I SAW him set forth in the morning; his cheek was suffused with a glow,
While daintily picking a pathway through the mud and the ice and the snow;
His visage was mild, but determined; his smile it was stoic and hard;
And his limbs slightly shook with emotion as he passed on his way through the "Yard."
One hand grasped a new five-cent blank-book which he nervously pressed to his side,
As the peals from a neighboring belfry sounded forth o'er the air far and wide;
The other some SALTS in a bottle, which since then I have learned that he used
To keep him from getting excited or his brain from becoming confused.
He reached those long steps of white granite, sprang up with a stride and a bound;
Then, gaining the summit, he panted, and gazed for an instant around.
His face wore a troubled expression, which I never had noticed before,
When suddenly, with a wild gesture, he vanished from sight through the door.
I saw him again in the evening; but, heavens! how altered a man!
The glow on his cheek had departed; his visage was haggard and wan.
I watched him with pity as slowly he strayed with an aspect forlorn,
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