  As shadows are to material forms, As mists to the copious shower As dead calms are to tornado storms That in tropical region lower So are educational fallacies That ignore and decry as naught The value and power that ever lie In the scope of original thought. No smooth device with a soulless form Should obscure the living thought; It smothers the mind, destroys the charm That comes to him who has wrought To discover new truth, by a truth well known, On which he may safely build, Till his mental strength by use has grown To a giant strong and skilled. When thought is secure, the reason clear, And the language to tell is pure, Abridgement comes like a friend sincere, For it cannot the mind obscure. The wasted time on a form-clad task Steals gems from youth's precious years, Leaves a wreck on life's shore, we cannot mask With our sorrows and sighs and tears. If what we have learned has given no power To acquire what yet we must learn, If all our past struggles leave not a dower To which we may joyously turn And feel that a strength within us is given Through efforts already bestowed, In vain have we lived, in vain have we striven, Each task is the same weary load. If task of to-day shall not lighten th' one May come upon us to-morrow, It is but a proof our work was ill done, And bodes to us grief and sorrow. Ev'ry effort of mind applied aright Augments the mental perception, For God aids the brave, and giveth a light To shine away imperfection. There's a magic power in a task well done, There's a charm in solid reason, There's a mighty force in a victory won, Which an alert mind will seize on, And with giant strength that is thus acquired March on till the fields of science And the zones of thought wherein man aspired Shall be won by self-reliance. |
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