Classic Poem

“‘T HE day was done, the master knew,—
called to his reeve: ‘Sir, pay the men;
give them the wage that I them owe,
and further, that none may me reprove,
set them all in one long line,
and give a penny to each alike;
begin at the last that standeth low,
and so until thou reach the first.’
The first began then to complain,
and said that they had sorely toil'd:—
‘These but an hour have strain'd their strength,
seemeth to us we should take more