The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1874-05-07
GOING TO SPELLING-SCHOOL.
BY BENJAMIN y. rAYInR.


The bread OF a silvery noon
And the world lies under the moon,
Jnuer the moon and the snow;
Ihe moon comes out from under a cloud
And shines on the world below.
Ihe snow, cold, white as a linen shroud,
Put on but an hour ago.
is pearly web with a silver thread,
Robe for bridal and not for the dead.
The river is silent as light,
The road is a ribbon OF white,
Ribbon Of silk from Japan
Its borders rich with satin and shine,
Betray where the sleigh-shoes ran
That iron the snow 10 q fabric fine
Edged like q lady's fan
Al, the night is fair a. a marble girl
Dusty with stars and the mother Of pearl.
The school-house is red and alooC
Ard rolls from its mossy old roof
Columns Of glorifed gloom,
AS II there grew from the chimney rude
4 smoke-tree clad in its bloom,-
A DhRniN fair Of the burning wood,
just sprung from the summer room,
With that only trace Of an earthly taint,
Picture AS white rs the soul OF a saint
4 twanging and trilling Of wires
Are angels attuning their Tyres
Tuning with negligent hand2
Hark! chimes Of bells from over the hills
Dance merrily through the land
The tinkling troll Of hundred rills
Gymbals of brass from band
= lis the ringing St ings OF the bells in bronze
4 spell is abroad and a song,
The spoilers and singers along
Wizards and witches by pairs.
In enters snug are the Adams and Ewes,
Eden's own children and heirs
Bells in the woods, in lieu Of the leaves
And bells that the echo wears
IL is ring ring, riRG, II the swinging gait.
Then the teams break trgt. for the hour is late
At ting-a-ling, ting-a-ling, gallopng rate
Now over the ridges they ride.
And down through the valley they glide
And bring up at the school house door,
With bundled girls in the quilted hood,
And its edglng of down, a of yOre.
Their hearts are as sweet as the cedar wood,
Their gowns without gusset or gore,
And Nandykes with peak before,
And their hair is CLOSED down like blackbird' 5
wings,
And their shoes are laced up, and with leather
strings
They laugh and they leap TO the ground,
In wooden, all mittened and gOwned
Lit up with a ribbon blue,
With a breath Of cloves or of sassafras,
Faces like Ruth's and as true
As ever smiled in a looking glass,
And CHEEKS with the roses through
All look like flowers that are nearly blown,
In the zoneless grace of their " London brown, ."
Not charm in bonds, nor a beauty laced,
Ces,us Of Venus would girdle the waist.
4 charming crew comes last
In the Family Ark of the past,
Packing il full, and in pairs
The rude Old sleigh, rOOmy and red
All stTewn with straw, like POverty's bed,
Mllenal lambs in their lars
Like an emiRTant ship is the numbering craft
Crowded aud laden both forward and aft,
With a wooden heart surmounting the stern,
Where the teamsterS of old gave the rens turn.
An, the hearts that throbbed with their youthful
blood
Were as free from care as the sculptured wood
Oh. Covenant Ark of the snow,
Freighted for church at the door
Two, side by side, on the sheepskin seat,
Are bound for Canaan's shore;
The square fOOt-stove is under their feet,
\ buffalo robe before.
In the two flag chairs that are side by side,
Are the gray old maa and his silver bride,
still she carries one for the added ten.
Nav follow the rule and carry again
Then the boys and girls in their Sunday clothes,
And the rank slopes down as it further goes,
To three in "A row, for the last are least,
Like the sparks of stars in the early East
An, the old red sleigh, be it ever blest
II has borne the dead TO their silent rest,
The bearers, by twOs, as they rode ABREAST
Has carried the brides, their bedding and
things
When the girls were queens and the bridegrooms
kings,
To the spay-foot jog of the olden time,
Aud the clang, clang, clang, Of the sleigh bells
chime.
An, necklace Of melody old,
With apples and walnuts Of gold
That danced to the horses feet
The mother bell in the middle hung,
As big as Z" Geldrn Sweet. -
Then small each way TIL the string was strung,
And two iilbert bells did meet,
And two rhyming hearts did beat.
Ah, the string is dumb, and rs green with rust,
As the dimplrd graves of the maiden's dust
-ScribneI'S for MGy.