HE heart of the nation is throbbing with grief
At the tales that are told of the winter distress;
We are longing to hear of some scheme of relief
That will make London’s burthen of misery less.
But what we’re to do, or how best to commence,
There’s nobody able, it seems, to explain.
O, isn’t there someone with courage and sense
To draw up a workable Plan of Campaign?
The work of the nation is all in arrears:
We tinker the laws that need thorough repair,
We potter about between Commons and Peers,
And fools in the Senate their eloquence air.
To rout the obstruction that stands in the way,
And wields a long tongue and gives battle to brain,
Is there none who can marshal a force for the fray,
And act on a sensible Plan of Campaign?
There are women of England who toil for their bread—
Poor hard-working sisters and mothers and wives,
Whose years are a slavery, dreary and dread,
Who drag out their cruel and colourless lives.
Can nothing be done that may better their state?
Shall the white women slaves in their bondage remain?
O, manhood of Britain! think, think of their fate,
And start the New Year with some Plan of Campaign.
The People’s Palace.
SING of the People’s Palace, a tale of Arabian nights,
A place where the toiling masses could feast on all true delights.
It was opened with morning lectures, and closed with an evening hymn,
And the Bishop of London whispered it was just the place for him.
It was open for recreation from nine until six p.m.,
Which times, said the working classes, were specially fixed for them.
It was closed for the day on Sunday, and on Saturday afternoon,
So the very select declared it “a perfectly priceless boon.”
To cater for men and women who toil for their daily bread,
The beer of their hearts was vetoed, and sherbet was sold instead,
And they made it a coffee palace, with scones and a plate of “thick,”
With counters for almond hardbake and liquorice in the stick.
The pictures were all improving, the moral of all was “grand,”
And at intervals there were concerts by the Blue Ribbon Army band;
With exhibits in big glass cases of terrible temperance facts,
And the entrance fee included a bundle of stirring tracts.
It was built at the lavish outlay of a dozen of million pounds
Which included the church and chapel, and the mission-hall in the grounds;
But as nobody wanted sermons, and sherbet, and ginger-beer,
It was sold at a great reduction to a philanthropic peer.