THE BREAKING OF THE NEVA.
Maoriland Worker, Rōrahi 10, Putanga 680, 29 Poutūterangi 1919, Page 4
Mō tēnei niupepa
THE BREAKING OF THE NEVA.
f A Prophecy Fulled. | ![The f fil-owing remarkable words of Victor Hugo, the great I Frerfch humanitarian writer, hare been litcraiiy fulfilled In JL Russia, the traditional home ot despotism, before the eyes > of the present generation:—] • I We are in Russia. The Neva is frozen. Heavy carriages i roll upon its surface. They improvise a city. They lay Jp streets. They build houses. Q They buy; they sell; they laugh; they dance; they per- mit themselves anything". They even light fires on this water c become granite. There is winter, there is ioe, and they shall I last forever. A gleam pale and wan spreads over th« sky, i and one would say that the sun is dead. But no, thou are not dead O Liberty! At aa hour when | they have most profoundly forgotten thee, thou shall root A bright and burning rays, thy heat, thy Hfe, «a all this matt J of ioe become hideous and dead. * f Do you hear that dull thud, that oradLdiag, deep and dread- & fni?-. 'lis the Neva tearing loose. You e&id it was granite. T g?| See, it splits like glass. 'Tis the breaking of the loe, I tell Q jf you. 'Tis the water alive, joyous and terribl*. Progress re- I *p commences. 'Tis humanity again beginning its march. 'Tis § I the river which retakes its course, uproots, mangles, strikes 1 I together, crushes and drowns in Its waves not only the empire 8 0 of upstart Ozar Niohola-H but oil of th* ,mUbi at ancient and *» J modern despotism. I 1 The trestle work floating away? Bis the throne. That I 9 other trestle? It is the scaffold. That old hook, half sunk? 5 J It is the old code of Capitalist laws and morals. That old i I rookery just sinking? It is a tenement ia which working I I* people lived. * |> I See, these are all passing by, never more to return; and I 1 I for this immense engulfing, for this supreme victory of life i *f over death, what has been the power necessary? 5 I One of thy looks, 0 Sun! | J» One stroke of thy strong arm, 0 Labor! c
