HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
1917




1917, BY NELLIE L. McCLUNG

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

_Published November 1917_


HOPE


Down through the ages, a picture has come of the woman who weepeth:
Tears are her birthright, and sorrow and sadness her portion:
Weeping endures for a night, and prolongeth its season
Far in the day, with the will of God
For a reason!

Such has the world long accepted, as fitting and real;
Plentiful have been the causes of grief, without stinting;
Patient and sad have the women accepted the ruling,
Learning life's lessons, with hardly a word of complaint
At the schooling.

But there's a limit to tears, even tears, and a new note is sounding:
Hitherto they have wept without hope, never seeing an ending;