"O thou prison, thou gray stone wall,

  "Which forty years was the dark abode

  "Of many a poor soul whose weary load

  "Had become too heavy, and whose fall

  "Beckoned him only to a gloomy stall

  "Within thy gates, where oft he strode;

  "While, far below, the Colorado flowed

  "In which he longed to end it all.

  "He little dreamed that in season near,

  "Thou wouldst be given a holier mission

  "Or that the place which had been his doom

  "Would soon be the home of our High School dear.

  "Within thy portals, with all its tradition,

  "Is a spot most sacred; to us it is home."