We will not be called upon to walk in those paths again, but when we meet the familiar faces of our companions we will live over in memory the now seemingly short weeks of our journey.
But let us look also before us. We have penetrated the forest, we have gathered bright gems, we have climbed the mountain height, and now we stand ready to cast our boats adrift upon the ocean of life.
In what waters they shall glide we know not, but can only trust that in that great day of gatherings, all our craft may be moored in the harbor of peace! These thoughts bring to our minds the well known words of our beloved poet Longfellow:
Like unto ships far off at sea,
Outward or homeward bound are we;
Before, behind, and all around,
Floats and swings the horizon’s bound,
Seems at its distant rim to rise
And climb the crystal wall of the skies,
And then again to turn and sink,
As if we could slide from its outer brink.
Ah, it is not the sea;
It is not the sea that sinks and shelves,
But ourselves that rock and rise
With endless and unweary motion,
Now touching the very skies,
Now sinking into the depths of ocean;
Ah! if our souls but poise and swing,
Like the compass in its brazen ring,
Ever level and ever true
To the toil and the task that we have to do,
We shall sail securely, and safely reach
The fortunate isles, on whose shining beach
The sights we see, the sounds we hear,
Will be those of joy and not of fear.