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WILLIAMSTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS PRINTED FOR THE CLASS OF EIGHTEEN NINETY-NINE OF WILLIAMS COLLEGE MCMXXI
Henry Rutgers Conger, Poet of the Class of Eighteen Ninety-Nine of Williams College, died at his home in Fanwood, New Jersey, on Friday the eighteenth of June, Nineteen Hundred and Twenty, while his Class was holding its Reunion in Williamstown, Massachusetts.
These two poems, written by him while an undergraduate in Williams College, are now printed by his Class as a loving tribute to his memory.
_In the hush of the early summer, ’Neath the smile of the soft June sky, We, who have lived together, Gather to say good-by. And now, with our labor ended, And the hours we may linger few, We kneel for our mother’s blessing, As is our right to do._
_Stately and tall is our mother, Tender and strong and wise; With the light of infinite knowledge In the depths of her steadfast eyes. And as we kneel before her, Her voice rings clear and slow, As she speaks the words of the blessing That she gives to her sons, ere they go._
“Sons of my four years’ nurture, Ye who have eaten my bread, Pause ere you take the journey Down the wide roads ahead! Listen! that I may tell you In simple speech and plain, How from the debt that ye owe me Ye may quit yourselves again!
The wisdom of generations I have spread for your delight; And the truths that men have died for Ye may claim as your simple right. Heirs of the hoarding ages, How use ye your legacy? Masters of many talents Render account to me.
“Are ye puffed with the pride of learning? Are ye pleased with the praise of fools? Have your minds grown cramped and narrow With the lore that ye learned in schools? Has your knowledge made you slothful, And your culture made you vain, That ye think to gain without labor What another must toil to gain?
Then are your years here wasted As pearls that are cast to swine! Then are ye servants of servants, And no true sons of mine! For they who began behind you Shall pass you in the race; And untaught men shall shame you In the open market-place!