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

Theirs is yon house that holds the parish poor,

Whose walls of mud scarce bear the broken door;

There, where the putrid vapors flagging play,

And the dull wheel hums doleful through the day;

There children dwell who know no parents’ care;

Parents, who know no children’s love, dwell there;

Heart-broken matrons on their joyless bed,

Forsaken wives and mothers never wed;

Dejected widows with unheeded tears,

And crippled age with more than childhood-fears;