Page:Fairy Tales for Worker's Children.djvu/71

 my ear to the earth, I find new voices added and that is how I know that the day is not far distant."

"And can nothing be done to make the day come sooner?"

"Of course. There are many, many people who do not know yet how good it is for other people and how bad their lives are; who work like beasts and never ask why their honest labor brings a starvation wage. These poor blind people must be shown the truth, and this is not at all easy, because the poor are so tired from the day's work that they can hardly think; and the rich do everything not to awaken questions in the minds of the workers. That is why they punish every one who asks, 'Why?' You have already learned from your own experience, little Paul."

"Then I must continue asking questions?"

"Yes, little Paul, but do not ask the rich, they will not answer you because if they did they would have to say, 'The world is such a bad place for poor people because we, the rich, are greedy, selfish, vile,' and no person likes to say that about himself. But go to the poor people, ask them, 'Why do you eat dry bread tho you work hard, while the idle rich eat cake? Why are your children pale, thin and ill while the rich children are rosy, fat and healthy? Why does your long life of toil end in the poorhouse, whereas the lazy grafters are well taken care of in their old age, resting luxuriously from their lives of idleness?"?' [sic] Ask the poor people these questions so long and so often that they will fall on the structure of injustice like a hammer and smash it. Will you do it, little Paul?"

"Yes," replied the boy with eyes alight.

The little Dryad kissed his forehead and said earnestly, "Your life will be hard, little Paul. The rich, who are afraid of losing what they have robbed, will punish you. They will try to choke the question in your throat, they will throw you into jail, that no one may hear your voice. But you must not lose courage, for the question was 65