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Show "" . i It chanced that once upon a time remote. The weary giant, known as Labor, smote His thitrh a sounding whack and cried, "I'm blest, But I have toiled enough and tibw I'll rest. I'll let the world wag onward as it may, While I go home and have rnv holiday? ' So, Labor laid aside his tools and crept Deep in his cavern, where he promptly slept. An hour went by, 'an hour without a sound, The shops were stilled, no more their wheels went round, The mills were fastened close with bolt and lock, The steamship idly rubbed against her dock, The engine moveless slept, the anvil stood As silent as, a gravestone in a wood. While Mankind, startled by the awful still, Together whispered, awed, "Is Labor ill?" And as the moments passed o'er town and farm, And all was still, there 'rose a great alarm, Went forth the giant Commerce, Joud to shout, Deep into Labor's cavern, "Frjend, come out, You're needed by us needed in a trice. Please come at once! We' 11 pay you any price. Tou've "slept an hour already all your Jill. Come forth at once. The world is standing still. ' ' And Labor, wakened by the other's cries, Stretched forth his brawny arms and rubbed his eyes, And mused a bit, then with good-natured smile, Said, "Yes, I'll come, but make it worth my while. One day each year you 11 give vie, privilege free, One day each year you'll consecrate to me, While one day I will consecrate to play, And (chuckling, said), we'll call it Labor Day." |