ABSTRACT
Is honour dead, is justice out of date, That thus your law-amenders tyrannise? Shall envious greed attired in angel guise Of morals, decency and health dictate? No, from the dark pit's brow where quaintly dressed But not unsexed and free from taint of ill There toil the sisters of the whirring loom. Let the brave lads of Lancashire attest Though hands are hard, yet hearts are gentle still And maiden blushes mount where roses bloom. H.D. Rawnsley in Wigan Observer, 3 April 1886
