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1890
NOW this is the tale of the Council the German Kaiser decreed, | |
| To ease the strong of their burden, to help the weak in their need, | |
| He sent a word to the peoples, who struggle, and pant, and sweat, | |
| That the straw might be counted fairly and the tally of bricks be set. | |
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| The Lords of Their Hands assembled. From the East and the West they drew— | 5 |
| Baltimore, Lille, and Essen, Brummagem, Clyde, and Crewe. | |
| And some were black from the furnace, and some were brown from the soil, | |
| And some were blue from the dye-vat; but all were wearied of toil. | |
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| And the young King said:—“I have found it, the road to the rest ye seek: | |
| “The strong shall wait for the weary, the hale shall halt for the weak; | 10 |
| “With the even tramp of an army where no man breaks from the line, | |
| “Ye shall march to peace and plenty in the bond of brotherhood—sign!” | |
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| The paper lay on the table, the strong heads bowed thereby, | |
| And a wail went up from the peoples:—“Ay, sign—give rest, for we die!” | |
| A hand was stretched to the goose-quill, a fist was cramped to scrawl, | 15 |
| When—the laugh of a blue-eyed maiden ran clear through the council-hall. | |
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| And each one heard Her laughing as each one saw Her plain— | |
| Saidie, Mimi, or Olga, Gretchen, or Mary Jane. | |
| And the Spirit of Man That is in Him to the light of the vision woke; | |
| And the men drew back from the paper, as a Yankee delegate spoke:— | 20 |
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| “There’s a girl in Jersey City who works on the telephone; | |
| “We’re going to hitch our horses and dig for a house of our own, | |
| “With gas and water connections, and steam-heat through to the top; | |
| “And, W. Hohenzollern, I guess I shall work till I drop.” | |
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| And an English delegate thundered:—“The weak an’ the lame be blowed! | 25 |
| “I’ve a berth in the Sou’-West workshops, a home in the Wandsworth Road; | |
| “And till the ’sociation has footed my buryin’ bill, | |
| “I work for the kids an’ the missus. Pull up! I’ll be damned if I will!” | |
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| And over the German benches the bearded whisper ran:— | |
| “Lager, der girls und der dollars, dey makes or dey breaks a man. | 30 |
| “If Schmitt haf collared der dollars, he collars der girl deremit; | |
| “But if Schmitt bust in der pizness, we collars der girl from Schmitt.” | |
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| They passed one resolution:—“Your sub-committee believe | |
| “You can lighten the curse of Adam when you’ve lifted the curse of Eve. | |
| “But till we are built like angels, with hammer and chisel and pen, | 35 |
| “We will work for ourselves and a woman, for ever and ever, amen.” | |
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| Now this is the tale of the Council the German Kaiser held— | |
| The day that they razored the Grindstone, the day that the Cat was belled, | |
| The day of the Figs from Thistles, the day of the Twisted Sands, | |
| The day that the laugh of a maiden made light of the Lords of Their Hands. | 40 |
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