THE CRY OF THE CHILDREN. BY ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING.
Reading edition
The influence of poetry is greater than is generally realized, and many find inspiration to action in reading it. Mrs. Browning in this pathetic poem did much to rouse England to the evil of child labor and to perceive the wrongs done the little ones toiling in its factories and coal mines far beyond their strength.
Do ye hear the children weeping, O, my brothers, Ere the sorrow comes with years? They are leaning their young heads against their mothers, And that cannot stop their tears.
But the young, young children, O, my brothers, They are weeping bitterly! They are weeping in the playtime of the others, In the country of the free.
Still, all day, the iron wheels go onward, Grinding life down from its mark; And the children’s souls which God is calling sunward, Spin on blindly in the dark.