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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=357350" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>A Ballad of Freedom</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">Now Mr. Jeremiah Bane<br>He owned a warehouse in The Lane,<br>An edifice of goodly size,<br>Where, with keen private enterprise,<br>He sold imported napery<br>And drapery - and drapery.<br>His singlets and his socks were sent<br>Out over half the continent;<br>In clothing for the nursery<br>And mercery - and mercery<br>He plied a most extensive trade,<br>And quite enormous prodfits made,<br>And barracked, with much fervency,<br>For foreign-trade - described as 'Free.'<br>He said,<br>Indeed,<br>It was<br>His creed.<br>The trade described as Free.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And this good man was known to fame<br>For charity; indeed, his name<br>Shone often in the daily press.<br>When needy folk were in distress<br>He aided - (with publicity) <br>Mendicity - mendicity.<br>And though much cash he thuswise spared<br>There still were people who declared<br>His act of private charity<br>A rarity - a rarity.<br>Donations, duly advertised,<br>From business point of view, he prized;<br>But 'good by stealth' he ne'er could see<br>Was any use to such as he.<br>But still,<br>The press,<br>With much<br>Success,<br>Declared his hand was free.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Now Mr. Bane's employees were<br>Wont to address the boss as 'Sir,'<br>To show him most intense respect;<br>And there were few who would neglect<br>To couple with civility<br>Humility - humility.<br>They dressed in cheap but pretty clothes,<br>And ev'ry man turned up his nose<br>And scorned familiarity<br>Or parity - or parity<br>With ill-dressed toilers who 'combined.'<br>They thought proceedings of that kind<br>Were of a very 'low' degree,<br>For they were 'cultured,' don't you see.<br>'Tis true<br>Their pay<br>Was mean,<br> But they<br>Felt proud to be so free.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Though they were vilely underpaid<br>They were too proud - or else afraid<br>To advertise the fact abroad<br>Or see to get a Wages Board.<br>Besides their meek servility,<br>Gentility - gentility<br>Forbade so rash an act; but still<br>One man there was - (his name was Bill)<br>Who vowed their fool propensity<br>Was density - was density <br>An unenlightened state of mind,<br>A lack of wit that made them blind.<br>'You're but a lot of worms,' said he.<br>'If you were men you'd clearly see<br>Until<br>You band<br>And make<br>A stand<br>You never can be free.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And ev'ry day this person, Bill,<br>Conversed with them of unions till<br>They owned his arguments were true,<br>And one by one waxed eager to<br>Embrace an opportunity<br>For unity - for unity.<br>They talked about a Wages Board<br>Which, formerly, they had abhorred,<br>And girded at their slavery<br>With bravery - with bravery.<br>Each man began to feel 'The Firm'<br>No longer owned it for its worm;<br>Their independence they could see<br>Achieved by simple unity;<br>Forgot<br>Their clothes<br>And mixed<br>With those<br>Who battle to be free.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">When Mr. Bane one morning heard<br>About his thing he cried, 'Absurd!<br>They'll never get my clerks to horde<br>With those who seek the Wages Board,<br>And lose respectability!<br>Futility! - Futility!<br>My clerks are gentlemen who'd scorn<br>To mingle with the lowly born.<br>Such bosh I've never heard!' said he.<br>'Absurd!' said he - 'Absurd!' said he.<br>'As for their pay, they're quite content<br>They've never asked an extra cent!<br>And in<br>The morn<br>They'll mark<br>Their scorn,<br>And show you they are free.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And on the morrow Mr. Bane<br>Called them together to 'explain':<br>'I have a small petition here <br>But first, I wish to make it clear,'<br>Said he, with simple gravity<br>And suavity - and suavity,<br>'That no man here is asked to sign.'<br>(His voice was gentle and benign)<br> 'I trust to your humanity<br> And sanity - and sanity<br>To guide you; but I feel quite sure<br>That Wages Boards you can't endure.<br>I leave it all to you,' said he.<br>'It makes no difference to me.<br>My views<br>Are known,<br>But still,<br>I've shown<br>Your choice in this is free.'</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br>The staff it looked at Mr. Bane,<br>And in his eye it read, quite plain,<br>'Neath that expression so benign,<br>The fate of him who did not sign <br>A vision of futurity <br>Obscurity - obscurity <br>A dearth of work - in short, the sack.<br>They knew that he who answered back<br>Would earn, by his temerity,<br>Severity - severity.<br>So one and all, with shaky pen,<br>Signed this refusal to be men....<br>But surely, as you must agree,<br>Their choice was free as it could be,<br>They said<br>The Board<br>They all<br>Abhorred,<br>Preferring to be free.</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Still Mr. Bane grows fat and sleek,<br>And still, at thirty bob a week,<br>His clerks slave on from morn till night,<br>No hope of better things in sight.<br>But Bane, with much benignity<br>And dignity - and dignity,<br>When talk of Wages Board is heard,<br>Declares the notion is absurd:<br>'My clerks with prompt celerity<br>And verity - and verity<br>Refused the thing with one accord.<br>The clerks themselves don't want the Board!<br>It is preposterous,' says he,<br>'To force it on who don't agree<br>And still<br>His men<br>With brain<br>And pen<br>To fatten him are free.</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Clarence+Michael+James+Stanislaus+Dennis">Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis</a><div class=q>
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<script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=357350" data-title="A Ballad of Freedom de Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis" data-description="Now Mr. Jeremiah Bane
He owned a warehouse in The Lane,
An edifice of goodly size,
Where, with keen private enterprise,
He sold imported napery
And drapery - and drapery.
His singlets and his socks were sent
Out over half the continent;
In clothin..."></div>
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