Valparaiso University - Beacon / Record Yearbook (Valparaiso, IN)

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17 CLASS POEM BY ELLIOTT JAMES Before a class distinctly Kiitll High-sounding terms in some way fit T0 subjugate my native wit I sorely need; Or else how can I make the hit Fate has decreed? But if the muses I implore, They went enrich my empty store; Nor can they aught of poets lore In me distinguish, So I resort to nothing more Than common English. Nor shall I sing in mystic lays 0f childhood, or maturer days, When cupidls wild and antic ways My heart affected; For now my Illonelinessll betrays Those hopes rejected. But my review is most concerned About the little things Ilve learned; Things that more tllarned men have spurned As inconsistent With those, they think, have strictly earned Supreme enlistment. :tGreat oaks from little acorns growf Is no more valuable to know Than that these giants hold below Their lofty boughs, Much wormy fruit to overthrow What good it sows. So many men have won a name Stripped of the just reproach and blame . That should fame, attend their ttwatered And social prestige, That rectified, would portion shame Their only vestige. And many women seem to feel That all their Hfadsil to men appeal, That width of hat and height of heel, Define their worth And think such things will best reveal Their noble birth. To this our silence makes concession And so we get the same impression And dare not make the least digression From such devotion, Though we may have in our possession A better notion. But motives, good, held in seclusion, Require some radical intrusion; A real enthusiastls illusion Of bounden duty, Ncr should he be, for that infusion, Denied the booty. Yet some are born With a suspicion. That cruel fate, perhaps tradition, Must serve a pre-arranged commission In their existence, And thus they lose their free volition And strong consistence. And others Iind a sweet content In any way the twig is bent; And never offer to invent A new condition That might incite or supplement' Their dead ambition. But some believe they can secure Distinction that Will long endure, If they but make a pleasure tour Through dutyls portal; But fancy dreams will not insure Our names immortal. And only faithful service gains Respect, and all that yet remains Of just renown, and best maintains A high position Of trust, that, in the throng, sustains A recognition. For if the work is vainly done, That help, the needy poor will shun, And if the doer has begun To court his praise, Then what of fame he may have won Will turn disgrace. Then humble work Will best atone For wrongs to which we all are prone; Then may the better seeds weive sown On our removal To Judgment, at St. Peterls throne Meet his approval.

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ELLIOTT J AMES aptat se pugnae palma non sine pulvere PAUL MOODY

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RAYMOND G. BRESSLER nascimur poetae jimus oratores frangas non flectus GROVER C. MAC LAREN