Explore "Answer" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
O WELL have we done the old tasks! in the old, old ways of earth. / We have kept the house in order, we have given the children birth; / And our sons went out with their fathers, and left us alone at the / hearth!
We have cooked the meats for their table; we have woven their cloth at / the loom; / We have pulled the weeds from their gardens, and kept the flowers in / bloom; / And then we have sat and waited, alone in a silent room.
We have borne all the pains of travail in giving life to the race; / We have toiled and saved, for the masters, and helped them to power / and place; / And when we asked for a pittance, they gave it with grudging grace.
On the bold, bright face of the dollar all the evils of earth are / shown. / We are weary of love that is barter, and of virtue that pines alone; / We are out in the world with the masters: we are finding and claiming / our own!