With set and stubborn face he takes his stand.
The lesson to repeat
Of evil days and acts which curse the land.

Indifference cools him not;
And jeers and blows he takes, perchance, beside.
Brave, he accepts his lot;
At worst he meets it with a martyr's pride.
To bear, he knows not what,
He seeks the crowd and will not be denied.

His voice is loud and strong,
And vigorous gestures add their potent force,
As to the restless throng
He pictures clear corruption's crafty course,
Or challenges the wrong
Which in some unjust privilege finds its source.

A true son of the soil,
And feeling, as the hard-pressed masses feel,
The things which mar and spoil,
And bind life down with bonds as strong as steel,
He knows the men who toil,
And truth to these he can most clear reveal.

No knotty theories
He offers to the listeners who attend,
Or generalities,
Which glitter with the gilt that fine words lend;
He sets forth what he sees