From infancy to youth without instruction,
Is a grave wrong, and ne'er to be redeemed
By penal statutes and the prisoner's cell.
We leave the mind unfortified by Truth,
And wonder it should fill with wayward Error.
There's no blank ignorance, as many dream;
Each soul will have its growth and garnering.
As the uncultured prairie bears a harvest
Heavy and rank, yet worthless to the world,
So mind and heart uncultured run to waste;