The Cry for Justice: An Anthology of the Literature of Social Protest / The writings of philosophers, poets, novelists, social reformers, and others who have voiced the struggle against social injustice; selected from twenty-five languages; covering a period of five thousand years

by Unknown

The First Machine

By Antiparos

(Greek, First Century, A. D. The poet celebrates the invention of the water-mill for grinding corn)

The goddess has commanded the work of the girls to be done by the Nymphs; and now these skip lightly over the wheels, so that the shaken axles revolve with the spokes, and pull around the load of the revolving stones. Let us live the life of our fathers, and let us rest from work and enjoy the gifts that the goddess has sent us!

By John Stuart Mill

(English philosopher, 1806-1873)

Hitherto, it is questionable if all the mechanical inventions yet made have lightened the day’s toil of any human being.