Explore "Answers" by Ella Wheeler Wilcox on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
What is the end of each man's toil, / Brother, O Brother? / A handful of dust in a bit of soil- / His name forgotten as centuries roll, / Though blazoned to-day on Glory's scroll; / For the lordliest work of brain or hand / Is only an imprint made on sand; / When the tidal wave sweeps over the shore / It is there no more, / Brother, my Brother.
Then what is the use of striving at all, / Brother, O Brother? / Because each effort or great or small / Is a step on the long, long road that leads / To the Kingdom of Growth on the River of Deeds: / And that is the kingdom no man can gain / Till he uses his hand and his mind and brain, / And when he has used them and learned control / He finds his soul, / Brother, my Brother.