THE noblest men that live on earth
Are men whose hands are brown with toil;
Who, backed by no ancestral graves,
Hew down the woods and till the soil,
And win thereby a prouder name
Than follows king's or warrior's fame.
The workingmen, whate'er their task,
Who carve the stone or bear the hod,
They wear upon their honest brows
The royal stamp and seal of God;
And worthier are their drops of sweat
Than diamonds in a coronet.
God bless the noble workingmen,
Who rear the cities of the plain,
Who dig the mines, who build the ships,
And drive the commerce of the main!
God bless them! for their toiling hands
Have wrought the glory of all lands.
—Teacher's World.