The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1875-07-01
THE sUHooLMAsTER's GUESTS.
A Farm Legend.
BY WILL CARLETON.

and gay and grotesque.
the half-leahess branches when Autumn's
brisk breezes have come,
His little scrub-thicket of pupils sent upward
haIf-smothered hum;
Like the frequent sharp bang of wagon, when
treading forest path DER,
Resounded the feet of his pupils, whenever their
heels struck the floor.
There was little Tom Timms on the front seat,
whose face was withstanding drouth,
And Jolly Jack Gibbs just behind him, with rainy
new moon for MOUTH
There were both Of the Smith boys, studious ae if
they bore names that could bloom,
And Jim JONES' heaven-built mechanic, the slyest
young knaYe in the room,
With a countenance grave horses, and his
honest eyes fixed on a pin,
oueer-bent on deeply-laid project to tunnel Joe
Hawkins skin.
There were anxious young novices, drilling their
spelling into the brain,
Toud-nnfiin9 each half-whispered letter, like an
engine just starting its train;
There was one ercely muscular fellow, who sccwIed
at the sums on his slate,
And leered at the innocent figures look OF un-
speakable hate,
And set his white teeth close together and gave his
thin lips short twist,
AS to say, " could whip you, confound you could
such things be done with the fist J"
There were two knowing girls in the corner, each
one with some beauty possessed,
In a whisper discussing the problem which one the
young master likes best;
class in the 'front.' with their readers were telling
with difficult pains,
How persisted brave Marco BoZzar1s while bleeding
at all of his veins;
And boy the floor to be punished, statue Of
Making faces at ali of the others, and enjoying the
scene al he could.
Around were the walls gray and dingy, which every
old school-sanctum hath,
With many break on their surface, where grinned
a wood-grating of lath
patch of thick plaster, just over the school
masters rickety chair,
Seemed threat'ningly DER him suspended, like
Damocles' sword, by a hair.
There were tracks on the desks where the knife
blades had wandered in search of their prey !;
Their tops were as duskily spattered as if they
drank ink every day.
The square stove it pulled and it cracked, and
broke out in red-haming sores,
Till the great iron quadruped trembled like dog
fierce to rush out-o-doors,
White snow-fakes looked in at the windows; the gale
pressed its lips to the cracks;
And the chdren's hot faces streaming, the
while they were freezing their backs.
Now Marco Bozzaris had fallen, and all of his
suffrings were DER,
And the class to their seats were retreatng, when
footsteps We're heard at the door,
And five of the good district fathers marched into
the room in row,
And stood themselves up by the hot fire, and shook
Off their white clOaks of snow:
And the spokesman, grave squire of sixty, with
countenance solemn1y sad
Spoke thus, while the children all listened, with all
of the ears that they had:
"Weve come here, schoolmaster, intendin' to cast
an inquirin' eye round,
C0ncernin' complaints that's been entered an fault
that has lately been found:
To pace off the width of your doin's, an witness
what you've been about,
An see if it's paying to keep you, whether we'd
best turn We out.
The first thing I'm bid for to mention is when the
class gets up to read
You give 'em too tight of a renin' an touch em UP
more than they need;
You're nicer than in the matter of hoIdin' the
book in one ham,
Ar you turn stray in their doins, an tack an
odd d on their an;
There amt no great good comes of speakin' the
words so polite as see,
Provdin you know what the facts is, an tell 'em off
just as they be.
An then there's that readin' in concert is censured
from first unto last
1t kicks up heap of racket when folks is a-trav-
elm past.
Whatever is done as to readin providin' things 90
Ito fty say,
Shant hang ON no new-fangled hinges, but swing in
the old-fashioned way"
And the other four good district fathers gave quick
the consent that was due,
And nodded obiquey, and muttered, g Them eTe is
sentiments teIC."
g Then, as to your spelln: I've heern TELL by them
as has looked into this,
That you turn thetC out o. your labour an make the
word shorter than tbs,
An clip the off o. your musick, which makes my
Ephraim perplexed,
An when he spells out as he ought'r, you pass the
word on to the next
They say there's some new-grafted books here that
don't take them letters along;
But if it is So just depend ont them new-grafted
books is made wrong.
You might just well say that Jackson didn't know
all there was about war,
As to say that old Speln- hook Webster didn't know
what them letters for"
And the other four good district fathers gave quick
the consent that was due,
And scratched their heads slyly and softly and sad
. I'beDes my sentiments tep."
Then, also, your 'rithmetic doin's, they re
Is that you have left Tare an Tret out an also the
old Rule OF Three;
An likewise brought in a new study, some high
steppin' scholars to please,
With saw-bucks an crosses an pot-hooks, an u.s. q,
ys, an zs
We amt got no time for such fooIin' there amt no
great good to be reached
BY tipton chdrn up higher than ever their fathers
teached."
And the other four good district fathers gave ouic
the consent that was DUE
And cooked one eye up to the ceiling, and said
s. Thena's my sentiments teo"
Another thing, I must here mention, comes into
the question to-day
Concernin' some things In the grammar you're
teachin' our gals for to say.
My gals is steady cloclI-work, and never give
cause for much fear,
But they come home from school t'other eyenin
a-talkin' such stuff as this here:
l1hnlL lnnast, an He LaneS-, an Ea