The Work of the World. A Poem

NORTHWARD THE COURSE OF EMPIRE 543 onization in any part of the north. The new colonies in these lands are growing rapidly. They are adding to the great productions of wealth in the world. The Canadian government, in its support of a railroad policy intended to develop the Dominion of Canada, can scarcely keep pace with the demands made in that land upon transportation. A trip through Canada, northward, is today a revelation to those who only ten years ago looked upon that country as a part of the frigid zone. The wealth, too, in Alaska, in its precious metals, in its coal fields, and its agriculture, has been barely touched. We have, of course, great agricultural possibilities at home and these will for some time to come consume our surplus population and wealth. Agriculture is coming to its own. It will yearly become a more profitable industry, and has added to the ranks of the tillers of the soil a more highly-educated class, for agricultural knowledge today is rapidly being classed with the highest professions of man. The Work of the World I would do the work of the world today; I would stain my palms with its grime; I would wear the badge thai wealth deems accursed And count it but right divine. I would eat of the loaf and quaff from the cup That brain and that brawn have won; I would taste of the restful weariness That follows the labor done. T would hew me a path through each obstacle; I would turn me ne'er aside; I would list with those stalwart sons of men Who have lived but have never died. 1 would do the work of the world, I say; I would do that work of the world today, Lest the morrow steal from my hands away — The work of the world I should do today. Grace Ingles Frost.