trad
“Found in the Harris Collection, this ballad was one of two composed between 1885 and 1899 by a mill owner named Richard Driver of Valley Falls, RI. It was written during a time when the RI General Assembly was deliberating over ten hour work days. Driver was co-owner of a firm which operated a worsted mill in Gazza, a now-deserted village just outside of Mapleville. New melody by Armand Aromin, partially inspired by ‘Cluck Old Hen’.”
The Vox Hunters: https://thevoxhunters.bandcamp.com/track/ten-hours-a-day
https://thevoxhunters.bandcamp.com/track/ten-hours-a-day
Chorus: Oh we want less work, we want more play We want to work ten hours a day We want to stop one hour for noon And we want these things and we want them soon Oh we all want more time to read More time to take a mental feed More time to grasp the eternal facts And stamp them on our intellects We want more truth, we want more light We all want to have our rights We want to make our miseries less We want change, we want progress We all want more time to eat Our daily bread, our daily meat And thus enjoy the fruits of toil The food for which we sweat and broil Besides had we more time to eat Our food would taste both fresh and sweet And from it we should get more good For eating slow would mend our blood And when the blood is poor and thin The wrinkles soon come on the skin And thousands to this very day At forty-five look old and grey This state of things ought not to be What is it else but slavery When we are forced to work for wealth Until we undermine our health And this is done ten thousand times And from it comes ten thousand crimes We sin against the laws of health And plant a curse beneath our wealth This hurry up, this go ahead This long hour race for daily bread Will have an end, it does not pay We therefore want ten hours a day Our blood is now so very thin It cannot shine right through the skin It cannot make us red and fresh Nor can it make good solid flesh