"O star on the breast of the river, O marvel of bloom and grace, Did you fall straight down from heaven, Out of the sweetest place? You are white as the thought of the angel, Your heart is steeped in the sun; Did you grow in the golden city, My pure and radiant one? "Nay, nay, I fell not out of heaven; None gave me my saintly white; It slowly grew in the blackness, Down in the dreary night, From the ooze of the silent river I won my glory and grace; While souls fall not, O my poet, They _rise_ to the sweetest place." THE TWO SEALS[43] BY PROFESSOR GEORGE WILLIAM COOK _Secretary of Howard University_ [Note 43: An address delivered at a banquet given in his honor, May 21, 1912.] _Mr. Toastmaster and Friends:_ Let me first thank the Committee and you all for your generosity in tendering me this evidence of good wishes and good will. It is stated in your invitation, "In honor of George William Cook, Secretary of Howard University"--a double compliment, at once personal and official. Surely it is an honor to find so many men of varied occupations and duties turning aside to spend time and money to express appreciation of one's character. Dull indeed must the creature be who cannot find gratitude enough to return thanks; for grateful minds always return thanks. To be direct I deeply feel the personal and non-official side of the compliment you pay me, but will you pardon me, gentlemen, if I confess that to compliment me as Secretary of Howard University touches me in a tender and vulnerable spot. "I love old Howard," and always have been and am now anxious to be in the team to tug at the administrative phase of Howard's movements. Accept then, my sincere thanks. Now let us then turn aside in sweet communion as brothers to talk about our alma mater. Let us trace her from foundation to present eminence; re-affirm our family pledges and form resolutions new. Howard men will spring up with both money and spirit, not far in the future, when the mother's cry in want will be met with a generous hand from her sons and daughters. A little more time for preparation and accumulation; then will be the time when endowment will precede request for preferment. When black philanthropists can turn desert spots into oases of learning and build halls of culture, then will Howard be reaping the reward in her own harvest and justify her being in the great family of Universities.