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Title: On Strike
Author: Grant Balfour [
More Titles by Balfour]
One day some workmen
Struck for better pay. And David wondered
What it meant to strike. "What is it, mother?--
Do they hit the men that give them work?"
The mother smiled. "No, no, my child, they merely
Rest or cease from work to force their masters
Into giving better pay to get them
Back to work." A happy thought now seized him--
"Oh, mother, strike, and then the people sure
Will give you better pay." The mother smiled,
But sighed and said, "My darling boy, if I
Should strike, a score of women poor are ready,
Even glad, to take my place, perchance for less."
The boy was disappointed, and his heart
Was sad.
But "strike," that odd word strike, as meaning
Rest from work, or stopping work, clung fast
To David's mind. Apart from better pay
He thought that something good remained, and so
At night, the last thing done before he slept,
The boy would often take his board, a blackboard
Big, and chalk in letters large and white--
"On strike till 7," "On strike till 6," "On strike
Till 5," according as his mother's work
Required, or strength could stand. The metal clock,
A loud alarum, was also wound and set.
At this the mother always smiled, but when
Her treasure's eyes were closed in sleep she wept.
She dared not bend and kiss those cherub lips.
His lovely face grew paler day by day,
And dread, an awful dread, laid hold of her.
And she herself was wasting swift and sure--
The candle flame was burning low.
[The end]
Grant Balfour's Poem: On Strike
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