THE FRIENDS' CHORUS
Neidig, W. J.
The Friends' Chorus By WILLIAM J. NE1DIG I HEARD them sing together, loud and clear: They sang the birthday of an honest man, Of honest Lincoln, whom they cherished dear. He was the idol of their...
...He shall be heard in clamor against theft...
...A NT) this one in the shadow at the left: £\_ He is the god of Mammon, at a crack...
...He was the idol of their honest clan...
...He fills his day from bottom up to brim With honest clamor such as woodman can...
...THESE men in praise of Lincoln.' these to crown With dream-twined laurels Lincoln's honest head...
...It must be they are grateful that the land Was not made barren and despoiled of oldt (That were dishonor they could understand...
...More honesty—it comes in glass...
...They are so honest that they cannot stop, But must have more to last them to a vote...
...The sound of chopping wood has wakened him...
...It comes all paid for, ready for the throatt As honest as the tariff upon brass...
...He may praise Lincoln loud, for he has stayed From doing any injury that he saw...
...AND this tall master of the road also, He may praise Lincoln too with wisdom shrill...
...He owned not a cent...
...He has they say an honest face and hand, And he has friends in each committee-room: Therefore his voice lasts clearly down the land, (It lasts forever—like the kitchen broom...
...Therefore he is like Lincoln through and through...
...For at the point of cannon he the foe (The rascal people) held back from the hill...
...He is the friend of women: he gives them Almost a half day's wages for the whole...
...NEXT come the people's servants...
...He keeps the country honest, in a way, (And as h# can, the prisons empty too) By putting all the rascals in his pay...
...These men, whose cramped five letters of a nnmi (Seven in the plural) spells dishonor dead...
...From morning star to midnight anyhow, And mostly longer, he has had career...
...He fears his money may be stolen back...
...Who has not kept bad papers in his trunk, Nor ever stolen money save for guin...
...Hark and hear...
...But all the worldly wealth he else would lose He gave the poor (his wife by that he meant...
...Who take their praise of Lincoln from a tray...
...these are they, With purses always open—at the top...
...Therefore they met to praise him with their lips, And raise the purple goblets to the sky...
...He can smell coal as far as any man...
...Country ivas first in all their partnerships, As with him too, another reason why.J ONE was a banker, honest to the shoes (The judge affirmed it...
...And children too for him may stitch and hem: It is his agent says how they are paidt Himself has done no wrong (except by law...
...AGAINST his elbow sits a placid soul...
...But came down for their honest harids tv hold...
...AND this one higher, with the whitened brow, Does he praise Lincoln also...
...More what...
...He may praise Lincoln, surely, who has shrunk From swearing fruitless perjury in the main...
Vol. 2 • February 1910 • No. 6
