Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1877-11-14

Who gave us our alphabetic start?
Aud noXed our ears To m Ike MS smart?
Who took Out gum and broke our hetrt:
OUR rEACHER.
Srhool.ma'am! there is sweet melody
in that classical appcllation. 1t is crowned
with orlhographiGtl, geographical and
mathematical majesty that tears all the
dip thongs, archiprlngoS, and subtrahends
ont of our hypolhenused hearls 1t unlocks
the srhool-Iouse door Of memory, and we
rush in, jump over the benches, and wres-
tie once more with the polysyllables of
by-gone days.
70 us, looking through Il pair of three
shilling sprctacles, ~ bl oming, sweet
faced, scholastic school-maa am is the sub
limrst travelling panorama on this hem
prcked earth.
As we gaze, an intellectual current of
electricity darts through the mind, lights
up every gas jet in our heart, and leaves
us in II shining bewilderment of beauttird
illumination In Other words we feel like
u young algebra.
On. the schOol-ma are the ballast OF
this world. Never shall We feel quite
ready for the S raphc harp and the man
siuns Of the blessed, unil we have visited
aI the schuol-ma'am> on earth, gtTpd int0
their philomathc eyes, reverently placed
our oblong hands upon their geometrica
brows, and, with droplets of joy tricklng
down our summer-taIlowed checks, have
said, "thG best Of heavens blessings. that
being the best of husbands and the best IF
homes. the tiniest Of bOnnets and the tight
est OF pullbacks, cut bias, and with elon.
gated tsLIl b,ess your souls and illustrate
your bodies"
In old times the school-ma'ms were
made up of smiles and frowns. The smiles
were the rewards Of merit, which one mo-
ment we framed with love and hung up in
our little hearts, and the next tore down
and reyengefullv scattered to the four
winds of lorgetlun"ss. Could we have
our choice to-day be, wcen IL little illumina-
ted " God bless our home" for n dollar
chrome at the ninety nine cent store, or
1 school-ma ans smile we should reach
ut all our hands for tho school. ma'nm's
smile.
But the lrowns We're the blasting pow
Ter which blew our childish happiness out
of all latitude and longitude. In those
lays II school-ma'm's 5 lroWn meant bust
ness-lender wood cuts, inGOnceivable
emotions back handed demonstrations -
md other and slippery appliances to heal
nur souls sins, and stuff the fibre of our
,ea,hcry hearts with the wax of conlrilon,
toe-toe p, gging of our neither culicle, to
" supplemented by another clicking
when we reached home. 1t meant lay !
ny on of hands. and here was but II thin
nankeen background between rs and the !
wrath to come.
The cares and snlicitude Of an old fash |
Oned >cho0l-ma am were only equaled by |
he anXietirS and embarrassment Of the |
scholars, Nine o'clock usually found us
It the schoo-house door with the cowlck
rushed back from our intellectual dash |
boards, our pockets crammed with II p0r-
ION OF every thing on earlh, and our eec
,ric minds lalting between two opinions
whether it were better 10 run away from |
.chool and die eventually on the galows,
N go inside, take up the cross, learn how
welve eggs make II dozen, and grow up
educated to keep books for six hundred .
lolllrs IL yea, and die of consumption. |
)nce inside we hung up what was left Of
! straw hat, waltzsd TO our well whitfield |
lrnch, and blended our voice in II malin
lynn that inforne the entire neighbor.
lood Of in idle boy, and how
"rhal idle boy no romflt had.
His face was gloomy, dun and sad,' exc.
That reflection OF maturer years cunyin-
'es Us that the author Of those lines was II
loOr student of human nature, for, since
ne day that Alan ale thosr fall apples,
here has never b5en such thing on earth
IS an idle boy.
After he anthem came chapter from
he Bible Casually the prodgal SON chap
rr) which was followed by II short, com
lrehensivc prayer, for srhoo-ma ams
Jrayed in those days. Then the books
anne nosly out from beneath the desks,
,htes banged, lips buzAed, and the daily
Xcitemrnt commenced The four-year.
lids took their Calico-G0vrred primers
nd tolded up to the recitation bench TO
ell their teacher teacher that
A-stood for argus, arsenio and aSl,
H-iOr b0neset babies and bawl,
P-iOr the parer-wHds up Dn the waIi
And T-foi the lhrashng that came to Us all.
Sometimes the school-mn'am's appro-
ing smile would awaken within us u
lormant desire to become good and great,
md for five consecutive minutes we would
revotc ourselves to studiuns application;
hen some mischiovou1 apple-sved would
ONE swapping against our juvenile nose,
md away would 60 ali desire 10 know
whether five times six made thirty or II
hundred and fifty.
Then there was the daily emplying Of
pockets. As fast as we took ont an article,
'ecame interested in its appearance, and
ested its ability to make Il noise, we were
forward TO lay the samG on the
table. This was repeat
ID at short intervals, until our poak-
It's were empty ms missiontry's, and
he table ressmbled pawnbroker's shop.