The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1855-07-07
THE STUDENTS COMPOSITION,

-
EY ,YLyANUS CurB.
A number OF years ago | took it into nv
head to prepare myself for school teacher
and with this aim repaired to the small retir-
Cd village of D., in the State of Yer
mont, where there was an academy for that
purpose The prcccptor was kind-hcar.cd
old man, graduate from old Harvard, and
one who spared no pains in bestowing knowl-
edge upon these who sought it at his hands
There were about forty young men N the a.
cadcmv when ! entered, most of whom were
ambitions to become pcl,yosucs. The room
in whicE was quartcrcd contained two beds
and two slccrcrs were appointed to each
Bill B, good hearted, cntclicrnt icl-
low from Burlington, was my mate, aud SAM
. AMI Dan p oc,:t ..ied She
other bed Dan P--i is our hero. lie.
was a supplemented genius, from the western
part OF Coos county, n H., and the end and
ann OF his ambition wa, to become school
MASTER but the aspiring youth had sadly
mistaken his mental abilities. He could racc
oil an acre of land much more correctly than
h" could measure an angle. ard he could dis
tinGui>h the difference between bow and Il
vohc, more readily than he could tell an are
i:om "a sine. He managed the noun proper
| 4, e ! I
ed to distinguish the verb from the rar;ci-
pie.
One Saturday forenoon our prcccptor gave
out the subject Tor a composition 20 be writ
ter t'v each Of 'hr scholars and rrc! on the
ncN; Saturday. !, was to be in the form o.
an allrc>@ to Modern Greece.
Bright aud carly on the t,Inwin. week We
commenced scratching together IDEAS TOR the
comro>:ion and by Monday cyrnln. some
OF 1t, Ettl >hctc!icd down the proposed heads
lu">,.ly morning, ;,> soon Is he ha.. done hi>
hrcakil>t, Eiil l;--- went ~ to on,
room, and he .uuu.i Dan IN the at oi rat-
- kIii@ thc i"'Ttiotiu Ot Sam d.
Nv bat We up to. Dtn:' asked Bill.
I'll tell yer, turned Dan, with admira
BE >clt-compo>urc,' was jest .oin to look al
Sans composition, causr | was a.card At
might .lt MIA" lr> like hi>n, an don't want
to do that. Yer know.
'Oi course not SAID Bill.
When Bill came down he Informed us OF
what Dan WAS up to. We knew that he wc't
steal oar thoughts aud apply them as hi owl
If he could .c. at them. AMI We determine,
TO punish HIM for his pla.iari>tic CURIOSITY
y plan was concoctcd anon. us aud VT hal
no doubt that he would fall into the trap
Bill. SAID sam D. Il, we were all
IN our room on the next evening, have vo,
begun your composition vet
Yes
Lets hear part OF it,
You'll steal it,
We won't returned Sam and myself
Won't .qoo, Dan =
4 >o''n won't, uttered Dan, with an un
common degree OF carncstncsS
We'll, boys said Bill. as he took a pee,
of paper from his ioc kct, :! haynt cot it fin
shed vet and may alter TIN, some when
cory II of, but think It's GOOD, what th,r,
is of it.
And thus speaking. the war spread h'm
>ct and IN Il scrlo-comir tone. pretending I,
read from the paper he held, he colnmcnc
ed:
'lL. Gr,c'on>' You have country vas
and unbouE,icd, and territory ursccablc. e.
Why should Won rest like huge cod ,,poi
your knives, while the anc,cnt Pa'a"onan
are rava.ing yonr country like the ml,>kctoc
OF the Dismal Swamp
And thus Bill went on for abou, five MN
utcs, sam and IN, sci, hol,lln. our sides, Az,
Dan gaping in absorbed wonder at the ..ran
dioqucnt language he heard
There, what do YOU thin, of that - sal,
Bill, as he closed.
Capital, uttered Sam.
Good echoed l.
'Pooty good, but no,lin cxtrornary, re-
pondcd Dan, with a scliyratul atory chuck
e.
Its better than You can write, at any rat,
rctortcd Bill.
'po'no' bout that said Dan.
well, we'll see
On the next mornin. Dan was busy wi;
his pen, aud We could sec that his countc,
ancc was lighted up with an im,ncn>c cntIl,
, >la>n. On the following evening We cacl
with the exception OF Dan, pretended to T..
cite such parts OF our composition as VIC ha
prepared, and We could not fail to see Ia;
the ambitious student rccciccd all We said ;
real and pure gospel.
'-A'. Gr.cuuns exclaimed Sam. .wl
: should you let the polluting loot OF Ethiopia
tyrdnnical cxilcs crush your vast State ho,.:
into the DUST
First rate yelled Dhl, 'EgaI, that's
point worth making. 'E,hcopias tyrannic
cxIics is good
Like sentences were cloIucntly pronoun
II cd and like remarks were made and VIII,
: we retired 10 rest tha; night, We felt assur.
that Dan had got his cue.
Saturday at length came, and quite Il nun
- Der OF visitors were present to hear the exc
ciscs. Fortunately Dan was called upon
read his production before either ol Us tire
Several of the younger scholars had re;