KILLED IN THE CLAIM.

Dunstan Times, Issue 762, 24 November 1876, Page 3

KILLED IN THE CLAIM.

—o—- “ A man has been killed in the claim-1” And the sad news has travelled apace, But the messenger mentioned no name, Nor paused in the fleet-footed race. And tho women were pallid with fear, And the children have paused in their play, For the husbands and fathers so clear, Who have gone on their last shift to-day. And the hearts of the men felt a chill, And then burn with an ardour to aid In a work where the hand and the will Of the miner are never dismayed, Though the ground may be ready to cave, And the water is rising ’tis said, Yet their mate will be laid in a grave Where his children may weep o’er his head. There’s a patter of hurrying feet, And the gasps of hardly-drawn breath, . For the women, fear-stricken, now meet Round the shaft at the dark scene of death. But there’s one whom a kind hand hath stayed And away from the spot gently led, Yet the act—though well meant—has betrayed That her loved one—her husband—is dead! There are men moving now in the gloom Of the twisted and timber-wrecked drives, But they fear not the oft-threaten'd doom Which would widow their own loving •wives. And like lions throughout the long night, Against earth, against water and drift, They will work—where to work is to fight— For the dead, once a mate of their shift. These are men who are heroes in heart, Who ’midst danger will labor for bread. In the battle of life bear their part. And are brave that their children be fed. And while hon’ring the warriors who bleed For their own and their country’s good fame, Let us help the yohng orphans in need Of the men who’ve been killed in . the claim.