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The one that quelled a tyrant king,
And he who “grasped the lightning’s wing,”
Were nurtured in our country’s bowers;
But now a brighter gem is set
Upon her star-wrought coronet,
The world’s first orators are ours.

The name of every Forum chief⁴⁷
Shall gleam upon our history’s leaf,
Girded with glory’s quenchless fires;
And poet’s pen and painter’s pallet
Shall tell of William Paxson Hallett,
And Richard Varick Dey—Esquires!

Resort of fashion, beauty, taste,
The Forum-hall was nightly graced
With all who blushed their hours to waste
At balls—and such ungodly places;
And Quaker girls were there allowed
To show, among the worldly crowd,
Their sweet blue eyes and pretty faces.

And thither all our wise ones went,
On charity and learning bent,
With open ears—and purses willing,
Where they could dry the mourner’s tear,
And see the world, and speeches hear,
All, for “a matter of two shilling!”