Page:Backblock Ballads and Later Verses (C.J. Dennis, 1918).djvu/134

 126 They interviewed the black man and remarked, "It's very sad, But the use you make of this great land is positively bad; Why, you haven't got a sheep or cow about the blessed place! Considering the price of wool, it's simply a disgrace."

Then they started with the school books and the rum—likewise the guns; And some began to look for gold and others "took up runs." For, they said, "This land must be cut up; it's simply useless so; Our name is Progress, and you're out of date, so you must go!"

But the black was most indignant, and he said it was a shame; For he'd been full and satisfied before the white man came, And he used a word unpublishable in his argument,— Which was native for "A blanky Buccaneer." And yet—he went.

It's the same old "march unceasing." We are getting down the list, And yesterday's "Reformer" is to-day's "Monopolist," For history will repeat itself in this annoying way: Who stood for "Progress" yesterday is "Retrograde" to-day.