WHAT ENGLISH WORKMEN SING.
\n“The Secularist Manual of Songs and Ceremonies ”
\nhas recently attracted some notoriety, from the
\nallusion made to it by Gladstone in a recent speech.
\nIt is the creed and song-book, so to speak, of the
\nrevolutionary working classes in England, and
\na correspondent furnishes some specimens of
\nthe rhyme it contains, of which the subjoined
\nare the most unobjectionable :
\n“The seed ye sow another reaps,
\nThe wealth ye find another keeps,
\nThe robes ye make another wears,
\nThe arms ye forge another bears!”
\nHere are a couple of verses of Earnest James’
\n“Song of the Lower Classes” :
\n“We plow and sow, we’re so very, very low,
\nThat we delve in the dirty clay.
\n‘Tis we bless the plain with the growing grain,
\nAnd the vale with the fragrant hay.
\nOur places we know, we’re so very low,
\n‘ Tis down at the landlord’s feet;
\nWe’re not too low the grain to grow,
\nBut too low the bread to eat.
\nDown, down the hill we go, we’re so very, very low,
\nTo the hall of the deep-sunk mines;
\nBut we gather the proudest gems that glow
\nWhere the crown of a despot shines.
\nAnd whene’er he lacks, upon our backs
\nFresh loads he deigns to lay;
\nWe’re far too low to vote the tax,
\nBut none too low to pay.”
\nAnother piece, called ” The People,” has a lively ring about it:
\n“Some folks will sing ‘ God Bless the King’
\nOr Queen at public dinners,
\nAnd drink the health of doubtful saints,
\nAnd very certain sinners.
\nBut we do not toast to-night
\nThe court or camp or steeple;
\nWe here a different theme indite \u2014
\n‘The people, boys! the people.’
\nIf history we read aright,
\nTis plain unto my seeming,
\nOne half the troubles of this world
\nArise from rulers’ scheming.
\nThey plot to work each other ill;
\nTheir subjects treat like cattle\u2014
\nYet when they’re in a mess expect
\nThat we will fight the battle.”<\/p>\n
Sacramento Daily Union 16 December 1871<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WHAT ENGLISH WORKMEN SING. “The Secularist Manual of Songs and Ceremonies ” has recently attracted some notoriety, from the allusion made to it by Gladstone in a recent speech. It is the creed and song-book, so to speak, of the revolutionary working classes in England, and a correspondent furnishes some specimens of the rhyme it … [Read more…]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,7,3825,13,14,2249,17],"tags":[59,4225,4224,4226,1473,4223,1891],"class_list":{"0":"entry","1":"post","2":"publish","3":"author-sergneri","4":"has-excerpt","5":"post-332","7":"format-standard","8":"category-california-newspaper-archive","9":"category-faits-divers","10":"category-history","11":"category-politics","12":"category-racism","13":"category-slavery","14":"category-thinking-about","15":"post_tag-59","16":"post_tag-english","17":"post_tag-gladstone","18":"post_tag-lower-classes","19":"post_tag-sacramento-daily-union","20":"post_tag-secularist-manual","21":"post_tag-workmen"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sergneri.net\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sergneri.net\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sergneri.net\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sergneri.net\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sergneri.net\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=332"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.sergneri.net\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5013,"href":"https:\/\/www.sergneri.net\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/332\/revisions\/5013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sergneri.net\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sergneri.net\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sergneri.net\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}