LAND NATIONALIZATION 279 



Every fact, every hope in these songs were literally true 

 when they were written, as contemporary American literature 

 clearly shows, but the growth of capitalism and land monopoly 

 during the last thirty years has rendered them almost a 

 mockery. 



Mackay had not the magic of words and phrases, or the 

 deep idealism which characterise the highest poetry, and could 

 not therefore rank with Tennyson, William Watson, Lowell, 

 or Edwin Markham; but he was the equal of Longfellow 

 or Scott, and perhaps superior to both in the infinitely varied 

 matter of his verse. His ballads and stories were unsur- 

 passed for vigour and originality of treatment — such as his 

 " Invasion of Scotland by the Northmen," his " Thor's Ham- 

 mer," and his " Lament of Cona for the Unpeopling of the 

 Highlands"; while "The Man in the Dead Sea," "The 

 Interview," "The Building of the House/' "We are Wiser 

 than We Know," and " Eternal Justice " deal with some of 

 those grand problems in the elucidation of which the poet 

 is so often the seer. At my request he wrote for us some 

 verses on the land question, which, as they are not included 

 in any edition of his poems, I give here. 



Free Land for a Free People. 



" Thank God for the Sunshine, the Air, and the Sea 

 For the Rain and the Dew, ever free to the free ! 

 No landlords can parcel them out, or conspire 

 To sell them, or tax them, or let them on hire ; 

 And close up with barriers what Nature design'd, 

 In mercy and love for the needs of Mankind! 



" There's a break in the clouds — there's a gleam in the sky, 

 There's a beautiful star shining brightly on high, 

 That heralds the dawn of the long-promised day, 

 When Right shall be Might, and shall nourish for aye; 

 When Man in the strength of his manhood shall stand, 

 To enjoy, and possess, and replenish the land. 



" With our faces to heaven and our feet on the sod, 

 We swear by the faith that we cherish in God — 



