Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1905-04-01
POSTLY'S BOYS.
''Thou shalt honor the face of the old
man. LEY. ~: 32.
BY REV. l.. p. BOWEN. ID. ID.

Before these noisy days of millionaires'
Big legacies. grand Colleges enriched,
Vast Universities immense, superb,
With loud acclaim to plethoric pluto.
Gratis,
Our Worcester had her own great heart
ed son,
Man with soul. her own philanthr0-
pist.
transformations. unrenowned he lived,
Among the pines he grew and thought
his thoughts;
He toiled and saved and unused and
plann'd his plans,
He saw the sons of rich men, taught and
cramn'd.
The treasures of the mind spread at
their feet,
The sparklings. jewell'd lore within
their grasp;
He saw the sons of poor men. circum-
scribed,
Ambitions cramped. the yearning to ex-
plore.
The cropping in the dark. the way hedg-
ed in
He watched the poor boys delving in the
fields,
He watched the poor boys drudging at
the bench
Aspiring minds that yearn'd for learn
ing's prizes.
Feeling the chains. longing and long
ing vaguely
Plain man he was, silent plain old
man,
But in his bosom throbbed heart of
gold.
And so among the pines he thought it
through,
And, when he went. he left his gather
ed store
To help the struggling. fettered poor
mems sons
To know and rise. Twas in the long
ago,
He ceased to be. and never trumpet's
clang
old man,
One of your boys to day, his forehead
barred.
Comes as pilgrim to your honor'd
grave
And lays his sprig of myrtle fondly
there -
Our grand old Jacob Postly,
Though long since passed away.
Did not thy spirit walk our groves
And watch the lads at play?
Saw you STRIPPING by the brink
OF one of Wofcester's streams,
Amid the water lily blooms.
Dreaming his roseate dreams?
Our grand old Jacob Postly.
There by the old Creeks side.
| think you saw his cares and fears
Afloat upon the tide;
The craving for the upward paths
And children's vistas fair,
The fond desire to mount up higher
And leave his mark-somewhere
All grand old Jacob Postly,
Were those ambitions heard,
The dreams he WHISPERED to the stars
And to the white seabird:
Though long since dead had you not read
His sigh and his regret,
The things there known and breathed
alone
To tree and violet?
Our grand old JAG ID Postly,
That noble deed of yours
Found there the dreamer mid his dreams
And threw ajlr the doors.
III tIidt yOdilS liu IiOW tntn
The lustrous future looks.
When wide the portals you had flung
The wondrous world of books
Our grand old Jacob Postly,
Twas you that babe him come
And in the old Academy
Find light and hope and home.
Goodbye. despair; the morning star
Announced the rising sun
And Loring Johnson carried on
What Postly had begun.
Oh. grand old Jacob Postly.
The years have narrowed now,
And eyes are dim and locks of snow
Are on the stripling's brow;
But with supernal gratitude
No lapse of time destroys,
He's not ashamed that he be named
As one of Postly's boys.
My dear old Jacob Postly,
Ii ever | have won
Some little need of usefulness,
Through you it all was done.
Ii thinkers. bards, philosophers
Their spell about me twine.
In modest walks of literature
1t was your deed. not mine
All hail, old Jacob Postly
No marble and no bronze,
But yours nobler monument
In lives of poor mems sous.
As TO a never-fading shrine
With grateful heart come,
And bring with me this wreathe TO thee,
And. bowling. kiss thy tomb.
Thank God for Jacob Postly.
And for the old School Botrd,
John Selby Purnell at their head.
To speak the cheering word.
Old Worcester had her noblemen
In those bright days of yore.
Great hearts whose kindness glorified
Our dear old Eastern Shore