the poor from whom he sprang,
had he gone over to the rich as their preacher, or their judge, or their
lawyer or teacher or scribe--as so many of his pretended followers have
done and are still doing--he never would have been crucified, nor would
the world today know that he had ever lived.

It was because, and only because, Jesus loved and served the poor and
rebuked the rich who robbed them, and threatened to array them against
their rich despoilers, that he was condemned to die and that the cruel
nails were driven into his hands and feet on the cross at Calvary.

Jesus taught that the earth and the air and the sea and sky and all the
beauty and fulness thereof were for all the children of men; that they
should all equally enjoy the riches of nature and dwell together in
peace, bear one another's burdens and love one another, and that is what
socialism teaches and why the rich thieves who have laid hold of the
earth and its bounties would crucify the socialists as those other
robbers of the poor crucified Jesus two thousand years ago.

Now let us see what message the Socialist party has for the children and
why all children should be socialists and help to speed the day when the
brotherhood of socialism shall prevail throughout the earth.

But first let me say that the Socialist party has reason to know that
the children have great influence when they become interested in a given
work and set their hearts on doing that work. The Socialist party knows
better than to ignore the children as if they were china dolls or
stuffed teddy bears, as all the other parties do, for it knows by what
they have already done that when once they get fairly started they will
make the air hum like swarms of bees with the glad tidings of
socialism.

The little boys and girls who have already become socialists are among
the busiest workers for our party and they love so well to work for
socialism that it is play to them and fills their hearts with joy. They
wear the red button and they know why it is red and what its meaning is;
they tack up bills and distribute dodgers advertising our meetings; they
sell tickets, take up collections, act as ushers, provide the soap-box
for the corner speaker, carry chairs for the women so they may sit in
comfort after their day's work, go around among the neighbors and remind
them of the meeting and not to forget to attend, sell socialist books,
papers and pamphlets, and do a score of other things whic