The Chisel

The Chisel. [No. 29]

Small is the Chisel, but its power is great!
Its potent edge, to every Stone applied
Of the most stately Fabrics, well was tried
By long-departed Builders. Though the date
Of each Erection might for aye be lost 5
In the dim vista of the distant Past.
The triumphs of the Chisels long will last,
In bringing rudest Matter into form.
So Education, at whatever cost,
Should be the object of each Mason’s mind: 10
For as the Chisel cut the shapeless mass
Into most beauteous forms, so must our crass
Vices and Ignorance, which now deform,
By Education change to things refined.

by George Markham Tweddell  1st published 1887