Chapter XXVIII

So, when our children turn the page,
To ask what triumphs marked our age,
What we achieved to challenge praise,
Through the long line of future days,
This let them read, and hence instruction draw:
"Here were the Many blessed,
Here found the virtues rest,
Faith linked with love and liberty with law;
Here industry to comfort led,
Her book of light here learning spread;
Here the warm heart of youth
Was wooed to temperance and to truth;
Here hoary age was found,
By wisdom and by reverence crowned.
No great, but guilty fame
Here kindled pride, that should have kindled shame;
THESE chose the better, happier part,
That poured its sunlight o'er the heart;
That crowned their homes with peace and health,
And weighed Heaven's smile beyond earth's wealth;
Far from the thorny paths of life
They stood, a living lesson to their race,
Rich in the charities of life,
Man in his strength, and Woman in her grace;
In purity and love THEIR pilgrim road they trod,
And when they served their neighbor felt they served their God."