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Show THE LABORING MEN wd Jmf Ww TT7ffO are the laboring men? TJfilLO are the laboring men? yyWe are the laboring men: We are the laboring men: We, the muscle of the tribes and lands, We who stand in the ranks of trade With sun-trod faces and horn-gloved hands; And count the tallies that toil has made; With well-patched garments, stained and coarse Who guard the coffers of wealth untold, With untrained voices, heavy and hoarse; And ford the streams of glistening gold; Who brave the death of the noontide heats, Who send the train on its breathless trips, Who mow the meadows and pave the streets, And rear the buildings and sail the ships; Who push the plow by the smooth-faced sod, And though our coats be a trifle fine, Or climb the crags with a well-filled hod. And though our diamonds flash and shine, Yes, we are the laboring men Yet we are the laboring men The genuine laboring men. The genuine laboring men. 'And each, somewhere in the stormy shy, We bolt the gates of the angry seas, Has a sweet love-star, be. it low or high; We keep the nation's granary keys; For pride have we to do and dare, The routes of trade we have built and planned And a heart have we to cherish and care; Are veins of life to a hungry land. And power have we for, lose our brawn, And power have we in our peaceful strife, And where were your flourishing cities gone? . For a nation's trade is a nation's life; Or bind our hands or fetter our feet, And take the sails of our commerce in. And what would the gaunt world, find to eat? Where were your "artisans' pails of tin?" Aye, where were your gentry then? Aye, where were your laborers then? For we are the laboring men! For we are the laboring men! "R0 are the laboring men? fllO are not the laboring men? We are the laboring men: They're not the laboring men, We of the iron and waterway, They who creep in dens and lanes Whom fire and steam and tide obey; To rob their betters of honest gains; Who slab the sea with a prow of oak, The rich who sloop to devour the poor, Who blot the sky with a cloud of smoke, The tramps ivho beg from door to door, WKo bend the breezes unto our wills, The rogues who love a darkened sky, And feed the looms and hurry the mills; And steal and rob, and cheat and lie; Who oft have the lives of a thousand known The loafing wights and senseless' bloats In the hissing valves that hold our own! Who drain their pockets to wet their throats. Yes, we are the laboring men They're not the laboring men The genuine laboring men. The genuine laboring men. And though a coat may a button lack, And all true hearts that the price would give And though a face be sooty and black, For honest joy and a right to live, And though the words be heavy of flow, And every soul to truth alive, And new-called thoughts come lardy and slow, Willing to thrive and let others thrive, And though rough words in a speech may blend, Should rise with a true and steady hand A heart's a heart, and a friend's a friend. And mark these foes with a villain brand, - And power have we, but for our skill, And shame them into the ranks of toil, The wave would drown and the sea would kill; Or crush them under their kindred soil And where were your gentry then? ' Away from the laboring men Aye, we are the laboring men! N The genuine laboring men. |