Here's to the Women
(Linda Allen)

Hist'ry books give us historical facts
Of soldiers and sailors and men with their axes
But who filled their bellies and who washed their clothes
Who raised up the children, who nurtured their souls?

Without all the women, now; where would we be ?
Working and caring throughout history
Their hands on the plow, but their stories untold,
So here's to the women, who shouldered the load!

The wilderness held you in the palm of her hand,
It took more than muscle to settle this land,
Women together went straight to the task
With schools and libraries-a city at last.

Chorus
It's down at the fact'ry, it's out on the line
A woman is working from morning to night
Her mind on the children, her hand on the frame
If the kids get in trouble, it's she who is blamed

Chorus

Then it's back home again to do supper and chores
Canning and mending and scrubbing the floors
Scarce see the children before they're in bed
Hard life to follow for beans and fried bread

Chorus

In hard times and good times the women would share
Their songs and their stories, their loves and their fears
And their history's recorded, the song never ends
In the mem'ries of mothers and sisters and friends.

Chorus.
printed in Here's to the Women
SOF