Digitization Projects Philologic Results

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Smith, Stephen; Wilkinson, J. Grains for the Grangers, Discussing All Points Bearing Upon the Farmers' Movement for the Emancipation of White Slaves from the Slave-Power of Monopoly . Philadelphia: John E. Potter and Company, 1873. [format: book], [genre: essay; history; letter; narrative; poetry]. Permission: Northern Illinois University
Persistent link to this document: http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/file.php?file=smith.html

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To the Toiling Hand.

All honor to the toiling hand,
Or in the field or mine;
Or by the harnessed fire or steam,
Or on the heaving brine.
Whatever loom, or bark, or plow,
Hath wrought to bless our land,
Or given around, above, below,
We owe the toiling hand.

It battles with the elements,
It breaks the stubborn sward;
It rings the forge, the shuttle throws,
And shapes the social board.
It conquers clime, it stems the wave,
And bears from every strand,
The sweetest, best of all we have, —
Gifts of the toiling hand.

God bless it with a special grace —
Striking for Freedom's cause;
Emancipation from the power
Of Wealth and unjust laws;
God give it strength, against the few
Who rule but to be bribed,
And speed the cause to which this page
Is earnestly inscribed.