The Boarding School; Lessons of a Preceptress to Her Pupils / Consisting of Information, Instruction and Advice, Calculated to Improve the Manners and Form the Character of Young Ladies. To Which Is Added, a Collection of Letters, Written by the Pupils to Their Instructress, Their Friends, and Each Other.

by Hannah Webster Foster

With rapid haste, the moments fly,

Which you and I, my friend, enjoy;

And they return no more!

Then let us wisely now improve

The downy moments, as they rove,

Which nature can’t restore.

O source of wisdom! we implore

Thy aid to guide us safely o’er

The slippery paths of youth:

O deign to lend a steady ray