E swings his axe in the golden morn; The blade bites clean and free;The trees must fall ere the land be ploughed,And an axeman strong is he. He drives his plough through the yellow mould;The share cuts clean and free;
The soil must break ere the seed be sown, And a ploughman strong is he.
Drawn by Mervyn H.Timmings With a tireless band sows he."He sows the seed in the furrowed field;
With a tireless hand sows he;
When sun and rain have wrought their will, What shall the harvest be?
If trees alone his axe-blade hewed, If he but ploughed the plain,And ploughed no more, and sowed the wheat,
" Twould be but golden grain.
But more than trees he brings to earth- Old wrongs that bind and thrall;And from his harvest shall be made The sweetest bread of all.
A young man in a young land, he Dreams noble dreams of youth;And, foremost in the van of years, He sows the seeds of truth.
- Roderic Quinn
Author.-Roderic Quinn, a living Australian poet, was born at Sydney in 1869. Most of his poems were contributed to The Bulletin and The Worker, but collections have been published under the titles of TheHidden Tide, The Circling Hearths, and Collected Poems.
General Notes.-Axeman, ploughman, sower-note the progress in time. What old wrongs have we brought to earth in Australia? What new rights have we established ! We were the first to introduce vote by ballot, the first to give votes to women; we were among the foremost with factory laws, old-age pensions, the maternity bonus, freer schools and universities. Can you think of anything else? These things our fathers and grandfathers did to make Australia a happy and free land. But we must do our share towards making it freer and happier. How can you help towards the good time coming?
Suggestions for Verse-speaking.-For the first three stanzas, divide theclass into three-the axemen, the ploughmen, the sowers. For the last three stanzas, divide the class into two; one half speaks the fourth stanza, the other half the fifth stanza, and the whole class the last stanza.
