Los Angeles herald., 1908-03-15

BY T. SHE
I saw woman-crouching, in the dust.
The world went by, and like Thing Of Of stone
Except for low smothered cry Il must!'
She watched the crowd, unnoticed and alone
Above her reared the Temple of Creed
Which Hope and Faith to God had set apart;
But God not. The Woman's name was NEED,
And Fear, not Faith, was burning in her heart
Despair, not Hope. was master of her soul -os
That soul which want had shriveled as it seared
Her famished lips had from an empty bowl
Long sought the succor that In dreams appeared
But not for her the sweet ambrosial feast
OF Faith or Hope; and not for her the fame
Which, tow'ring in the splendor of the East,
Did mock the morbid struggles of her brain
The light that through hose sacred windows crept
In mut-hued effulgence, could not reach
The hopeless void in which her soul had slept
Nor yet it's sweet and roseate lessons teach
There was no sun, no light, no Greed, God
The spark of life was but force to prod
The tagging limbs; the consctousness-I must!
The day was but a time in which to toll
measure In the graspng of a life
battle for pittance in the moil
OF maddened Want and Mis'ry-sordid strife!
The night-the night-Ah. that but time
In which to gather courage for the day;
time in which to contemplate the Crime
OF those who crush and take, give, pay!
Black cowled and wan, with shrunken face and eyes.
She covered among the shadows. At her feet
The wreck and ruin of Lfe's insipid Lies
The dust of dreams the chan, but not the wheat
Joy, Love- Ambiton-all alike, were strewn
About that shiv'ring figure. half undressed
Which crouched beside the Temple Love; alone
Had bound pale, pnched infant to her breast
And that was ALL No other gift or boon,
Had Life Love, Labor e'er bestowed;
And this-her only blessing-must too
But prove curse-another Need to goad.
Yet kneeling in the dark debris and dust
OF other years, she kissed it's lips and wept;
And then she rose and cried again Il must!"
And slowly on amid the shadows crept
saw Mountaineering, in the dust
with aasn h sar and oau
Dvided-was their dinner; but the joy
OF noontide not present Each dumb,
set,eyed and silent and no voice or deed
Could change their sullen features. They had come
From yonder mill; and one of them was NEED,
The mother; and the other CRIME her SON
. Degenerate offspring of the Monster who
Controlled the mill and sweatshop though not
Had guessed the guilty secret of the two.
III.
The child mute, but cunning On its face
Heredity had writ it's fearful fate;
The mothers eye it's path of Sin could trace,
Nor Man, nor Law could stay it in it's hate!
1t was a Thief Murderer a Thing
In which there brewed the elements of He'll:
Sin brought fear: dull conscience had sting,
Fer Life was but a lusting-why rebel?
It's sire had lived by breaking every law
OF God and Right, though by the law of Man
He still abode with shrewdness and in
The child knew not the process of it's sire
The subtle shrewd evasions of the court
But infant nursed its mothers ire
And grew to look on Justice as a sport!
Oft NEED had said: "Thy father child. hath snned
The child 9e sad bnt V ny a erneed
Denounced the law which it had schemed to foil
1t a Thef-a bandit. 1t had sprung
OF one whose wealth and M rumn bad ben e
From all the slaves that Hunger could procure.
1t was withal Murderer At night
1t & planned the the crude eet commission Of crime
That bound its soul in penury and slime!
With keen knife at one destructive blow,
1t planned the awkward taking of life
Had murdered many in the mills of strife!
So came the child-illit'rate vassal, born
OF that inhuma9 tyrant mt known ro as GREED
With none to guide except its mother. NEED.
1t knew no prayer, no fear of God, no light
1t labored in the factry; and by night
Went forth alone to pilfer or to slay!
Amid the silent alleys, like a Thing
Devoid of soul or conscience, it attained
The strength and stature of beast. to fling
Aside the yoke meath which it's neck chained
And while the mother ploddng in the dust
Had spent her life in drudgery at the mill
Crying aloud, and yet, Il must"
The son exclaimed, deep in his heart II WILL"
81 must had been the lash for which gaunt NEED
Too long had barred her bent and beaten back
Why should the thus his mother bleed?-
Who made the law, the treadml, or the rack?
81 Will" his slogan. Hour by hour
He planned the midnight his dream
The pent-up fury of a Demons power
Gave to his eyes strange. unnatural gleam
ST will! 1 will" he muttered he felt
The sinews of his shoulder spanned the wrist
By which the fatal dagger should be dealt
Then beat his body fercey with his fist!
V.
saw the Mountaineering, in the dust
Beside her stood Monster-guilty GREED