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    The Price
    by Berton Braley

    Whatever of freedom we own
        Somebody has striven and tried for it;
    By war through the years it has grown
        By strength of the men who have died for it;
    Each stone in the structure of truth--
        Some one has made ready and right for it.
    Some one has spent heart's blood and youth,
        Some one has been willing to fight for it.

    Not always has blood been the pay
        But always a price has been paid for it;
    The worth of achievement to-day
        Is gauged by the struggle we've made for it.
    There need not be rancor or hate
        Nor bitterness, terror and blight for it,
    But nothing is worthy or great
        Unless you are willing to fight for it.

    You cannot buy progress with gold
        (you get but the emptiest shell of it);
    But to win it and earn it and hold
        You must go through the heat and the hell of it,
    You must suffer the sweat and the pain,
        You must toil and the day and the night for it,
    For nothing worth while you can gain
        Unless you are willing to fight for it.

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