Page:The cry for justice - an anthology of the literature of social protest. - (IA cryforjusticea00sinc).pdf/469

 Farmer and Lawyer Again

(From "The Vision of Piers Plowman")

(One of the earliest of English social protests, a picture of the misery of the workers of the fourteenth century)

Some were for ploughing, and played full seldom, Set their seed and sowed their seed and sweated hard, To win what wastrels with gluttony destroy There wandered a hundred in hoods of silk, Serjeants they seemed, and served at the Bar, Pleading the Law for pennies and for pounds, Unlocking their lips never for love of our Lord. Thou mightest better mete the mist on Malvern hills Than get a mutter from their mouths—save thou show thy money!

The Agitator

(Hebrew prophet, B.C. 740)

For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, And for Jerusalem's sake will I not rest, Until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, And the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. Upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, have I set watchmen, Who shall never hold their peace, day and night. Go through, go through the gates; Prepare ye the way of the people! Lift up a standard to the peoples!