Any person under the age of thirty, who, having any knowledge -of the existing social order, is not a revolutionist, is an -inferior. - - -From Revolution to Revolution - -BY GEORGE D. HERRON - -(See pages 730, 792) - -Under the Socialist movement there is coming a time, and the -time may be even now at hand, when improved conditions or -adjusted wages will no longer be thought to be an answer to -the cry of labor; yes, when these will be but an insult to -the common intelligence. It is not for better wages, improved -capitalist conditions, or a share of capitalist profits that -the Socialist movement is in the world; it is here for the -abolition of wages and profits, and for the end of capitalism -and the private capitalist. Reformed political institutions, -boards of arbitration between capital and labor, philanthropies -and privileges that are but the capitalist's gifts--none of -these can much longer answer the question that is making the -temples, thrones and parliaments of the nations tremble. There -can be no peace between the man who is down and the man who -builds on his back. There can be no reconciliation between -classes; there can only be an end of classes. It is idle to -talk of good will until there is first justice, and idle to -talk of justice until the man who makes the world possesses the -work of his own hands. The cry of the world's workers can be -answered with nothing save the whole product of their work. - - -The Internationale - -BY EUGENE POTTIER - -(Hymn of the revolutionary working-class of all nations) - - Arise, ye pris'ners of starvation! - Arise, ye wretched of the earth, - For Justice thunders condemnation, - A better world's in birth. - No more tradition's chains shall bind us, - Arise, ye slaves! No more in thrall! - The earth shall rise on new foundations, - We have been naught, we shall be all. - - - REFRAIN - - 'Tis the final conflict, - Let each stand in his place, - The International Party - Shall be the human race. - - Behold them seated in their glory, - The kings of mine and rail and soil! - What would you read in all their story - But how they plundered toil? - Fruits of the people's work are buried - In the strong coffers of a few; - In voting for their restitution - The men will only ask their due. (Refrain) - - Toilers from shops and fields united, - The party we of all who work; - The earth belongs to us, the people, - No room here for the shirk. - - How many on our flesh have fattened! - But if the noisome birds of prey - Shall vanish from our sky some morning, - The blessed sunlight still will stay. (Refrain) - - -The Syndicalist - -(_From "The Red Wave"_) - -BY JOSEPH-HENRY ROSNY, THE ELDER - -(See pages 585, 669) - -Like a thousand others, Rougemont wanted the daily revolution, -which should ferment in the brain, not like a dream, but like -an energy, should manifest itself by a discipline and a method, -by daily exercises to keep it in condition. It was no longer -a question of brandishing the torch. It was necessary to -understand and to will, to organize social experience, to wage -petty warfare--sallies, raids, ambuscades; to entertain cold -hatreds, logical and continuous, to haggle over wages as the -Norman peasant haggles over chickens, and above all to create -a sort of happy excitement, a fraternal exaltation which would -bring to the gatherings ideas of security, of trust, of mutual -aid. - -The strikes will be beautiful schools of social struggle. -They will open the path for magnanimous instincts, heroic and -adventurous, which air the human soul. Always better organized, -they will no longer reduce the artisan to famine, they will -demand of him only to undergo some privations which the -beauty of revolt will render almost joyous. They will develop -generosity, abnegation, the richest spirit of sacrifice. Their -recollection will awaken magnificent and powerful images; they -will lend to the social life that passionate unforeseen, which -is evoked in us by the virgin forest, the open plain, the -palpitant sea.... Everywhere, finally, the proletariat will -build its visions upon the basis of reality. - - -The Communist Manifesto (1848) - -BY KARL MARX AND FREDERICK ENGELS - -(See pages 234, 514, 795) - -The Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They -openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the -forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions. Let -the ruling classes tremble at a Communistic revolution. The -proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a -world to win. - -Workingmen of all countries, unite! - - -The Workingman's Program - -BY FERDINAND LASSALLE - -(One of the founders of the German Socialist movement, -1825-1864. Lassalle was arrested and sentenced to prison for -delivering the address from which the following paragraph is -taken) - -Whoever invokes the idea of the working-class as the ruling -principle of society, does not put forth a cry that divides and -separates the classes of society. On the contrary, he utters a -cry of reconciliation, a cry which embraces the whole of the -community, a cry for the abolishing of all the contradictions -in every circle of society; a cry of union, in which all should -join who do not wish for privileges, for the oppression of the -people by privileged classes; a cry of love, which having once -gone up from the heart of the people, will forever remain the -true cry of the people, and whose meaning will still make it a -cry of love, even when it sounds as the people's war cry. - - -Jurgis Hears a Socialist Speech - -(_From "The Jungle"_) - -BY UPTON SINCLAIR - -(See pages 43, 143, 194, 274, 403, 776) - -It was like coming suddenly upon some wild sight of nature--a -mountain forest lashed by a tempest, a ship tossed about upon -a stormy sea. Jurgis had an unpleasant sensation, a sense of -confusion, of disorder, of wild and meaningless uproar. The man -was tall and gaunt, as haggard as his auditor himself; a thin -black beard covered half of his face, and one could see only -two black hollows where the eyes were. He was speaking rapidly, -in great excitement; he used many gestures--as he spoke he -moved here and there upon the stage, reaching with his long -arms as if to seize each person in his audience. His voice was -deep, like an organ; it was some time, however, before Jurgis -thought of the voice--he was too much occupied with his eyes -to think of what the man was saying. But suddenly it seemed -as if the speaker had been pointing straight at him, as if he -had been singled out particularly for his remarks; and so -Jurgis became suddenly aware of the voice, trembling, vibrant -with emotion, with pain and longing, with a burden of things -unutterable, not to be compassed by words. To hear it was to be -suddenly arrested, to be gripped, transfixed. - -"You listen to these things," the man was saying, "and you say, -'Yes, they are true, but they have been that way always.' Or -you say, 'Maybe it will come, but not in my time--it will not -help me.' And so you return to your daily round of toil, you -go back to be ground up for profits in the world-wide mill of -economic might! To toil long hours for another's advantage; -to live in mean and squalid homes, to work in dangerous and -unhealthful places; to wrestle with the spectres of hunger -and privation, to take your chances of accident, disease and -death. And each day the struggle becomes fiercer, the pace more -cruel; each day you have to toil a little harder, and feel the -iron hand of circumstance close upon you a little tighter. -Months pass, years maybe--and then you come again; and again -I am here to plead with you, to know if want and misery have -yet done their work with you, if injustice and oppression -have yet opened your eyes! I shall still be waiting--there -is nothing else that I can do. There is no wilderness where -I can hide from these things, there is no haven where I can -escape them; though I travel to the ends of the earth, I find -the same accursed system,--I find that all the fair and noble -impulses of humanity, the dreams of poets and the agonies of -martyrs, are shackled and bound in the service of organized -and predatory Greed! And therefore I cannot rest, I cannot -be silent; therefore I cast aside comfort and happiness, -health and good repute--and go out into the world and cry out -the pain of my spirit! Therefore I am not to be silenced by -poverty and sickness, not by hatred and obloquy, by threats -and ridicule--not by prison and persecution, if they should -come--not by any power that is upon the earth or above the -earth, that was, or is, or ever can be created. If I fail -tonight, I can only try tomorrow; knowing that the fault must -be mine--that if once the vision of my soul were spoken upon -earth, if once the anguish of its defeat were uttered in human -speech, it would break the stoutest barriers of prejudice, it -would shake the most sluggish soul to action! It would abash -the most cynical, it would terrify the most selfish; and the -voice of mockery would be silenced, and fraud and falsehood -would slink back into their dens, and the truth would stand -forth alone! For I speak with the voice of the millions -who are voiceless! Of them that are oppressed and have no -comforter! Of the disinherited of life, for whom there is no -respite and no deliverance, to whom the world is a prison, -a dungeon of torture, a tomb! With the voice of the little -child who toils tonight in a Southern cotton-mill, staggering -with exhaustion, numb with agony, and knowing no hope but the -grave! Of the mother who sews by candle-light in her tenement -garret, weary and weeping, smitten with the mortal hunger of -her babes! Of the man who lies upon a bed of rags, wrestling -in his last sickness and leaving his loved ones to perish! Of -the young girl who, somewhere at this moment, is walking the -streets of this horrible city, beaten and starving, and making -her choice between the brothel and the lake! With the voice -of those, whoever and wherever they may be, who are caught -beneath the wheels of the juggernaut of Greed! With the voice -of humanity, calling for deliverance! Of the everlasting soul -of Man, arising from the dust; breaking its way out of its -prison--rending the bands of oppression and ignorance-groping -its way to the light!" - - -The Marseillaise - -BY CLAUDE JOSEPH ROUGET DE LISLE - - (French captain of engineers, 1760-1836. He composed this most famous - of all revolutionary songs in 1792, when the French republicans were - resisting the armies of all the kings and emperors of Europe. The - volunteers from Marseilles marched into Paris singing it--"seven - hundred Marseillais who know how to die") - - Ye sons of toil, awake to glory! - Hark, hark, what myriads bid you rise; - Your children, wives and grandsires hoary-- - Behold their tears and hear their cries! - Shall hateful tyrants, mischief breeding, - With hireling hosts, a ruffian band,-- - Affright and desolate the land, - While peace and liberty lie bleeding? - - - CHORUS - - To arms! to arms! ye brave! - Th' avenging sword unsheathe! - March on, march on, all hearts resolved - On Victory or Death. - - With luxury and pride surrounded, - The vile, insatiate despots dare, - Their thirst for gold and power unbounded, - To mete and vend the light and air; - Like beasts of burden would they load us, - Like gods would bid their slaves adore, - But Man is Man, and who is more? - Then shall they longer lash and goad us? (Chorus) - - O Liberty! can man resign thee, - Once having felt thy generous flame? - Can dungeons' bolts and bars confine thee, - Or whips thy noble spirit tame? - Too long the world has wept bewailing, - That Falsehood's dagger tyrants wield; - But Freedom is our sword and shield, - And all their arts are unavailing! (Chorus) - - -Trial for High Treason - -(_From "My Life"_) - -BY AUGUST BEBEL - - (A German woodworker, 1840-1912, who founded the Social-democratic - party, and guided it for fifty years. In the following passage - from his memoirs he tells of his first imprisonment, as a part of - Bismarck's long campaign to destroy the Socialist movement in Germany) - -The jury comprised six tradesmen, one aristocratic landowner, -one head forester, and a few small landowners. The court -was crowded every day. The Minister of Justice and the -Attorney-General were present on several occasions. As the -leading papers of Germany gave extensive reports of the -trial, their readers became for the first time aware of what -Socialism meant and at what it aimed. The trial thus became -eminently serviceable from the propagandist point of view; -and we, especially Liebknecht, who was the chief propagandist, -were not loath to avail ourselves of this opportunity. But -our opponents, day after day, were hard at work seeking to -prejudice the jury against us, meeting them in the restaurant, -when the events of the day were discussed, and exploiting these -to our disadvantage. - -On the thirteenth day the "pleadings" for and against us -commenced. The Public Prosecutor closed his speech with the -words: "If you do not find against the accused, you will -sanction high treason for all time to come." - -Our counsel replied, and tore the indictment to tatters; but -after two and a half hours of deliberation the jury came in -with a verdict of guilty. The Public Prosecutor demanded -two years' imprisonment in a fortress, and the court passed -judgment accordingly. - -Our party friends were exceedingly angry on hearing the verdict -and sentence; but I, feeling reckless, proposed that we should -go together to Auerbach's cellar--rendered famous by the scene -in Goethe's _Faust_--and have a bottle of wine. Our wives, -who received us with tears, were not pleased with our levity; -but finally, plucky women that they were, they came with us. -My doctor consoled my wife in a curious way. "Frau Bebel," he -said, "if your husband gets a year in prison you may rejoice, -for he needs a rest!" - -[Illustration: ONCE YE HAVE SEEN MY FACE YE DARE NOT MOCK - -CARTOON FROM THE "NEW AGE," LONDON] - -[Illustration: JUSTICE - -WALTER CRANE - -(_English artist and Socialist, 1845-1915_)] - - -Jimmie Higgins - -BY BEN HANFORD - -(A New York printer who literally gave his life for the -Socialist movement, dying of consumption caused by overwork. He -was the party's candidate for Vice-president in 1904) - -A comrade who shall be called Jimmie Higgins because that is -not his name, and who shall be styled a painter for the very -good reason that he is not a painter, has perhaps had a greater -influence in keeping me keyed up to my work in the labor -movement than any other person. - -Jimmie Higgins is neither broad-shouldered nor thick-chested. -He is neither pretty nor strong. A little, thin, weak, -pale-faced chap. But he is strong enough to support a mother -with equal physical disabilities. Strong enough to put in ten -years of unrecognized and unexcelled service to the cause of -Socialism. - -What did he do? Everything. - -He has made more Socialist speeches than any man in America. -Not that he did the talking; but he carried the platform on his -bent shoulders when the platform committee failed to be on hand. - -Then he hustled around to another branch and got their platform -out. Then he got a glass of water for "the speaker." That -same evening or the day before he had distributed hand-bills -advertising the meeting. - -Previously he had informed his branch as to "the best corner" -in the district for drawing a crowd. Then he distributed -leaflets at the meeting, and helped to take the platform down -and carry it back to headquarters, and got subscribers for -Socialist papers. - -The next day the same, and so on all through the campaign, and -one campaign after another. When he had a job, which was none -too often, for Jimmie was not an extra good workman and was -always one of the first to be laid off, he would distribute -Socialist papers among his fellows during the noon hour, or -take a run down to the gate of some factory and give out -Socialist leaflets to the employees who came out to lunch. - -What did he do? Jimmie Higgins did everything, anything. -Whatever was to be done, THAT was Jimmie's job. - -First to do his own work; then the work of those who had become -wearied or negligent. Jimmie Higgins couldn't sing, nor dance, -nor tell a story--but he could DO the thing to be done. - -Be you, reader, ever so great, you nor any other shall ever do -more than that. Jimmie Higgins had no riches, but out of his -poverty he always gave something, his all; be you, reader, ever -so wealthy and likewise generous, you shall never give more -than that. - -Jimmie Higgins never had a front seat on the platform; he never -knew the tonic of applause nor the inspiration of opposition; -he never was seen in the foreground of the picture. - -But he had erected the platform and painted the picture; -through his hard, disagreeable and thankless toil it had come -to pass that liberty was brewing and things were doing. - -Jimmie Higgins. How shall we pay, how reward this man? What -gold, what laurels shall be his? - -There's just one way, reader, that you and I can "make good" -with Jimmie Higgins and the likes of him. That way is to be -like him. - -Take a fresh start and never let go. - -Think how great his work, and he has so little to do with. How -little ours in proportion to our strength! - -I know some grand men and women in the Socialist movement. But -in high self-sacrifice, in matchless fidelity to truth, I shall -never meet a greater man than Jimmie Higgins. - -And many a branch has one of him. - -And may they have more of him. - - -FROM THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS - -For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men -after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: -but God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound -the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and -things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things -which are not, to bring to naught things that are. - - -Why I Voted the Socialist Ticket - -BY VACHEL LINDSAY - -(See pages 335, 599, 672, 699) - - I am unjust, but I can strive for justice. - My life's unkind, but I can vote for kindness. - I, the unloving, say life should be lovely. - I, that am blind, cry out against my blindness. - - Man is a curious brute--he pets his fancies-- - Fighting mankind to win sweet luxury; - So he will be, tho' law be clear as crystal, - Tho' all men plan to live in harmony. - - Come, let us vote against our human nature, - Crying to God in all the polling places - To heal our everlasting sinfulness - And make us sages with transfigured faces. - - -Progressivism and After - -BY WILLIAM ENGLISH WALLING - -(American Socialist writer, born 1877) - -A certain measure of progress is to be expected through the -self-interest of the governing classes. This is the national, -or industrial, efficiency movement. - -Far greater progress is to be expected from the successive -rise into power and prosperity of new elements of the -middle-class--and of the upper layers of the wage-earners. This -is the progressive and the Laborite movement. - -By far the greatest progress is to be expected as a direct or -indirect result of the revolt of the lower classes. For this is -the only force that can be relied upon to put an end to class -government and class exploitation of industry, and to establish -that social democracy which is the real or professed aim of -every progressive movement. - - -BY OTTO VON BISMARCK - -(Speech in the German Reichstag, 1884) - -I acknowledge unconditionally the right to work, and I will -stand up for it as long as I am in this place. - - -The Revolution in the Mind and Practice of the Human Race - -(_From the Preface_) - -BY ROBERT OWEN - -(Early English Utopian Socialist, 1771-1858) - -The Past has been inevitable, and necessary to produce the -Present; as the Present will necessarily produce the Future -state of human existence. The past has produced a repulsive, -unorganized, ignorant, and to a great extent, miserable state -of society, over the world, as now existing. The present, -however, has been made to develop all the materials requisite -to produce an attractive, organized, enlightened and happy -future, for the human race, in all parts of the globe. - -Those informed know that all the materials are amply prepared, -ready to create a happy future; but that to effect this result, -the materials must be wisely applied, to form a scientific -arrangement of society, based on an accurate knowledge of human -nature. Means are, therefore, now required to induce the public -to investigate this important subject, which is in direct -opposition to the false and fatal association of ideas which, -from birth, have been forced into the minds and upon the habits -of people. - - -Running a Socialist Paper - -(_From "Comrade Yetta"_) - -BY ALBERT EDWARDS - -(See pages 205, 244) - -For half an hour they bent their heads over balance-sheets. -It was an appalling situation. The debt was out of all -proportion to the property. To be sure much of it was held by -sympathizers, who were not likely to foreclose. But there was -no immediate hope of decreasing the burden. Any new income -would have to go into improvements. The future of the paper -depended not only on its ability to carry this dead weight, but -on the continuance of the Pledge Fund and on Isadore's success -in begging about a hundred dollars a week. - -"It's hopeless," Yetta said. "You might run a good weekly on -these resources, but you need ten times as much to keep up a -good daily." - -"Well, if you feel that way about it, Yetta, I hope you'll -resign at to-night's meeting." His eyes turned away from her -face about the busy room, and his discouraged look gave place -to one of conviction. A note of dogged determination rang in -his voice.--"Because it isn't hopeless! Our only real danger -is that the executive committee may kill us with cold water. -If we can get a committee that believes in us, we'll be all -right. A paper like this isn't a matter of finance. That's what -you--and the other discouragers--don't see. You look at it from -a bourgeois dollar-and-cents point of view. It's hopeless, -is it? Well, we've been doing this impossible thing for more -than a year. It's hopeless to carry such indebtedness? Good -God! We started with nothing but debts--nothing at all to -show. Every number that comes out makes it more hopeful. The -advertising increases. The Pledge Fund grows. Why, we've got -twelve thousand people in the habit of reading it now. That -habit is an asset which doesn't show in the books. Six months -ago we had nothing!--not even experience. Why, our office force -wasn't even organized! And now you say it's hopeless--want us -to quit--just when it's getting relatively easy. We----" - -Levine's querulous voice rose above the din of the -machines--finding fault with something. A stenographer in a -far corner began to count, "One! two! three!" Every one in the -office, even the linotypers and printer's devil beyond the -partition took up the slogan. - -"O-o-oh! Cut it out and work for Socialism." - -The tense expression on Isadore's face relaxed into a confident -grin. - -"That's it. You think we need money to run this paper? We're -doing it on enthusiasm. And nothing is going to stop us." - - -Renovating the State - -BY RALPH WALDO EMERSON - -(See pages 235, 522, 631) - -What is strange, there never was in any man sufficient faith in -the power of rectitude, to inspire him with the broad design -of renovating the State on the principle of right and love. -All those who have pretended this design have been partial -reformers, and have admitted in some manner the supremacy of -the bad State. I do not call to mind a single human being -who has steadily denied the authority of the laws, on the -simple ground of his own moral nature. Such designs, full -of genius and full of fate as they are, are not entertained -except avowedly as air-pictures. If the individual who exhibits -them dare to think them practicable, he disgusts scholars and -churchmen; and men of talent, and women of superior sentiments, -cannot hide their contempt. Not the less does nature continue -to fill the heart of youth with suggestions of this enthusiasm. - - -The New State - -(_From the "Panama-Pacific Ode"_) - -BY GEORGE STERLING - -(See pages 504, 552, 597) - - O dark and cruel State, - Whose towers are altars unto self alone,-- - Whose streets with tears are wet, - And half thy councils given unto hate! - Shall Time not hurl thy temples stone from stone, - And o'er the ruin set - A fairer city than the years have known? - Out of thy darkness do we find us dreams, - And on the future gleams - The vision of thy ramparts built anew. - Mammon and War sit now a double throne, - Yet what we dream, a wiser Age shall do. - - Be ye lift up, O everlasting gates - Of that far City men shall build for man! - O fairer Day that waits, - The splendor of whose dawn we shall not see, - When selfish bonds of family and clan - Melt in the higher love that yet shall be! - O State without a master or a slave, - Whose law of light we crave - Ere morning widen on a world set free! - - -The Coming Dawn - -(_From "Woman"_) - -BY AUGUST BEBEL - -(See page 807) - -Every day furnishes fresh proof of the rapid growth and -spread of the ideas that we represent. In all fields there is -tumult and push. The dawn of a fair day is approaching with -mighty strides. Let us then ever battle and strive forward, -unconcerned as to "where" and "when" the boundary-posts of the -new and better day for mankind will be raised. And if, in the -course of this great battle for the emancipation of the human -race, we should fall, those now in the rear will step forward; -and we shall fall with the consciousness of having done our -duty as human beings, and with the conviction that the goal -will be reached, however the powers hostile to humanity may -struggle or strain in resistance. _Ours is the world, despite -all; that is, for the workers and the woman._ - - -Labor Irresistible - -(_From "Violence and the Labor Movement"_) - -BY ROBERT HUNTER - -(American Socialist writer, born 1874) - -Here it is, "the self-conscious, independent movement of the -immense majority, in the interest of the immense majority," -already with its eleven million voters and its fifty million -souls. It has slowly, patiently, painfully toiled up to a -height where it is beginning to see visions of victory. It has -faith in itself and in its cause. It believes it has the power -of deliverance for all society and for all humanity. It does -not expect the powerful to have faith in it; but, as Jesus -came out of despised Nazareth, so the new world is coming out -of the multitude, amid the toil and sweat and anguish of the -mills, mines, and factories of the world. It has endured much; -suffered long ages of slavery and serfdom. From being mere -animals of production, the workers have become the "hands" -of production; and they are now reaching out to become the -masters of production. And, while in other periods of the -world their intolerable misery led them again and again to -strike out in a kind of torrential anarchy that pulled down -society itself, they have in our time, for the first time in -the history of the world, patiently and persistently organized -themselves into a world power. Where shall we find in all -history another instance of the organization in less than half -a century of eleven million people into a compact force for -the avowed purpose of peacefully and legally taking possession -of the world? They have refused to hurry. They have declined -all short cuts. They have spurned violence. The "bourgeois -democrats," the terrorists, and the syndicalists, each in -their time, have tried to point out a shorter, quicker path. -The workers have refused to listen to them. On the other hand, -they have declined the way of compromise, of fusions, and of -alliances, that have also promised a quicker and shorter road -to power. With most maddening patience they have declined to -take any other path than their own--thus infuriating not only -the terrorists in their own ranks but those Greeks from the -other side who came to them bearing gifts. Nothing seems to -disturb them or to block their path. They are offered reforms -and concessions, which they take blandly, but without thanks. -They move on and on, with the terrible, incessant, irresistible -power of some eternal, natural force. They have been fought; -yet they have never lost a single great battle. They have -been flattered and cajoled, without ever once anywhere being -appeased. They have been provoked, insulted, imprisoned, -calumniated, and repressed. They are indifferent to it all. -They move on and on--with the patience and the meekness of a -people with the vision that they are soon to inherit the earth. - - -From the Magnificat - -BY MARY, MOTHER OF JESUS - -He hath showed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the -proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the -mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree. He -hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he hath -sent empty away. - - -To Labor - -(_From "In This Our World"_) - -BY CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN - -(See pages 200, 209, 421, 662) - - Shall you complain who feed the world? - Who clothe the world? - Who house the world? - Shall you complain who are the world, - Of what the world may do? - As from this hour - You use your power, - The world must follow you! - - The world's life hangs on your right hand! - Your strong right hand, - Your skilled right hand, - You hold the whole world in your hand, - See to it what you do! - Or dark or light, - Or wrong or right, - The world is made by you! - - Then rise as you never rose before! - Nor hoped before! - Nor dared before! - And show as was never shown before, - The power that lies in you! - Stand all as one! - See justice done! - Believe, and Dare, and Do! - - -The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists - -BY ROBERT TRESSALL - -(See page 663. In the character of "Owen," the author here -tells of his own efforts to awaken his fellow-workers in -England) - -Toward the end of March the outlook began to improve. By -the middle of April Rushton and Company were working eleven -and a half hours a day. In May, as the jobs increased and -the days grew longer, they were allowed to put in overtime; -and, as the summer months came round, once more the crowd of -ragged-trousered philanthropists began to toil and sweat at -their noble and unselfish task of making money for Mr. Rushton. -Papering, painting, white-washing, distempering, digging -up drains, repairing roofs, their zeal and enthusiasm were -unbounded. Their operations extended all over the town. At all -hours of the day they were to be seen going to or returning -from jobs, carrying planks and ladders, paint and whitewash, -chimney pots and drain pipes, a crowd of tattered Imperialists, -in broken boots, paint-splashed caps, their clothing saturated -with sweat and plastered with mortar. The daily spectacle of -the workmen, tramping wearily home along the pavement of the -Grand Parade, caused some annoyance to the better classes, and -a letter appeared in _The Obscurer_ suggesting that it would -be better if they walked on the road. When they heard of this -letter most of the men adopted the suggestion and left the -pavement for their betters. - -On the jobs themselves, meanwhile, the same old conditions -prevailed, the same frenzied hurry, the same scamping of the -work, slobbering it over, cheating the customers; the same -curses behind the foreman's back, the same groveling in his -presence, the same strident bellowing from Misery: "Get it -_Done_! For Gord's sake, get it _Done_! 'Aven't you finished -yet? We're losing money over this! If you chaps can't tear into -it we'll have an _Alteration_!" and the result was that the -philanthropists often tore into it to such an extent that they -worked themselves out of a job, for business fluctuated, and -occasionally everybody was "stood off" for a few days.... - -They were putting new floors where the old ones were decayed, -and making two rooms into one by demolishing the parting wall -and substituting an iron girder. They were replacing window -frames and sashes, replastering cracked ceilings and walls, -cutting openings and fitting doors where no doors had ever been -before. They were taking down broken chimney pots and fixing -new ones in their places. They were washing the old whitewash -off the ceilings, and scraping the old paper off the walls. The -air was full of the sounds of hammering and sawing, the ringing -of trowels, the rattle of pails, the splashing of water brushes -and the scraping of the stripping knives. It was also heavily -laden with dust and disease germs, powdered mortar, lime, -plaster, and the dirt that had been accumulating within the old -house for years. In brief, those employed there might be said -to be living in a Tariff Reform Paradise--they had Plenty of -Work. - -At twelve o'clock Bob Crass, the painter's foreman, blew a -prolonged blast upon a whistle and all hands assembled in the -kitchen, where Bert the apprentice had already prepared the tea -in the large galvanized iron pail placed in the middle of the -floor. By the side of the pail were a number of old jam jars, -mugs, dilapidated teacups, and one or two empty condensed milk -tins. Each man on the "job" paid Bert threepence a week for -the tea and sugar--they did not have milk--and although they -had tea at breakfast time as well as at dinner the lad was -generally considered to be making a fortune.... - -As each man came in he filled his cup, jam jar, or condensed -milk tin with tea from the steaming pail, before sitting down. -Most of them brought their food in little wicker baskets, which -they held on their laps, or placed on the floor beside them. - -At first there was no attempt at conversation and nothing was -heard but the sounds of eating and drinking and the frizzling -of the bloater which Easton, one of the painters, was toasting -on the end of a pointed stick at the fire. - -"I don't think much of this bloody tea," suddenly remarked -Sawkins, one of the laborers. - -"Well, it oughter be all right," retorted Bert; "it's bin -bilin' ever since 'arf past eleven...." - -"Has anyone seen old Jack Linden since 'e got the push?" -inquired Harlow. - -"I seen 'im Saturday," said Slyme. - -"Is 'e doin' anything?" - -"I don't know: I didn't 'ave time to speak to 'im." - -"No, 'e ain't got nothing," remarked Philpot. "I seen 'im -Saturday night, an' 'e told me 'e's been walkin' about ever -since." - -Philpot did not add that he had "lent" Linden a shilling, which -he never expected to see again. - -"'E won't be able to get a job again in a 'urry," remarked -Easton; "'e's too old." - -"You know, after all, you can't blame Misery for sackin' 'im," -said Crass after a pause. "'E was too slow for a funeral." - -"I wonder how much _you'll_ be able to do when you're as old as -he is?" said Owen. - -"Praps I won't want to do nothing," replied Crass, with a -feeble laugh. "I'm goin' to live on me means." - -"I should say the best thing old Jack could do would be to go -in the workhouse," said Harlow. - -"Yes: I reckon that's what'll be the end of it," said Easton, -in a matter-of-fact tone. - -"It's a grand finish, isn't it?" observed Owen. "After working -hard all one's life to be treated like a criminal at the end." - -"I don't know what you call bein' treated like criminals," -exclaimed Crass. "I reckon they 'as a bloody fine time of it, -an' we've got to find the money." - -"Oh, for Gord's sake, don't start no more arguments," cried -Harlow, addressing Owen. "We 'ad enough of that last week. You -can't expect a boss to employ a man when 'e's too old to work." - -"Of course not," said Crass. - -Old Joe Philpot said--nothing. - -"I don't see no sense in always grumblin'," Crass proceeded; -"these things can't be altered. You can't expect there can be -plenty of work for everyone with all this 'ere labor-savin' -machinery what's been invented." - -"Of course," said Harlow, "the people what used to be employed -on the work what's now done by machinery has to find something -else to do. Some of 'em goes to our trade, for instance. The -result is there's too many at it, and there ain't enough work -to keep 'em all goin'." - -"Yes," said Crass, eagerly, "that's just what I say. Machinery -is the real cause of all the poverty. That's what I said the -other day." - -"Machinery is undoubtedly the cause of unemployment," replied -Owen, "but it's not the cause of poverty; that's another matter -altogether." - -The others laughed derisively. - -"Well, it seems to me to amount to the same thing," said -Harlow, and nearly everyone agreed. - -"It doesn't seem to me to amount to the same thing," Owen -replied. "In my opinion we are all in a state of poverty even -when we have employment. The condition we are reduced to when -we're out of work is more properly described as destitution. - -"Poverty," continued Owen after a short silence, "consists in a -shortage of the necessaries of life. When those things are so -scarce or so dear that people are unable to obtain sufficient -of them to satisfy all their needs, they are in a condition -of poverty. If you think that the machinery which makes it -possible to produce all the necessaries of life in abundance -is the cause of the shortage, it seems to me there must be -something the matter with your minds." - -"Oh, of course we're all bloody fools, except you," snarled -Crass. "When they was servin' out the sense they give you such -a 'ell of a lot there wasn't none left for nobody else." - -"If there wasn't something wrong with your minds," continued -Owen, "you would be able to see that we might have 'Plenty -of Work' and yet be in a state of destitution. The miserable -wretches who toil sixteen or eighteen hours a day--father, -mother, and even the little children--making matchboxes, or -shirts or blouses, have 'Plenty of Work,' but I for one don't -envy them. Perhaps you think that if there was no machinery, -and we all had to work thirteen or fourteen hours a day in -order to obtain a bare living, we should not be in a condition -of poverty? Talk about there being something the matter with -your minds--if there were not you wouldn't talk one day about -Tariff Reform as a remedy for unemployment, and then the next -day admit that machinery is the cause of it! Tariff Reform -won't do away with machinery, will it?" ... - -No one answered, because none of them knew of any remedy; and -Crass began to feel sorry that he had reintroduced the subject -at all. - -"In the near future," continued Owen, "it is probable that -horses will be almost entirely superseded by motor cars and -electric trams. As the services of horses will no longer be -required, all but a few will die out; they will no longer -be bred to the same extent as formerly. We can't blame the -horses for allowing themselves to be exterminated. They have -not sufficient intelligence to understand what's being done. -Therefore, they will submit tamely to the extinction of the -greater number of their kind. - -"As we have seen, a great deal of the work which was formerly -done by human beings is now being done by machinery. This -machinery belongs to a few people; it is being worked for the -benefit of those few, just the same as were the human beings it -displaced. - -"These few have no longer any need of the services of so -many human workers, so they propose to exterminate them! The -unnecessary human beings are to be allowed to starve to death! -And they are also to be taught that it is wrong to marry and -breed children, because the Sacred Few do not require so many -people to work for them as before!" - -"Yes, and you'll never be able to prevent it, mate!" shouted -Crass. - -"Why can't we?" - -"Because it can't be done!" cried Crass, fiercely. "It's -impossible!" ... - -There was a general murmur of satisfaction. Nearly everyone -seemed very pleased to think that the existing state of things -could not possibly be altered. - - -Wealth Against Commonwealth - -BY HENRY DEMAREST LLOYD - -(American social reformer, pioneer in what later came to be -known as "muck-raking"; 1847-1903) - -One of the largest stones in the arch of "consolidation," -perhaps the keystone, is that men have become so intelligent, -so responsive and responsible, so co-operative, that they can -be trusted in great masses with the care of vast properties -owned entirely by others; and with the operation of complicated -processes, although but a slender cost of subsistence is -awarded them out of fabulous profits. The spectacle of the -million and more employees of the railroads of this country -despatching trains, maintaining tracks, collecting fares and -freights, and turning over hundreds of millions of net profits -to the owners, not one in a thousand of whom would know how -to do the simplest of these things himself, is possible only -where civilization has reached a high average of morals and -culture. More and more the mills and mines and stores, and -even the farms and forests, are being administered by other -than the owners. The virtue of the people is taking the place -Poor Richard thought only the eye of the owner could fill. If -mankind driven by their fears and the greed of others can do -so well, what will be their productivity and cheer when the -"interest of all" sings them to their work? - - -Mutual Aid as a Factor in Evolution - -BY PETER KROPOTKIN - - (This work of the great Russian scientist is a most important - contribution to modern thought, overthrowing as it does the - old-fashioned view of "Nature red in tooth and claw with ravin," which - was the basis of early biologic teaching and is still the basis of all - bourgeois economic ideas) - -As soon as we study animals--not in laboratories and museums -only, but in the forest and prairie, in the steppe and in -the mountains--we at once perceive that though there is an -immense amount of warfare and extermination going on amidst -various species, and especially amidst various classes of -animals, there is, at the same time, as much, or perhaps -even more, of mutual support, mutual aid, and mutual defence -amidst animals belonging to the same species or, at least, to -the same society. Sociability is as much a law of nature as -mutual struggle. Of course it would be extremely difficult to -estimate, however roughly, the relative numerical importance -of both these series of facts. But if we resort to an indirect -test, and ask Nature: "Who are the fittest: those who are -continually at war with each other, or those who support one -another?" we at once see that those animals which acquire -habits of mutual aid are undoubtedly the fittest. They have -more chances to survive, and they attain, in their respective -classes, the highest development and bodily organization. If -the numberless facts which can be brought forward to support -this view are taken into account, we may safely say that mutual -aid is as much a law of animal life as mutual struggle; but -that as a factor of evolution, it most probably has a far -greater importance, inasmuch as it favors the development -of such habits and characters as insure the maintenance and -further development of the species, together with the greatest -amount of welfare and enjoyment of life for the individual, -with the least waste of energy. - - -Co-operation and Nationality - -BY "A.E." (GEORGE W. RUSSELL) - -(See pages 252, 513) - -Wherever there is mutual aid, wherever there is constant give -and take, wherever the prosperity of the individual depends -directly and obviously on the prosperity of the community about -him, there the social order tends to produce fine types of -character, with a devotion to public ideas; and this is the -real object of all government. The worst thing which can happen -to a social community is to have no social order at all, where -every man is for himself and the devil may take the hindmost. -Generally in such a community he takes the front rank as well -as the stragglers. - - -New Worlds for Old - -BY H. G. WELLS - -(See pages 519, 675, 712) - -Socialism is to me a very great thing indeed, the form and -substance of my ideal life and all the religion I possess. I -am, by a sort of predestination, a Socialist. I perceive I -cannot help talking and writing about Socialism, and shaping -and forwarding Socialism. I am one of a succession--one of a -growing multitude of witnesses, who will continue. It does -not--in the larger sense--matter how many generations of us -must toil and testify. It does not matter, except as our -individual concern, how individually we succeed or fail, what -blunders we make, what thwartings we encounter, what follies -and inadequacies darken our private hopes and level our -personal imaginations to the dust. We have the light. We know -what we are for, and that the light that now glimmers so dimly -through us must in the end prevail. - - -Socialism and Motherhood - -BY JOHN SPARGO - -(American Socialist writer and lecturer, born in England, 1876) - -The message of Socialism is a message of Life and Liberty -and Love. It promises to destroy the political, social, and -economic disabilities imposed upon womanhood; to give the -mothers of the race equal freedom with the fathers of the race. -It pledges itself to destroy those conditions of life and labor -which weaken the mothers and deny to their babies the right to -be well born. It claims for every child all the advantages of -healthful and beautiful environment. It would destroy the dread -fear of want which drives the mother from the service of her -child into the service of a great factory. It would bestow upon -every child, as its rightful heritage, opportunity to develop -all its powers. It would apply the principles of the family to -the state. It would abolish the body and soul debasing labor of -children, and give to the little ones their Kingdom of Laughter -and Dreams. It would end the waste of human lives by poverty, -and make true wealth possible for all. It would put an end to -war--the war of classes as well as the war of nations--and -organize and direct the genius and power of the race, now so -largely given to destruction, to the enrichment of life for all -and the realization of Human Brotherhood. - -Socialism comes to the mother as an Angel of Light and Life, -bearing the torch of a great hope. "I am Life Abundant," -cries the angel, "and I bring you as gifts the Freedom and -Opportunity and Joy and Peace for which you have prayed. See, -my Sister, Mother of Men, all these are yours if you will put -forth your hand and receive them." - - -Progress in Medicine - -BY JAMES P. WARBASSE - -(Contemporary American physician) - -Servetus and Harvey were not spurred on to the discovery of the -circulation of the blood by the expectation of profits. One was -burned to the stake and the other was mobbed for his pains. The -whole history of medicine, with its splendid list of martyrs, -is a glorious refutation of the sophistry that competition for -profits is important to human progress. The competitive system, -which surrounds and harrasses medical advancement, hindered it -from the beginning, and retards it still. - - -The Socialist Faith - -BY GEORGE D. HERRON - -(See pages 730, 792, 799) - -Despite the paradoxical and deathful nature of our capitalist -civilization, despite the industrial insanity and spiritual -chaos, a new world is surely forming; dimly may we discern the -white pinnacles and the green gardens of the gathering city -of man. There is approaching--and it is not so far off as it -seems--a world arranged by the wisdom hid in the human heart; -a world that is the organization of a strong and universal -kindness; a world redeemed from the fear of institutions and of -poverty. Even now, derided and discouraged as it is, socially -untrained and inexperienced as it is, if the instinctual and -repressed kindness of mankind were suddenly let loose upon the -earth, sooner than we think would we be members one of another, -sitting around one family hearthstone, and singing the song of -the new humanity.... - - - - -BOOK XVII - -_The New Day_ - -The deliverance of humanity and the triumph of labor -enfranchised; passages from Utopias new and old, and the -raptures of poets and prophets contemplating "the good time -coming." - - -As a Strong Bird on Pinions Free - -BY WALT WHITMAN - -(See pages 174, 268, 578, 726) - - Beautiful World of new, superber Birth, that rises to my eyes, - Like a limitless golden cloud, filling the western sky.... - Thou Wonder World, yet undefined, unformed--neither do I define thee; - How can I pierce the impenetrable blank of the future? - I feel thy ominous greatness, evil as well as good; - I watch thee, advancing, absorbing the present, transcending the past; - I see thy light lighting and thy shadow shadowing, as if the -entire globe; - But I do not undertake to define thee--hardly to comprehend thee; - I but thee name--thee prophesy--as now! - - -The Kingdom of Man - -BY E. RAY LANKESTER - -(English scientist, professor in the University of London, born -1847) - -The new knowledge of Cature, the newly-ascertained capacity -of man for a control of Nature so thorough as to be almost -unlimited, has not as yet had an opportunity of showing what -it can do. No power has called on man to arise and enter upon -the possession of this kingdom--the "Kingdom of Man" foreseen -by Francis Bacon and pictured by him to an admiring but -incredulous age with all the fervor and picturesque detail of -which he was capable. And yet at this moment the mechanical -difficulties, the want of assurance and of exact knowledge, -which necessarily prevented Bacon's schemes from taking -practical shape, have been removed. The will to possess this -vast territory is alone wanting. - -The weariness which is so largely expressed today in regard to -human effort is greatly due to the fact that we have exhausted -old sources of inspiration, and have not yet learned to believe -in the new. It is time for man to take up whole-heartedly the -Kingdom of Nature which it is his destiny to rule. New hope, -new life will, when he does this, be infused into every line of -human activity. To a community which believes in the destiny -of man as the controller of Nature and has consciously entered -upon its fulfilment, there can be none of the weariness and -even despair which comes from an exclusive worship of the past. -There can be only encouragement in every victory gained, hope -and the realization of hope. - - -On a Steamship - -BY UPTON SINCLAIR - -(See pages 43, 143, 194, 274, 403, 776, 803) - - All night, without the gates of slumber lying, - I listen to the joy of falling water, - And to the throbbing of an iron heart. - - In ages past, men went upon the sea, - Waiting the pleasure of the chainless winds: - But now the course is laid, the billows part; - Mankind has spoken: "Let the ship go there!" - - I am grown haggard and forlorn, from dreams - That haunt me, of the time that is to be, - When man shall cease from wantonness and strife, - And lay his law upon the course of things. - Then shall he live no more on sufferance, - An accident, the prey of powers blind; - The untamed giants of nature shall bow down-- - The tides, the tempest and the lightning cease - From mockery and destruction, and be turned - Unto the making of the soul of man. - - -BY THOMAS CARLYLE - -(See pages 31, 74, 133, 488, 553, 652) - -We must some day, at last and forever, cross the line between -Nonsense and Common Sense. And on that day we shall pass from -Class Paternalism, originally derived from fetish fiction -in times of universal ignorance, to Human Brotherhood in -accordance with the nature of things and our growing knowledge -of it; from Political Government to Industrial Administration; -from Competition in Individualism to Individuality in -Co-operation; from War and Despotism, in any form, to Peace and -Liberty. - - -The Revolution - -BY RICHARD WAGNER - -(See pages 236, 747) - -Aye, we behold it, the old world crumbling; a new will rise -therefrom; for the lofty goddess Reason comes rustling on the -wings of storm, her stately head ringed round with lightnings, -a sword in her right hand, a torch in her left. Her eye is -stern, is punitive, is cold; and yet what warmth of purest -love, what wealth of happiness streams forth toward him who -dares to look with steadfast gazing into that eye! Rustling -she comes, the ever-rejuvenating mother of mankind; destroying -and fulfilling, she fares across the earth; before her soughs -the storm, and shakes so fiercely at man's handiwork that vast -clouds of dust eclipse the sky, and where her mighty foot is -set, there falls in ruins what an idle whim had built for -aeons; the hem of her robe sweeps its last remains away. But in -her wake there opens out a never-dreamt paradise of happiness, -illumined by kindly sunbeams; and where her foot had trodden -down, spring fragrant flowers from the soul, and jubilant songs -of freed mankind fill the air, scarce silent from the din of -battle. - - -In Memoriam - -BY ALFRED TENNYSON - -(See pages 77, 486, 652) - - Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, - The flying clouds, the frosty light: - The year is dying in the night; - Ring out, wild bells, and let him die. - - Ring out the old, ring in the new, - Ring, happy bells, across the snow: - The year is going, let him go; - Ring out the false, ring in the true. - - Ring out the grief that saps the mind, - For those that here we see no more; - Ring out the feud of rich and poor, - Ring in redress to all mankind.... - - Ring out false pride in place and blood, - The civic slander and the spite; - Ring in the love of truth and right, - Ring in the common love of good. - - Ring out old shapes of foul disease; - Ring out the narrowing lust of gold; - Ring out the thousand wars of old, - Ring in the thousand years of peace. - - Ring in the valiant man and free, - The larger heart, the kindlier hand; - Ring out the darkness of the land, - Ring in the Christ that is to be. - - -BY ISAIAH - -They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for -the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the -waters cover the sea. - - -Makar's Dream - -BY VLADAMIR G. KOROLENKO - - (Contemporary Russian novelist. In this short story a drunken old - peasant is taken in a dream before the Taion, or god of the forest, - to be judged for his many sins. The sins are piled upon a wooden - scale-pan and the virtues upon a golden one--but alas, the virtues - rise high into the air. Thereupon old Makar, driven to despair, breaks - out into protest so eloquent that the judge is puzzled) - -The scales trembled again ... the old Taion was lost in thought. - -"How is this?" said he. "There are good people still living -on the earth. Their eyes are bright, and their faces shine, -and their robes are spotless.... Their hearts are as tender -as good soil; they receive the good seed, and bring forth -beautiful fruit and the perfume is sweet in my nostrils. Look -at yourself!" - -All eyes were turned towards Makar, who felt ashamed of his -appearance. He knew that his eyes were not bright, and his -face begrimed, his hair and beard matted and tangled, and his -clothes torn. True, he had been thinking of buying a pair of -boots before his death, in order to appear at the judgment seat -as behooves an honest peasant. But he had always spent the -money on drink, and now he stood before the Taion in ragged -shoes, like the last of the Yakouts.... He would gladly have -sunk under the ground. - -"Thy face is dark," went on the Taion. "Thy eyes are not -bright, and thy clothes are torn. And thy heart is overgrown -with weeds and thorns. That is the reason why I love mine own -that are pure and good and holy, and turn my face away from -such as you are." - -Makar's heart was ready to break. He felt ashamed of his -existence. He hung his head, but suddenly lifted it and began -to speak again. - -Who were those just and good men the Taion was speaking about? -If he meant those who were living in fine palaces on the earth -at the same time as Makar did, he knew them well enough. Their -eyes were bright because they had not shed as many tears as -he had, and their faces shone because they were bathed in -perfume, and their clean garments had been wrought by other -people's hands. Did he not see that he too had been born like -the others, with bright, open eyes, in which heaven and earth -were reflected as in a mirror, and with a pure heart which was -ready to take in all that was beautiful in the world. And if he -longed now to hide his wretched self under the ground, it was -no fault of his ... he did not know whose fault it was ... all -he knew was that all the patience had died in his heart. - -If Makar had seen the effect which his speech had produced on -the old Taion, and that every word he said fell on the golden -scale like a weight of lead, his rebellious heart would have -been soothed. But he saw nothing, because he was full of blind -despair. - -He thought of his past life, which had been so hard. How had he -been able to bear it so long? He had borne it because the star -of hope had shone through the darkness. And now the star had -vanished, and the hope was dead.... Darkness fell on his soul, -and a storm rose in it like the storm-wind which flies across -the steppe in the dead of night. He forgot where he was, before -whom he stood--forgot everything except his anger. - -But the old Taion said to him: "Wait, poor man! You are no -longer on earth. There is justice for you here." - -And Makar trembled. He realized that they pitied him; his -heart was softened; and, as he thought of his wretched life, -he burst into tears, weeping over himself. The old Taion wept -too, and so did the old father Ivan. Tears flowed from the eyes -of the young serving-men, and they wiped them with their wide -sleeves. - -And the scales trembled, and the wooden scale rose higher and -higher! - - -The Desire of Nations - -BY EDWIN MARKHAM - -(See pages 27, 199) - - Earth will go back to her lost youth, - And life grow deep and wonderful as truth, - When the wise King out of the nearing Heaven comes - To break the spell of long millenniums-- - To build with song again - The broken hope of men-- - To hush and heroize the world, - Beneath the flag of brotherhood unfurled. - And He will come some day; - Already is His star upon the way! - He comes, O world, He comes! - But not with bugle-cry nor roll of doubling drums.... - - And when He comes into the world gone wrong, - He will rebuild her beauty with a song. - To every heart He will its own dream be: - One moon has many phantoms in the sea. - Out of the North the norns will cry to men: - "Baldur the Beautiful has come again!" - The flutes of Greece will whisper from the dead: - "Apollo has unveiled his sunbright head!" - The stones of Thebes and Memphis will find voice: - "Osiris comes: O tribes of Time, rejoice!" - And social architects who build the State, - Serving the Dream at citadel and gate, - Will hail Him coming through the labor-hum. - And glad quick cries will go from man to man: - "Lo, he has come, our Christ the Artisan, - The King who loved the lilies, He has come!" - - -The Great Change - -BY GEORGE D. HERRON - -(See pages 730, 792, 799, 832) - -Whatever definitions we use, or if we use none at all, we -cannot escape the sense of the passion and the peril, the joy -and the travail of the tremendous and transcendent change -we are inwardly and outwardly undergoing. We are already -appreciably transfigured by it, and soon shall the news of it -be upon pentecostal tongues, and in music such as man has never -heard, and in common deeds diviner than divinest dreams. In a -little while, in a few decades, in one or two or four hundred -years, the change will have been precipitated, the promise will -have been fulfilled, and all things will have passed into the -keeping of the expanded soul. Another, and different race of -men, splendid alike in strength and gentleness, will walk the -earth and climb its sky, bearing down the soul's constrictions -and frontiers, even unto the ramparts around the throne of -life. Man shall sit upon the throne; he shall hold the keys of -his kingdom; he shall make his universe his home, the house -of his heart's desire, shaping it according to the will that -love has begotten within him, and founding it upon the truth -wherewith love has made him free. - - -My Utopian Self - -(_From "A Modern Utopia"_) - -BY H. G. WELLS - - (A vision of the future world which combines the insight of the poet - with the precision of the scientist. In this brief but poignant - passage the spiritual side of the problem is touched upon) - -It falls to few of us to interview our better selves. My -Utopian self is, of course, my better self--according to my -best endeavors--and I must confess myself fully alive to the -difficulties of the situation. When I came to this Utopia I had -no thought of any such intimate self-examination. - -The whole fabric of that other universe sways for a moment as -I come into his room, into his clear and ordered work-room. I -am trembling. A figure rather taller than myself stands against -the light. - -He comes toward me, and I, as I advance to meet him, stumble -against a chair. Then, still without a word, we are clasping -hands. - -I stand now so that the light falls upon him, and I can see his -face better. He is a little taller than I, younger looking and -sounder looking; he has missed an illness or so, and there is -no scar over his eye. His training has been subtly finer then -mine; he has made himself a better face than mine.... These -things I might have counted upon. I can fancy he winces with a -twinge of sympathetic understanding at my manifest inferiority. -Indeed, I come, trailing clouds of earthly confusion and -weakness; I bear upon me all the defects of my world. He wears, -I see, that white tunic with the purple band that I have -already begun to consider the proper Utopian clothing for grave -men, and his face is clean shaven. We forgot to speak at first -in the intensity of our mutual inspection.... - -I think of the confessions I have just made to him, the -strange admissions both to him and myself. I have stirred up -the stagnation of my own emotional life, the pride that has -slumbered, the hopes and disappointments that have not troubled -me for years. There are things that happened to me in my -adolescence that no discipline of reason will ever bring to a -just proportion for me, the first humiliations I was made to -suffer, the waste of all the fine irrevocable loyalties and -passions of my youth. The dull base caste of my little personal -tragi-comedy--I have ostensibly forgiven, I have for the most -part forgotten--and yet when I recall them I hate each actor -still. Whenever it comes into my mind--I do my best to prevent -it--there it is, and these detestable people blot out the stars -for me. - -I have told all that story to my double, and he has listened -with understanding eyes. But for a little while those squalid -memories will not sink back into the deeps. - - -BY ISAIAH - -The ransomed of the Lord shall return: they shall obtain joy -and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. - - -Incentives - -BY CHARLES FOURIER - -(See page 202) - -Up to the present time politicians and philosophers have not -dreamed of rendering industry attractive; to enchain the mass -to labor, they have discovered no other means, after slavery, -than the fear of want and starvation; if, however, industry is -the destiny which is assigned to us by the creator, how can we -think that he would wish to force us to it by violence, and -that he has no notion how to put in play some more noble lever, -some incentive capable of transforming its occupations into -pleasures? - - -For Lyric Labor - -BY ELIZABETH WADDELL - -(Apropos of a remark, attributed to an Italian girl of the -Garment Workers' Union, "It wouldn't be so bad if they would -only let us sing at our work") - - Child of the Renaissance, and little sister - Of Ariosto and of Raphael, - If any hush the song within your bosom, - By all your lyric land, he does not well! - - One day a traveller from our songless country, - Passing at morning through Saint Mark's great Square, - Marvelled, from workmen on the campanile, - To hear a song arising on the air. - - Marvelled to see those stones of Venice rising - To Labor's matin chant intoned so clear, - As the great towers builded by Amphion - Rose to the lyre's strong throbbing, tier on tier. - - Give us, O Child, the gifts we lack full sorely-- - Give us your heritage of art and song, - The soul that in your fathers grew, sun-nourished, - Soaring above its poverty and wrong. - - Of singing vintagers and laughing reapers - Teach us your happy, sunland way, nor we - In blind greed longer lay a stern proscription - Upon your song, O Heart of Italy! - - Free and serene, in his reward unstinted, - The workman's hand shall mould his rhythmic thought; - How candid to the keen-eyed gods' appraisal - Shall be the work of Song's great ardor wrought-- - - When our young land, reborn in Beauty's image, - Unto the Morn of Prophecy shall come, - And every tower be raised with mirth and music, - And every harvest brought with singing home. - - -BY ISAIAH - -The Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; -he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim -liberty to the captives. They shall build the old wastes, they -shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair -the waste cities. - - -The Perfect City - -(_From "The Republic"_) - -BY PLATO - - (Greek philosopher, B. C. 429-347. His "Republic" is the first, and - perhaps the most famous, of all efforts to portray an ideal Society. - The argument is in the form of a discussion between Socrates and some - of his friends and pupils) - -First, then (said Socrates), let us consider in what manner -those who dwell in the city shall be supported. Is there any -other way than by making bread and wine, and clothes and -shoes, and building houses? They will be nourished, partly -with barley, making meal of it, and partly with wheat, making -loaves, boiling part, and toasting part, putting fine loaves -and cakes over a fire of stubble, or over dried leaves, and -resting themselves on couches strewed with smilax and myrtle -leaves. They and their children will feast, drinking wine, and -crowned, and singing to the Gods; and they will pleasantly -live together, begetting children not beyond their substance, -guarding against poverty or war. - -Glauco, replying, said: You make the men to feast, as it -appears, without meats. - -You say true, said I: for I forget that they need have meats -likewise. They shall have salt and olives and cheese, and -they shall boil bulbous roots and herbs of the field; and we -set before them desserts of figs and vetches and beans; and -they toast at the fire myrtle berries and the berries of the -beech-tree, drinking in moderation. Thus passing their life in -peace and health, and dying, as is likely, in old age, they -will leave to their children another such life. - -If you had been making, Socrates, said he, a city of hogs, what -else would have fed them but these things? - -But how should we do, Glauco, said I? - -What is usually done, said he. They must, as I imagine, have -their beds and tables, and meats and desserts, as we now have, -if they are not to be miserable. - -Be it so, said I: I understand you. We consider, it seems, not -only how a city may exist, but a luxurious city; and perhaps it -is not amiss; for in considering such a one, we may probably -see how justice and injustice have their origin in cities. The -true city seems to me to be such as we have described, like one -who is healthy; but if you prefer that we likewise consider -a city that is corpulent, nothing hinders it. For these -things will not, it seems, please some, nor this sort of life -satisfy them; but there shall be beds and tables and all other -furniture, seasonings, ointments, and perfumes, mistresses, and -confections: and various kinds of these. And we must no longer -consider as alone necessary what we mentioned at the first, -houses and clothes and shoes, but painting, too, and all the -curious arts must be set agoing, and carving, and gold, and -ivory; and all these things must be got, must they not? - -Yes, said he. - -Must not the city, then, be larger? For that healthy one is -no longer sufficient, but is already full of luxury, and of a -crowd of such as are in no way necessary to cities; such as all -kinds of sportsmen, and the imitative artists, many of them -imitating in figures, and colors; and others in music; and -poets too, and their ministers, rhapsodists, actors, dancers, -undertakers, workmen of all sorts of instruments, and what -hath reference to female ornament, as well as other things. We -shall need likewise many more servants. Do you not think they -will need pedagogues, and nurses, and tutors, hair-dressers, -barbers, victuallers too, and cooks? And further still, we -shall want swineherds likewise; of these there were none in the -other city (for there needed not); but in this we shall want -these, and many other sorts of herds likewise, if any eat the -several animals, shall we not? - -Why not? - -Shall we not, then, in this manner of life be much more in need -of physicians than formerly? - -Much more. - -And the country, which was then sufficient to support the -inhabitants, will, instead of being sufficient, become too -little; or how shall we say? - -Just so, said he. - -Must we not then encroach upon the neighboring country, if we -want to have sufficient for plough and pasture, and they in -like manner upon us, if they likewise suffer themselves to -accumulate wealth to infinity, going beyond the boundaries of -necessaries? - -There is great necessity for it, Socrates. - -Shall we afterwards fight, Glauco, or how shall we do? - -We shall certainly, said he. - -We say nothing, said I, whether war does any evil or any good, -but this much only: _that we have found the origin of war, from -which most especially arise the greatest mischiefs to states, -both private and public_. - - -Utopia - -BY SIR THOMAS MORE - - (The word "Utopia" means "No Place." It was first used in this book, - and has come to be a general name for pictures of a future society. - The book was written in Latin, and first published in Belgium in 1516. - The translation here quoted was published in England in 1551) - -Every Cytie is devided into foure equall partes or quarters. -In the myddes of every quarter there is a market place of all -maner of things. Thether the workes of every familie be brought -into certeyne houses. And everye kynde of thing is layde up -severall in bernes or store houses. From hence the father of -everye familye, or every householder fetchethe whatsoever he -and his have neade of, and carieth it away with him without -money, without exchaunge, without any gage, pawne, or pledge. -For whye shoulde any thing be denyed unto him? Seynge there -is abundance of all things, and that it is not to bee feared, -leste anye man wyll aske more then he neadeth. For whie should -it be thoughte that that man woulde aske more then anough, -which is sewer never to lacke? Certeynely in all kyndes of -lyving creatures either feare of lacke dothe cause covetousnes -and ravyne, or in man only pryde, which counteth it a glorious -thinge to pass and excel other in the superfluous and vayne -ostentation of thinges. The whyche kynde of vice amonge the -Utopians can have no place. - -Nowe I have declared and described unto you, as truelye as I -coulde the fourme and ordre of that common wealth, which verely -in my judgment is not only the beste, but also that which -alone of good right maye claime and take upon it the name of -a commonwealth or publique weale. For in other places they -speake stil of the common wealth. But every man procureth his -owne private gaine. Here where nothinge is private, the commen -affaires bee earnestlye loked upon.... For there nothinge is -distributed after a nyggyshe sorte, neither there is anye poore -man or beggar. And thoughe no man have anye thinge, yet everye -man is ryche. For what can be more ryche, than to lyve joyfully -and merely, without al griefe and pensifenes: not caring -for his owne lyving, nor vexed or troubled with his wifes -importunate complayntes, nor dreadynge povertie to his sonne, -nor sorrowyng for his doughters dowrey? - - -The Soul of Man Under Socialism - -BY OSCAR WILDE - -(See page 155) - -The fact is, that civilization requires slaves. The Greeks -were quite right there. Unless there are slaves to do the -ugly, horrible, uninteresting work, culture and contemplation -become almost impossible. Human slavery is wrong, insecure, -and demoralizing. On mechanical slavery, on the slavery of the -machine, the future of the world depends. - - -FROM THE BOOK OF LEVITICUS - -(See page 477) - -Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the -inhabitants thereof. - - -Cities, Old and New - -(_From "In the Days of the Comet"_) - -BY H. G. WELLS - -(See pages 519, 675, 712, 830, 844) - -Where is that old world now? Where is London, that somber city -of smoke and drifting darkness, full of the deep roar and -haunting music of disorder, with its oily, shining, mud-rimmed, -barge-crowded river, its black pinnacles, and blackened dome, -its sad wildernesses of smut-grayed houses, its myriads -of draggled prostitutes, its millions of hurrying clerks? -The very leaves upon its trees were foul with greasy black -defilements. Where is the lime-white Paris, with its green and -disciplined foliage, its hard unflinching tastefulness, its -smartly organized viciousness, and the myriads of workers, -noisily shod, streaming over the bridges in the gray cold -light of dawn? Where is New York, the high city of clangor and -infuriated energy, wind swept and competition swept, its huge -buildings jostling one another and straining ever upward for a -place in the sky, the fallen pitilessly overshadowed? Where are -its lurking corners of heavy and costly luxury, the shameful -bludgeoning bribing vice of its ill ruled underways, and all -the gaunt extravagant ugliness of its strenuous life?... - -All these vast cities have given way and gone, even as my -native Potteries and the Black Country have gone, and the lives -that were caught, crippled, starved, and maimed amidst their -labyrinths, their forgotten and neglected maladjustments, -and their vast, inhuman, ill-conceived industrial machinery -have escaped--to life. Those cities of growth and accident -are altogether gone, never a chimney smokes about our world -today, and the sound of the weeping of children who toiled and -hungered, the dull despair of overburdened women, the noise of -brute quarrels in alleys, all shameful pleasures and all the -ugly grossness of wealthy pride have gone with them, with the -utter change of our lives. As I look back into the past I see a -vast exultant dust of house-breaking and removal rise up into -the clear air; I live again the Year of Tents, the Years of -Scaffolding, and like the triumph of a new theme in a piece of -music--the great cities of our new days arise. - - -Caesar and Cleopatra - -BY G. BERNARD SHAW - -(See pages 193, 212, 263, 402, 760, 798) - -(_The Romans have set fire to the Library of Alexandria_) - -THEODOTUS:--What is burning there is the memory of mankind. - -CAESAR:--A shameful memory. Let it burn. - -THEODOTUS (_wildly_):--Will you destroy the past? - -CAESAR:--Ay, and build the future with its ruins. - - -BY ALFRED TENNYSON - -(See pages 77, 486, 652, 838) - - The old order changeth, yielding place to new - And God fulfils Himself in many ways, - Lest one good custom should corrupt the world. - - -A Festival in Utopia - -(_From "News from Nowhere"_) - -BY WILLIAM MORRIS - -(See page 793) - -"Once a year, on May-day, we hold a solemn feast in those -easterly communes of London to commemorate the Clearing of -Misery, as it is called. On that day we have music and dancing, -and merry games and happy feasting on the site of some of the -worst of the old slums, the traditional memory of which we have -kept. On that occasion the custom is for the prettiest girls to -sing some of the old revolutionary songs, and those which were -the groans of discontent, once so hopeless, on the very spots -where those terrible crimes of class-murder were committed day -by day for so many years. To a man like me, who has studied -the past so diligently, it is a curious and touching sight -to see some beautiful girl, daintily clad, and crowned with -flowers from the neighboring meadows, standing among the happy -people, on some mound where of old time stood the wretched -apology for a house,--a den in which men and women lived packed -among the filth like pilchards in a cask; lived in such a way -that they could only have endured it, as I said just now, by -being degraded out of humanity. To hear the terrible words of -threatening and lamentation coming from her sweet and beautiful -lips, and she unconscious of their real meaning; to hear her -singing Hood's 'Song of the Shirt,' and think all the time -she does not understand what it is all about--a tragedy grown -inconceivable to her and her listeners. Think of that if you -can, and of how glorious life is grown!" - -"Indeed," said I, "it is difficult for me to think of it." - - -The Utopian City - -(_From "A Modern Utopia"_) - -BY H. G. WELLS - -(See pages 519, 675, 712, 830, 844, 853) - -Here will be one of the great meeting places of mankind. -Here--I speak of Utopian London--will be the traditional centre -of one of the great races in the commonality of the World -State--and here will be its social and intellectual exchange. -There will be a mighty University here, with thousands of -professors and tens of thousands of advanced students, and -here great journals of thought and speculation, mature and -splendid books of philosophy and science, and a glorious -fabric of literature will be woven and shaped, and with a -teeming leisureliness, put forth. Here will be stupendous -libraries, and a mighty organization of museums. About these -centres will cluster a great swarm of people, and close at -hand will be another centre,--for I who am an Englishman must -needs stipulate that Westminster shall still be a seat of -world Empire, one of several seats, if you will--where the -ruling council of the world assembles. Then the arts will -cluster round this city, as gold gathers about wisdom, and -here Englishmen will weave into wonderful prose and beautiful -rhythms and subtly atmospheric forms, the intricate, austere -and courageous imagination of our race. - -One will come into this place as one comes into a noble -mansion. They will have flung great arches and domes of glass -above the wider spaces of the town, the slender beauty of -the perfect metal-work far overhead will be softened to a -fairy-like unsubstantiality by the mild London air. It will be -the London air we know, clear of filth and all impurity, the -same air that gives our October days their unspeakable clarity -and makes every London twilight mysteriously beautiful. We -shall go along avenues of architecture that will be emancipated -from the last memories of the squat temple boxes of the Greek, -the buxom curvatures of Rome; the Goth in us will have taken -to steel and countless new materials as kindly as once he took -to stone. The gay and swiftly moving platforms of the public -ways will go past on either hand, carrying sporadic groups of -people, and very speedily we shall find ourselves in a sort -of central space, rich with palms and flowering bushes and -statuary. We shall look along an avenue of trees, down a wide -gorge between the cliffs of crowded hotels that are still -glowing with internal lights, to where the shining morning -river streams dawnlit out to sea. - - -The Utopia of Syndicalism - -(_From "Syndicalism and the Co-operative Commonwealth"_) - -BY ÉMILE PATAUD AND ÉMILE POUGET - - (Two of the most prominent leaders of the revolutionary trade unions - of France have in this story, published in 1912, portrayed the - overthrow of the capitalist state by the method of the general strike, - and the form of society which they anticipate from the "direct action" - of the workers). - - -_The Trade Union Congress_ - -Delegates came from all parts of France. They came from all -trades, from all professions. In the enormous hall in which -the Congress was held, peasants, teachers, fishermen, doctors, -postmen, masons, sat beside market-gardeners, miners and -metal-workers. An epitome of the whole of society was there. - -It was a stirring scene, this assembly, where were gathered -together the most energetic and most enthusiastic of the -combatants for the Revolution, who, inaugurating a new era, -were about to disentangle and sum up the aspirations of the -people; to point out the road along which they were resolved to -march. - -The old militants, who had seen so many Congresses; who had -fought rough fights, and known the bitterness of struggles -against the employers and the State; who in their hours of -anxiety and doubt had despaired of ever seeing their hopes -materialize, were radiant with joy. Their bold thoughts of past -years were taking shape, they lived their dream! A happy moment -it was, when old comrades greeted each other. They met, their -hands held out; and trembling, and deeply moved, they embraced -each other--transfigured, radiant. - -The new delegates, out of their element at first, in the midst -of this fever of life, were soon caught by the atmosphere of -enthusiasm. Many of them were the product of events. Before the -Revolution, they were ignorant of their own capacities; and if -it had not come to shake them out of their torpor, they would -have continued to vegetate; passive, indifferent, hesitating. -Thanks to it, their inner powers were revealed to themselves; -and now, overflowing with passion, energy, and enthusiasm, they -vibrated with an immense force. - - -_The Distribution of Wealth_ - -In the first place, a resolution was taken which there was -no need to discuss, or even to explain--it was so logical -and inevitable: the charging the community with the care of -the children, the sick, and the aged. This was a question of -principle which had the advantage of demonstrating, to those -who still retained prejudices with regard to the new régime, -how little the future was going to be like the past.... - -Two tendencies were shown; one, that of pure Communism, -which advocated complete liberty in consumption, without any -restriction; the other, inspired with Communist ideas, but -finding their strict application premature, and advocating a -compromise. - -The latter view predominated. It was therefore agreed as -follows:-- - -That every human being, whatever his social function might be, -had a right to an equal remuneration, which would be divided -into two parts: the one for the satisfaction of ordinary needs; -the other for the needs of luxury. The remuneration would be -obtained, with regard to the first, by a permanent Trade Union -card; and with regard to the second, by a book of consumers' -"notes." - -The first class included all kinds of commodities, all food -products, clothing, all that would be in such abundance that -the consumption of it need not be restricted; each one would -have the right to draw from the common stock, according to -his needs, without any other formality than having to present -his card in the shops and depots, to those in charge of -distribution. - -In the second class would be placed products of various kinds, -which, being in too small a quantity to allow of their being -put at the free disposition of all, retained a purchase value, -liable to vary according to their greater or less rarity, -and greater or less demand. The price of these products was -calculated according to the former monetary method, and the -quantity of work necessary to produce them would be one of -the elements in fixing their value; they would be delivered on -the payment of "consumers' notes," the mechanism of whose use -recalled that of the cheque. - -It was, however, agreed that in proportion as the products of -this second class became abundant enough to attain to the level -necessary for free consumption, they should enter into the -first class; and ceasing to be considered as objects of luxury, -they should be, without rationing, placed at the disposal of -all. - -By this arrangement society approached, automatically, more and -more towards pure Communism. - - -The New Nationalism - -BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT - -(Ex-president of the United States, born 1858) - -Practical equality of opportunity for all citizens, when we -achieve it, will have two great results. First, every man will -have a fair chance to make himself all that in him lies; to -reach the highest point to which his capacities, unassisted -by special privilege of his own and unhampered by the special -privilege of others, can carry him, and to get for himself -and for his family substantially what he has earned. Second, -equality of opportunity means that the commonwealth will get -from every citizen the highest service of which he is capable. -No man who carries the burden of the special privileges of -another can give to the commonwealth that service to which it -is fairly entitled. - - -Looking Backward - -BY EDWARD BELLAMY - -(A story of the experience of a man who goes to sleep and wakes -up a hundred years later. See page 85) - -"How do you regulate wages?" I asked. - -Dr. Leete did not reply till after several moments of -meditative silence. "I know, of course," he finally said, -"enough of the old order of things to understand just what you -mean by that question; and yet the present order is so utterly -different at this point that I am a little at a loss how to -answer you best. You ask me how we regulate wages: I can only -reply that there is no idea in the modern social economy which -at all corresponds with what was meant by wages in your day." - -"I suppose you mean that you have no money to pay wages in," -said I. "But the credit given the worker at the Government -storehouse answers to his wages with us. How is the amount -of credit given respectively to the workers in different -lines determined? By what title does the individual claim his -particular share? What is the basis of allotment?" - -"His title," replied Dr. Leete, "is his humanity. The basis of -his claim is the fact that he is a man." - -"The fact that he is a man!" I repeated, incredulously. "Do you -possibly mean that all have the same share?" - -"Most assuredly." ... - -"But what inducement," I asked, "can a man have to put -forth his best endeavors when, however much or little he -accomplishes, his income remains the same? High characters may -be moved by devotion to the common welfare under such a system, -but does not the average man tend to rest back on his oar, -reasoning that it is of no use to make a special effort, since -the effort will not increase his income, nor its withholding -diminish it?" - -"Does it then really seem to you," answered my companion, "that -human nature is insensible to any motives save fear of want and -love of luxury, that you should expect security and equality of -livelihood to leave them without possible incentives to effort? -Your contemporaries did not really think so, though they might -fancy they did. When it was a question of the grandest class -of efforts, the most absolute self-devotion, they depended on -quite other incentives. Not higher wages, but honor and hope of -men's gratitude, patriotism and the inspiration of duty, were -the motives which they set before their soldiers when it was a -question of dying for the nation; and never was there an age of -the world when these motives did not call out what is best and -noblest in men. And not only this, but when you come to analyze -the love of money which was the general impulse to effort -in your day, you find that the dread of want and desire of -luxury were two of several motives which the pursuit of money -represented; the others, and with many the more influential, -being desire of power, of social position and reputation for -ability and success. So you see that though we have abolished -poverty and the fear of it, and inordinate luxury with the hope -of it, we have not touched the greater part of the motives -which underlay the love of money in former times, or any of -those which prompted the supremer sorts of effort. The coarser -motives, which no longer move us, have been replaced by high -motives wholly unknown to the mere wage earners of your age. -Now that industry of any sort is no longer self-service, but -service of the nation, patriotism, passion for humanity, impel -the workers as in your day they did the soldier. The army -of industry is an army, not alone by virtue of its perfect -organization, but by reason also of the ardor of self-devotion -which animates its members. - -"But as you used to supplement the motives of patriotism -with the love of glory, in order to stimulate the value of -your soldiers, so do we. Based as our industrial system is -on the principle of requiring the same unit of effort from -every man, that is the best he can do, you will see that the -means by which we spur the workers to do their best must be -a very essential part of our scheme. With us, diligence in -the national service is, the sole and certain way to public -repute, social distinction, and official power. The value of -a man's services in society fixes his rank in it. Compared -with the effect of our social arrangements in impelling men to -be zealous in business, we deem the object-lessons of biting -poverty and wanton luxury on which you depended a device as -weak and uncertain as it was barbaric." - - -Liberty in Utopia - -(_From "A Modern Utopia"_) - -BY H. G. WELLS - -(See pages 519, 675, 712, 830, 844, 853, 856) - -The idea of individual liberty is one that has grown in -importance and grows with every development of modern thought. -To the classical Utopists freedom was relatively trivial. -Clearly they considered virtue and happiness as entirely -separable from liberty, and as being altogether more important -things. But the modern view, with its deepening insistence -upon individuality and upon the significance of its uniqueness, -steadily intensifies the value of freedom, until at last we -begin to see liberty as the very substance of life, that indeed -it is life, and that only the dead things, the choiceless -things, live in absolute obedience to law. To have free play -for one's individuality is, in the modern view, the subjective -triumph of existence, as survival in creative work and -offspring is its objective triumph.... - -A Utopia such as this present one, written on the opening -of the Twentieth Century, and after the most exhaustive -discussion--nearly a century long--between Communistic and -Socialistic ideas on the one hand, and Individualism on -the other, emerges upon a sort of effectual conclusion to -these controversies.... In the very days when our political -and economic order is becoming steadily more Socialistic, -our ideals of intercourse turn more and more to a fuller -recognition of the claims of individuality. The State is to be -progressive, it is no longer to be static, and this alters the -general condition of the Utopian problem profoundly; we have to -provide not only for food and clothing, for order and health, -but for initiative. The factor that leads the World State on -from one phase of development to the next is the interplay of -individualities; to speak teleologically, the world exists for -the sake of and through initiative, and individuality is the -method of initiative.... The State is for Individuals, the law -is for freedoms, the world is for experiment, experience and -change: these are the fundamental beliefs upon which modern -Utopia must go. - - -FROM THE EPISTLE OF JAMES - -Whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth -therein, he not being a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the -work, this man shall be blessed in his deed. - - -The Social Revolution and After - -BY KARL KAUTSKY - -(German Socialist editor, generally recognized as the -intellectual leader of the modern Social-democratic movement in -his country) - -Freedom of education and of scientific investigation from the -fetters of capitalist dominion; freedom of the individual -from the oppression of exclusive, exhaustive physical labor; -displacement of capitalist industry in the intellectual -production of society by the free unions--along this road -proceeds the tendency of the proletarian régime.... - -Regulation of social chaos and liberation of the -individual--these are the two historical tasks that capitalism -has placed before society. They appear to be contradictory, but -they are simultaneously soluble because each of them belongs to -a different sphere of social life. Undoubtedly whoever should -seek to rule both spheres in the same manner would find himself -involved in insoluble contradictions.... - -_Communism in material production, anarchism in intellectual._ -This is the type of the Socialist productive system which will -arise from the dominion of the proletariat. - - -The Understanding of Nature - -(_From "Studies in Socialism"_) - -BY JEAN LEON JAURÈS - -(See page 589) - -When Socialism has triumphed, when conditions of peace have -succeeded to conditions of combat, when all men have their -share of property in the immense human capital, and their share -of initiative and of the exercise of free-will in the immense -human activity, then all men will know the fulness of pride -and joy; and they will feel that they are co-operators in the -universal civilization, even if their immediate contribution -is only the humblest manual labor; and this labor, more noble -and more fraternal in character, will be so regulated that the -laborers shall always reserve for themselves some leisure hours -for reflection and for a cultivation of the sense of life. - -They will have a better understanding of the hidden meaning of -life, whose mysterious aim is the harmony of all consciences, -of all forces, and of all liberties. They will understand -history better and will love it, because it will be their -history, since they are the heirs of the whole human race. -Finally, they will understand the universe better; because, -when they see conscience and spirit triumphing in humanity, -they will be quick to feel that this universe which has given -birth to humanity cannot be fundamentally brutal and blind; -that there is spirit everywhere, soul everywhere, and that the -universe itself is simply an immense confused aspiration toward -order, beauty, freedom, and goodness. Their point of view will -be changed; they will look with new eyes not only at their -brother men, but at the earth and the sky, rocks and trees, -animals, flowers, and stars. - - -The Future of Art - -(_From "Collectivism and Industrial Evolution"_) - -BY ÉMILE VANDERVELDE - -(Belgian Socialist leader, since the war a member of the -Cabinet) - -Many a time it has been said that art under all its forms is -only the mirror, more or less distorted, yet always faithful, -of society. Today it reflects the discouragements of a dying -_bourgeoisie_, the torments, the anguish, and also the hopes of -a proletariat which lives and grows in the midst of suffering. -Tomorrow, it will reflect the calm and peace of happy -generations which, escaped from the mire of poverty, will have -founded through their own efforts the sovereignty of labor and -the reign of brotherhood. - - -Art After the Revolution - -(_From "Syndicalism and the Co-operative Commonwealth"_) - -BY ÉMILE PATAUD AND ÉMILE POUGET - -(See page 857) - -Life was now to take its revenge. The human being was no longer -riveted to the chain of wages; his aim in life passed beyond -the mere struggle for a living. Industry was no longer his -master, but his servant. Freed from all hindrances, he would -be able to develop without constraint. - -And there was no need to fear that the level of art would be -lowered as it became universalized. Far from this, it would -gain in extent and depth. Its domain would be unlimited. It -would enter into all production. It would not restrict itself -to painting large canvasses, to sculpturing marble, to moulding -bronze. There would be art in everything. - -And we should no longer see great artists stifled by misery, -lost in the quicksands of indifference, as was too often the -case formerly. - - -Punishment in Utopia - -(_From "A Modern Utopia"_) - -BY H. G. WELLS - -(See pages 519, 675, 712, 830, 844, 853, 856, 863) - -You see the big convict steamship standing in to the Island of -Incurable Cheats. The crew are respectfully at their quarters, -ready to lend a hand overboard, but wide awake, and the captain -is hospitably on the bridge to bid his guests good-bye and keep -an eye on the movables. The new citizens for this particular -Alsatia, each no doubt with his personal belongings securely -packed and at hand, crowd the deck and study the nearing coast. -Bright, keen faces would be there, and we, were we by any -chance to find ourselves beside the captain, might recognize -the double of this great earthly magnate or that, Petticoat -Lane and Park Lane cheek by jowl. The landing part of the -jetty is clear of people, only a government man or so stands -there to receive the boat and prevent a rush; but beyond the -gates a number of engagingly smart-looking individuals loiter -speculatively. One figures a remarkable building labeled Custom -House, an interesting fiscal revival this population has made, -and beyond, crowding up the hill, the painted walls of a number -of comfortable inns clamor loudly. One or two inhabitants in -reduced circumstances would act as hotel touts, there are -several hotel omnibuses and a Bureau de Change, certainly a -Bureau de Change. And a small house with a large board, aimed -point-blank seaward, declares itself a Gratis Information -Office, and next to it rises the graceful dome of a small -Casino. Beyond, great hoardings proclaim the advantages of -many island specialities, a hustling commerce, and the opening -of a Public Lottery. There is a large cheap-looking barrack, -the school of Commercial Science for gentlemen of inadequate -training.... - -Altogether a very go-ahead looking little port it would be, -and though this disembarkation would have none of the flow of -hilarious good fellowship that would throw a halo of genial -noise about the Islands of Drink, it is doubtful if the new -arrivals would feel anything very tragic in the moment. Here at -last was scope for adventure after their hearts. - -This sounds more fantastic than it is. But what else is there -to do, unless you kill? You must seclude, but why should you -torment? All modern prisons are places of torture by restraint, -and the habitual criminal plays the part of a damaged mouse -at the mercy of the cat of our law. He has his little painful -run, and back he comes again to a state more horrible even -than destitution. There are no Alsatias left in the world. For -my own part I can think of no crime, unless it is reckless -begetting or the wilful transmission of contagious disease, -for which the bleak terrors, the solitudes and ignominies of -the modern prison do not seem outrageously cruel. If you want -to go as far as that, then kill. Why, once you are rid of them, -should you pester criminals to respect an uncongenial standard -of conduct? Into such islands of exile as this a modern Utopia -will have to purge itself. There is no alternative that I can -contrive. - - -A Preface to Politics - -BY WALTER LIPPMANN - -(See page 779) - -You don't have to preach honesty to men with a creative -purpose. Let a human being throw the energies of his soul into -the making of something, and the instinct of workmanship will -take care of his honesty. The writers who have nothing to say -are the ones you can buy; the others have too high a price. A -genuine craftsman will not adulterate his product; the reason -isn't because duty says he shouldn't, but because passion says -he couldn't. - - -The Triumph of Love - -(_From "Labor"_) - -BY ÉMILE ZOLA - - (In this novel the French writer gives his solution of the labor - problem, in the story of a young engineer who is led by the study of - Fourier to found a co-operative steel mill, which in the course of - time replaces all the old competitive establishments, and brings about - a reign of human brotherhood) - -The triumphant spectacle that Luc had now always before his -eyes, that city of happiness, the gayly colored roofs of which -were spread out before his window, was admirable. The march of -progress which a former generation, sunk in ancient error, and -contaminated by an iniquitous environment, had so mournfully -begun in the midst of many obstacles and former hatreds, was to -be pursued by their children, instructed and disciplined by the -schools and workshops, advancing with a cheerful step, even to -the attainment of aims formerly declared chimerical. The long -effort of struggling humanity resulted in the free expansion -of the individual, in a society completely satisfied; in man -being fully man, and living his life in its entirety. The happy -city was thus realized in the religion of life; the religion -of humanity, freed at length from dogmas, became in itself all -glory and all joy.... - -Authority was at an end; the new social system had no other -foundation than the tie of labor accepted as necessary by all, -their law and the object of their worship. A number of groups -adopted the new system, breaking off from the old groups of -builders, dealers in clothing, metal-workers, artisans, and -farm laborers, each group increasing in number, each different, -each making itself essential to the rest, and satisfying -individual wants as well as the needs of a community. Nothing -impeded any man's expansion; a citizen working as a laborer -might unite himself with as many groups as he thought proper.... - -And in the city all was love. A pervading sense of love, -increasing, wholesome, purifying, became the perfume and the -sacred flame of daily life. Love, general and universal, had -its birth in youth; then it passed on and became mother love, -father love, filial love; it spread to relations, to neighbors, -to fellow-citizens, to all men upon earth, and as its waves -swept on and became stronger, it seemed to become a great sea -of love, bathing the shores of the whole earth. Charity--that -is, love of one's neighbors--was like the fresh air which -fills the lungs of all who breathe it; everywhere there was -this feeling of brotherly love; love alone had proved able to -realize the unity men had so long dreamed of, bringing all -into divine harmony. The human race, at last as well balanced -as the planets in their orbits by the law of attraction, the -laws of justice, solidarity, and love, would go joyfully on -its round through the ages of eternity. Such was the harvest -ever renewed and renewing, the great harvest of tenderness and -loving kindness, that Luc every morning saw growing up around -him in spots where he had sown his seed so bountifully in his -early days. In his whole city, in his school-rooms, in his -work-shops, in each house, and almost in each heart, for many -years he had been sowing the good seed with lavish hands. - - -The City of the Sun - -BY CAMPANELLA - - (A picture of an ideal community written about A.D. 1600 by an Italian - student who was imprisoned for twenty-seven years, and nine times - tortured by the Spanish Inquisition. See page 438) - -Love is foremost in attending to the charge of the race. He -sees that men and women are joined together, that they bring -forth the best offspring. Indeed, they laugh at us who exhibit -a studious care for our breed of horses and dogs, but neglect -the breeding of human beings. Thus the education of children -is under his rule. So also is the medicine that is sold, the -sowing and collecting of fruits of the earth and of trees, -agriculture, pasturage, the preparations for the months, the -cooking arrangements, and whatever has any reference to food, -clothing, and the intercourse of the sexes. Love himself is -ruler, but there are many male and female magistrates dedicated -to these arts. - - -Love in Utopia - -(_From "News from Nowhere"_) - -BY WILLIAM MORRIS - -(See pages 793, 855) - - (A famous English Socialist romance; the dream of a poet made - heartsick by the sights and sounds of a machine civilization, and - yearning for beauty, simplicity, and peace) - -"Ah," said I, "no doubt you wanted to keep them out of the -Divorce Court; but I suppose it often has to settle such -matters?" - -"Then you suppose nonsense," said he. "I know that there -used to be such lunatic affairs as divorce courts; but just -consider, all the cases that came into them were matters of -property quarrels; and I think, dear guest, that though you do -come from another planet, you can see from the mere outside -look of our world that quarrel about private property could not -go on among us in our days." - -Indeed, my drive from Hammersmith to Bloomsbury, and all the -quiet, happy life I had seen so many hints of, even apart from -my shopping, would have been enough to tell me that "the sacred -rights of property," as we used to think of them, were now no -more. So I sat silent while the old man took up the thread of -the discourse again.... - -"You must understand once for all that we have changed these -matters; or rather, that our way of looking at them has changed -within the last two hundred years. We do not deceive ourselves, -indeed, or believe that we can get rid of all the trouble that -besets the dealings between the sexes. We know that we must -face the unhappiness that comes of man and woman confusing -the relations between natural passion and sentiment, and the -friendship which, when things go well, softens the awakening -from passing illusions; but we are not so mad as to pile up -degradation on that unhappiness by engaging in sordid squabbles -about livelihood and position, and the power of tyrannizing -over the children who have been the results of love or lust." -... - -He was silent for some time, and I would not interrupt him. -At last he began again: "But you must know that we of these -generations are strong and healthy of body, and live easily; we -pass our lives in reasonable strife with nature, exercising not -one side of ourselves only, but all sides, taking the keenest -pleasure in all the life of the world. So it is a point of -honor with us not to be self-centered,--not to suppose that the -world must cease because one man is sorry; therefore we should -think it foolish, or if you will, criminal, to exaggerate these -matters of sentiment and sensibility; we are no more inclined -to eke out our sentimental sorrows than to cherish our bodily -pains; and we recognize that there are other pleasures besides -love-making. You must remember, also, that we are long-lived, -and that therefore beauty both in man and woman is not so -fleeting as it was in the days when we were burdened so heavily -with self-inflicted diseases. So we shake off these griefs in -a way which perhaps the sentimentalist of other times would -think contemptible and unheroic, but which we think necessary -and manlike. As on the one hand, therefore, we have ceased to -be commercial in our love-matters, so also we have ceased to -be artificially foolish. The folly which comes by nature, the -unwisdom of the immature man, or the older man caught in a -trap, we must put up with that, nor are we much ashamed of it; -but to be conventionally sensitive or sentimental--my friend, I -am old and perhaps disappointed, but at least I think that we -have cast off _some_ of the follies of the older world." - - -Parentage and the State - -BY H. G. WELLS - -(See pages 519, 675, 712, 830, 844, 853, 856, 863, 868) - -Parentage rightly undertaken is a service as well as a duty to -the world, carrying with it not only obligations but a claim, -the strongest of claims, upon the whole community. It must be -paid for like any other public service; in any completely -civilized state it must be sustained, rewarded, and controlled. -And this is to be done not to supersede the love, pride, and -conscience of the parent, but to supplement, encourage, and -maintain it. - - -The Deliverance of Woman - -(_From "Woman and Labor"_) - -BY OLIVE SCHREINER - -(See pages 240, 247, 502, 579) - -Always in our dreams we hear the turn of the key that shall -close the door of the last brothel; the clink of the last coin -that pays for the body and soul of a woman; the falling of the -last wall that encloses artificially the activity of woman and -divides her from man; always we picture the love of the sexes -as once a dull, slow, creeping worm; then a torpid, earthy -chrysalis; at last the full-winged insect, glorious in the -sunshine of the future. - -Today, as we row hard against the stream of life, is it only -blindness in our eyes, which have been too long strained, -which makes us see, far up the river where it fades into the -distance, through all the mists that rise from the river-banks, -a clear, golden light? Is it only a delusion of the eyes which -makes us grasp our oars more lightly and bend our backs lower; -though we know well that, long before the boat reaches those -stretches, other hands than ours will man the oars and guide -its helm? Is it all a dream? - - -She Who Is to Come - -(_From "In This Our World"_) - -BY CHARLOTTE PERKINS GILMAN - -(See pages 200, 209, 421, 662, 820) - - A woman--in so far as she beholdeth - Her one Beloved's face; - A mother--with a great heart that enfoldeth - The children of the Race; - A body, free and strong, with that high beauty - That comes of perfect use, is built thereof; - A mind where Reason ruleth over Duty, - And Justice reigns with Love; - A self-poised, royal soul, brave, wise, and tender, - No longer blind and dumb; - A Human Being, of an unknown splendor, - Is she who is to come! - - -Woman in Freedom - -(_From "Love's Coming of Age"_) - -BY EDWARD CARPENTER - -(See pages 186, 541, 608) - -There is no solution except the freedom of woman--which means -of course also the freedom of the masses of the people, men -and women, and the ceasing altogether of economic slavery. -There is no solution which will not include the redemption of -the terms "free woman" and "free love" to their _true_ and -rightful significance. Let every woman whose heart bleeds for -the sufferings of her sex, hasten to declare herself and to -constitute herself, as far as she possibly can, a free woman. -Let her accept the term with all the odium that belongs to it; -let her insist on her right to speak, dress, think, act, and -above all to use her sex, as she deems best; let her face the -scorn and ridicule; let her "lose her own life" if she likes; -assured that only so can come deliverance, and that only when -the free woman is honored will the prostitute cease to exist. -And let every man who really would respect his counterpart, -entreat her also to act so; let him never by word or deed -tempt her to grant as a bargain what can only be precious as -a gift; let him see her with pleasure stand a little aloof; -let him help her to gain her feet; so at last, by what slight -sacrifices on his part such a course may involve, will it dawn -upon him that he has gained a real companion and helpmate on -life's journey. - - -The Free Woman - -BY WALT WHITMAN - -(See pages 184, 268, 578, 726, 835) - - She is less guarded than ever, yet more guarded than ever, - The gross and soil'd she moves among do not make her gross and soiled, - She knows the thoughts as she passes, nothing is concealed from her, - She is none the less considerate or friendly therefor, - She is the best belov'd, it is without exception; she has no -reason to fear, and she does not fear. - - -The Coming Singer - -BY GEORGE STERLING - -(See pages 504, 552, 597, 816) - - The Veil before the mystery of things - Shall stir for him with iris and with light; - Chaos shall have no terror in his sight - Nor earth a bond to chafe his urgent wings; - With sandals beaten from the crown of kings - He shall tread down the altars of their night, - And stand with Silence on her breathless height, - To hear what song the star of morning sings. - - With perished beauty in his hands as clay, - Shall he restore futurity its dream. - Behold! his feet shall take a heavenly way - Of choric silver and of chanting fire, - Till in his hands unshapen planets gleam, - 'Mid murmurs from the Lion and the Lyre. - - -Thus Spake Zarathustra - -BY FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE - -(See page 779) - -When Zarathustra came into the next city, which lay beside the -forest, he found in that place much people gathered together -in the market; for they had been called that they should see a -rope-dancer. And Zarathustra spoke thus unto the people: - -"_I teach ye the Over-man._ The man is something who shall be -overcome. What have ye done to overcome him? - -"All being before this made something beyond itself: and you -will be the ebb of this great flood, and rather go back to the -beast than overcome the man? - -"What is the ape to the man? A mockery or a painful shame. And -even so shall man be to the Over-man: a mockery or a painful -shame. - -"Man is a cord, tied between Beast and Over-man--a cord above -an abyss. - -"A perilous arriving, a perilous traveling, a perilous looking -backward, a perilous trembling and standing still. - -"What is great in man is that he is a bridge, and no goal; -what can be loved in man is that he is a going-over and a -going-under. - -"I love them that know not how to live, be it even as those -going under, for such are those going across. - -"I love them that are great in scorn, because these are they -that are great in reverence, and arrows of longing toward the -other shore!" - - - - -_Index_ - - - - -Index of Authors - - - Abercrombie, Lascelles, 537 - - Adams, Abigail, 241 - - Adams, Francis W. L., 219, 266, 348 - - Adams, Franklin P., 695, 711 - - "A.E." 252, 513, 829 - - Alcaeus, 440 - - Aldrich, Thomas Bailey, 314 - - Alfonso the Wise, 251 - - Allen, Grant, 210, 613 - - Ambrose, St., 397 - - Amid, John, 720 - - Amos, 524 - - Andreyev, Leonid, 92, 214, 327 - - Anonymous, 264, 278, 355, 684 - - Antiparos, 198 - - Arabian, 475 - - Archer, William, 764 - - Aristophanes, 442, 449 - - Aristotle, 480, 523 - - Arnold, Matthew, 203, 744 - - Augustine, St., 398 - - Aurelius, Marcus, 455, 474, 480 - - - Bacon, Francis, 480, 603 - - Barbour, John, 470 - - Barker, Elsa, 315, 359, 731 - - Barrie, James Matthew, 31 - - Basil, St., 396 - - Bates, Katharine Lee, 633 - - Beals, May, 183, 533 - - Bebel, August, 807, 817 - - Bellamy, Edward, 85, 861 - - Belloc, Hilaire, 755 - - Benson, Allan L., 584 - - Beranger, Pierre Jean de, 748 - - Bergström, Hjalmar, 107 - - Berkman, Alexander, 320 - - Bismarck, Otto von, 622, 812 - - Björkman, Edwin, 505 - - Björnson, Björnstjerne, 221, 339 - - Blake, William, 98, 213, 743 - - Blanc, Louis, 796 - - Blatchford, Robert, 66, 121, 170, 383, 783 - - Boethius, 200 - - Bondareff, T. M., 414 - - Braley, Berton, 132 - - Brandes, George, 763 - - Breshkovsky, Katharine, 317 - - Brieux, Eugene, 152 - - Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, 208, 644 - - Browning, Robert, 753 - - Bryant, William Cullen, 231 - - Buchanan, Robert, 367, 412, 687, 714 - - Buddha, 461 - - Bunyan, John, 497 - - Burke, Edmund, 229 - - Burnet, Dana, 531, 537 - - Burns, Robert, 227 - - Byron, Lord, 232, 340, 491 - - Caine, Hall, 373 - - Campanella, Tommaso, 438, 873 - - Carlyle, Thomas, 31, 74, 133, 488, 553, 652, 837 - - Carman, Bliss, 625 - - Carpenter, Edward, 186, 541, 608, 877 - - Carter, George, 150 - - Catherine of Russia, 561 - - Cato, 452 - - Cervantes, Miguel de, 578, 692 - - Chatterton, Thomas, 777 - - Chaucer, Geoffrey, 423, 691 - - Chesterton, Gilbert K., 180, 573 - - Chinese, 236 - - Chrysostom, St., 398 - - Churchill, Winston, 386 - - Cicero, 472 - - Clemens, Samuel L., 265, 566 - - Clement of Alexandria, 396 - - de Cleyre, Voltairine, 337 - - Clough, Arthur Hugh, 488, 697 - - Comfort, Will Levington, 165 - - Cone, Helen Gray, 727 - - Confucius, 471, 478 - - Cowper, William, 557 - - Crabbe, George, 29, 134 - - Crane, Stephen, 217, 689 - - Crosby, Ernest Howard, 394 - - Cyprian, St., 396 - - - Dante, 467, 469 - - Davidson, John, 216, 761, 778 - - Davies, William H., 577, 650 - - Debs, Eugene V., 144, 345 - - Defoe, Daniel, 204 - - Dehmel, Richard, 546 - - Deming, Seymour, 535 - - Dickens, Charles, 88, 655 - - Dickinson, G. Lowes, 510, 615 - - Dobson, Austin, 571 - - Dostojevsky, Féodor, 412 - - Du Bois, W. E. Burghardt, 512 - - Dunne, Finley Peter, 683, 692, 698, 706, 709, 711, 718 - - - Eastman, Max, 408, 762 - - Ecclesiastes, 278 - - Edwards, Albert, 205, 244, 814 - - Egyptian, 446, 457 - - Elliott, Ebenezer, 179 - - Emerson, Ralph Waldo, 235, 522, 631, 815 - - Engels, Frederick, 514, 802 - - Enoch, 471 - - Euripides, 440, 466 - - Evans, Florence Wilkinson, 638 - - Ezekiel, 472 - - - Ferrer, Francisco, 336, 676 - - Fichte, Johann Gottlieb, 629 - - Fisher, Jacob, 192 - - Fogazzaro, Antonio, 410 - - Fourier, Charles, 202, 846 - - France, Anatole, 681, 703, 720 - - Frank, Florence Kiper, 243 - - Franklin, Benjamin, 581 - - Frederick the Great, 562 - - Freiligrath, Ferdinand, 270 - - Froude, James Anthony, 214 - - - Galsworthy, John, 57 - - Garrison, William Lloyd, 233 - - George, Henry, 116 - - George, W. L., 217, 538 - - Ghent, W. J., 750 - - Gibbins, Henry deB., 647 - - Gibson, Wilfrid Wilson, 739 - - Gilman, Charlotte Perkins, 200, 209, 421, 662, 820, 877 - - Giovannitti, Arturo, 296, 300 - - Gissing, George, 104, 767 - - Gladstone, William Ewart, 626 - - Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 298, 394 - - Goldman, Emma, 147 - - Goldsmith, Oliver, 604 - - Gorky, Maxim, 141, 203, 544, 617 - - Gray, Thomas, 190 - - Greek, 471 - - Greeley, Horace, 128 - - Gregory, St., 398 - - Guiterman, Arthur, 311, 693 - - - Habakkuk, 451 - - Hagedorn, Hermann, 500 - - Haggai, 442 - - Hall, Bolton, 680, 710 - - Hammurabi, 460 - - Hanford, Ben, 809 - - Hanna, Paul, 166 - - Hapgood, Hutchins, 320 - - Harris, Frank, 281 - - Harrison, Frederic, 68, 327 - - Hauptmann, Gerhart, 258 - - Hearn, Lafcadio, 232 - - Heine, Heinrich, 97, 222, 744, 763 - - Henderson, C. Hanford, 673 - - Herrick, Robert (American), 99 - - Herrick, Robert (English), 202 - - Herron, George D., 730, 792, 799, 832, 843 - - Hertzka, Theodor, 797 - - Herwegh, Georg, 67 - - Hesiod, 465 - - Higginson, Thomas Wentworth, 220 - - Hill, J., 707 - - Hindoo, 474 - - Hitopadesa, 468 - - Hodgson, Ralph, 511 - - Homer, 459 - - Hood, Thomas, 59, 171, 485 - - Horace, 452 - - Hoshi, Kenkō, 135, 151, 154 - - Howells, William Dean, 685 - - Hugo, Victor, 182, 267, 637 - - Hubbard, Elbert, 638 - - Hunter, Robert, 818 - - Hutchison, Percy Adams, 371 - - - Ibsen, Henrik, 241, 273 - - Icelandic, 465 - - Im Bang, 453 - - Ingersoll, Robert G., 264, 602 - - Irvine, Alexander, 385, 671 - - Isaiah, 420, 447, 464, 473, 839, 845, 847 - - Isaiah II, 482 - - - James, 300, 454, 865 - - Japanese, 441 - - Jaurès, Jean Leon, 589, 866 - - Jefferies, Richard, 29 - - Jefferson, Thomas, 228, 332, 596, 600 - - Jeremiah, 449 - - Jerome, St., 397 - - Job, 452 - - John, 386 - - Johnson, Samuel, 510, 773 - - Jones, Ernest, 686 - - Jones, Henry Arthur, 425 - - Jones, Sir William, 440 - - Joseph, Chief, 583 - - - Kauffman, Reginald Wright, 53, 167, 601 - - Kautsky, Karl, 865 - - Keats, John, 102 - - Keller, Helen, 219 - - Kelly, Edmond, 424 - - Kemp, Harry, 37, 351, 551 - - Khayyam, Omar, 469 - - King, Edward, 331 - - Kingsley, Charles, 78, 84, 223, 263, 740 - - Kipling, Rudyard, 103 - - Korolenko, Vladimir G., 840 - - Kropotkin, Peter, 308, 312, 745, 828 - - - Lafargue, Paul, 197 - - Lamennais, Robert de, 427 - - Lamszus, Wilhelm, 562 - - Landor, Walter Savage, 614 - - Langland, William, 447 - - Lankester, E. Ray, 835 - - Lassalle, Ferdinand, 624, 802 - - Lavelaye, Émile de, 395 - - Lawson, John R., 524 - - Lecky, William E. H., 168 - - Lee, Gerald Stanley, 525 - - LeGallienne, Richard, 567 - - Li Hung Chang, 196, 689, 702 - - Lincoln, Abraham, 234, 623, 788 - - Lindsay, Vachel, 335, 599, 672, 699, 811 - - Lindsey, Ben B., 640 - - Linn, Charles Weber, 56 - - Lippmann, Walter, 779, 870 - - Lisle, Claude Joseph Rouget de., 806 - - Lloyd, Henry Demarest, 827 - - London, Jack, 62, 125, 139, 519, 609, 649, 732 - - Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth., 580 - - Lowell, James Russell, 189, 356, 558 - - Lowrie, Donald, 145 - - Lucretius, 468 - - Luke, 350, 385 - - Luther, 451, 453 - - - McCarthy, P. F., 560 - - Macdonald, George, 495 - - MacGill, Patrick, 32, 47, 122, 406, 725 - - Mackay, Charles, 657, 747 - - Mackaye, James, 631 - - Mackaye, Percy, 561, 572, 582 - - Machiavelli, Niccolo, 406 - - Maeterlinck, Maurice, 786 - - Manning, Cardinal, 192 - - Manu, 464 - - Markham, Edwin, 27, 199, 842 - - Martial, 451 - - Marx, Karl, 234, 514, 795, 802 - - Masefield, John, 23, 35 - - Matthew, 358 - - Mazzini, Giuseppe, 790 - - Mencius, 455 - - Micah, 410, 590 - - Mill, John Stuart, 199, 299, 306 - - Milton, John, 452, 485 - - Mirbeau, Octave, 627 - - Monro, Harold, 516 - - Moody, William Vaughn, 188, 595 - - More, Sir Thomas, 160, 490, 616, 851 - - Morgan, J. Pierpont, 515 - - Morris, William, 793, 855, 873 - - - Negro, 470 - - Neihardt, John G., 239 - - Nesbit, Wilbur D., 679 - - Nietzsche, Friedrich, 779, 879 - - Nintoku, 475 - - Nizami, 448 - - Noel, T., 690 - - Nordau, Max, 68 - - Norris, Frank, 111 - - Noyes, Alfred, 575 - - - O'Higgins, Harvey J., 640 - - Oppenheim, James, 45, 129, 247, 426 - - O'Reilly, John Boyle, 497 - - Ō-Shi-O, 756 - - Owen, Robert, 813 - - - Paine, Thomas, 622 - - "Paint Creek Miner," 277 - - Pankhurst, E. Sylvia, 305 - - Pataud, Émile, 857, 867 - - Paul, St., 811 - - Philippe, Charles-Louis, 290 - - Phillips, David Graham, 684 - - Phillips, Wendell, 271 - - Plato, 468, 479, 848 - - Plutarch, 432, 439, 476 - - Poole, Ernest, 39, 317 - - Pottier, Eugene, 800 - - Pouget, Émile, 857, 867 - - Psalms, 150 - - Ptah-Hotep, 465 - - - Rabelais, François, 700 - - Raleigh, Walter, 535 - - Rauschenbusch, Walter, 346, 393 - - Renan, Ernest, 349 - - Rimbaud, Arthur, 654 - - Rockefeller, John D., 487, 696 - - Rolland, Romain, 757 - - Roosevelt, Theodore, 860 - - Rosenfeld, Morris, 56, 766 - - Rosny, Joseph-Henry, 585, 669, 801 - - Ross, Edward Alsworth, 517 - - Rousseau, Jean Jacques, 478, 583 - - Runyon, Damon, 701 - - Ruskin, John, 106, 491, 752, 756, 786 - - Russell, Charles Edward, 333 - - Russell, George W., 252, 513, 829 - - - Sadi, 456, 475 - - Samuel, 462 - - Sandburg, Carl, 574 - - Savonarola, 423 - - Schoonmaker, Edwin Davies, 392 - - Schreiner, Olive, 240, 247, 502, 579, 876 - - Scudder, Vida D., 289, 785 - - Service, Robert W., 51 - - Shakespeare, William, 181, 492, 507, 533 - - Shaw, G. Bernard, 193, 212, 263, 402, 760, 798, 854 - - Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 272, 608 - - Sinclair, Mary Craig, 169 - - Sinclair, Upton, 43, 143, 194, 274, 403, 776, 803, 836 - - Skipsey, Joseph, 662 - - Solon, 477 - - Sophocles, 466 - - Southey, Robert, 73 - - Spargo, John, 830 - - Spencer, Herbert, 460, 787 - - Spenser, Edmund, 493, 775 - - Spingarn, Joel Elias, 719 - - Steffens, Lincoln, 422, 526 - - Stephen, Sir Leslie, 271 - - Sterling, George, 504, 552, 597, 816, 879 - - Stokes, Rose Pastor, 766 - - Strindberg, August, 729 - - Suttner, Bertha von, 562 - - Swift, Jonathan, 659 - - Swinburne, Algernon Charles, 376, 637, 788 - - Swinton, John, 754 - - Symonds, John Addington, 438, 440 - - Symons, Arthur, 171 - - - Taft, William Howard, 134 - - Tagore, Rabindranath, 426 - - Talleyrand, Charles Maurice de, 77 - - Tennyson, Alfred, 77, 486, 652, 838, 854 - - Tertullian, 396 - - Thackeray, William Makepeace, 496 - - Thompson, Francis, 778 - - Thoreau, Henry David, 295, 600, 630 - - Tichenor, Henry M., 708 - - Tolstoy, Leo, 88, 110, 148, 276, 374, 416, 555, 674, 728 - - Towne, Charles Hanson, 52 - - Traubel, Horace, 185, 746 - - Tressall, Robert, 663, 821 - - "Tribune," New York, 623 - - Turgénev, Ivan, 311 - - Twain, Mark, 265, 566 - - - Underwood, John Curtis, 648 - - Untermeyer, Louis, 42, 418, 515, 699, 709, 763 - - Upson, Arthur, 603, 720 - - - Vaillant, Auguste, 338 - - Vandervelde, Émile, 867 - - van Eeden, Frederik, 248, 360, 368 - - Vaughan, Bernard, 498 - - Veblen, Thorstein, 507 - - Verhaeren, Émile, 541, 587 - - Villon, François, 683 - - Virgil, 466 - - Voltaire, 674, 694 - - - Waddell, Elizabeth, 345, 846 - - Wagner, Richard, 236, 747, 838 - - Walling, William English, 812 - - Wallis, Louis, 276 - - Wang-An-Shih, 481 - - Warbasse, James P., 831 - - Ward, C. Osborne, 431 - - Washington, George, 305, 632 - - Watson, William, 614 - - Webster, Daniel, 604 - - Wells, H. G., 519, 675, 712, 830, 844, 853, 856, 863, 868, 875 - - Wharton, Edith, 500 - - White, Bouck, 353, 399 - - Whiteing, Richard, 137, 651 - - Whitlock, Brand, 161 - - Whitman, Walt, 184, 268, 578, 726, 835, 878 - - Whittier, John Greenleaf, 593 - - Widdemer, Margaret, 256, 307, 670 - - Wilde, Lady, 211 - - Wilde, Oscar, 155, 852 - - Wilhelm, Kaiser, 555 - - Wilson, Woodrow, 594 - - Wood, Clement, 409, 523 - - Wordsworth, William, 181 - - Wupperman, Carlos, 218 - - Wyckoff, Walter, 131 - - - Xenophon, 469 - - - Zangwill, Israel, 136, 717 - - Zola, Émile, 91, 631, 871 - - - - -Index of Titles - - - PAGE - - =Address to President Lincoln=, _Marx_, 234 - - =Address to the Jury=, _Giovannitti_, 296 - - =Ad Valorem=, _Ruskin_, 752 - - =Agis=, _Plutarch_, 432 - - =Alton Locke=, _Kingsley_, 84, 223, 740 - - =Alton Locke's Song=, _Kingsley_, 263 - - =A Man's a Man for a' That=, _Burns_, 227 - - =America the Beautiful=, _Bates_, 633 - - =Anatole France=, _Brandes_, 763 - - =Ancient Lowly=, _Ward_, 431 - - =Antigone=, _Sophocles_, 466 - - =Antiquity of Freedom=, _Bryant_, 231 - - =Appeal to the Young=, _Kropotkin_, 745 - - =Arsenal at Springfield=, _Longfellow_, 580 - - =As a Strong Bird=, _Whitman_, 835 - - =Aurora Leigh=, _Browning_, 208 - - - =Babble Machines=, _Wells_, 712 - - =Bad Shepherds=, _Mirbeau_, 627 - - =Ballade of Misery and Iron=, _Carter_, 150 - - =Ballad in Blank Verse=, _Davidson_, 778 - - =Ballad of Dead Girls=, _Burnet_, 531 - - =Ballad of Kiplingson=, _Buchanan_, 714 - - =Ballad of Reading Gaol=, _Wilde_, 155 - - =Battle Hymn of the Chinese Revolution=, _Chinese_, 236 - - =Batuschka=, _Aldrich_, 314 - - =Beast=, _Lindsey and O'Higgins_, 640 - - =Bed of Roses=, _George_, 217, 538 - - =Before a Crucifix=, _Swinburne_, 376 - - =Before Sedan=, _Dobson_, 571 - - =Beggar's Complaint=, _Japanese_, 441 - - =Beyond Human Might=, _Björnson_, 221, 339 - - =Biglow Papers=, _Lowell_, 558 - - =Bomb=, _Harris_, 281 - - =Book of Enoch=, 471 - - =Book of Good Counsels=, _Sanscrit_, 466 - - =Book of Job=, 452 - - =Book of Proverbs=, 746 - - =Book of Samuel=, 462 - - =Book of Snobs=, _Thackeray_, 496 - - =Book of The People=, _Lamennais_, 427 - - =Boston Hymn=, _Emerson_, 235 - - =Bound=, _Beals_, 183 - - =Bread and Roses=, _Oppenheim_, 247 - - =Bread Line=, _Braley_, 132 - - =Breshkovskaya=, _Barker_, 315 - - =Bridge of Sighs=, _Hood_, 171 - - =Bryanism=, "_Tribune_", 623 - - =Butcher's Stall=, _Verhaeren_, 541 - - =Buttons=, _Sandburg_, 574 - - =By-the-Way=, _MacGill_, 725 - - - =Caesar and Cleopatra=, _Shaw_, 854 - - =Caliban in the Coal Mines=, _Untermeyer_, 42 - - =Call of the Carpenter=, _White_, 353, 399 - - =Canterbury Tales=, _Chaucer_, 423 - - =Capital=, _Marx_, 795 - - =Catechism for Workers=, _Strindberg_, 729 - - =Chants Communal=, _Traubel_, 185, 746 - - =Charity=, _Lawson_, 524 - - =Child Labor=, _Gilman_, 662 - - =Children of the Dead End=, _MacGill_, 47, 122, 406 - - =Children of the Ghetto=, _Zangwill_, 136 - - =Children of the Poor=, _Hugo_, 637 - - =Children's Auction=, _Mackay_, 657 - - =Chillon=, _Byron_, 340 - - =Christian Church, Early=, 396 - - =Christianity and the Social Crisis=, _Rauschenbusch_, 346 - - =Church and the Workers=, _Rauschenbusch_, 393 - - =City of the Sun=, _Campanella_, 873 - - =Code of Hammurabi=, 460 - - =Collection=, _Crosby_, 394 - - =Collectivism and Industrial Evolution=, _Vandervelde_, 867 - - =Coming of War=, _Tolstoy_, 555 - - =Coming Singer=, _Sterling_, 879 - - =Communist Manifesto=, _Marx and Engels_, 514, 802 - - =Complaint to My Empty Purse=, _Chaucer_, 691 - - =Comrade Yetta=, _Edwards_, 244, 814 - - =Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court=, _Twain_, 265 - - =Consecration=, _Masefield_, 23 - - =Conventional Lies of Our Civilization=, _Nordau_, 68 - - =Convivio=, _Dante_, 467 - - =Co-operation and Nationality=, _Russell_, 513, 829 - - =Crowds=, _Lee_, 525 - - =Crown of Wild Olive=, _Ruskin_, 491 - - =Crusaders=, _Waddell_, 245 - - =Cry from the Ghetto=, _Rosenfeld_, 56 - - =Cry of the Children=, _Browning_, 644 - - =Cry of the People=, _Neihardt_, 239 - - - =Dauber=, _Masefield_, 35 - - =Dawn=, _Verhaeren_, 587 - - =Dead to the Living=, _Freiligrath_, 270 - - =Death and the Child=, _Crane_, 217 - - =December 31st=, _Abercrombie_, 537 - - =Democratic Vistas=, _Whitman_, 726 - - =Deserted Village=, _Goldsmith_, 604 - - =Desire of Nations=, _Markham_, 842 - - =Despair=, _Lady Wilde_, 211 - - =Deuteronomy=, 477 - - =Dinner à la Tango=, _Björkman_, 505 - - =Diomedes the Pirate=, _Villon_, 683 - - =Dipsychus=, _Clough_, 488 - - =Discourse on the Origin of Inequality=, _Rousseau_, 478 - - =Doll's House=, _Ibsen_, 241 - - =Dooley, Mr.=, 683, 692, 698, 706, 709, 711, 718 - - =Don Juan=, _Byron_, 491 - - =Don Quixote=, _Cervantes_, 578, 692 - - =Doubt=, _Mackaye_, 572 - - =Duties of Man=, _Mazzini_, 790 - - =Duty of Civil Disobedience=, _Thoreau_, 295, 600, 630 - - =Dying Boss=, _Steffens_, 526 - - - =Eagle That Is Forgotten=, _Lindsay_, 335 - - =Early Church=, 396 - - =Easter Children=, _Barker_, 359 - - =Ecclesiastes=, 278, 438, 488 - - =Ecclesiasticus=, 690 - - =Edda=, 463 - - =Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard=, _Gray_, 190 - - =Eloquent Peasant=, _Egyptian_, 457 - - =England in 1819=, _Shelley_, 608 - - =Essay on Liberty=, _Mill_, 299 - - =Europe=, _Whitman_, 268 - - =Exit Salvatore=, _Wood_, 409 - - =Exodus=, 437 - - - =Factories=, _Widdemer_, 670 - - =Faerie Queene=, _Spenser_, 493 - - =Farewell Address=, _Washington_, 632 - - =Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe=, _Defoe_, 204 - - =Fifth Avenue, 1915=, _Hagedorn_, 500 - - =Fires=, _Gibson_, 739 - - =First Machine=, _Antiparos_, 198 - - =Fleet Street Eclogues=, _Davidson_, 761 - - =Flower Factory=, _Evans_, 638 - - =Fomá Gordyéeff=, _Gorky_, 203, 544 - - =For Hire=, _Rosenthal_, 766 - - =For Lyric Labor=, _Waddell_, 846 - - =For the other 364 Days=, _Adams_, 695 - - =Fredome=, _Barbour_, 470 - - =Freebooter's Prayer=, _Guiterman_, 693 - - =Freedom=, _Lowell_, 189 - - =Frogs=, _Aristophanes_, 449 - - =From Revolution to Revolution=, _Herron_, 792, 799 - - =From the Bottom Up=, _Irvine_, 385 - - =Furred Law-Cats=, _Rabelais_, 700 - - - =Gentleman Inside=, _Runyon_, 701 - - =Girl Strike-Leader=, _Frank_, 243 - - =Gitanjali=, _Tagore_, 426 - - =Gloucester Moors=, _Moody_, 188 - - =God and My Neighbor=, _Blatchford_, 383 - - =God and the Strong Ones=, _Widdemer_, 256 - - =Gospel of Buddha=, 461 - - - =Happiness of Nations=, _Mackaye_, 631 - - =Happy Humanity=, _Van Eeden_, 248 - - =Harbor=, _Poole_, 39 - - =Heirs of Time=, _Higginson_, 220 - - =Heloise sans Abelard=, _Spingarn_, 719 - - =History of European Morals=, _Lecky_, 168 - - =Hitopadesa=, _Hindu_, 468 - - =Hong's Experiences in Hades=, _Im Bang_, 453 - - =House of Bondage=, _Kauffman_, 53, 167, 601 - - =House of Mirth=, _Wharton_, 500 - - =Human Slaughter-House=, _Lamszus_, 562 - - =Hymn=, _Chesterton_, 180 - - - =Ibsen=, 764 - - =Illusion of War=, _Le Gallienne_, 567 - - =Image in the Forum=, _Buchanan_, 367 - - =Impressions=, _Monro_, 516 - - =In Bohemia=, _O'Reilly_, 497 - - =Incentives=, _Fourier_, 846 - - =Industrial History of England=, _Gibbins_, 647 - - =In Memoriam=, _Tennyson_, 838 - - =Inside of the Cup=, _Churchill_, 386 - - =Insouciance in Storm=, _Kemp_, 37 - - =Instructions of Ptah-Hotep=, 465 - - =Internationale=, _Pottier_, 800 - - =In the Days of the Comet=, _Wells_, 853 - - =In the Market-Place=, _Sterling_, 504 - - =In the Shadows=, _Upson_, 720 - - =In the Strand=, _Symons_, 171 - - =In Trafalgar Square=, _Adams_, 266 - - =Isabella=, _Keats_, 102 - - =I Sing the Battle=, _Kemp_, 551 - - - =Jean-Christophe=, _Rolland_, 757 - - =Jesus=, _Debs_, 245 - - =Jesus=, _Renan_, 349 - - =Jimmie Higgins=, _Hanford_, 809 - - =Journalism=, _Swinton_, 754 - - =Journal of Arthur Stirling=, _Sinclair_ 776 - - =Jungle=, _Sinclair_, 43, 194, 274, 803 - - - =Kingdom of Man=, _Lankester_, 835 - - =King Hunger=, _Andreyev_, 92 - - =Koran=, 475, 479 - - =Kruppism=, _Mackaye_, 561 - - - =Labor=, _Anonymous_, 264 - - =Labor=, _Zola_, 871 - - =Labor and Capital Are One=, _Hall_, 710 - - =Lady Poverty=, _Fisher_, 192 - - =Land Titles=, _Spencer_, 787 - - =Last Verses=, _Chatterton_, 777 - - =Last Word=, _Arnold_, 744 - - =Latest Decalogue=, _Clough_, 697 - - =Laws of Social Evolution=, _Hertzka_, 797 - - =Lawyer and the Farmer=, _Egyptian_, 446 - - =Lay Down Your Arms=, _von Suttner_, 568 - - =Lay Sermon to Preachers=, _Jones_, 425 - - =Lazarus=, _Anonymous_, 355 - - =Leaden-Eyed=, _Lindsay_, 672 - - =Leisure Classes=, _Anonymous_, 684 - - =Letters from a Chinese Official=, _Dickinson_, 510, 615 - - =Letter to Chesterfield=, _Johnson_, 773 - - =Let the People Vote on War=, _Benson_, 584 - - =Leviticus=, 477, 852 - - =Liberator=, _Garrison_, 233 - - =Life for a Life=, _Herrick_, 99 - - =Light Upon Waldheim=, _de Cleyre_, 337 - - =Lincoln-Douglas Debates=, _Lincoln_ 234 - - =Lines=, _Crane_, 689 - - =Lines to a Pomeranian Puppy=, _Untermeyer_, 709 - - =Locksley Hall Fifty Years After=, _Tennyson_, 652 - - =London=, _Blake_, 98 - - =London=, _Heine_, 97 - - =Looking Backward=, _Bellamy_, 85, 861 - - =Lost Leader=, _Browning_, 753 - - =Lotus Eaters=, _Tennyson_, 77 - - =Love's Coming of Age=, _Carpenter_, 541, 877 - - =Lynggaard & Co.=, _Bergström_, 107 - - - =Major Barbara=, _Shaw_, 193, 402 - - =Makar's Dream=, _Korolenko_, 840 - - =Mammon Marriage=, _MacDonald_, 495 - - =Man Forbid=, _Davidson_, 216 - - =Manhattan=, _Towne_, 52 - - =Man's World=, _Edwards_, 205 - - =Man the Reformer=, _Emerson_, 522 - - =Man Under the Stone=, _Markham_, 199 - - =Man With the Hoe=, _Markham_, 27 - - =Marching Song=, _Swinburne_, 788 - - =March of the Workers=, _Morris_, 793 - - =Marseillaise=, _de Lisle_, 806 - - =Mask of Anarchy=, _Shelley_, 272 - - =Measure of the Hours=, _Maeterlinck_, 786 - - =Medea=, _Euripides_, 466 - - =Memoirs=, _Li Hung Chang_, 689, 702 - - =Memoirs of a Revolutionist=, _Kropotkin_, 308, 312 - - =Menagerie=, _Sinclair_, 143 - - =Merrie England=, _Blatchford_, 66, 783 - - =Midnight Lunch Room=, _Barker_, 731 - - =Midstream=, _Comfort_, 165 - - =Mill Children=, _Underwood_, 648 - - =Miner's Tale=, _Beals_, 533 - - =Miserables, Les=, _Hugo_, 182, 267 - - =Miss Kilmansegg=, _Hood_, 485 - - =Moderation=, _Hearn_, 232 - - =Modern Utopia=, _Wells_, 844, 856, 863, 868 - - =Modest Proposal=, _Swift_, 659 - - =Monthly Rent=, _Hall_, 680 - - =Mother Hubbard's Tale=, _Spenser_, 775 - - =Mother Wept=, _Skipsey_, 662 - - =Motley=, _Galsworthy_, 57 - - =Mutual Aid=, _Kropotkin_, 828 - - =My Lady of the Chimney-Corner=, _Irvine_, 671 - - =My Life=, _Bebel_, 807 - - =My Life in Prison=, _Lowrie_, 145 - - =My Religion=, _Tolstoy_, 110 - - - =New Grub Street=, _Gissing_, 104, 767 - - =New Nationalism=, _Roosevelt_, 860 - - =New Rome=, _Buchanan_, 412 - - =News from Nowhere=, _Morris_, 855, 873 - - =New Worlds for Old=, _Wells_, 675, 830 - - =Night's Lodging=, _Gorky_, 141 - - =No. 5 John Street=, _Whiteing_, 137, 651 - - =No Enemies=, _Mackay_, 747 - - =Northern Farmer: New Style=, _Tennyson_, 486 - - =Not Guilty=, _Blatchford_, 121 - - - =Octopus=, _Norris_, 111 - - =Ode in Time of Hesitation=, _Moody_, 595 - - =Oh, Freedom=, _Negro_, 470 - - =Old Suffragist=, _Widdemer_, 307 - - =Oliver Twist=, _Dickens_, 655 - - =On a Steamship=, _Sinclair_, 836 - - =Open Letter to the Employers=, _Russell_, 252 - - =Organization of Labor=, _Blanc_, 796 - - =Our Country=, _Whittier_, 593 - - =Out of the Dark=, _Keller_, 219 - - - =Panama-Pacific Ode=, _Sterling_, 816 - - =Pantagruel=, _Rabelais_, 700 - - =Parable=, _Lowell_, 356 - - =Paradise Lost=, _Milton_, 485 - - =Paris=, _Zola_, 91, 631 - - =Parish Workhouse=, _Crabbe_, 134 - - =Past and Present=, _Carlyle_, 133, 488, 652 - - =Pauper's Drive=, _Noel_, 690 - - =Pay Envelopes=, _Oppenheim_, 129 - - =Penguin Island=, _France_, 681, 703 - - =People=, _Campanella_, 438 - - =People of the Abyss=, _London_, 62, 125, 139, 631, 649 - - =People's Anthem=, _Elliott_, 179 - - =Père Perdrix=, _Philippe_, 290 - - =Pilgrim's Progress=, _Bunyan_, 497 - - =Pittsburgh=, _Oppenheim_, 45 - - =Played Out=, _MacGill_, 32 - - =Plutus=, _Aristophanes_, 442 - - =Political Violence=, _Anonymous_, 278 - - =Politics=, _Aristotle_, 523 - - =Portrait of an American=, _Untermeyer_, 515 - - =Portrait of a Supreme Court Judge=, _Untermeyer_, 699 - - =Poverty=, _Alcaeus_, 440 - - =Prayer of the Peoples=, _Mackaye_, 582 - - =Preacher=, _Chaucer_, 423 - - =Preacher and the Slave=, _Hill_, 707 - - =Preface to Politics=, _Lippmann_, 779, 870 - - =Priest and the Devil=, _Dostoyevsky_, 412 - - =Priests=, _Oppenheim_, 426 - - =Prince=, _Machiavelli_, 406 - - =Prince Hagen=, _Sinclair_, 403 - - =Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist=, _Berkman_, 320 - - =Prisons=, _Goldman_, 147 - - =Problem Play=, _Shaw_, 760 - - =Progress and Poverty=, _George_, 116 - - =Progress in Medicine=, _Warbasse_, 831 - - =Progressivism and After=, _Walling_, 812 - - =Project for a Perpetual Peace=, _Rousseau_, 583 - - =Prophetic Book Milton=, _Blake_, 743 - - =Proverbs=, 746 - - =Psalms=, 479, 481 - - - =Quest=, _van Eeden_, 360, 368 - - =Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists=, _Tressall_, 663, 821 - - =Random Reminiscences=, _Rockefeller_, 696 - - =Rebel=, _Belloc_, 755 - - =Red Robe=, _Brieux_, 152 - - =Red Wave=, _Rosny_, 585, 669, 801 - - =Refusal=, _Beranger_, 748 - - =Reign of Gilt=, _Phillips_, 684 - - =Reluctant Briber=, _Steffens_, 422 - - =Republic=, _Plato_, 468, 479, 848 - - =Reserved Section=, _Nesbit_, 679 - - =Resurrection=, _Tolstoy_, 148, 374, 416 - - =Revolution=, _London_, 732 - - =Revolution=, _Wagner_, 236, 747, 838 - - =Revolution in the Mind=, _Owen_, 813 - - =Revolutionist=, _Turgenev_, 311 - - =Riches=, _Bacon_, 480 - - =Rights of Labor=, _Lincoln_, 788 - - =Rights of Man=, _Paine_, 622 - - =Right to Be Lazy=, _Lafargue_, 197 - - =Romance=, _Deming_, 535 - - =Rough Rider=, _Carman_, 625 - - - =Sad Sight of the Hungry=, _Li Hung Chang_, 196 - - =Saint=, _Fogazzaro_, 410 - - =Sartor Resartus=, _Carlyle_, 31, 74, 553 - - =Savva=, _Andreyev_, 214 - - =Sayings of Mencius=, 455 - - =Seven That Were Hanged=, _Andreyev_, 327 - - =She-ching=, _Chinese_, 463 - - =She Who Is to Come=, _Gilman_, 877 - - =Sign of the Son of Man=, _Scudder_, 785 - - =Sin and Society=, _Ross_, 517 - - =Sins of Society=, _Vaughan_, 498 - - =Sisterhood=, _Sinclair_, 169 - - =Sisters of the Cross of Shame=, _Burnet_, 537 - - =Slavery=, _Cowper_, 557 - - =Slum Children=, _Davies_, 650 - - =Social Ideals=, _Scudder_, 289 - - =Socialism and Motherhood=, _Spargo_, 830 - - =Social Revolution and After=, _Kautsky_, 865 - - =Sociological Study of the Bible=, _Wallis_, 276 - - =Soldier's Oath=, _Kaiser Wilhelm_, 555 - - =Solon=, _Plutarch_, 476 - - =Song of the Exposition=, _Whitman_, 578 - - =Song of the Lower Classes=, _Jones_, 686 - - =Song of the Shirt=, _Hood_, 59 - - =Song of the Wage Slave=, _Service_, 51 - - =Sons of Martha=, _Kipling_, 103 - - =Soul of Man Under Socialism=, _Wilde_, 852 - - =Soul's Errand=, _Raleigh_, 535 - - =Souls of Black Folk=, _Du Bois_, 512 - - =South-Sea Islander=, _Adams_, 219 - - =Springtime of Peace=, _Jaurès_, 589 - - =Statue of Liberty=, _Upson_, 603 - - =Straight Road=, _Hanna_, 166 - - =Studies in Socialism=, _Jaurès_, 589, 866 - - =Stupidity Street=, _Hodgson_, 511 - - =Subjection of Women=, _Mill_, 306 - - =Suffragette=, _Pankhurst_, 305 - - =Sunday=, _Untermeyer_, 418 - - =Swordless Christ=, _Hutchison_, 371 - - =Syndicalism and the Co-operative Commonwealth=, _Pataud and - Pouget_, 257, 267 - - - =Tail of the World=, _Amid_, 720 - - =Tainted Wealth=, _Goethe_, 394 - - =Tale of Two Cities=, _Dickens_, 88 - - =Tales of Two Countries=, _Gorky_, 617 - - =Theory of the Leisure Class=, _Veblen_, 507 - - =These Shifting Scenes=, _Russell_, 333 - - =Thus Spake Zarathustra=, _Nietzsche_, 779, 879 - - =Tiberius Gracchus=, _Plutarch_, 439 - - =To a Bourgeois Litterateur=, _Eastman_, 762 - - =To a Certain Rich Young Ruler=, _Wood_, 523 - - =To a Foil'd European Revolutionaire=, _Whitman_, 184 - - =To a Nine-inch Gun=, _McCarthy_, 560 - - =Today=, _Cone_, 727 - - =To Labor=, _Gilman_, 820 - - =To the Retainers=, _Ghent_, 750 - - =Tom Dunstan=, _Buchanan_, 687 - - =Tonight=, _Wupperman_, 218 - - =Tono-Bungay=, _Wells_, 519 - - =To the "Christians,"= _Adams_, 348 - - =To the Goddess of Liberty=, _Sterling_, 597 - - =To the Preacher=, _Gilman_, 421 - - =To the United States Senate=, _Lindsay_, 599 - - =Towards Democracy=, _Carpenter_, 186 - - =Tramp's Confession=, _Kemp_, 351 - - =Traveler from Altruria=, _Howells_, 685 - - =Trinity Church=, _Schoonmaker_, 392 - - =True Imperialism=, _Watson_, 614 - - =Turn of the Balance=, _Whitlock_, 161 - - =Twentieth Century Socialism=, _Kelly_, 424 - - =Two Songs=, _Blake_, 213 - - - =Utopia=, _More_, 160, 490, 616, 851 - - - =Vanity Fair=, _Bunyan_, 497 - - =Vanity of Human Wishes=, _Johnson_, 510 - - =Veins of Wealth=, _Ruskin_, 106 - - =Venus Pandemos=, _Dehmel_, 546 - - =Victorian Age=, _Carpenter_, 603 - - =Village=, _Crabbe_, 29 - - =Vindication of Natural Society=, _Burke_, 229 - - =Violence and the Labor Movement=, _Hunter_, 818 - - =Vision of Piers Plowman=, _Langland_, 447 - - - =Waifs and Strays=, _Rimbaud_, 654 - - =Walker=, _Giovannitti_, 300 - - =War=, _Chief Joseph_, 583 - - =War=, _Davies_, 577 - - =War=, _Sterling_, 552 - - =War and Peace=, _Franklin_, 581 - - =Warning=, _Heine_, 763 - - =War Prayer=, _Twain_, 566 - - =Wat Tyler=, _Southey_, 73 - - =Wealth Against Commonwealth=, _Lloyd_, 827 - - =Weavers=, _Hauptmann_, 258 - - =Weavers=, _Heine_, 222 - - =What Is Art?= _Tolstoy_, 728 - - =What Is It To Be Educated?= _Henderson_, 673 - - =What Life Means to Me=, _London_, 732 - - =What Meaneth a Tyrant=, _Alfonso the Wise_, 251 - - =What the Moon Saw=, _Lindsay_, 699 - - =What To Do=, _Tolstoy_, 674 - - =When the Leaves Come Out=, _Paint Creek Miner_, 277 - - =When the Sleeper Wakes=, _Wells_, 712 - - =Why I Voted the Socialist Ticket=, _Lindsay_, 811 - - =Why the Socialist Party Is Growing=, _Adams_, 711 - - =Wife of Flanders=, _Chesterton_, 573 - - =Will of Francisco Ferrer=, 336 - - =Wine Press=, _Noyes_, 575 - - =Wolf at the Door=, _Gilman_, 200 - - =Woman=, _Bebel_, 817 - - =Woman and Labor=, _Schreiner_, 240, 502, 579, 876 - - =Woman's Execution=, _King_, 331 - - =Women and Economics=, _Gilman_, 209 - - =Work According to the Bible=, _Bondareff_, 414 - - =Work and Pray=, _Herwegh_, 67 - - =Workers=, _Wyckoff_, 131 - - =Work for All but Father=, _Tichenor_, 708 - - =Workingman's Program=, _Lassalle_, 802 - - =World's Way=, _Shakespeare_, 181 - - =Written in London, September, 1802=, _Wordsworth_, 181 - - =Wrongfulness of Riches=, _Allen_, 613 - - - =Yeast=, _Kingsley_, 78 - - - =Zadig=, _Voltaire_, 674, 694 - - - - -_Books by_ UPTON SINCLAIR - - - "MAMMONART," an economic interpretation of literature and the arts. $2 - cloth, $1 paper. - - "THE GOOSE-STEP," a study of the American colleges. $2 cloth, $1 paper. - - "THE GOSLINGS," a study of the American schools. $2 cloth, $1 paper. 3 - copies of any of the above books, cloth, $4, paper $2. - -_The following at $1.50 cloth, $1 paper_: - - "MANASSAS," called by Jack London, "the best Civil War book I've read." - - "THE METROPOLIS," a picture of the "Four Hundred" of New York. - - "THE JOURNAL OF ARTHUR STIRLING," the literary sensation of 1903. - - "THE FASTING CURE," a health study. - -_The following at $1 in "hard covers"_: - - "SAMUEL THE SEEKER," a story of Socialism. - - "JIMMIE HIGGINS," a novel of the World War, a best seller in Russia, - Italy, France, Germany and Austria. - -_Complete set of above six reprinted books, $6 cloth, $4 -paper-bound._ - - "SONNETS by M. C. S.," 25 cents a copy, eight for $1. - - "HELL" and "SINGING JAILBIRDS," two plays, 25 cents each, 8 for $1. - - "THEY CALL ME CARPENTER: A TALE OF THE SECOND COMING," cloth $1.50, - paper $1.00. - - "THE CRY FOR JUSTICE: AN ANTHOLOGY OF THE LITERATURE OF SOCIAL - PROTEST," cloth $2, paper $1.25. - - "THE BOOK OF LIFE," cloth-bound only, $2. - - "DAMAGED GOODS," novelized from the play by Brieux; cloth-bound only, - $1.20. - - "SYLVIA," a novel, cloth-bound only, $1.20. - - "SYLVIA'S MARRIAGE," a novel; "hard covers," $1. - -_The following at $1.50, cloth, and $1, paper_: - - "THE BRASS CHECK: A STUDY OF AMERICAN JOURNALISM." - - "100%: THE STORY OF A PATRIOT." - - "THE PROFITS OF RELIGION." - - "KING COAL," a novel of the Colorado coal country. - - "THE JUNGLE," a novel of the Chicago stock-yards; new edition, - cloth-bound only, $1.50. - - The following works in the Haldeman-Julius 5-cent Pocket Library: - "THE JUNGLE" (6 vols.), "THE MILLENNIUM" (3 vols.), "THE OVERMAN," - "THE POT-BOILER," "THE SECOND-STORY MAN," "THE NATURE WOMAN," "PRINCE - HAGEN," "THE MACHINE," "A CAPTAIN OF INDUSTRY" (2 vols.). Price for 17 - volumes, 85 cents. - - - UPTON SINCLAIR - Pasadena, California - - - - -Concerning - -The Jungle - - -Not since Byron awoke one morning to find himself famous has -there been such an example of world-wide celebrity won in a day -by a book as has come to Upton Sinclair.--_New York Evening -World._ - -It is a book that does for modern industrial slavery what -"Uncle Tom's Cabin" did for black slavery. But the work is -done far better and more accurately in "The Jungle" than in -"Uncle Tom's Cabin."--_Arthur Brisbane in the New York Evening -Journal._ - -I never expected to read a serial. I am reading "_The Jungle_" -and I should be afraid to trust myself to tell how it affects -me. It is a great work. I have a feeling that you yourself will -be dazed some day by the excitement about it. It is impossible -that such a power should not be felt. It is so simple, so true, -so tragic and so human. It is so eloquent, and yet so exact. I -must restrain myself or you may misunderstand.--_David Graham -Phillips._ - -In this fearful story the horrors of industrial slavery are -as vividly drawn as if by lightning. It marks an epoch in -revolutionary literature.--_Eugene V. Debs._ - - Mr. Heinemann isn't a man to bungle; - He's published a book which is called "The Jungle." - It's written by Upton Sinclair, who - Appears to have heard a thing or two - About Chicago and what men do - Who live in that city--a loathsome crew. - It's there that the stockyards reek with blood, - And the poor man dies, as he lives, in mud; - The Trusts are wealthy beyond compare, - And the bosses are all triumphant there, - And everything rushes without a skid - To be plunged in a hell which has lost its lid. - For a country where things like that are done - There's just one remedy, only one, - A latter-day Upton Sinclairism - Which the rest of us know as Socialism. - Here's luck to the book! It will make you cower, - For it's written with wonderful, thrilling power. - It grips your throat with a grip Titanic, - And scatters shams with a force volcanic. - Go buy the book, for I judge you need it, - And when you have bought it, read it, read it. - - --_Punch_ (_London_). - - - - -_A book which has been absolutely boycotted by the literary -reviews of America._ - -THE PROFITS OF RELIGION - -BY UPTON SINCLAIR - - -A study of Supernaturalism as a Source of Income and a -Shield to Privilege; the first examination in any language -of institutionalized religion from the economic point of -view. "Has the labour as well as the merit of breaking virgin -soil," writes Joseph McCabe. The book has had practically -no advertising and only two or three reviews in radical -publications; yet forty thousand copies have been sold in the -first year. - - _From the Rev. John Haynes Holmes_: "I must confess that it has fairly - made me writhe to read these pages, not because they are untrue or - unfair, but on the contrary, because I know them to be the real facts. - I love the church as I love my home, and therefore it is no pleasant - experience to be made to face such a story as this which you have - told. It had to be done, however, and I am glad you have done it, for - my interest in the church, after all, is more or less incidental, - whereas my interest in religion is a fundamental thing.... Let me - repeat again that I feel that you have done us all a service in the - writing of this book. Our churches today, like those of ancient - Palestine, are the abode of Pharisees and scribes. It is as spiritual - and helpful a thing now as it was in Jesus' day for that fact to be - revealed." - - _From Luther Burbank_: "No one has ever told 'the truth, the whole - truth, and nothing but the truth' more faithfully than Upton Sinclair - in 'The Profits of Religion.'" - - _From Louis Untermeyer_: "Let me add my quavering alto to the chorus - of applause of 'The Profits of Religion.' It is something more than a - book--it is a Work!" - - -Cloth $1.50; paper $1.00 - - - UPTON SINCLAIR - Station A, Pasadena, California - - - - -CO-OP - -_A Novel of Living Together_ - -_By_ UPTON SINCLAIR - - - _From a Sociologist_: - -Every evening at 10:30 and again at 11:00 I lay down Sinclair's -"Co-op" to go to bed, but in half a minute I pick it up and go -on. It is the best thing of his I have ever read. It abounds -in character-drawing, incident, adventure, tension, climax, -humor and instruction. It is a ripping story. May it circulate -a million! - - E. A. ROSS, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN. - - _From a Philosopher_: - -I began reading "Co-op" Friday p. m. and hardly laid it down -till I finished it Saturday. It is one of the finest things you -have done--or anybody else on the American scene has done. - - JOHN DEWEY - - _From a Novelist_: - -I feel that it is socially important and that it would be a -fortunate thing for this country if it were widely read. I -really feel that if most of the previous works of Sinclair, -particularly "Oil," "The Brass Check," "The Profits of -Religion," "King Coal," "100%," "The Goose Step," "Money -Writes," had been widely read and distributed, this country -would be in a much better position to understand itself than it -is now. "Co-op" is a logical outcome of all the things which -Sinclair has protested against during his literary life. I -certainly wish for it a wide sale and consideration. - - THEODORE DREISER. - - _From an Editor_: - -Every word is priceless. It's a GRAND JOB, Uppie, and I will -sing its song.... Your "Co-op" is a thrilling tale, beautifully -done. - - ROB WAGNER. - - _From a Reviewer_: - -This is an engrossing, great-hearted and, of course, -desperately earnest novel that Upton Sinclair has written -in celebration of and pleading for the 250 co-operatives of -unemployed in America, most of them in California.... Not for a -long time has Upton Sinclair written so absorbing a novel, as -a novel, giving us fine human stories, produced so moving and -warming a book. It is a book as honest as the day is long.... -Don't get it into your head that because this is a novel of -immediate intent it is a bore like campaign biographies and -novels of campaign issues and propaganda tracts. You don't -have to believe in the future of EPIC any more than I do -to recognize it as a great humanitarian story, alive and -powerful--and effective. It belongs to our times as "The -Jungle" belonged to its time. It belongs, too, on that shelf -which contains the noblest of social literature. - - FRED T. MARSH, IN NEW YORK HERALD-TRIBUNE. - - -Cloth bound, 435 pages. Price $1.50 - -Upton Sinclair, New York City and Pasadena, California - - - - -The Brass Check - -_A Study of American Journalism_ - - -Who owns the press and why? - -When you read your daily paper, are you reading facts or -propaganda? And whose propaganda? - -Who furnishes the raw material for your thoughts about life? Is -it honest material? - -No man can ask more important questions than these; and here -for the first time the questions are answered in a book. - -The first edition of this book, 23,000 copies, was sold out -two weeks after publication. Paper could not be obtained for -printing, and a carload of brown wrapping paper was used. The -printings to date amount to 144,000 copies. The book is being -published in Great Britain and colonies, and in translations -in Germany, France, Holland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, -Hungary and Japan. - - _HERMANN BESSEMER, in the "Neues Journal," Vienna_: - - "Upton Sinclair deals with names, only with names, with balances, with - figures, with documents, a truly stunning, gigantic fact-material. His - book is an armored military train which with rushing pistons roars - through the jungle of American monster-lies, whistling, roaring, - shooting, chopping off with Berserker rage the obscene heads of these - evils. A breath-taking, clutching, frightful book." - - _From the pastor of the Community Church, New York_: - - "I am writing to thank you for sending me a copy of your new book, - 'The Brass Check.' Although it arrived only a few days ago, I have - already read it through, every word, and have loaned it to one of my - colleagues for reading. The book is tremendous. I have never read a - more strongly consistent argument or one so formidably buttressed - by facts. You have proved your case to the handle. I again take - satisfaction in saluting you not only as a great novelist, but as the - ablest pamphleteer in America today. I am already passing around the - word in my church and taking orders for the book."--John Haynes Holmes. - - -Single copy, cloth, $2.00; paper, $1.00 postpaid - - -UPTON SINCLAIR, Pasadena, California - - - * * * * * - -Transcriber's Notes: - -Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. - -Obvious printer's errors corrected, including unambiguous -typos, missing periods at the end of several sentences, and the -like. - -Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully -as possible, including obsolete and variant spellings, -non-standard punctuation, inconsistently hyphenated words, and -other inconsistencies. - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRY FOR JUSTICE *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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