Only a few swift time-strokes to make up life's brief day, Only some few more pulse-beats till we, too, pass away; There in the bright hereafter with great exceeding joy, There, never to be parted, thou wilt rejoin thy boy.
Science! thou mirror of celestial type Wherein e'en mortals may discerning see, If they with steady perseverance seek, The will and purpose of Deity.
By the effulgence of Thy affluent light Men learn the hidden mysteries of earth, Unlock the secrets of the starry heavens And solve the problem of each dewdrop's birth.
Thou art the magic key that opens wide Sources of knowledge, beauty, wealth and grace, Which teach man how to help his brother man, And benefit and elevate the race.
Beneath thy guidance men have found the stone Philosophers long sought but rarely found, Whose lesson is that the Great God helps those Who feel to help themselves and others bound.
What blest results are following in thy train, To physical as well as mental wealth, Through sanitation, in its myriad forms, By which it now promotes the nation's health.
Well regulated physical as mental work Opens rich sources of enjoyment sweet; And mind and body strengthened, thus delight New difficulties to withstand and greet.
Few know how strengthening is resisting power, In mind and body as in physics too, And what accumulating force it lends To man his life work daily to renew.
The richest happiness comes from within, From duties well accomplished blessings flow, And precious fruits of action, thought and deed That will not give rude switch grass place to grow.
Thou teachest that a form to be a square Must have its lines of length, breadth, depth, exact, Without the least divergence right or left, And with its due proportions clear, compact.
What helpful lessons might not this form teach, If testing thus the lines of motives, thought, Which make the sum of action square or false, Each would discern the application taught.
When truth as the soul's standard is set up, Making the inner life exact and square, With love to God producing love, to all, What will not man for man and duty dare?
True brotherhood consists in making each, As far as may be, just another self; The priceless sequence of such action would Exceed the greatest riches men call wealth.