The Good Time Coming

  There's a good time coming, boys.     A good time coming:   We may not live to see the day,   But earth shall glisten in the ray     Of the good time coming.   Cannon-balls may aid the truth,     But thought's a weapon stronger;   We'll win our battle by its aid;      Wait a little longer.   There's a good time coming, boys,     A good time coming:   The pen shall supersede the sword,   And Right, not Might, shall be the lord     In the good time coming.   Worth, not Birth, shall rule mankind,     And be acknowledged stronger;   The proper impulse has been given;      Wait a little longer.   There's a good time coming, boys     A good time coming:   War in all men's eyes shall be   A monster of iniquity     In the good time coming.   Nations shall not quarrel then,     To prove which is the stronger;   Nor slaughter men for glory's sake;      Wait a little longer.   There's a good time coming, boys,     A good time coming:   Hateful rivalries of creed   Shall not make their martyrs bleed     In the good time coming.   Religion shall be shorn of pride,     And flourish all the stronger;   And Charity shall trim her lamp;      Wait a little longer.   There's a good time coming, boys,     A good time coming:   And a poor man's family   Shall not be his misery     In the good time coming.   Every child shall be a help     To make his right arm stronger;   The happier he, the more he has:      Wait a little longer.   There's a good time coming, boys,     A good time coming:   Little children shall not toil   Under, or above, the soil     In the good time coming;   But shall play in healthful fields,     Till limbs and mind grow stronger;   And every one shall read and write;      Wait a little longer.   There's a good time coming, boys,     A good time coming:   The people shall be temperate,   And shall love instead of hate,     In the good time coming.   They shall use, and not abuse,     And make all virtue stronger;   The reformation has begun;      Wait a little longer.   There's a good time coming, boys,     A good time coming:   Let us aid it all we can,   Every woman, every man,     The good time coming:   Smallest helps, if rightly given,     Make the impulse stronger;   'T will be strong enough one day;      Wait a little longer. CHARLES MACKAY