After Vacation.
Again they muster from the far-off hillside,
From country farm-house and from sea-girt shore;
Their tramping feet resound along the highways,
Their gleeful shouts ring on the air once more.
A merry band, so full of youth’s elixir,
How can their restless spirits e’er essay
The tasks that wait their patient, steady labor
After the long, bright, summer holiday?
Not now, O children, in the sunny meadows
Ye cull the flowers or by the brooklets stray,
But in the fields of knowledge, thick with blossoms,
To gather sweets for a far future day.
Here, too, you roam a land of fairest promise,
Watered by many a stream of limpid hue,
Where weary travelers find a sweet refreshment
And garner richest stores of old and new.
We bid thee welcome to the homes that missed thee,
To the deserted school-room’s open door.
The nation’s hope is in thee, keep thy birthright;
Thine heritage is more than golden store.
The Kingdom of Home.