College of William and Mary - Colonial Echo Yearbook (Williamsburg, VA)

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To thee it is to clioose and act thy part ; To stand a hero or a coward flee: Gird up thy strength and fortify thy heart: Nor carry that which may encumber thee. Thy weapons should he few liut sure and tried, O ' ercome by their own arms brave men have died. If thou pursues! fickle fame, beware: Lest she doth lead thee wliere thou would ' st not go, Nor follow wealth to quagmires of despair: Nor seeking Honor grasp an empty show. Time is too fleet and life too rare a thing To sell it all to hear the Sirens sing. When opportunity shall .speak with whispering voice. And point unto his way unseen before. Up, quickly turn and make a wise one ' s choice ; Else seeking him thou ' It find a fast-locked door. If once thou sleepest through the golden day No power of thine may chase the night away. Remember him of whom the Hebrews tell. Who sought his father ' s wandering ass alone ; But yet on him the Prophet ' s favor fell— He sought an ass but found a kingly throne. So often he who doth the smallest thing For Duty, shall, unknown, be crowned a king. This then I charge thee, ere thou take thy way, Kule, if thou rulest, o ' er the realm of mind; And yet o ' er mind let character hold sway. And place all lesser things, below, behind. So thou more glorious still shall reach the west. While o ' er thee waves unstained the victor ' s crest. Up, then, and with a strong man ' s strength, be strong. Fear not, nor falter on thy chosen way ; Shun, thou, all coward deeds and flee all wrong. But if they come upon thee, up, and slay. I speak for him, God of the silver bow. So ! blessing, I have blessed thee, rise and go. James South.vll Wilson. 25

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Then for a time the music ceased, and lo ! Forth from the cave a white-robed maiden rame. She bore within her hand the silver bow Of great Apollo, god of tmieful fame, A wondrous beauty lit her sybil face And to her form there clung a mystic grace. Priestess, I cried, of the Farshooting One ! Sweet Calliope or whate ' er thy name ; Grant me this boon ere yet thy lord shall run To other lands to put the stars to shame; Ere yet upon life ' s weary way I start Teach thou a lesson to my fearful heart. A little band of soldiers yet untried Awaiting but the bugle call of life. Brave as the bravest that have fought and died And ready for the hardship and the strife. Do thou, O priestess, lift thy voice and pray To great Apollo that they win the day. The sybil heard and, speaking, raised her head, Wherefore, O mortal, comest thou to break The pleasant slumbers of the tuneful dead Men long have mocked at song and for my sake They sacrifice no longer as of old, Their lyres are broken; Phoebus fane is cold. Yet since thou comest to the isle of song, Apollo bid ' st the oracle to speak. The message heed, nor e ' er repeat it wrong. Lest on thy head the god his vengeance wreak. Hark! Hark! for I Apollo ' s lyre shall string, ' T is thine to hear and heed what I do sing. Lo ! what a splendor fills the eastern sky : Hark! loud and clear sounds out the bugle call. A soldier band prepared to do and die; To glorious stand or gloriously to fall. Starts like a caravan toward the West, Each with unblemished ' scutcheon on his breast. 24

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' 03 til ' 23: H Ipvopbet ' s IDrcam. ON E night late in vSpring I had been cramming for one of the earlj- examinations, and it was sometime past midnight when I got to bed : a beautiful half-moon was just descending into the West, and its raj ' s fell full upon me. My thoughts drifted to the now fast-approach- ing close of the session, and to tlie members of our class who would then part, some of them possibh- never to meet again. I could but have a feeling of sadness creep over me, but I had also a great curiosity to know in what walks of life and where my several class-mates would be found in the years to come. Gazing at the setting half-moon it seemed to me to symbolize the culmi- nation of the first half of our lives, some fifteen or twenty years hence ; now the first quarter is just ending. Those of us who.se college careers end with this session, will on the last Thursday in June, finish the fir.st quarter of our lives, and when we awake the next morning the second quarter will be facing us. What will it reveal ? What joys and sorrows, rewards and disappointments has it in store for us? Time alone can tell. But it was late and, being tired, nature presently got the best of my thoughts. Falling into a light slumber, my mind was naturally still full of my last waking thoughts. In my sleep the Goddess of Dreams came to me and gave me an invitation to accompany her on a trip, promising me that if I went she would show me where the members of our class of ' 03 would be found in 1923. I need hardly say that I agreed to go. The Goddess was invisible to me, and she threw over my shoulders a cloak which made me also invisible, and gave me the power of sailing through the air at a mar- velous rate of speed. She also gave a peculiar pair of smokj ' -looking glasses, which, when I put them on, gave my eyes the wonderful power of seeing things as they would be twenty years from now. Having put on the glasses the Goddess took me by the hand and led me off. She enjoined upon me to hasten as we would have to be back before 26