Page:Labour - The Divine Command, 1890.djvu/100

96 most holy; but they accuse the timid ox; the tigers and wolves cry out against him; and they at once strangle and devour him."

It seems to me that Kriloff by the animals, meant the laborers, and intended the timid ox to personify the rich man. What do you think about it, reader?

95. You who, here in Russia, eat the bread produced by our labor number about thirty millions, including Jews and Gipsies. How can we support you all, supplying you with fine clothes, good beds, and warm covering?

It is for you that we must labor day and night, without rest, and endure great privations.

Is it not unjust? Is it not criminal on your part?

96. And as though you had not heard what I have been saying, you will ask: Of what injustice are you the victims, and what crime have we committed? We do not take your bread for nothing, but we buy it with the money we have earned by our own work.

And where did you get this money?

It was earned by working according to the commandment.

But with us our money does not accrue from our work. Money is not given for nothing; it must be earned by the body, by flesh and bones. And then, can you atone for sin with money? Can you buy the law of God with money?

Your excuse condemns you still further. You have the right to buy what you please with