Classic Poem

To the Palmetto State, in the year 'seventy-three,
In October he takes him a wife,
And as pastor of Beaufort a church near the sea,
They begin on their journey of life.

In a short while to Greenville they hie to locate,
And the church of the town oversee,
The religion and life of their flock regulate,
And the years of their stay number three.

Then to Charleston they go as a power for right,
There for three years they live on the main,
There they struggle with darkness—that demon of night—
And to Greenville they hasten again.

As the pastor in charge for one conference year,
Then as elder is made to preside,
O'er the district of Greenville; his wife with him here,
Makes addresses to children beside.

The grand lecture for young folks entitled “Stepped On,”
Say the people her finest address,
Though delivered in years that are long, long agone,
It as yesterday still does impress.

When the years three amount in this work then they come,
As the president Claflin adores,
As preceptress and model, as queen of the home,
Training young folks to live, by the scores.

‘Mid the calm and the storm in the sunshine and rain,
They are faithful to every trust,
By their labors we keep in prosperity's train—
Claflin's flag never trails in the dust.

May the sun ever shine in their pathway on earth,
And may Claflin continue to be,
A reward for their labors, momentous in worth,
Greatest blessing from mountain to sea.