JEFFRIES WYMAN

The wisest man could ask no more of Fate

Than to be simple, modest, manly, true,

Safe from the Many, honored by the Few;

To count as naught in World, or Church, or State,

But, inwardly in secret to be great;

To feel mysterious Nature ever new;

To touch, if not to grasp, her endless clue,

And learn by each discovery how to wait.

He widened knowledge and escaped the praise;

He wisely taught, because more wise to learn;

He toiled for Science, not to draw men's gaze,

But for her lore of self-denial stern.

That such a man could spring from our decays

Fans the soul's nobler faith until it burn.