Union Songs
The Song of the Types
Author Unknown©1851
From the Bathurst Free Press Saturday 1 February 1851
Click -- click,
Go the types in the "stick,"
They glide in together with ominous sound,
As swiftly the hand that collects them goes round,
And arranges them firm in the "stick."
Click -- click !Click -- click,
See them now in the "stick ;"
What wonderful things they are now as they sit !
One moment 'tis satire, and. then it is wit--
Unmeaning when single -- combined -- when they hit
A terrible blow with their click-- click,
In putting them up in the "stick."
Click -- click !Click -- click,
See them now in the "stick ;"
To the thief or assassin they sorrow betide,
And the wealthy oppressor in vain tries to glide
Away from their clicking -- the world cannot hide
Him away from the sound of that click-- click,
Of putting the types in the "stick."
Click -- click !Click -- click,
As they go in the "stick."
See guilt, at the sound, with a visage of fright,
Recoiling from self by day or by night,
As it vows with suspicion each method of flight ;
But it never can flee from the click -- click,
Of putting the types in the "stick."
Click-- click !Click -- click,
Go the types in the "stick."
Monarchs and Kings their approaches dread ;
They know that with Liberty, types have been wed ;
And visions they see, of their thrones blood-red,
As they tremblingly bow at the click-- click,
Of putting types up in the "stick."
Click -- click !Click -- click
, See them now in the "stick."
By the midnight lamp, or the broad sun-light,
Still ever they're working with power and might ;
While their voice, from despots demanding their right,
Is louder, somewhat, than the click -- click,
Of putting the types in the "stick."
Click -- click !Click -- click,
See them now in the "stick."--
Their loud voices echoing through the world ;
At the sound, the bright banner of Freedom's unfurl'd
Wherever 'tis heard, there the tyrants are hurled,
From their power by the sound of that click -- click,
Of putting the types in "stick."
Click -- click !Click -- click, Go the typos in the "stick."
States, Rulers, and Monarchies, Pachas and Kings,
The Poet the Painter, the Minstrel that sings,
Have a most " holy horror'' of these little things --
Of the noise that they make, with their click-- click,
When settling them into the "stick."
Click -- click !Click -- click,
Go the types; in the "stick,"
To the good and the just -- all the nations around --
To " the rest of mankind." and where virtues abound,
With high throbbing hearts, there is welcomed the sound,
And the noise that is made by the click -- click,
Of putting types into the "stick."
Click -- click !
Notes
Published in The Bathurst Free Press Saturday 1 February 1851 p. 4.
see http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article62216076
union songs..........a selection by mark gregory