English

SUNDAY

Some would bring back the Puritan Sunday,
Call it the Sabbath as if we were Jews,
Make it illegal to laugh on that one day,
Force all the people to flock to the pews,
Saturday night put secular things aside,
Stop all the wheels of carriage and train.
Such narrow bigotry recklessly flings aside
Much of three centuries marvellous gain.

Read how the Puritans, gloomy and canting,

Tremendous , immeasurable, unimaginable is the power of the press;
It controls, it incites, it evokes; it strikes, it creates!
It works for ruin, for passion, for crime, for righteousness;
It decides the destimes of nations, like the Fates.

It mirrors the epoch we live in with accuracy photographic;
It multiplies the interest of existence a thousand times;
It traces the currents of migration, the sweep and volume of traffic;

ADVERTISEMENTS MIRROR LIFE

The counting-room sends up its classified advertisements.
All the complicated life of our age can be read in these columns, —
Chances for making a fortune; land for sale; new publications;
Coming and going of steamboats and trains;
Lectures and concerts and theatrical attractions;
Excursions; trips at startling reductions;
Chances to visit the Yosemite Valley, the Yellowstone Park,
To see the giant trees, the sequoia,
Even to the glacier-lined coasts of Alaska,

THE ENTRANCING GAME OF POLITICS

The mighty game of politics, most entrancing of all games,
Finds its reflection in every county and town.
The struggle to obtain control of the Primaries,
To secure the regular party papers for nomination,
The mysterious manipulations, the play of hidden wires,
The sudden enforced retirement of some excellent candidate,
The bombastical speech of some ward politician
Charged by a Good Government Association with crooked dealings,

THE EDITORS DECIDE

The news editor sits at his desk; he must decide on the instant
What must be used, what thrown away.
A new theory is advanced by a famous scientist
Who claims to subvert all our notions of matter —
He must be interviewed and his notions submitted to local authorities;
A new source of radium is discovered
Which will make it cheaper than platinum;
A new cure for cancer is announced by an unknown doctor;
A new flying machine is invented which will do away with express-trains;

MEN DELIGHT IN SPORTS AND GAMES

The baseball editor outdoes himself in describing a crucial match.
He depicts the " bleachers " crowded to suffocation,
The " Fans " shouting themselves hoarse
As a great double-play brings in two to score for the home-team;
An epic description follows.
When the nine innings are ended the crowd hastily disperses;
The long line of tram-cars packed to the running-boards creeps down the avenue.

Full reports come in telling of the latest championship of the golf-links,

THE NEWS-GATHERING

Meantime the newsmen in all parts of the world are alert,
Sifting and straining the currents of life for every event.

In Nevada a new rich mine has been opened:
A stampede of treasure-seekers rushes to stake claims,
Where was a wild forest, or only a bare cactus-hedged desert,
Suddenly springs into life a new city
With a multitude of saloons, electric lights, dance-halls, gambling-hells;
The old California days of " Forty-nine " are recalled;
Fortunes are made and lost in a day.

COÖPERATION

A CROSS the way another establishment has tried cooperation.
Every hand has his share in the profits, his voice in the management.
This is true Democracy. Great questions are brought up and discussed;
Blunders are made and blunders, as well as sins, bring retribution.
Wisdom comes from experience; pride is a mighty force.

There is every incentive to work unremittingly, for all success
Brings its speedy reward. The strike is unknown; red-handed Anarchy,

THE STRIKE

A T last some morning, as the signal sounds, not a workman responds;
Groups of sullen men or scowling women halt on the corners;
The Labor Union delegates harangue in the central hall.

Substitutes unused to the work, unskilled strike-breakers are hired,
Shouts of " Scab " are heard; threats of violence break into acts;
Stones and bricks fly hurtling; there 's a crashing of glass;
Fire breaks out; costly machines are ruined; Labor exults in the damage.

THE ROAD MAKERS

Over the hilltops of New England the first rough roads,
Well-called highways, ran,
Dotted here and there with the settlers' unpainted abodes.
Built on a primitive plan;
Everywhere commanding the country in case of surprise
By wolf or Indian.

Rocky here, or crossing a ledge, and here deep in sand,
Gullied by torrents of rain,
White, unshaded, with dangerous gulches on either hand,