University of Virginia Library


426

Hymn

Sung at the Dedication of the Peabody Academy of Science, Salem, Aug. 18, 1869.

The noble hall our fathers planned,
Where gathered were the rich and rare;
From every clime, and every land,
And long preserved with faithful care;
To Science now we dedicate,
That doth all Nature's realms explore;
New ways through continents create,
And cables stretch from shore to shore.
And higher still, on soaring wing,
The great Creative Thought would find;
And study, in each living thing,
The end for which it was designed.
That it may serve the lot of man,
And to the race a blessing prove;
Unfold the universal plan
Of God's beneficence, and love.
Honor to him, who, far and wide,
For these high ends his wealth bestows;
Which, like some mighty river's tide,
Through all our land exhaustless flows.
Poem No. 534; c. 18 August 1869