Classic Poem

RECITED BY A YOUNG LADY AT AN EXAMINATION OF THE PUPILS OF A LITERARY INSTITUTIONS .

Why all this anxious tumult in my breast?
Be hush'd ye fears! — vain throbbings sink to rest!
No envious crowd with bitter taunt and sneer,
But smiling friends I see around me here;
Who, unrestrain'd by critics' nicer laws,
Will pay our efforts with their warm applause.

Kindred and friends, I'm hither sent to ask
Your kind indulgence on our evening task:
No veterans we, who with unblushing face
Can meet the terrors of a public place;
But youthful maidens, who have come to tell
What fruits we've pluck'd in Learning's mazy dell:
And should the faltering voice, the timid mien,
Betray the war our feelings wage within,
Oh then remember home is woman's sphere,
And deem our faults the offspring of our fear;
Strive to be lenient, not too strictly just,
Praise where you can, blame only where you must!

But hark! methinks I hear some whisperer say,
" What have these girls to do with learning, pray?
" And if we grant them some small share of sense,
" Must they at once lay claim to eloquence? "

In eastern climes, where Moslem tyrants rule,
Woman a pageant's thought, a soulless fool,
A breathing toy, created but to shower
Guilty delights upon the passing hour.
No guide for her points out the narrow way
That leads the " pure in heart " to realms of day;
No kindly spirit turns her gaze on high,
And bids her seek for glory in the sky;
No warning accents reach her from the tomb,
To tell the guilty soul its final doom:
Careless she glides along life's ebbing wave,
Without one hope, one thought beyond the grave;
Or darkly deems, when Death shall close the eye,
She'll sink in silence, and forgotten lie!

But we, who breathe where milder fates control,
Have amply shown that woman hath a soul;
A soul as rich in intellectual stores,
As large, as god-like, haughty man, as yours!
And many a deed to Fame's loud trump consign'd,
Bears noble witness for her strength of mind;
While many a virtue in sequester'd life,
Proclaims her fitness for the friend and wife.
'Twere vain for me in my rude verse to show
What names, what deeds, on Glory's records glow:
Go read them there, where high they stand sublime,
Undimm'd by envy, and unhurt by time.
There Edgeworth's shines, whose pen's assuasive power,
Shall lend a charm to many a tedious hour,
Shall many a heart with nature's lore beguile,
And light the cheek of wo with rapture's smile!
When pale disease hath clogg'd the tardy day,
Who hath not felt and own'd her magic sway?
From frolic fiction, dress'd by Edgeworth's art,
Enlarged his knowledge, and improved his heart.
Go, learn from her, without weak woman's hand
To scatter flowers along life's barren strand;
To smooth your path as on through years you go,
This world would be a sterile scene of wo;
No charm to soothe, no hope to animate,
But one wide waste, lonely and desolate.

Remember too, to woman is consign'd
The arduous task to guide the youthful mind;
To rear those tender germs, which, as they grow,
May prove a nation's weal, or nation's wo.
Who nurs'd the patriot-spark that burst so bright,
In vengeful fires, on man's astonish'd sight,
When first arose Columbia's darling son,
The good, the great, the matchless Washington?

'Twas woman's task, weak woman's, to control
The latent powers of his mighty soul;
'Twas hers to guide the giant-arm that hurl'd
The tyrant's myriads from the western world;
To prompt the voice that from the Spartan's grave,
Call'd weeping Freedom o'er Atlantic's wave:
'Twas hers to guide him to that height of fame,
Where in unfading lustre shines his name;
With glory's brightest, rosiest wreath intwin'd,
A theme of ceaseless plaudits to mankind.

And can you then deny to her who cheers
Life's barren path, and wipes away your tears,
(Like you the wanderer of a stormy day,)
The lamp of knowledge to illume the way?
Must she, to whom is giv'n the weighty charge
To nurse man's virtues, and his mind enlarge,
T' unfold those powers which in their growth may yield
Wisdom in council, valor on the field;
Or, in the cause of justice may dispense
To listening crowds the sweets of eloquence;
Or raise his ken thro' ether's fields afar
To glean new stores from every beaming star;
And by his deeds inscribe on history's page,
A deathless name, to charm from age to age:
Must she be barr'd from intellectual light,
And doom'd to wander in impervious night —
She, the conductress of the world beside,
Alone condemn'd to rove without a guide?
You smile! ah, then I see we've gain'd our cause,
And she who merits will obtain applause.