The Entered Apprentice
The Entered Apprentice
by Bro. Wilbur D. Nesbit
They made me an Entered Apprentice; they gave me my first degree;
They gave me a base for an honest pride, and took some conceit from me.
I thought I should have attendants whose station and rank were high,
That they who should give me instructions would cater to such as I-
So they made me an Entered Apprentice; and good were the words they said;
Their speech was the speech of wisdom, the lore of the heart and head.
And one was an humble person, a man of the everyday,
Whom oft I had passed by proudly on meeting him in my way.
He spoke, and my bigness dwindled, and out of the circling sky
There seemed to come down a message for me to be measured by.
I got me a newer learning, an inkling of some great plan-
They made me an Entered Apprentice in the building of a man.
And one was a kindly scholar whom many a day I'd seen,
With speech that was firm, yet gentle, and a countenance all serene;
He taught me a wealth of learning that never yet was in schools
And showed me the grief they garner that walk in the way of fools.
The simple, eternal precepts they put in my mind and heart-
They made me an Entered Apprentice and bade me to do my part.
They made me an Entered Apprentice- I was not so proud a man,
A pride that was deeper, newer, that all meaner things must ban
Took place of the old vainglory, and all for my soul's own good,
As dimly the patient teachings began to be understood.
They made me an Entered Apprentice; they gave me my first degree;
They gave me the base for a decent pride, and took some conceit from me.
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