Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-07-01


Tort and was received most warmly. TIL
flowing is the poem in full
Ia the yerdure of the June time
lair Augusta sianns today,
b, AuJiful as dreamand city
Where 'tweIe wrong for men 10 stray.
Maui lovely spots within II,
But the faire-i of them all
j. thar spot across the river
Where among the elm trees tall,
stands Il well known, noble building,
With ii great tower reaching high,
Wi h terraced lawn around it,
Shaded, broad streets leading by,
Though admired by all who see H.
Yet 10 u. NOR charms are there,
For the thoughts OF years departed
Make II more TO Us than fair.
This, then, is our Alma Mater,
IN Whose honors here We meet,
We. her scattered. LOVING children.
Iavlng homage At her feet.
Folio sing the happy custom
That the June time triugs around,
Here we come from many quarters
That our school queen may be crowned
With the fairest sprays of laurel
Which our hearts and lives can bear,
For her brow OF matchless beauty
Wreathed by us with LOVING care.
tonight amid her children,
Eain unto her shr ne would bring
Since unkindly made her poet
Simple lines rs Offering.
Few the months since forever
Passed my life al Cony by,
Yet ! cannot help from seeing,
hanged il she and changed am l..
Changed is she why need say it
{ asses new new teachers there,
bnis memories of my elias snates
Greet me on the well known stair.
Changed am n, why need say II
Changes every day meet all;
New the scenes that lac around me;
New the paths where my steps fall.
Changed /. much in each, but never,
Through the years, can change that tie
Binding TO thee. Alma Mater,
All thy children till they die.
Once. alone amid the twilight,
Wandering back sought the place
Where our common foster mother
Hears her noble, kindly face.
From the trees around old Cony,
From each room as passed through.
Came murmur. came II whisper,
Soft as fall of evening dew.
Then | could but pause and listen,
For WAS borne upon my ear
spirit spoken, dream like accents,
Only graduates may hear
Said the voice: 81 am being
W ho TO thee forever more
Shall not cease to send reproaches
For the lost days gone before.
Thus il II to every mortal
Leaving school days far behind,
That | send appreciation
ct those school days TO his mind.
"NcNtr, said the stern voice sadly.
"Neyer do young people know
All the value of their school days,
As those sweet hours come and go.
only when those days are over,
And whisper in their ears,
Do they set the grand relations
School days hear to future years.
Thus my sad lot i. forever
So hing men where'er they be,
Leading them with gentle guidance
Through the plains of memory,
Till show them in the distance,
Like mirage in tropic sky,
Where, beyond their reach forever,
ALI their happy school days lie.
Sad indeed you think my duty!
Would that pupils only knew
Half the value of their school DAYS:
Then my labors would be throlgh!'
Thus voice within Old Cony
Spoke to me at evening time,
And an echo of its h,spers
Forms itself IN feeble rhyme.
Now have not the self same accents
Forced themselves upon your ear;
Have you NOT in musiDg moment,
Seen before you fair and clear,
But beyond your reach forever,
All the endless treasure store
Which your school days might have brought
But which life can bring no moref lyou
All, alas we can but echo,
What was whispered there TO me;
May the pupils of the future
Have tod gwen power to see
That there lies within their graspiDg
GrandrSi things that life can give;
Things that make life so worth living,
That 10 die il but to he.
SO that after graduations,
When their school days are all through
There may be no vain regrettiDgs
For the work they did not do.