"Men of thought be up and stirring Night and day!"
"'Clear the Way!'
or
Song of 'The Wagon Road'" (1856)
Words by Charles Mackay Esq.
Music Composed and Dedicated to the Pioneers of the
Great Pacific Rail Road!
by Stephen C. Massett.

San Francisco, CA: Stephen C. Massett
Oakes, Eng[raver].
[Source: 057/067@Levy]

1. Men of thought be up and stirring,
Night and day,
Sow the seed, withdraw the curtain,
Clear the way;
Men of action, aid and cheer them
As ye may.
There’s a fount about to stream,
There’s a light about to beam,
There’s a warmth about to glow,
There’s a flow’r about to blow,
There’s a midnight blackness changing into gray,
Men of thought, and men of action,
Clear the way!

2. Once the welcome night has broken,
Who shall say
What the unimagin’d glories of the day,
What the evil that shall perish,
In its ray;
Aid the dawning, tongue and pen,
Aid it hopes of honest men,
Aid it paper, aid it type,
Aid it for the hour is ripe,
And our earnest must not slacken into play,
Men of thought and men of action
Clear the way!

3. Lo! a cloud’s about to vanish
From the day,
And a brazen wrong to crumble into clay,
Lo! the right’s about to conquer,
Clear the way,
With the right shall many more
Enter smiling at the door,
With the giant wrong shall fall,
Many others great and small,
That for ages long have held us for their prey,
Men of thought and men of action
Clear the way!

CHORUS 1 (ad libitum)
There’s a fount about to stream,
There’s a light about to beam,
There’s a warmth about to glow,
There’s a flow’r about to blow,
There’s a midnight blackness changing into gray,
Men of thought and men of action,
Clear the way!

CHORUS 2 (ad libitum)
Aid the dawning, tongue and pen,
Aid it hopes of honest men,
Aid it paper, aid it type,
Aid it for the hour is ripe,
And our earnest must not slacken into play,
Men of thought and men of action,
Clear the way!

CHORUS 3 (ad libitum)
With the right shall many more
Enter smiling at the door,
With the giant wrong shall fall,
Many others great and small,
That for ages long have held us for their prey,
Men of thought and men of action,
Clear the way!