Parson Turell's Legacy Or, The President's Old Arm-chair - A Mathematical Story Poem Rhyme Scheme

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Facts respecting an old arm chair	A
At Cambridge Is kept in the College there	A
Seems but little the worse for wear	A
That 's remarkable when I say	B
It was old in President Holyoke's day	B
One of his boys perhaps you know	C
Died at one hundred years ago	C
He took lodgings for rain or shine	D
Under green bed clothes in '	E
	-
Know old Cambridge Hope you do	F
Born there Don't say so I was too	F
Born in a house with a gambrel roof	G
Standing still if you must have proof	G
Gambrel Gambrel Let me beg	H
You'll look at a horse's hinder leg	H
First great angle above the hoof	G
That 's the gambrel hence gambrel roof	G
Nicest place that ever was seen	I
Colleges red and Common green	I
Sidewalks brownish with trees between	I
Sweetest spot beneath the skies	J
When the canker worms don't rise	J
When the dust that sometimes flies	J
Into your mouth and ears and eyes	J
In a quiet slumber lies	J
Not in the shape of umbaked pies	J
Such as barefoot children prize	J
	-
A kind of harbor it seems to be	K
Facing the flow of a boundless sea	K
Rows of gray old Tutors stand	L
Ranged like rocks above the sand	L
Rolling beneath them soft and green	I
Breaks the tide of bright sixteen	I
One wave two waves three waves four	M
Sliding up the sparkling floor	M
	-
Then it ebbs to flow no more	M
Wandering off from shore to shore	M
With its freight of golden ore	M
Pleasant place for boys to play	B
Better keep your girls away	B
Hearts get rolled as pebbles do	F
Which countless fingering waves pursue	F
And every classic beach is strown	I
With heart shaped pebbles of blood red stone	I
	-
But this is neither here nor there	A
I'm talking about an old arm chair	A
You 've heard no doubt of PARSON TURELL	B
Over at Medford he used to dwell	B
Married one of the Mathers' folk	N
Got with his wife a chair of oak	N
Funny old chair with seat like wedge	O
Sharp behind and broad front edge	O
One of the oddest of human things	P
Turned all over with knobs and rings	P
But heavy and wide and deep and grand	L
Fit for the worthies of the land	L
Chief Justice Sewall a cause to try in	I
Or Cotton Mather to sit and lie in	I
Parson Turell bequeathed the same	Q
To a certain student SMITH by name	Q
These were the terms as we are told	R
Saide Smith saide Chaire to have and holde	R
When he doth graduate then to passe	B
To ye oldest Youth in ye Senior Classe	B
On payment of naming a certain sum	S
By him to whom ye Chaire shall come	S
He to ye oldest Senior next	T
And soe forever thus runs the text	T
But one Crown lesse then he gave to claime	S
That being his Debte for use of same	S
Smith transferred it to one of the BROWNS	B
And took his money five silver crowns	B
Brown delivered it up to MOORE	U
Who paid it is plain not five but four	M
Moore made over the chair to LEE	B
Who gave him crowns of silver three	B
Lee conveyed it unto DREW	F
And now the payment of course was two	F
Drew gave up the chair to DUNN	I
All he got as you see was one	I
Dunn released the chair to HALL	B
And got by the bargain no crown at all	B
And now it passed to a second BROWN	I
Who took it and likewise claimed a crown	I
When Brown conveyed it unto WARE	A
Having had one crown to make it fair	A
He paid him two crowns to take the chair	A
And Ware being honest as all Wares be	B
He paid one POTTER who took it three	B
Four got ROBINSON five got Dix	B
JOHNSON primus demanded six	B
And so the sum kept gathering still	B
Till after the battle of Bunker's Hill	B
	-
When paper money became so cheap	V
Folks would n't count it but said a heap	V
A certain RICHARDS the books declare	A
A M in ' I've looked with care	A
Through the Triennial name not there	A
This person Richards was offered then	I
Eightscore pounds but would have ten	I
Nine I think was the sum he took	W
Not quite certain but see the book	W
By and by the wars were still	B
But nothing had altered the Parson's will	B
The old arm chair was solid yet	X
But saddled with such a monstrous debt	X
Things grew quite too bad to bear	A
Paying such sums to get rid of the chair	A
But dead men's fingers hold awful tight	Y
And there was the will in black and white	Y
Plain enough for a child to spell	B
What should be done no man could tell	B
For the chair was a kind of nightmare curse	B
And every season but made it worse	B
	-
As a last resort to clear the doubt	Z
They got old GOVERNOR HANCOCK out	Z
The Governor came with his Lighthorse Troop	A2
And his mounted truckmen all cock a hoop	A2
Halberds glittered and colors flew	F
French horns whinnied and trumpets blew	F
The yellow fifes whistled between their teeth	B2
And the bumble bee bass drums boomed beneath	B2
So he rode with all his band	L
Till the President met him cap in hand	L
The Governor hefted the crowns and said	C2
A will is a will and the Parson's dead	C2
The Governor hefted the crowns Said he	B
There is your p'int And here 's my fee	B
	-
These are the terms you must fulfil	F
On such conditions I BREAK THE WILL	F
The Governor mentioned what these should be	B
Just wait a minute and then you 'll see	B
The President prayed Then all was still	F
And the Governor rose and BROKE THE WILL	F
About those conditions Well now you go	C
And do as I tell you and then you'll know	C
Once a year on Commencement day	B
If you 'll only take the pains to stay	B
You'll see the President in the CHAIR	A
Likewise the Governor sitting there	A
The President rises both old and young	D2
May hear his speech in a foreign tongue	D2
The meaning whereof as lawyers swear	A
Is this Can I keep this old arm chair	A
And then his Excellency bows	B
As much as to say that he allows	B
The Vice Gub next is called by name	S
He bows like t' other which means the same	S
And all the officers round 'em bow	E2
As much as to say that they allow	E2
And a lot of parchments about the chair	A
Are handed to witnesses then and there	A
And then the lawyers hold it clear	F2
That the chair is safe for another year	F2
	-
God bless you Gentlemen Learn to give	G2
Money to colleges while you live	H2
Don't be silly and think you'll try	I2
To bother the colleges when you die	I2
With codicil this and codicil that	J2
That Knowledge may starve while Law grows fat	J2
For there never was pitcher that wouldn't spill	F
And there's always a flaw in a donkey's will	F

Oliver Wendell Holmes

Parson Turell's Legacy Or, The President's Old Arm-chair - A Mathematical Story Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

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