Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1874-05-01
4 school Girl. Composition.
OUR SCHOOL HOUSE.

As many of the people Of our county may
not be acquainted with the hardships we poor
school children have 10 undergo, | will take
our school house for example, and undertake tC
give them description of its dement's The
house is situated on an island, Except in very
dry weather. and we actually have to put pole:
from the main land to The door in order to gel
in the house or wade through the water sur
rounding it, which is not very pleasant, par
ticularly on cold day. SO much for the out
side. But the horrors of the inside are not to
be compared with the slight inconvenience Of
being surrounded by water | can sit in my
desk, look through the top of the roof and see
birds flying along. Now what do you think
of that for cold day? And the floor oh, how
II makes me shver to think of it There are
great holes in it which have worn through, and
IN which the poor children often get their feet
hung. 1t is certainly pitiful TO see the poor
things drawn up around our old broken stove,
trying TO keep warm. and just as we are getting
II little settled one ofthe children will look rue
full y sdoMc-and- i'm ..t'h-nagy- ~the
wind comes up through that hole. | do wish
they would build ii new school hous" - But
it is OF no use, we must bear it. Tae winter,
with its cold weather, has gone, but evils still
Turk around that old school house, and. indeed
those OF summer are more TO be feared AS
soon as IL Is a little warm our friends. the mos
qultocS, pay US their respects and honor Us with
their singing. We often an urchin rubbing
his nose and saying: ''Oh, bother the moSqui-
toes ~ when all the time they are bothering
hun. But mosquitoes are only minor evils
One day heard slight ruSt!ing beneath the
desk, and on looking under there saw a large
black snake taking It's ease, but tell you he
disturbed our ease sadly. In a moment screams
were heard from all sides of the room, and each
one trying who could get the highest from the
floor, here We remained until one OF the brave
boys invited il out with stick. but We still
dreaded his temperance during the day. On
one occasion | was busy studying out a pro-
blcm with my head on ms hand, very near the
window, when, happening to glance around,
what should see but great scorpion in rath-
er too close proximity 70 the side of my face
You may know how | was heard from, 70:
tell YOU Scampercd and did not 90 back again
until the foe WAS vauquShtd. which one of oul
hopcfulS did with a stick. This certainly is a
dreadful state of affairs. But | have not fin
lshcd rehearsing the evils yet. 1t is positively
fearful the way certain animals, that are much
given to jumping, hop about There is anoth-
er kind which 20 by the name Of well wont
say what. but this much, that they divergt
from the numerous rat-bedS in the ceiling
these walk about the desks just as if it wa:
their right, and if We are not careful they gent
/ ly pinch 10 let US know they are there.
Now, friends, appeal to any of YOU, don
YOU think we have great many crosses &c
bear? Ifyou do not, know we have. What
with snakes, scorpions, mosquitoes, and a great
many other nuisanceS, keep US on the alert &c
see what is coming next Are not these bad
affairs TO be in a school house?
We earnestly hope, that ere long. the author
tiles will be kind enough to give us a new
school house-one which will keep out all rep
tiles and is not built on an island, surrounded
by a mosquito pond.