Why is an utterly selfish man always a most presentable person in the very best society?--_Ans_. Because never for one minute does he forget himself.
[Illustration: MR. PUNCH'S APPEAL--TO COAL-OWNERS, MINERS, AND ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN.]
_War!_ Is it still to be war, wild war in the heart of the land? Are we children of England, busied in tearing our mother's breast? And is there no ruling counsel, and is there no warning hand To bring this folly to reason, and still this fury to rest? _War!_ And the boons of Nature are wasted in stubborn strife, And women, children, non-combatants, suffer and starve and stand by; And idle hands are lifted in vain for the means of life; And _why_?
Ye will not list to each other, then listen to me and to _these_, Whose mute appeal I must voice, and whose pitiful cause I must plead! You of the hardened hearts playing autocrat much at your ease, And you of the hardened hands who the _end_ of the way little heed; Listen and look and consider! The blows that you blindly strike Like shafts that are shot at a venture, fall not alone upon foes. The arrow shot o'er the house[1] may a brother hurt, belike-- Who knows?
Who _cares_? Not you, it would seem. For you stand with stubborn front, And backs in hatred averted, and ears to all counsels closed; While ten thousand innocent lives of _your_ quarrel are bearing the brunt, And a myriad hands hang idle because _you_ are fiercely opposed. Look at them! Gathered hungry about an empty grate. Whilst the coal they crave lies idle within the unpeopled mine, And Wealth and Work, at odds, when invited to arbitrate-- Decline!
Capital sets its face, and cocks a contemptuous nose, And Labour, lounging sullenly, snaps its jaws like a spring; And the land must stand at gaze whilst they fight it out as foes! How long must we wait the issue, how long must we "keep the ring"? Are there no rights save yours, no claims save your warring wills? Sense has a word to say, Justice a thing to do. Are we to wait and wait while the land with suffering thrills, For _you_?
Sympathy? Ay, good friends! But sympathy's not like wrath, One-eyed, one-sided, partial. Sympathy's due to all Who fall, fate-tripped and bruised, in your quarrel's Juggernaut path. We think of the wives and children--Charity heeds their call; Does she not proffer her dole "without prejudice"?--Yes, but they Are not sole sufferers now from the Coal War's venomous strife. Thousands of unknown hearts are pleading for Peace to-day-- And _Life_!