Classic Poem

Though the cunning of the Indian and the Zulu's thirst for blood,
And with giant strength of Hercules we find ourselves imbued,
They would fail to make a manhood that would reach the highest goal,
For the measure of true manhood is the standard of the soul.

Isaac Newton, Galileo, nature's secrets did unlock,
Many more with equal splendor in the same have taken stock;
Though their souls have crossed the river and are gone, still now we find,
That the standard of their manhood has been measured by the mind.

From this grand association comes the Websters of our day,
And Demosthenes of power shall his eloquence display;
Till the Commonwealth shall tremble with emotion, and exclaim,
" We have names of worth from Claflin, written on the scroll of fame! "

May the leaven of a Luther be imbedded here in peace,
That will cause a transformation to begin and never cease,
Till the ignorance and vices that have bound a struggling race,
Shall be banished from their strongholds and to higher things give place.

Faithful spirits, like Hugh Miller's, as a martyr's we should prize,
For the Bible and geology, he died to harmonize,
Prize religion and biology that Drummond taught as one,
Making laws we find in nature, simply laws of heaven begun.

With the valor of an Ivanhoe, on horseback or on foot,
In a battle of the intellect with minds of great repute,
Armed with sword of mental quality, and lance of learned skill,
We will banish all opposers from the lists, with hearty will.

It is said by those who know just how to value and compare,
That our " Claflin is the leading school for Negroes anywhere, "
It is left for us to prove it or to falsify the same —
Let no one in this alumni stain our Alma Mater's name.

From increasing of advantages this lesson we should learn,
That they make us more responsible for things of life in turn,
We, the chain of superstition that the centuries did forge,
Must attempt to break asunder and a race of people purge.

May each graduate of Claflin be a hero in the fight,
Helping kill the hydra-headed giant wrong against the right,
In the battle all must enter, for we find no neutral ground,
Let each one in this alumni on the side of right be found.

May this grand association ever live and never die,
Till transformed into the region of the sweetest by-and-by.
Then with angel voices blended in a pleasing harmony,
Chant our Alma Mater's praises through a bright eternity.