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 Menagerie

(Night in a County Workhouse)

By Upton Sinclair

Oh come, ye lords and ladies of the realm,

Come from your couches soft, your perfumed halls,

Come watch with me throughout the weary hours.

Here are there sounds to thrill your jaded nerves,

Such as the cave-men, your forefathers, heard,

Crouching in forests of primeval night;

Here tier on tier in steel-barred cages pent