Parson Turell-s Legacy Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: A B AAACCDDE FFGGHHGGIIIJJJJJJJ BBKKIILL LLLCCFFII AACCMMNNOOKKIIPPQQCC RRSSR CCTLCCFFIICCIIAAACCC CCC U AAAIIVVCCWWAAXXCCCC YYZZFFA2A2KKB2 CC F CCFFDDCCAAC2C2AACCRR D2D2AAE2E2 F2G2H2H2I2I2FFOR THE PRESIDENT'S OLD ARM CHAIR | A |
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A MATHEMATICAL STORY | B |
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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 | C |
It was old in President Holyoke's day | C |
One of his boys perhaps you know | D |
Died at one hundred years ago | D |
He took lodgings for rain or shine | E |
Under green bed clothes in ' | - |
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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 |
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A kind of harbor it seems to be | B |
Facing the flow of a boundless sea | B |
Rows of gray old Tutors stand | K |
Ranged like rocks above the sand | K |
Rolling beneath them soft and green | I |
Breaks the tide of bright sixteen | I |
One wave two waves three waves four | L |
Sliding up the sparkling floor | L |
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Then it ebbs to flow no more | L |
Wandering off from shore to shore | L |
With its freight of golden ore | L |
Pleasant place for boys to play | C |
Better keep your girls away | C |
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 |
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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 | C |
Over at Medford he used to dwell | C |
Married one of the Mathers' folk | M |
Got with his wife a chair of oak | M |
Funny old chair with seat like wedge | N |
Sharp behind and broad front edge | N |
One of the oddest of human things | O |
Turned all over with knobs and rings | O |
But heavy and wide and deep and grand | K |
Fit for the worthies of the land | K |
Chief Justice Sewall a cause to try in | I |
Or Cotton Mather to sit and lie in | I |
Parson Turell bequeathed the same | P |
To a certain student SMITH by name | P |
These were the terms as we are told | Q |
'Saide Smith saide Chaire to have and holde | Q |
When he doth graduate then to passe | C |
To ye oldest Youth in ye Senior Classe | C |
On payment of ' naming a certain sum | R |
'By him to whom ye Chaire shall come | R |
He to ye oldest Senior next | S |
And soe forever ' thus runs the text | S |
'But one Crown lesse then he gave to claime | R |
That being his Debte for use of same ' | - |
Smith transferred it to one of the BROWNS | C |
And took his money five silver crowns | C |
Brown delivered it up to MOORE | T |
Who paid it is plain not five but four | L |
Moore made over the chair to LEE | C |
Who gave him crowns of silver three | C |
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 | C |
And got by the bargain no crown at all | C |
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 | C |
He paid one POTTER who took it three | C |
Four got ROBINSON five got Dix | C |
JOHNSON primus demanded six | C |
And so the sum kept gathering still | C |
Till after the battle of Bunker's Hill | C |
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When paper money became so cheap | U |
Folks would n't count it but said 'a heap ' | - |
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 | V |
Not quite certain but see the book | V |
By and by the wars were still | C |
But nothing had altered the Parson's will | C |
The old arm chair was solid yet | W |
But saddled with such a monstrous debt | W |
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 | X |
And there was the will in black and white | X |
Plain enough for a child to spell | C |
What should be done no man could tell | C |
For the chair was a kind of nightmare curse | C |
And every season but made it worse | C |
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As a last resort to clear the doubt | Y |
They got old GOVERNOR HANCOCK out | Y |
The Governor came with his Lighthorse Troop | Z |
And his mounted truckmen all cock a hoop | Z |
Halberds glittered and colors flew | F |
French horns whinnied and trumpets blew | F |
The yellow fifes whistled between their teeth | A2 |
And the bumble bee bass drums boomed beneath | A2 |
So he rode with all his band | K |
Till the President met him cap in hand | K |
The Governor 'hefted' the crowns and said | B2 |
'A will is a will and the Parson's dead ' | - |
The Governor hefted the crowns Said he | C |
'There is your p'int And here 's my fee | C |
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'These are the terms you must fulfil | F |
On such conditions I BREAK THE WILL ' | - |
The Governor mentioned what these should be | C |
Just wait a minute and then you 'll see | C |
The President prayed Then all was still | F |
And the Governor rose and BROKE THE WILL | F |
'About those conditions ' Well now you go | D |
And do as I tell you and then you'll know | D |
Once a year on Commencement day | C |
If you 'll only take the pains to stay | C |
You'll see the President in the CHAIR | A |
Likewise the Governor sitting there | A |
The President rises both old and young | C2 |
May hear his speech in a foreign tongue | C2 |
The meaning whereof as lawyers swear | A |
Is this Can I keep this old arm chair | A |
And then his Excellency bows | C |
As much as to say that he allows | C |
The Vice Gub next is called by name | R |
He bows like t' other which means the same | R |
And all the officers round 'em bow | D2 |
As much as to say that they allow | D2 |
And a lot of parchments about the chair | A |
Are handed to witnesses then and there | A |
And then the lawyers hold it clear | E2 |
That the chair is safe for another year | E2 |
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God bless you Gentlemen Learn to give | F2 |
Money to colleges while you live | G2 |
Don't be silly and think you'll try | H2 |
To bother the colleges when you die | H2 |
With codicil this and codicil that | I2 |
That Knowledge may starve while Law grows fat | I2 |
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
(1)
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