  We've had some first-class fruitage, boys, 'Mid all the bad pears in our baskets, And there are several jewelled toys In Memory's queer, old-fashioned caskets; Where silver morning bells will chime Some certain tones that ne'er were mated, From that unprecedented time— That grand old day, we graduated! It was a sheaf of hopes and fears; A fate that came, close covered, to us; It was the last day of four years That were to build up or undo us; The hour we wished and dreaded most, From which we shrunk, for which we waited; That inward fear and outward boast— That fine old day we graduated! A thousand heads and hearts were there, With more or less discernment gifted; Our enemies with hopeful stare, Our friends with look of kindness lifted. We saw gay chaplets, wondering whom To crown their brilliant lives were fated; Bouquets looked puzzled 'mid their bloom, That fragrant day we graduated! And Beauty held a precious prize Of smiles for our intense oblations, And looked from many-colored eyes Made quizzical by old flirtations; And Learning glanced us through and through, With cold astuteness that we hated; We knew how much we never knew, That trying day we graduated! We rose, with super-student care, Brimful of fear and information; We had about ten minutes there To put four years in one oration. A thousand judgments on our lives From that important hour were dated: How queer, that one of us survives That fateful day we graduated! How all the sad, uneasy past Was wrenched from History's possession, In cartridges of periods cast, And fired in rounds of quick succession! Right's winsome look, Wrong's loathsome shape, Were unequivocally stated; And lucky that which could escape Us all—that day we graduated! And when our guns were at full play, As o'er the creaking stage we hauled them, Some first-class words got strayed away, And would not come back when we called them We had to grope and stumble round, Just where our style was most inflated: Humility and nerve, we found, Were trumps, that day we graduated! Ah me! it all was bitter-sweet— That time of music, flowers, and splendor; The future life we marched to meet, The past, with memories rich and tender. A sombre fragrance filled the air— A mournful joy ne'er duplicated; Both night and morning lingered there, That changeful day we graduated! And when "Good-bye" came, grimly sure, And handed us our hands at parting, We saw on what a lonely tour Of out-door effort we were starting; We who had wrangled, schemed, and fought, As dear old friends each other rated; Love twined about us, as it ought, That solemn day we graduated! Decoration. |
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