S3* 



^^?T 



76 



GOODYEAR ON GUM -ELASTIC. 



The poor purloiner's brow — they are thy own ! 

 Nor fear, if what thou kiiowest is true and just, 

 And worthy to command the best regard, 

 And take its place among discoveries 

 That ever last, should be passed silent by, 

 By such even who pretend to wear the robes 

 Of nature's priesthood, and so teach the world. 



Go on, then, in thy task, unshrinking — seek 

 What longest sought, at last, when found, rewards 

 With highest joy — what finding, thou canst say, 

 I too have found ! On nature print thy steps 

 Deep — as in adamant ! — and tliey will last. 

 Those of thy age. will by the common track 

 Go smoothly on, nor know nor care that thou 

 Mid tangled wilds hast found the only way 

 That leads to the true goal. O'er rugged heights 

 It passes, and they choose the easy plain. 

 But thou hasl oft on nature pressed thy seal, 

 And it will hold ! Thou, too, in lonely search 

 Hast notched thy way along the clifted rocks 

 And mountain summits, and when others come 

 Who seek — like thee — they then will find impressed 

 Thy lasting mark, and know thou hast been there. 

 And traced it all. Then comes thy high reward ! 

 They own thee as their guide, and wide proclaim 

 Thee a discoverer. 



If thou art then 

 Conscious that thou hast added aught of worth 

 To the great treasury of mind — new truths 

 From the wide outer w^orld, or from the world 

 Within us, or creations new of art, 

 Sublime or fair, to raise or to refine 

 The mind and heart — trust to a coming age ; 

 Confide there, and repine not; but bestow 

 All thy best gifts on such as pass thee by, — 

 Even as if best rewarded ; good for ill ! 



