For the Inauguration of a Public School, Camden, New Jersey, 1874
An old man’s thought of school, An old man gathering youthful memories and blooms that youth itself cannot.
Now only do I know you, O fair auroral skies—O morning dew upon the grass!
And these I see, these sparkling eyes, These stores of mystic meaning, these young lives, Building, equipping like a fleet of ships, immortal ships, Soon to sail out over the measureless seas, On the soul’s voyage.
Only a lot of boys and girls? Only the tiresome spelling, writing, ciphering classes? Only a public school?