The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-10-11
THE DAWN AND DAY is COMING

Come hither, lads, and harken. for tale there
is u tell,
OF the wonderful DAYS a-coming when ali shall
be better than well.
And the Ia e shall be told of q country, land
in the mid of the lea,
And folk snail call il England in the days that
are going to be.
There more than one in a thousand in the days
that are yet 10 come,
/ Shall have some hone OF the morrow, some JOY
of the ancient home.
For then--laugh not, but listen 70 this strange
tale of mine
All folk that are in England shall be better
lodged than swine
Then man shall work aud bethink him, and
rejoice in tne deeds OF his hand,
Nor vet come home in the even too faint and
weary to stand.
Men in that time a-coming shall work and have
no fear
For tomorrow's lack of earning and the hunger
wolf a-near.
I tell you this for wonder. that no man then
shall be glad
OF his fellow fall and mishap TO snatch at the
For that which the worker wins shal then be
Nor shall half be reaped for nothing by him that
sowed no seed.
o strange, new, wonderful justicei But for
whom shall we gather the gain?
For ourselves aud each of our fellows. and no
hand shall labor in vain.
Then all mine and all thine shall be ours, and
no more shall any man crave
For riches thas serve for nothing but to letter
friend Tor slave.
And what wealth then shall be left us when
none shall gather gold
To buy his friend in the market, and pinch and
pine the sold?
Nay, what save the lovely city, and the little
And the wastes and the woodland beauty. and
the happy fields we till.
And the homes OF ancient stories, the tombs of
the mighty dead;
And the wise men seeking out marvels. and the
poets teeming mead;
And the painters hand of wonder; and the
marvellous hddle-bow,
And the banded choir of music-all those that
do and know.
For all these shall be ours and all mems. nor
shall any lack share
OF the toll and the gain of living in the days
when the Torld grows fair.
All! such are the days that shall bel But what
are the deeds of today,
In the days of the years We dwell in, that wear
our lives away?
Why, then, and for what are we waiting? There
are three words to speak.
We wilt 1T, and wnat is the foeman, but the
dream-strong Weakened and weak?
o, why and for what are we waiting, while
our brothers droop and die,
And on every wind of the heavens q wasted life
goes by?
How long shall they reproach US where crowd
on crowd they dwell,
Poor ghosts of the wicked city, the gold-crushed
hungry hell?
Through squalid life they labored, in sordid
grief they died,
Those sons of mighty mothers, those props of
England's pride.
They are gone; there is none can undo it, nor
save our souls from the curse;
But many million cometh, and shall they be
better or worse?
1t is we must answer and hasten, and open wide
the door,
For the rich mans hurrying terror, and the
slow-foot hope OF the poor.
Yea, the voicele,s wrath of the wretched, and
their unlearned discomfort,
We must give it voice and wisdom till the wait
ing tide be spent
Come, then, since all things call US. the living
and the dead,
And Ger the weltering tangle aglimmering light
is she'd
Come. then, let US cast off fooling, and put by
ease and rest,
For the cause alone is worthy till the good days
bring the best.
Come, join in the only battle wherein no man
can fail,
Where whose fadeth and dieth, yet his deed
shall still prevail.
All! come, cast off all fooling, for this at least
we know:
That the dawn and the day is coming. and forth
the banners go.