Classic Poem

Learn'd in the law, who leav'st the busy street
And studious chambers for the gowned chair,
Amid the cordial friends that speak thee fair
And thine accession to the laurel greet,
If one slow scholar in his hushed retreat
A little longer than the rest forbear,
'T is but as minstrels that salute some heir
Wait for still night to make their flutes more sweet.
And as in heaven there is more joy o'er one
Repentant worldling than o'er ninety-nine
Good men who love the world or make it loved,
So glad Athena glories in the son
Who turns in manhood to his boyhood's shrine,
And Harvard welcomes him with hand ungloved.