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THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

Now, nothing is so constant as change and new turns,

As the way life is lived faces upheavals and churns.

-- For each modulation starts a ripple effect

With our wits and our savvy thus moved to react...

And by year 1800 some new thoughts did flower

For the production of goods and the harness of power.

And to make by machine things once wrought by hand,

A new spirit of industry swept over the land.

And factories were born and brought into favor

A new manner of living: of weekly wage labor.

Indeed, folks from small shops, where they once crafted goods,

Now went off to work where the work buildings stood.

And hundreds and thousands soon were employed

In the manufacture en masse of the stuff they enjoyed.

While the stores about town were bristling and brimming

With delights of all sorts to add to life's trimming.

Our cities then swelled and life stepped up a pace

With fancy items galore and entertainments to chase

-- Like the concerts and plays that traveled around

And old P.T. Barnum who brought his circus to town!

And museums and amusements, like a day at the races,

Added exciting new twists in dynamic new places.

And folks who once lived with their families and farmed,

Now headed for towns, their curiosity charmed.

Ah, but not all change is sweet and new problems arose

As cities spawn hazards, which now everyone knows:

-- Of filth and disease, of frequent fire and crime,

That so plague urban life and do tarnish its shine.

And wage labor as well is no means to get rich,

-- Young children worked too, 'til they turned dark as pitch.

But with its faults and its flairs, we still do have to say:

Industrial Revolution was well underway...