(Song of the American Sons of Labour) br br The Song br br O WE knew so well, dear Father, br When we answered to your call, br And the Southern Moloch stricken br Shook and tottered to his fall — br O we knew so well you loved us, br And our hearts beat back to yours br With the rapturous adoration br That through all the years endures! br Mothers, sisters bade us hasten br Sweethearts, wives with babe at breast; br For the Union, faith and freedom, br For our hero of the West! br And we wrung forth victory blood-stained br From the desperate hands of Crime, br And our Cause blazed out Man's beacon br Through the endless future time! br And forgiven, forever we bade it br Cease, that envy, hatred, strife, br As he willed, our murdered Father br That had sealed his love with life! br O dear Father, was it thus, then? br Did we this but in a dream? br Is it real, this hideous present? br Does our suffering only seem? br Bend and listen, look and tell us! br Are these joyless toilers We? br Slaves more wretched, patient, piteous br Than the slaves we fought to free! br Are these weak, worn girls and women br Those whose mothers yet can tell br How they kissed and clasped men god-like br With fierce faces fronting hell? br Bend and listen, look and tell us! br Is this silent waste, possessed br By bloat thieves and their task-masters, br Thy free, thy fair, thy fearless West? br Are these Eastern mobs of wage-slaves, br Are these cringing debauchees, br Sons of those who slung their rifles — br Shook the old Flag to the breeze?br br Francis William Lauderdale Adamsbr br