The Labor enquirer., 1886-02-06
Our Poet Tells Of the Venall
Preachers, who Are Hired
BY Money,
As Its Christian Teachers; and
the Press, Another Honop
oily Tool,
Is Depraved, While the Law Disgraccs
the Golden Rule -ssDe as You'd
Be Done By.0

| 10 1t the rich mems preachers turn,
Kneel down. adore and won der.
They think the Master said in vain,
That love Of money is the cause
Of everv great or little stain
Which mankind put on Heavens laws.
Sure, every rich mans preacher shows,
DeplorlHg it with gravity,
That almost all the evil flows
From workingmen's depravity.
And oft with sanctimonious face,
And phrases that appalled, us,
They've bid us occupy the place
Where "God himself hath called u.s."
How do that kind of preachers pray
With understanding? No, sir!
They do 1t always in this way,
Wherever you may 60, sir:
They say, "Our Father" and they deem
The kinship is well merited,
But do not condescend to dream
OF us, the disinherlted.
His kingdom, then, they ask for, too,
With rhetoric quite splendid;
DuG Sblll buclI OWu WILL w
When it's a. little mended.
And then they say, THY will be done,"
But if it were they'd rue 1t.
They have no need to ask for food
In riches they are "wallowing"-
And so they touchingly allude
To us in manner following:
"Glve US our daily bread do not
L Forget one son or daughter"
And Beecher, boldest of the lot,
Says, add little water"
That settles us, and next they ask
For grace of their own fashions,
Who leave US starving at our task.
While they devour the rations.
Continuing, with pious airs,
Their further invocation,
They move that Heaven avert the
snares s' X
That lure them to temptation.
They need no tempting, save to tell
The truth, and they have missed 1t;
Or, if it ever tries it's spell
They valiantly resist it,.
They ask not that the demon, Greed,
Shall cease to weld his blighting,
power,
Nor shall the millions soiIed by need
May find their share of Heavens
dover. 49,.
Most of the sinful fashions
That poverty betide,
Are God-implanted passions :.
Repressed and crucified. =
The last petition of the meek
Who know their Latin and their Greek,
Proves that they have quite unique
Endowment of what men call Cheek
They say, "Free US from evils hold"
While Mammon's finger leads them,
And "love of money" steals the gold
That buys their clothes and feeds
them.
The press is also deeply dyed
With Dives pet opinion,
And all the Statesmen" we have tried
Acknowledge his dominion
And while deliv'rance we invoke,
Still farther down they thrust us;
Let US throw off the legal yoke :,
And try little justice. -
For just SO long as we abide
By courts, well lose our cause; lila
Remember that the other side
Have written all the laws. Eg
And if we 60 to law, indeed,
AS villains they'll depict us,
For every statute wkich they read
Was a0ritten to convict as.
All laws DENY our right to hope,
For this most potent reason:
That all their meanings and their scope
Sustain the ancient treason,
Whereby the birthright of our race
Was given to the spoiler,
Investing him with legal grace
To starve and rob the toller
That was the birth of all our woe;
The original sin 'gainst Heaven plan;
From thence all sins and sorrows flow;
That was the primal fall of man.
That was the root of every i'll
That hurts and grieves,
Ny brothers, do not waste your skill
In plucking leaves.
| If ye are weary of their poison breath
| And wish to be forever free
To strike them with lasting death
Then touch them not; dig upthe tree.
Then shall theirIupas shade for aye
Depart between Gods smile and US;
The fountain Of all sin gone dry.
All men shall be converted thus.
And would the rich be losers2 No,
Not as wise men reckon loss.
They'd deem their former station low,
And find their gold was mostly dross;
But will they heed sweet wisdom's plea?
Did they ever heed it yet 2
Their future, as their past, shall be :.
Nothing to give and all TO get
A few may hear ia few may heed;
| And turn from darkness unto light,
Renounce the villainy of greed,
And come out on the side ofright.
| But most of them will SOW the wind
Until, when clouds are gathered thick,
The whirlwind's wrath shall strike
them blind
And make their reelIng hearts grow
sick.
The cup Of trembling they've filled
For poverty to drink 80 fast
Shall through their pallid lips be
spilled; y
They'll taste it's bitterness at last
Al. JHsNINas.