Y. America's Peril (Classic Reprint) - Tapa blanda

Excerpt from Y. America's Peril

The Real America has been suggested to me as a title for this book, but I wrote it under the name of Y. And I shall let it remain at that - perhaps with an alias. And why you will probably ask, and I, who wish you to read and be interested in what follows, must explain. This book purports to give some account of the American as he impressed me as he unfortunately impresses many. The American is always striving for records and he prides himself, amongst many other things, on his spasmodic flashes of brilliant brevity, for on general occasions he can be as loquacious and diffuse as any other man. He calls the Elevated Railway The L.' He asked me what I thought of it as a saving of time. Resist ing a natural desire to pun without the assistance of the aspirate, I agreed with him that it was very short and convenient, and he seemed pleased. This desire for records is rather catching, and in dealing with the American it seemed to me only right to give him a record title. It may not hold the record for brevity, but it will certainly save me much writing, and it must at least be a tie. Y. Stands for Yankee, and although I know I shall be told that the genus Yankee has his habitat in New England, to the great majority of readers Yankee is synonymous with American, and I shall so use it personally or collectively, as may be necessary, throughout these pages.

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Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from Y. America's Peril

A Protest

To sin by silence, when we should protest,
Makes cowards out of men. The humble race
Has climbed on protest. Had no voice been raised
Against injustice, ignorance and lust,
The inquisition yet would serve the law
And guillotines decide our least disputes,
The few who dare, must speak and speak again
To right the wrongs of many. Speech, thank God,
No vested power in this great day and land
Can gag or throttle. Press and voice may cry
Loud disapproval of existing ills;
May criticise oppression and condemn
The lawlessness of wealth-protecting laws
That let the children and child-bearers toil
To purchase ease for idle millionaires.

Therefore I do protest against the boast
Of independence in this mighty land.
Call no chain strong which holds one rusted link,
Call no land free that holds one fettered slave.
Until the manacled slim wrists of babes
Are loosed to toss in childish sport and glee;
Until the mother bears no burden, save
The precious one beneath her heart; until
God's soil is rescued from the clutch of greed,
And given back to labour, let no man
Call this the land of freedom.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.