Labor Day

This Land Their Labors Wrought

By William Kevin Stoos ——Bio and Archives--September 7, 2009

Cover Story | CFP Comments | Reader Friendly | Subscribe | Email Us

In the forests of New England It built a colony, And, dreaming of a nation Where men could dare live free It paused to wipe its sweaty brow And set forth then to build A place where freedom’s promise Could be, in time, fulfilled. And labor drove the wagons on A westward odyssey, Then turned the rolling prairie land Into a golden sea;

Labor built the railroads That spurred us in our quest And by a steel highway bound The east coast to the west. And that selfsame hardy spirit Of those pioneering men Which never once did stop to rest Rolled up its sleeves again, And built a million factories, Transformed the land pristine And forged the greatest industry The world had ever seen. Through our patchwork quilt of history, There runs a common strand: ‘Twas the selfless, rugged toil That built this blessed land. And lest we e’er forget them, I raise my humble pen In tribute to the builders-- The common working men. It was not the labor unions Or any corporation, Or economic theory That built the greatest nation; Or master politician Who ever had a plan-- But the simple sweat and toil of The common working man. (For while dreamers pen their visions Of how things ought to be, It is the noble builder who Makes dreams reality.) And for this nation’s builders Who’ve long since gone away, And those whose honest toil Sustains us still today, We should be ever thankful-- And reverent of their lot… For no dream was built more nobly than This land their labors wrought.

Support Canada Free Press

View Comments

William Kevin Stoos——Bio and Archives

Copyright © 2020 William Kevin Stoos
William Kevin Stoos (aka Hugh Betcha) is a writer, book reviewer, and attorney, whose feature and cover articles have appeared in the Liguorian, Carmelite Digest, Catholic Digest, Catholic Medical Association Ethics Journal, Nature Conservancy Magazine, Liberty Magazine, Social Justice Review, Wall Street Journal Online and other secular and religious publications. He is a regular contributing author for The Bread of Life Magazine in Canada. His review of Shadow World, by COL. Robert Chandler, propelled that book to best seller status. His book, The Woodcarver (]And Other Stories of Faith and Inspiration) © 2009, William Kevin Stoos (Strategic Publishing Company)—a collection of feature and cover stories on matters of faith—was released in July of 2009. It can be purchased though many internet booksellers including Amazon, Tower, Barnes and Noble and others. Royalties from his writings go to support the Carmelites. He resides in Wynstone, South Dakota.

“His newest book, The Wind and the Spirit (Stories of Faith and Inspiration)” was released in 2011 with all the author’s royalties go to support the Carmelite sisters.”

Labor Day

This Land Their Labors Wrought

VIEW Comments