To My Books

As one who, destined from his friends to part,
Regrets his loss, but hoeps again erewhile
To share their converse and enjoy their smile,
And tempers as he may affliction's dart;

Thus, loved assoicates, chiefs of elder art,
Teachers of wisdom, who could once beguile
My tedious hours, and lighten every toil,
I now resign you; nor with fainting heart;

For pass a few short years, or days, or hours,
And happier seasons may their dawn unfold,
And all your sacred fellowship restore;
When, freed from earth, unlimited its powers,
MInd shall with mind direct communion hold,
And kindred spirits meet to part no more.

--Washington Irving

The American People

All the writers of England united, if we could for a moment suppose their great minds stooping to so unworthy a combination, could not conceal our rapidly growing importance and matchless prosperity. They could not conceal that these are owing, not merely to physical and local, but also to moral causes,--to the political liberty, the general diffusion of knowledge, the prevalence of sound moral and religious principles, which give force and sustained energy to the character of a people; and which, in act, have been the acknowledged and wonderful sporters of their own national power and glory.

--Washington Irving, Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.

A Clear Midnight (Walt Whitman)

This is thy hour, O Soul, thy free flight into the wordless,
Away from books, away from art, the day erased, the lesson done,
Thee fully forth emerging, silent [never at middle school when the dismissal bell rings!], gazing, pondering the themes thou lovest best . . .

Walt Whitman

School reform

To A Pupil

Is reform needed? Is it through you?
The greater the reform needed, the greater the Personality you need to accomplish it.

You! do you not see how it would serve to have eyes, blood, complexion, clean and sweet?
Do you not see how it would serve to have such a body and soul that when you enter the crowd an atmosphere of desire and command enters with you, and every one is impress'd with your Personality?

O the magnet! the flesh over and over!
Go, dear friend, if need be give up all else, and commenct to-day to inure yourself to pluck, reality, self-esteem, definiteness, eleavated-ness,
Rest not till you rivet and publish yourself of your own Personality.

---Walt Whitman, Autumn Rivulets