>In the early 1860s, propbably 1862 the Black Country Nailers went on strike, and the strikers led by Sam Salt, marched from Netherton to Bromsgrove hauling a ton of coal, which they sold en route to earn money. Sam Salt wrote a doggerel poem of some 105 verses, which he sold copies of at 'Price one penny or what you please to give'< >From the documentary musical 'The Nailmakers' first performed at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre may 9th 1973. THE NAILMAKER'S STRIKE You nailmakers all that day remember well, The last strike of which this tale I tell, How cold and hungry we that heavy day, To Bromsgrove Town did take our toilsome way, And the nail forgers, those miserable souls, Will not forget the giver of the coals, Nailmakers are hard-hearted viles, And the way we took was 13 miles. Oh, the slaves abroad in the sugar canes, Find plenty to help and pity their pains, But the slaves at home in the mine and the fire, Have plenty to pity but none to admire, Oh, I wish I could see all nail dealers, Drawing such a load as did we poor nailers, And to feel such punishment and such smarts, That it might soften their hard stoney hearts. So as the nailers do suffer such smarts, I hope it will soften old Pharoah's heart, And let every nailer tell to his son, The labours that we for our rights have done. ___________________________________________________________ Try the all-new Yahoo! Mail. "The New Version is radically easier to use" – The Wall Street Journal http://uk.docs.yahoo.com/nowyoucan.html