The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1878-12-06
RoffiraI
RHYMEs FOR THE LABORING NAN.
BY z. W. LOCKE.

RHYMES FOR THE LABORING MAN
BY z. W. LOCKE.
I've few words to say to the laboiing ma
And I'll make them as few and as plain a
can;
For brother in toll l have been fifi
years,
And what little I've learned l would Civ
to my peers.
There's restless condition in W 'rkshO
and mill;
There is sullen eye service and lack q
good will;
There are plenty to work, if job strike
them right,
But they're reader far their employer 4
fight.
In the quarries and mines there are nut
terings deep;
There are passwords and grips, and dr. AZ
secrets TO keep;
But they all have one purpose-by threat;
TO coerce,
The employer who aids them BY foresigh
and purse.
Who have tunneled the mountains and
opened the mines.
And set millions to work on the shafts sut
incliness
Who've made roads to the prairies anc
cheap homes for all,
And brought city and farm within neigh
borly call!
Who have seized steam and lightning. as
well as the streams,
And compelled them to serve us like dis
c:plined teams.
Who have bridged the broad oceans, and
girdled the earth
With d pulsating nerve and a thought
speaking girth:
Just the men whom the rabble select fol
abuse
Have converted the forces of nature to
use;
And, though often maligned, as if heathen
or Turk.
Are the toiler's best friends, for they find
him in work.
Have the men who have wealth never help
ed you dIme?-
Never added comfort or day of pastime9
Have they brought you no dainties from
countries afar
In tie swift gliding ship or the wind W.
ing carr
Think of coffees and spices and long lists
of teas,
And the fruits of all climates your palate
to please,
And a thousand cheap luxuries, brought
tOyour door
By the merchant with money, who trades
to make more.
If you're helpful to him, he is helpful to
you,
And your fellowship ought to be loyalty
true,
1t is likely that less than score years ago
He Was clerk on small pay for some
Stewart 6 Co.
But the road he has travelled to reach his
estate.
Is not entered. in stealth, by some privi-
legged gate,
But is open to you; yet this maxim please
learn,
To succeed you must spend something less
than you earn.
Ali my laboring friend. tits fearful mis-
take
To be stirring up strife for the working
mans sake;
Let us earn what we can, while we. never
forget
That the wealth Of the world is but crys-
tallizcd sweet.
There's but one course to take for the
worker to thrive
Like the bee he must gather each day for
his hive;
He must lessen expenses if his income is
small,
And for anything useless spend nothing
at all
When lad cut wood at three shilling.
acord,
For the same helped turn over an acre oi
sward;
And I gave little thought to the good OF
bad times,
But just kept at my work and looked oui
for the dimes.
Then our ''strikes" were with axes anG
hammers and mauls,
And our ''unions" were cuttings, frui
parings, and balls,
AMI the young folks got married, wher
husbands and wives
Went to work to be useful the rest of theil
lives.
But mankind is improving, the wiseacre.
say,
Yet true thrift is not greatly in fashion
to-day;
We run headlong in debt, to get out as w
can,
And complain how the rich crush the la
boring man.
I've bootstitcher friend by the name o.
Jim Pease,
Who can earn twenty dollars week a
his ease,
Though he's stuck to his seat for at leas
twenty years,
And but four to support, he is still in ar
Then know of another who on half o
JIn's pay,
With all needful expenses as much ever,
way,
Has just purchased cottage and paid tn
cash down,
That is thriftless Jim Pease, and this
thrifty Joe Brown.
These two types of mankind you can vie,
atyour ease;-
You can copy Joe Brown or the spend
thrift Jun Pease.
We complain of the times, but they neve
will mend,
Till we live to the rule to earn more tina
we spend.
| CAMBRIDGE, Sept. 20, rs.
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