The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1875-08-07
THE OLD AND THE NEW.
pHMoLIrIoy or THE OLD SCHOOL,
BY NOSE ART,

BY NOSE ART
Laugh as YOU may, at my sorrow Tom, dcride
me as YOU WILL
Though rough and grey in the checkcrcd world,
nv tears are friendly still,
For thev come to me in saddcst plaint TO soo.he
darkcned brow,
When clouded by the misty past, as it is clouded
now.
You tell me tears are childish Tom, becoming
not TIE man
God make me but child again. envy not the
van
OF bearded mortals struggling on with never an
aim but SELF
Jostling theiricllow creatures in an endless strife
for pelf;
, Warning upon the word of God, some under re-.
lgion's cloak,
Jostling, Sighting, forging ahead, to gain they
know not what,
Striving to breed brothers shame, cxult!ng in
his lot.
! take your Gliding kindly, Tom, and wish
that il might be
For God to bring my childhood back and limo
cence to me.
But those dear walls bring up food of memo
lies so sad,
(And yet so iraught with merrmcnt the retro,
spect is glad
That If the tears do start anon, joy to have
them flow,
And praise the Lord have not lost my heart of
long ago.
And as those walls are ovcrthrown, as being now
are they,
They seem to crush upon my breast, and tear
the chords away;
This hill, whereon we're seated, the school plot
at the base,
feel are growing distant, Tom, and strange to-
me the place;
And well know in after years, when we by
chance are here,
The scene viii be gloomy one, its features
changed and queer,
The shade trees murdered ruthlessly, the play
ground gone to seed,
Supremacy will destruction reign, as witness
brush and weed,
And then our comrades, Tom, dear Tom, the low
ed ones gone before,
Who wait us in the better lard, upon that other
shore;
Do you not think twill be blow upon the gold.
en- chain,
That binds US to their memory, and rend link
in twain!
Oh, friend, the tears are flowing now, and proud
am they will
4 deluge of the brny drops would make one
prOuder still;
Believe me, Tom, would not for world of
wealth forget
The innocent ana hopeful mate who dwells with
AS pure, and bright, and joyous now, as supple
now his tread,
With the dew OF youth upon his brow--I cannot
make him dead
He comes TO me in dreams by night, goes with
me through the day,
Buoying me up to nober ends, and tightening
the way
grant the structure homely quite uncouth to
With its weather-beaten bellry, its ungany
build and size;
The walls are rough, the roof is old, the steps
and stairway rude,
And deity Father Time has worked, decay and
ruin woOed
But still cannot come to think but the young
idea here
May learn unerrngly to shoot, and TO the mark
AS if within some edGce all courtly, grand and
new
The ornaments Of plaster made, and the teach
ers sometimes. too.
I tell YOU I'm ofrigh.ed Tom, when think of all
Displayed to educate the head, for fear it miss
the heart;
And better lar neglect the first, if one shall
otlHuttu fc--
The highly learned have sometime sought to |
change the Lords decree.
stranger has arrived, dear Tom, who may or
may not be
a model for the rising youth, a friend to you and
me;
Ills bearing is noble one and elegant his
mould
Erect and stately Us the oak, OF learned wealth
untold;
Apparel of the choicest wool, emblazoncd like
the King
Alraschid, in the olien time, of whom the poets
sing,
But still another friend have we, another, tried
and true,
Shall We forget his loyalty, and cleayc unto the
new
without storm OF wild regret, a storm Of heart
felt pain,
For the time that tcemed with boylsh hope, and
eometh not AGAIN.
so this is unbeeoming, Tom, for forty years and
ten
Well, childish I'm content to bel envy not
your men.