Shaker Commonplace Book

Justice not Charity Ella W. Wilcox.

All hail the dawn of a new day breaking When a strong armed motion, shall take away The weary burden, from backs that are aching With maximum work, and minimum pay. When no man is honored who hoards his millions, When no man feasts, on another's toil And God's poor suffering starving billions Shall share his riches, of sun and soil.

There is gold for all, in the worlds broad bosom There is food for all, in the .. great store Enough is provided, if rightly divided; Let each man take what he needs - no more. Shame on the miser, with unused riches Who robs the toiler, to swell his hoard Who beats down the wage of the digger of ditches And steals the bread from the poor mans board.

Shame on the owner of mines! whose cruel And selfish measures, have got him wealth While the ragged wretches, who dig his fuel

Are robbed of comfort, and hope & health. Shame on the ruler, who rides in his carriage Bought by the labor of half paid men - Men who are shut out of home & marriage And are herded like sheep in a hovel pen.

Look Highter! Ella Wheeler. (To the quarreling Clergy men of N York.)

And is there no way that is better To help the sad world in its needs. Than this; to fight over the letter Forgetting the spirit of creeds? What ever the excuse or the reason You hold for the strife, in the end Your quarrel can only be treason To Christ, whom you claim, to defend.

The man of the crude middle ages Has grown into something too high, To feed his starved soul on dull pages Of dogmas, as useless, as dry.

The thot of the world is up reaching To! lay your cold creeds on the shelves! Away with your technical teaching And show us "the Christ" in ourselves. Rise out of old ruts with their hollow. And fear laden faiths, mount above Where the world is all ready to follow And seek the religion of love.

As sure as the stars in their course We circle toward truth, & the right We are part of the infinite forces - Our faces are turned to the light - We cannot plod on - in dark by ways That limit the light of the soul. Our spirits soar up to the high ways, We see we are part of the whole.

We know that mans creed, does not matter So long as his deeds, speak of God So long as his aim is, to scatter The seeds of right living abroad.

How can we look up, to our teachers Unless they are higher than we? Come up, then, ex priests, & ye preachers Come up on Truth's hill top, & see How haggard the creeds, you are vaunting When viewed from the mountains above And how all that this sad earth, is wanting Is the sweet selfless lesson of Love.

Just for Today. "As thy day so shall thy strength be"

Just for today; tomorrow is not mine And may be spent where days unclouded shine This cross is heavy, for an upward way My weak hands tremble; give me strength today. Just for today; the poorist child am I. That heavenward looks, yet ravens when they cry.

Receive thy bounty, tho' despised are they, Remember, then, this lowly heart today.

Just for today; Thy manna food I ask, that I may go rejoicing to my task. And if, from cooling streams, my feet should stray, Let some rock prove a fountain for today. Just for today; it is much better so I might grow arrogant, did I not know My poverty, yet find it sweet to say It is thy gift, the blessings of today. Just for today; what more can heart demand From One, who will each longing understand? Thy love with holds no treasure, so I pray "Choose what may come But give me strength today".

Myra Goodwin Plantz.