From out the turmoil and the strife
Of party clamor fierce and wide,
From quiet homes and restful life,
We gather here with honest pride,

To note the hour, to mark the year,
Our " Business College " had its birth,
To emphasize with hearty cheer
Our recognition of its worth;

To place the never-dying flowers
Of love upon its founder's brow,
To make his zeal and courage ours,
Twin-words which still these walls endow;

To stand beside the corner-stone,
The base our Eastman laid so well,
To note the work so ably done
By you on whom his mantle fell;

To bring with warm and grateful hearts
An offering from Poughkeepsie due —
Queen City of a hundred marts,
Midway between the mountains blue;

Between the On-ti-o-ras grand, —
The Catskills grouped like Titans old,
And Highlands firm, whose Beacons stand
To watch the morning tints unfold;

Midway the Hudson's glorious tide
" Safe Harbor " — Apo-keep-sing reads —
An anchorage sure, with outlook wide,
Midway between your dreams and deeds.

From vigorous youth to manhood bold
Your college passes now to-night,
Its twenty-five years proudly told
In living letters clear and bright.

It turns the quarter-flag and post
With bounding strength and quickening pace,
While sturdy shout and valid boast
Proclaim it foremost in the race.

And you who form the present link
Within this ever-lengthening chain,
From far Sierra's mountain brink,
From coral reefs to pine-clad Maine,

From northern coast, from sunny lands,
From Aztec cities old and gray,
From Nicaragua's burning sands —
You take no idle part to-day.

Yon, too, are near your manhood's line,
The quarter-post is also yours,
Whereon these words transparent shine —
Unceasing toil success insures.

There's room enough on every hand
For men of muscle, brain, and nerve;
Supply ne'er met the loud demand
Of honesty too high to swerve.

The field you enter on is wide,
You make the laws that statesmen frame,
You hold secure the reins that guide
The nation's course to power and fame.

You lift the torch and bridge the stream
Whereon with wonder centuries look;
You frame and sell the artist's dream,
You bind and ship the poet's book.

Through granite rocks you drive apace,
Round mountain-peaks your girdles wind,
Your desk and table span the space
Between material and mind.

You bring the coinage of the world
To Lombard Street from India's sun,
And France her proud tricolor furled
To London's gold, not Wellington.

" The man in business diligent
Shall stand with kings " remaineth true;
To Jewish wealth Napoleon bent —
Rothschild was king at Waterloo.

His word was " open sesame "
To banker's vault and miser's hoard;
His signature proved literally,
" The pen is mightier than the sword. "

But in the race for power and fame,
The eager striving for success,
Mark this — true love and honest name
Confer the only happiness.

The house that's founded on a wrong
Is built and reared at fearful cost,
And judgment falls, though waiting long,
On honors gained by honor lost.

Festina lente! haste but wait!
Have patience though the hour-sands waste;
It seems the paradox of fate
To hold in check and bid us haste.

Be bold, ay, bold, but not too bold,
Is sung again in verses new;
Despise not truths and maxims old,
Be upright, faithful, firm, and true.

Let conscience, trust, and rectitude
Forever in your hearts abide,
And may Life's Book of debts accrued
Find balance on the credit side!