"ADVICE TO A MAID. "Perennial maiden, thou art no less fair Than those whose fairness barely equals thine; And like a cloud on Athos is thy hair, Touched with Promethean fire to make it shine Above the temple of a soul divine; And yet, methinks, it doth resemble, too, The strands Berenice 'mid the stars doth twine, As Mitchell's small Astronomy doth show; Procure the book, dear maid, when to the town you go. "Young as thou art, thou might'st be younger still, If divers years were taken from thy life: And who shall say, if marry man you will, You may not prove some man's own wedded wife? Such things do happen in this worldly strife, If they take place--that is, if they are done; For with warm love this earthly dream is rife-- And where love shines there always is a sun-- As I remark in my Oration upon Washington. "Supposing thou dost marry, thou wilt yearn For that which thou dost want; in fact, desire-- The wisdom shaped for older heads to learn, And well designed to tame Youth's giddy fire: The wisdom, conflicts with the world inspire, Such as, perchance, I may myself possess, Though I am but a man, as was my sire, And own not wisdom such as gods may bless; For man is naught, and naught is nothingness. "Still, I may tell thee all that I do know, And telling that, tell all I comprehend; Since all man hath is all that he can show, And what he hath not, is not his to lend. Therefore, young maid, if you will but attend, You shall hear that which shall salute your ear; But if you list not, I my breath shall spend Upon the zephyrs wandering there and here, The far-off hearing less, perhaps, than those more near. "Remember this: thou art thy husband's wife, And he the mortal thou art married to; Else, thou fore'er hadst led a single life, And he had never come thy heart to woo. Rememb'ring this, do thou remember, too, He is thy bridegroom, thou his chosen bride; And if unto his side thou provest true, Then thou wilt be for ever at his side; As Tacitus observes, with some degree of pride. "See that his buttons to his shirts adhere, As Trojan Hector to the walls of Troy; And see that not, Achilles-like, appear Rents in his stocking-heels; but be your joy To have his wardrobe all your thoughts employ, Save such deep thought as may, in duty given, Suit to his tastes his dinners; nor annoy Digestion's tenor in its progress even; Then his the joy of Harvard, Boston, and high Heaven.