Today’s Demand
God give us men. A time like this demands
Strong minds, great hearts, true faith, and ready hands;
Men whom the lust of office does not kill;
Men who possess opinions and a will;
Men who have honor;
Men who will not lie,
Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the fog
In public duly and in private thinking.
For, while the rabble, with their thumb-worn creeds,
Their large professions and their little deeds,
Mingle in selfish strife, lo! Freedom weeps,
Wrong rules the land, and waiting Justice sleeps.
God give us men!
—Selected.
Tomorrow's Fulfillment
* * In the long years liker must they grow; The man be more of woman, she of man; He gain in sweetness and in moral height, Nor lose the wrestling thews that throw the world; She mental breadth, nor fail in childward care— Till at the last she set herself to man, Like perfect music unto noble words; And so these twain, upon the skirts of time, Sit side by side, full summed in all their powers, Self-reverent each and reverencing each. Then reign the world’s great bridals, chaste and calm; Then springs the crowning race of human kind.
—Alfred Tennyson.