Vox Clamantivm; The Gospel of the People (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1894. Excerpt: ... England to Her Own Rescue. Oh, what avails thee, England fair, Thy hoard of toil-wrung gold, If, 'midst thy wealth, ill-clad they fare--Thy children hungry, cold? Oh, what avail thy sea-girt shores, Thy fleets beyond the foam, If direst foes are at thy doors, And ravage hearth and home? Oh, what avails thy empire's pride, Thy banner world-wide spread, If greed and cunning it doth hide, To mock thy heroes dead? What boots it, all thy gilded spoil Of commerce, east and west, If still, at home, tax-burdened Toil Is joyless, and none rest? Hast struck the fetters from the slave To bind thy factory hand? How may thy faith the heathen save While unredeemed thy land? Of what avail to teach life's laws, Cram brain, with heart unfed, With stones of knowledge at the Board, While children cry for bread? Why raise for Beauty still a plea, And praise Art's flower and fruit, If yet for gain ye sell the tree, Or sap it at the root? What home-fed virtue sweet atones, Or spotless flocks in fold, While in thy streets thy fairest ones For vice are bought and sold? Shall Britons e'er be slaves, or lose Liberty, while lions ramp? The landless Briton still may choose To trespass or to tramp. Let England to herself be true, And, rising in her might, Lift up the lamp--the beacon new That soon shall pierce the night. Strike down the coiling worm of greed, With poison-breath that blights The country-side with bitter need, And steals the common rights. Let honest labour win the right To work in joy and health; Let England's brain and hand unite To build the Commonwealth. With words of comfort and good-will, Forgetting caste and creed, The fallen raise, the hungry fill--Help each and all at need. Dear country, then, to see thee freed, Should each true heart be glad, From wolves of w...