Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1901-09-13

The Twentieth Century.
(Re-pubhshed by request)
BY W. n. MELLEN.

The watch-res Of Civilization have burned
Too low the evergreen hlltops Of time.
The gifts Of the gods have been tramped and spurned
And their temples profaned BY injustice and crime.
The jewels Of Freedom baubles tossed
Where the rattle Of thieves Libertys sod,
And the voice Of the Patriot Fathers is lost
In the clatter Of dice on the atars Of God
The prophets of Truth are derided and jeered;
The priesthood Of Mammon betrays and decieves;
1t has torn down the temple Of Justice and reared
On the ruins den for its outlaws and thieves.
The reves Of gamblers and harlots defame
The councils Of state and the flag Of the brave,
Is an emblem Of fraud and symbol of shame -
Its stars for the tyrantts stripes for the slave.
The cry Of nation is drowned in the din
Where statesmen cast lots for unholes gains
And the ermne Of Justice is backer within
Than the heart Of the feon who grovels in chains.
Lo manhood is beggary vaults full Of gold;
Lo, childhood in rags-precious gems for fiste;
While virtue is outraged or bartered and sold
Within touch Of the cross Of the crucifed Christ.
Lo Labor dishonored cast down. overthrown
Sees dimly feels dumbly its terrible need;
Starts up, blind giant, then stumbling, falls prone
In the poisonous folds Of the dragon OF Greed
The great common people bewldered, mislead
Drift hither and thlther as tide beaten sands,
And priescrat and statescraft but offer them bread
That turns to serpent of stone in their hands
IL
1t is murk the mountains--'ts dusk the hills
No chant from the forest, no song on the lea;
The rivers dumb. and the laughter Of rils
Is mute as the lips of the shudderng
Dusk deepens and silence the hills hold their breath
And awed ranges lift pallid faces on high;
The valley is hushed the chamber Of death,
And the voice of the cataract sinks to sigh.
There's flash from the zenith from the main,
A crash on the SUBMITS, cry from the void,
A wall in the forest, sob on the plain,
And the tempest Is on that the prophets toretod.
Black clouds lash the hiltops and mad thunders rift
The pail Of the storm with red lances of fire;
The deep answers back and warning waves lift
To tear with white teeth at the clouds in their ire.
Unleashed are the torrents; they dash on the plains
AS famshing wild beasts spring fierce from their lair
And he's earthquake egons have broken their chains
To war with the demons Of earth and Of air.
With lightning wrought sckles black hurricanes reap,
And forests go down with shudder and wall;
Volcanoes belch flame, lurid meeors leap
And mountains born from the breast Of the vale.
Soft SOFT is the south wind and azure the sky;
Glad whisper low where the tides have their bsrth
And opaline clouds lift white banners on high,
AS morns rosy lips kiss the bosom Of earth.
The white wings OF commerce woong the breeze.
And labor goes forth to its task with song;
Peace laughs in her valleys, love sings on the seas
Fraternity's triumph DER outrage and wrong
The vutures Of rapne and warfare have flown;
No caste and no castle. no dungeon and chain;
For palace and spokesman and yrant and throne
Are dustbu the great common people remain.
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