Rhode Island School of Design - Portfolio Yearbook (Providence, RI)

Page 33 text:

A PSALM OF MEN’S LIFE, Tell me not the mournful numbers, Life is but an empty room, For the souls have fled that slumbered, And all is silent as the tomb. Life was real! Life was earnest! And the student gained his goal, Now no feet the dust o’er-turnest And Life harbors not a soul. Not to lend, and not to borrow, Was the rule for every day, But to swipe, that each to-morrow Find us richer than to-day. Art is long and time is fleeting, But long rests you’d often crave, And the hours you’d spend in eating Would not roads to glory pave. In the School’s broad field of battle, Behind the drawing boards of Life, All we heard was childish prattle, All was rough-house, all was strife. Trust no model, howe’er pleasant, Rememb er what our friend B—— told Draw, draw while the teacher’s present, Heat within, but the model cold..

Page 32 text:

K is the Kind of a Koncert we give To our friends down below us, and yet they stiff live. L—the Long arguments held every week, And L—the Library—Hush! do not speak! M is for Mackey, quite small, but in truth Is admired by a corpulent, towering youth. N is for Nannie and also for Nine. She ought to succeed, for she’s always on time. O’s an expression all of us use When we come in too late a position to choose. P is for “Pinkey,” and also for Pierce, Together in school and together in verse. Q’s the Queer feeling we have when we’re Questioned, “Say, where is the drawing on which you were mentioned? R is for Ruth, though she speaks her whole mind, We are sure that at heart she intends to be kind. S is Mrs. Sisson, who is with us still; She often comes late, but she works with a will. T. Now what of Amelia, our Tiverton friend? She may have opinions, but none will she lend. U is Miss Upton, from Pembroke is she, Who spends her spare time on her A, M. degree. V is the Various jokes that arise, The Various hits, and the Varied replies. W for Miss Wilmarth, who comes once in a while; We know she’s a student for her name’s on the file. X, Y, Z are the models who pose,— Tis the end of the alphabet, so here I will close. A. M. Green.

Page 34 text:

Lives of these boys all remind us We, too, suffered for a time, And departing left behind us Drawings on the kalsomine. Drawings that perhaps another, Drifting to Life’s open door, A forlorn, discouraged brother, Seeing, shall take heart once more. Let us then be up and drawing, Each one do his very best, Work with all the spirit in you— When you're dead, you'll be at rest?