Carissima
Hamilton’s alma mater, “Carissima,” was written by President Melancthon Woolsey Stryker in 1901, and, upon his request, sung by mourners at his gravesite on the day of his burial in 1929. The song replaced an earlier alma mater, “Cheer, Boys, Cheer,” set to the tune of an old English army song.
Dear is thy homestead, glade and glen,
Fair is the light that crowns thy brow;
Gather we close to thee again,
Mother, all loving thou hast been,
Our own sweet Lady thou! Our own sweet Lady thou!
Haunting our hearts in absent days,
Calling us back from stress and storm,
Tenderly all thy good old ways
Shine in thy smiles; be love thy praise!
Thine arms are ever warm,
Thine arms are ever warm.
Memory still shall close enfold,
Bringing us joys of days of yore;
Faith shall thy constant fame uphold,
While years, Carissima, grow cold.
We love thee evermore, We love thee evermore.
