Punch (98.1890)

146

PUNCH, OE THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

[March 29, 1890.

STRIKING HOME.

Well, you have got your way, my lad,
And may it prove good all round.

Liberal pay is your right, I say,
For your grim work underground.

Rise of pay and a shorter day ?

Excellent things, belike,
Yet would they were sought in another way

Than the cruel road of a Strike.

I see you've been having a smoke, my lad;

What did you see in the smoke ?
Why, some things good, and many things bad,

And nought that is matter for joke.

At every puff there's a picture of gloom,

A moral in every pull.
Motionless wheels and idle loom,

What is their meaning in full ?

Capital's greed and Labour's need

These be fair matters for fight. [bleed ?
Must Trade, though, suffer and poor hearts

Must wrong be the road to right'(

Glad there is talk of a better way,

Truly 'tis worth the search;
For little you '11 profit by higher pay

If Commerce be left in the lurch.