They who tread the path of labour

They who tread the path of labour.  Henry van Dyke* (1852-1933). Van Dyke’s poem, The Toiling of Felix (New York, 1898) was the origin of the popular hymn in the USA, ‘Jesus, thou divine companion’*. A number of British books printed a different text from the poem, using lines that were closer to the original, and making good use of the resonant phrase from the Coptic Gospel of Thomas, ‘Raise the stone, and thou shalt find Me; cleave the wood and there am I’ (changed to ‘I am there’ in the final stanza of the section entitled ‘The Worker’; see the entry on ‘Jesus, thou divine companion’ for the sections of the poem): They who tread the path of labour follow where my feet have trod; They who...