A Farewell to Agassiz

How the mountains talked together,Looking down upon the weather,When they heard our friend had planned hisLittle trip among the AndesHow they'll bare their snowy scalps5To the climber of the AlpsWhen the cry goes through their passes,"Here comes the great Agassiz!""Yes, I'm tall," says Chimborazo,"But I wait for him to say so,--10That's the only thing that lacks,-- heMust see me, Cotopaxi!""Ay! ay!" the fire-peak thunders,"And he must view my wondersI'm but a lonely crater15Till I have him for spectator!"The mountain hearts are yearning,The lava-torches burning,The rivers bend to meet him,The forests bow to greet him,20It thrills the spinal columnOf fossil fishes solemn,And glaciers crawl the fasterTo the feet of their old master!Heaven keep him well and hearty,25Both him and all his party!From the sun that broils and smites,From the centipede that bites,From the hail-storm and the thunder,From the vampire and the condor,30From the gust upon the river,From the sudden earthquake shiver,From the trip of mule or donkey,From the midnight howling monkey,From the stroke of knife or dagger,35From the puma and the jaguar,From the horrid boa-constrictorThat has scared us in the picture,From the Indians of the PampasWho would dine upon their grampas,40From every beast and verminThat to think of sets us squirmin',From every snake that tries onThe traveller his p'ison,From every pest of Natur',45Likewise the alligator,And from two things left behind him,(Be sure they'll try to find him,)The tax-bill and assessor,--Heaven keep the great Professor!50May he find, with his apostles,That the land is full of fossils,That the waters swarm with fishesShaped according to his wishes,That every pool is fertile55In fancy kinds of turtle,New birds around him singing,New insects, never stinging,With a million novel dataAbout the articulata,60And facts that strip off all husksFrom the history of mollusks.

And when, with loud Te Deum,He returns to his MuseumMay he find the monstrous reptile65That so long the land has kept illBy Grant and Sherman throttled,And by Father Abraham bottled,(All specked and streaked and mottledWith the scars of murderous battles,70Where he clashed the iron rattlesThat gods and men he shook at,)For all the world to look at!God bless the great Professor!And Madam, too, God bless her!75Bless him and all his band,On the sea and on the land,Bless them head and heart and hand,Till their glorious raid is o'er,And they touch our ransomed shore!80Then the welcome of a nation,With its shout of exultation,Shall awake the dumb creation,And the shapes of buried aeonsJoin the living creature's paeans,85Till the fossil echoes roar;While the mighty megalosaurusLeads the palaeozoic chorus,God bless the great Professor,And the land his proud possessor,--90Bless them now and evermore!