The slow, relentless, padding step That never goes astray-- The rustle in the underbrush-- The shadow in the way-- The straining flight--the long pursuit-- The steady gain behind-- Death-wearied man and tireless brute, And the struggle wild and blind! There's a hot breath at the keyhole And a tearing as of teeth! Well do I know the bloodshot eyes And the dripping jaws beneath! There's a whining at the threshold-- There's a scratching at the floor-- To work! To work! In Heaven's name! The wolf is at the door! BY ROBERT HERRICK (Old English lyric poet, 1591-1674) To mortal man great loads allotted be; But of all packs, no pack like poverty. Each Against All BY CHARLES FOURIER (One of the early French Utopian writers, 1772-1837; author of a theory of social co-operation which is still known by his name) The present social order is a ridiculous mechanism, in which portions of the whole are in conflict and acting against the whole. We see each class in society desire, from interest, the misfortune of the other classes, placing in every way individual interest in opposition to public good. The lawyer wishes litigations and suits, particularly among the rich; the physician desires sickness. (The latter would be ruined if everybody died without disease, as would the former if all quarrels were settled by arbitration.) The soldier wants a war, which will carry off half his comrades and secure him promotion; the undertaker wants burials; monopolists and forestallers want famine, to double or treble the price of grain; the architect, the carpenter, the mason, want conflagrations, that will burn down a hundred houses to give activity to their branches of business. BY MATTHEW ARNOLD (English essayist and poet, 1822-1888) Our inequality materializes our upper class, vulgarizes our middle class, brutalizes our lower class. Fomá Gordyéeff BY MAXIM GORKY (A novel in which the Russian has portrayed the spiritual agonies of his race. In this scene a poor school-teacher voices his despair) Yozhov drank his tea at one draught, thrust the glass on the saucer, placed his feet on the edge of the chair, and clasping his knees in his hands, rested his chin upon them. In this pose, small sized and flexible as rubber, he began: