The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1877-02-08
Auehy.
A TEACHERS FIRST TEACHER.


If knowledge is treasure so priceless, how CRATE.
tul,
How heartily grateful to him should we be-
Possessing trlAle or owning pateful,-
Who gave us It's mystical alphabet key.
At the Cross Of Careen does the school house still
nestle,
Der It's caves do the ivy and jessamine twine,
Where firt my young wits were commanded to
wreste
With letters, by mastery Connor o'Brien2
Now Connor was versed in all kinds of philoso.
ply
In the Par of Exchange, Tret aud Tare Loss and
Gain;
Like fox without cover, he'd fee from the Gross,
ifhe
Fer met point that he failed to explain.
an Voster abstruse, comic sections and fluxions,
In the scope Of the angle the stretch of the line,
will marshal the mind to surprising deductions,
For half crown quarter p cried Connor
0Brien.
When a word, awkward, polysy!labic and burly,
With prefix and sufix and tough, knotty root,
Would stand in the way like highwayman
surly,
UDsetting the class from the head to the foot,
Our general skillful would make a divergence,
Nor bother his brains to pronounce or define
His tactics were eqnal to any emergence-
"'Tis Latin; Wen pass It'll" quoth Connor
o'Brien.
In summer, the hedge made line for our classes;
But the cottage would shield us from winters
keen ire;
Then peat sods made seats for the boys, 'and the
lasses,
Till our cushions were claimed to replenish the
fire;
And well knew the lads what to take from their
gardens
To Conuor, whose wink was a token and sgn
That conduct of merit had won three first par
donsn
For crimes gainst the statutes of Connor O'Brien.
His only assistant, his wife, gentle Alice,
Would softly glide in from the little back room
To dash from our lips bitter woes brmming
chalice,
By averting flOgging's well.merited doom,
Tho loud was his bawling, the keen little varlet
Well knew in her arms was immunity's shrine;
AT her word, he was saved-tho' his crime was as
scarlet
From the counterfeit wrath of good Connor
OBrien.
In the school of the world many "errors" are
counted
And laid to my charge for the mischief I've
done
For duties neglected and tasks neer surmount-
And the score grows apace with the rounds of the
sun.
To the pedagogue Justice account I must render,
And thank him for punishment swift and con.
dign;
But there ne'er will appear an unselfsh defender
Like Alice the wife of poor Connor o'Brien
VII,
A score of short years like the lamp of Aladdin
Has brought great extremes to my wondering
view
Lo! buildings magnificent yet, friends, we had
in
The old a rude force that we miss in the new.
A little more growth and little less training
Might give us the oak tree instead of the vine =
In gracefulness losing, in sturdineSs gaining,
Like urchins that studied with Connor OBrien.
In high,pressure schoolrooms, with every appli.
ance
And cunning device to check natures desires
Where the ntellect's drill kills the hearts self
reliance,
And the bodies are moved by the pulling Of
wires;
Where minds are like fruit that is cutting and
drying;
Where mills theoretic grind crushingly ine
Mid frightful good order, catch myself signing
For the turbulent kingdom of Connor O'Brien,
The poet wins nothing but cold admiration,
'Tis hollow and faithess, the cheer of the mob;
But the altar receiving hearts free libation
Neither fates nor yet furies may venture to rob,
The work of my life, for span, shall not perish,
Tho my name nor with poets nor heroes may
shine,
If one gentle school-boy my mem'ry shall cher
ish
As do the memry of Connor o'Brien.
JIM