Our daily bread.

*THE WORKER*

BRISBANE, APRIL 27, 1895

The Wants of the People.

What do we people want? Our daily bread;

Leave to earn it by our skill;

Leave to labour freely for it;

Leave to buy it where we will.

For 'tis hard upon the many,

Hard, unpitied by the few;

To starve and die for want of work,

Or live half starved with work to do.

What do we want? Our daily bread;

Fair reward for labour done;

Daily bread for wives and children;

All our wants are merged in one,

When the fierce fiend, hunger, grips us,

Evil fancies clog our brains.

Vengeance settles in our hearts,

And frenzy gallops through our veins.

What do we want? Our daily bread;

Give us that – all else will come;

Self-respect and self denial,

And the happiness of home;

Kindly feelings, education,

Liberty for act and thought;

And surely that, whate'er befall,

Our children shall be fed and taught.

What do we want? Our daily bread;

Give us that for willing toil;

Make us sharers in the plenty

God has showered upon the soil;

And we'll nurse our better natures

With bold hearts and judgement strong,

To do as much as men can do

To keep the world from going wrong.

CHARLES MACKEY.