The North Star (Rochester)/1848/01/07/The Mechanic

THE MECHANIC.

I am Nature's own nobleman, happy and free,
A peer of the realm might well envy me;
For the land of the eagle has given me birth,
And my sons are all freemen that meet round my hearth.

Your cities now rising with beauty and might,
Whose palace-like towers are fair to the sight,
My hands helped to build them, my strength lent its aid,
And by the sweat of my brow your proud cities are made.

The ship that sweeps proudly o'er the far-spreading sea,
Has been timbered and fashioned by the labor of me,
And the pure massive marble that strikes on the view,
Is chiselled and formed by the artisan too.

The smith, as he hums o'er his anvil a glee,
He toils not for happiness or power—not he;
He dreads not lost office, he seeks none to gain—
And the smith is a king in his own proud domain.

The bravest of men from mechanics have sprung,
And the sweetest of lays mechanics have sung,
And the proudest of hearts mechanics should wear,
When conscious of right in their bosoms they bear.