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Trooper Peter Halket of Mashonaland by Olive Schreiner
page 48 of 80 (60%)
Say not, What have we to do with folk across the waters; have we not matter
enough for thought in our own land? Where the brain of a nation has no
time to go, there should its hands never be sent to labour: where the
power of a people goes, there must its intellect and knowledge go, to guide
it. Oh, you who sit at ease, studying past and future--and forget the
present--you have no right to sit at ease knowing nothing of the working of
the powers you have armed and sent to work on men afar. Where is your
nation's sword--you men of thought?'

"Cry to the women of England: 'You, who repose in sumptuous houses, with
children on your knees; think not it is only the rustling of the soft
draped curtains, or the whistling of the wind, you hear. Listen! May it
not be the far off cry of those your sword governs, creeping towards you
across wide oceans till it pierces even into your inmost sanctuary?
Listen!

"For the womanhood of a dominant people has not accomplished all its labour
when it has borne its children and fed them at its breast: there cries to
it also from over seas and across continents the voice of the child-
peoples--'Mother-heart, stand for us!' It would be better for you that
your wombs should be barren and that your race should die out; than that
you should listen, and give no answer.'"

The stranger lifted his hands upwards as he spoke, and Peter saw there were
the marks of old wounds in both.

"Cry aloud to the working men and women of England: 'You, who for ages
cried out because the heel of your masters was heavy on you; and who have
said, 'We curse the kings that sit at ease, and care not who oppresses the
folk, so their coffers be full and their bellies satisfied, and they be not
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