Classic Poem

From D — r H — — d I receiv'd this book,
Who charg'd me daily in the same to look;
And when its sacred truths I understood,
To virtuous actions they would point the road;
To heaven's eternal bliss would lead the way,
And change my night of death to endless day;
For death in youth may come, as blights in spring
To hopeful blooming trees their slaughter bring.
To God then make your early suit of grace,
That sin may never in your heart take place;
No mode of vice eclipse your rising sun,
But life in streams of virtue clearly run.
Thus wrote my rector when this book he gave,
And said, By these unerring rules behave;
So will the boy pursue the noblest plan,
And ripen into valuable man .