OCR Text |
Show Aear America singing, the varied carols I hear, Those of mechanics, each one singing as it should be blithe and strong, The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam, The mason singing his as he makes ready for work or leaves off work, The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck, The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands, The wood-cutter's song, the ploughboy, on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown, The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing SO SANG WALT WHITMAN. He sang of America and of a tradition of honest toil that is as American as The Star Spangled Banner. He called his song "I Hear America Singing," because in this country the workers are in every walk of life, even among the richest. No idle ricrNcan win American respect. It is to the industrious, in whatever position, posi-tion, that America pays traditional honor. No caste system hinders American youth from the pursuit of burning ambition to fight his way to the top ; no aristocracy clutters the pages of American history; no dictator's iron heel drags labor to the level of slavery. To Americans, labor is all-important, all-inclusive. All income groups take pride in the knowledge that their work, their job of earning a living is what makes democracy click is the solid backbone of a great republic. As the nation once more pays tribute to this great force which is labor, the words of Walt Whitman's poem, written over eighty years ago, sound what could well be a theme-song of "the American way" 1941 style. |