Poems (Hoffman)/Workers

by Martha Lavinia Hoffman

WORKERS

Call no work low that is honest;
Honest toil never degrades;
Rather the thief and the sluggard
Unerring justice upbraids;
 Scorn, who of scorn are deserving,
 Praise, to whom praises are due;
 Honor to every true worker
 Under the red, white and blue.

Praise for your noble example,
Honor for idleness spurned,
Long may you reap the unsullied
Blessing of benefits earned;
 Kingly is loyal endeavor,
 Noble the task that is true;
 Duty is never degrading,
 Do what your hands find to do.

Into the mills and the factories,
Into the quarries below;
Into the field and the forest,
Bravely and cheerfully go;
 But for the wheels ye are turning,
 But for the timber ye hew,
 But for your toil in the harvest,
 What would the nation pursue?

Yours is a praiseworthy calling,
Stain not its record by crime;
'Tis yours to make it ennobling,
'Tis yours to make it sublime;
 Wield not the sword of transgression,
 Be noble-hearted and true;
 Scorn to be anarchist traitors,
 Under the red, white and blue.

Justice will come to the worthy,
Right at the last will prevail,
History grandly repeats it,
Time never knew it to fail;
 Wait is the gold key of justice,
 Justice will open to you;
 Truth is the only sure watchword,
 Truth will yet carry you through.

Scorn to the men or the women
Who honest labor despise;
Near be the day in the future,
When such false sentiment dies;
 Deep be the grave where 'tis buried,
 May none e'er bring it to view;
 Servants are good as their masters
 If they're as upright and true.

By all the trampers and loafers
Making their country's worst bane,
By all the truly degraded
Living on ill-gotten gain;
 Scorn, who of scorn are deserving,
 Praise, to whom praises are due;
 Workers are nobler than idlers,
 Under the red, white and blue.