Full many a gem of purest ray serene The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear; Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air. Some village Hampden, that, with dauntless breast, The little tyrant of his fields withstood, Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest, Some Cromwell guiltless of his country's blood. The applause of listening senates to command, The threats of pain and ruin to despise, To scatter plenty o'er a smiling land, And read their history in a nation's eyes, Their lot forbade: nor circumscribed alone Their growing virtues, but their crimes confined; Forbade to wade through slaughter to a throne, And shut the gates of mercy on mankind; The struggling pangs of conscious truth to hide, To quench the blushes of ingenuous shame, Or heap the shrine of luxury and pride With incense kindled at the Muse's flame. Far from the madding crowd's ignoble strife, Their sober wishes never learned to stray; Along the cool sequestered vale of life They kept the noiseless tenor of their way. The Land Question BY CARDINAL MANNING (English prelate of the Catholic Church, 1808-1892) The land question means hunger, thirst, nakedness, notice to quit, labor spent in vain, the toil of years seized upon, the breaking up of homes; the misery, sickness, deaths of parents, children, wives; the despair and wildness which springs up in the hearts of the poor, when legal force, like a sharp harrow, goes over the most sensitive and vital rights of mankind. All this is contained in the land question. The Lady Poverty BY JACOB FISHER (Contemporary American poet) I met her on the Umbrian Hills, Her hair unbound, her feet unshod; As one whom secret glory fills She walked alone--with God. I met her in the city street; Oh, changed her aspect then! With heavy eyes and weary feet She walked alone--with men. Preface to "Major Barbara" BY G. BERNARD SHAW (Irish dramatist and critic, born 1856; recognized as one of the world's most brilliant advocates of Socialism)