Poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

The World Grows Better

Oh! the earth is full of sinning
   And of trouble and of woe,
But the devil makes an inning
   Every time we say it’s so.
And the way to set him scowling,
   And to put him back a pace,
Is to stop this stupid growling,
   And to look things in the face.

If you glance at history’s pages,
   In all lands and eras known,
You will find the buried ages
   Far more wicked than our own.
As you scan each word and letter.
   You will realise it more,
That the world to-day is better
   Than it ever was before.

There is much that needs amending
   In the present time, no doubt;
There is right that needs amending,
   There is wrong needs crushing out.
And we hear the groans and curses
   Of the poor who starve and die,
While the men with swollen purses
   In the place of hearts go by.

But in spite of all the trouble
   That obscures the sun to-day,
Just remember it was double
   In the ages passed away.
And those wrongs shall all be righted,
   Good shall dominate the land,
For the darkness now is lighted
   By the torch in Science’s hand.

Forth from little motes in Chaos,
   We have come to what we are;
And no evil force can stay us-
   We shall mount from star to star,
We shall break each bond and fetter
   That has bound us heretofore;
And the earth is surely better
   Than it ever was before.

1. At Eleusis
2. Worldly Wisdom
3. Affirm
4. At Forty-Eight
5. I Shall Not Forget

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