Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1878-12-26
VOL. Sc. NO. AZ.
M0RITURI SALUTAMUS.*
BIZ HENRY W. LosGFELLow.

Not so the teachers who In earlier DAYS
Led our bs~ildered feet through iearning's name
Ihey answer RS alasi what have said
hat greetings come there from the voiceess dss q
What salutation, welcome, or replyf
W hat press ar from the hands that hfeless lies
Ihey are no longer here they all are gone
Into the land of shadows-ail save one.
Honor and reverence, and the good repute
That follows faithful service as its fruit,
Be unto him, whom living We salute.
The great italian poet, when he made
His dreadful journey TO the res Inns of shade
Met there the old instructor OF his YOUTH
nd cried in tones Of pity and of ruth:
" y, never from the memory Of my heart
Your dear, paternal image shall depart
W no while on earth. ere yet by death surpri ssd,
Taught me how mortals are immortalizsd;
How grateful am for that patient care
Alimy NE long my language shall declare
To-day we make the poets words cur own,
IND utter them 10 piaintive undertone.
Nor to the living only be they said,
But TO the other living called the dead.
W hose dear, paterra images appear
Not wrapped in gloom, but robtd in nshine here
" hose simple lives. complete and without nav,
Were part and parcel Of great Natures Law:
Who said not to the Lord, ss II afraid,
: Here Is thy talent In napkin laid"
But abored in their sphere, as those who live
In the delight that work alone can give
Peace be 20 them; eternal peace and rest,
nd the inifiiiment of the great behest
: lie nave Dsen fhltniui over lew tEtnQs.
Over ten cities shall ye reign as kings"
And ye who NIL the places we once filed
A nd follow in the burrows that we titled
Young men, whose generous hearts ara heating hiah
We who are old. and are about To die
salute you hail you take your hands in ours
nd crown you with our welcome AS with d,wers
How beautiful is youth how bright it CLEANS
With ITS illusions aspirations. dreams
BOUk OF beginniD tory without End.
zach maid heroine, aud each man friendi
addin's Lamp, and Portunstus' Purse,
That h. Ids the treasures OF the universe!
III possibilities arc In its hands,
No danger dguntsft, and no foo withstands;
lD liz sublime audacty of faith,
Be III u removed r. It TO the mountain .aith
And with 40 bilious feet. secure and proud.
Ascends the ladder leaning on the cloud
A. ancient Priam at the sc@an gate
sat on the walls OF Troy H. regal state
With the old men, too old and weak to fight,
chirpirg like gras-hoppers their delight
To the emhattled hosts. with spear aud shield,
)f Trcjans and Achsians in the field;
20 from the snowy submits OF our years
We see you in the plain, AS each appears,
nd question OF you asking, " Who is he
That towers above the othersf Which NAV be
Atreides, Menelaus, 0dysseus.
Ajax the great. or bold IdomeneusS"
Let him not boast who puts his armor on
As he who puts 1t of. the battle done.
STUDY yOurhetgeS ana most OF all note well
" herein kind Nature meant you to excel.
Not every blossom ripens into fruit;
Minerva the iRventress Of the flute,
flung it aside when she her faeo surveyed
Distorted in a fouutain as size played
rhe uhlscky Marsyas found it, and his fate
Vas one TO make the bravest hesitate.
Write on your doors the saying wise and old,
not be aea bssl s ss b0d
han the defect better the more than less;
letter like Hector in the field to die,
han like the perfumed Paris turn and fly.
Asd now, my classmates ys remaining few
hat number not the half of those we knew;
%, against whose familiar names not vet
Nke fatal asterisk of death is set,
ie salutel The ho.o.oge of Time
strikes the half-century with a solemn chims,
And summons us together once again,
The JOY OF meeting oct uDmixe6 with pain.
Where the others? Voices frem the deep
)averns of darkness answer me- "They sleepi'
name no names instinctively / feel
Each at some wel-remembered grave will kneet,
And from the inscription wipe the weeds and moss,
For every heart best knoweth its own loss, .
see the scattered grave stones cleaning white
Through the pale dusk of the impending night;
Der all alike the impartial sunset throws
It's golden lilies mingled vii the rose
We give to all a tender thought. snd pass
lut OF the grsys-yards with their tangled grass,
Unto these scenes frequented by our feet
When We were young, ard life was fresh and sweet,
What shall I say to you: What can say
Setter than sileaceis f When I survey
This throng of faces turned to meet my own,
Friendly and fair. and yet to me unknown,
the very landscape seems to be;
e is the same, yet not the same to me.
10 many memories crowd upon my brain.
20 many ghosts are in the wooded plain,
fain would steal away, with noiseless tread,
As from house where some ono lieth dead
cannot go IL pause IL hesitate:
iy feet reluctant linger at the gate;
As one who struggles in troubled dreaa
10 speak and cannot, 10 myself seem.
V anish the dream Vanish the idle fears,
Vanish the rolling mists Of fifty years
" hatever time or space may intervene,
will not be q stranger in this scene.
Here every doubt, all indecision ends;
Hail. my companions, comrades, classmates, friends
All me the fifty Years since last we met
See N to me fifty folios bound add set
By Time the great transcriber, on his shelves
Where in are written the histories of ourselves
What tragedies, what comedies are there;
Whstjoy and grief. what rapture and despair
hat chronicles OF triumph and defeat,
d. struggle and temptation, aud retreat!
What records of regrets, and doubts, and fearsi
What pages blotted. blistered by our tears!
What lovely landscapes on the margin shine,
What sweet angelic faces, what divine
nd holy images OF love and trust
Uudimmed by age, unsoiied by damp or dustf
whose hand shall dare to open aud explore
These volumes closed and cIasped for eyermorey
Not mine. With reverentisi feet pass;
hear voice that cries, ''Alas alas
W Whatever has been written shalt remsin
Nor be era'ed nor written Ger again
The unwritten only still belongs To- thee
Take heed, and ponder well what that shalihe
As children frightened by . thunder cloud
A re treasured if some ons reads aloud
tale Of wonder, with snchsntmsnt traught.
Or wild sdventur., that diverts their thought.
LET me eudesvor with q tale TO chase
rhe gathering shadows of tho tins and place.
A nd banish Whist all too deeply feel
Wholly to say, or wholly to conceal
In medicval Rome, know not where
There stood image with its arm in air.
And on its lifted finger, shining clear,
A golden ring with the device, Strike hersis
Greatly the people wondered, though none vuesssd
The n sanug that these words but half expres,ed
Until learned clerk. who at MONDAY
With downeasi eyes was pss.tnx on III. way.
wherein the shadow Of the finger fell:
And coming back at midnight. delyed and founa
A secret stairway leading under ground.
Down this he passed into spacious hall
Lit by a flaming jewel on tho wall;
And opposite g brazen statue stood
with bow and SHAFT in threatening attitude
Upon its forehead. like 9 coronet,
W ere the ysterious words of menace set.
" That which am, am my fatal aim
None can escape, not even yon luminous nams,"
Midway the hall was fair table placed
With cloth of gold. and golden cups enchased
With rubies, and the plates and hives were gold
nd gold the bread and viands manifold.
Around IL, silent, motonless and sad
Were seated gallant knights In srmor clad.
And ladies beautiful with plume and zone
they were stone, their hearts within were stone
nd the vast hall was filed 10 every part
With silent crowds, stony in face and heart
Long at the scene, beviidered and amazed.
The trembling clerk in speeches. wonder razeS.
Then from the table, by his greed made bold
He seized . goblet and knife of gold
nd suddenly from their seats the guests unxnrsnv
The ysulted ceiling With loud cismors rang
The archer sped his arrow, at their call,
the lambert jewel on the wall.
And ell WAS dark around and overhead
Stark on the floor the lueklsss clerk lay oesai
The writer Of this legend then record.
Its ghOstly application in tn ese words:
The image is the Adversary old,
" hose reckoning finger points to realms OF gold.
Our lusts aud passions are the downward stair
That leads the soul from q diviner air:
The archer, Death the flaming jewel, life:
goods, the goblet and the knife
The Knights and ladies, al whose flesh and bone
By avsrice have been hardened into stone
The clerk, the scholar whom the love OF pelf
fempts from his books and from his nobisr self
The scholar and the world The endless strife
The discord In the harmonies CT lifei
The love OF learning. the seQuestered nooks,
md all the sweet serenity Of books.
The market-plsce, the eager 1--we OF gain,
sPoem for the nftieth anu.ssrssry Of the c sss Q