Modern Reformers

The world has had reformers; men who were sternly
just,
Who smote the thrones of wickedness and laid them in
the dust.
Meek, tender men, made mighty by mankind's blood
and tears.
Strong men with words like thimderbolts to smite
the wrong of years.

Were all these old reformers of a breed too weak to
last?
Did all the great wrong-smiters wane and perish in
the past ?
Did they fight a losing battle ? Were they conquered
in the fray?
Why are there no reformers fighting in the world
to-day?

Well, 'tis but a thing of labels; the reformers have not
gone,
But they're mixing with th^ people with misleading
placards on;
For we label them fanatics, visionaries, dolts, and
fools —
Men denounced by clubs and churches, by the jour-
nals and the schools.

There are men who wear these placards daily in the
market-place.
Heroes of an ancient lineage, kings, and saviours of
the race;
But we never see their greatness through life's trivial
events.
But our children's sons will read it on their granite
monuments.