St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1891-10-01

Yielding an odor remembered yet.
Grapes on the island and hazlenuts near,
Eels to bait and suckers to spear,
CLANS to capture and squirrels to seek,
Practice in swimming most days in the week
Rocks to dive from, and stones to scoot,
Slippery elm and calamus root,
Stems of grass with wild berries strung,
Flower de Luce's and adder's tongue.
Reeds for frog traps, and cattail darts,
A1ders for whist and bleeding hearts,
Sorrel, two kinds, each good in its way,
Much in request for every day.
Indian pepper and checkerberry,
Horse mint, snakeroot, pigeon cherry,
Bundle bee honey, and red thorn apple,
If willing with stings and thorns to grapple
Pungent twigs of the birch had
Delight for the tongue, but all were aware
They lost their relish applied elsewhere.
Then as the climax of pleasure and fun,
Some of the boys were allowed with a gun.
We never sought nor sighed in the least
For gums spices found in the East,
But gum Youngs mountain we strove to
find,
And never cared for different kind.
Here were our moderate wants supplied,
Here great questions each day to decide,
We dreamed of no higher measure of bliss,
Heaven to us was no greater than this.
This was here with us, Heaven was far,
Beyond the track of the tiniest star,
Beyond the reach of philosophers ken,
Too far indeed to think about then,
With health and vigor in every vein
And all to surrender. What were the gain?
The "pear1y gates and the streets of gold,''
The glories which angel tongues unfold,
Were better fitted the poor and old!
All this was long way back in the past,
And the old grow childish old ones will,
But it hundred years at least
Since memorys storehouse began to fill
With my first adventure Barker Hill.
And what of the present, what of today,
Shall we Improve it" clergymen say?
Dwell on the saddening truth that most
OF our school day mates are silent dust?
What would be gained? Wouldit all avail
ITO point m oral, adorn a tale ?"
From our full hearts let our wishes flow
For old companions of long ago,
Who heed no longer the teachers call,
For a higher Master summons all.
May they be numbered among the just,
Waiting for hope and trust,
Where never entereth moth rust,
Where all that seems dark and misapplied,
Will be clear as light the other side.
You will notice that l give the pupil
scant desire for learning, or interest
in study, and it is possible that in
describing my own feelings in the
matter 1 may be unjust to others.
At the close of this poem the names
of the old teachers were called up,
their qualities discussed incidents
during the tutorship of each INDUCED
in, also the surviving schoolmates
not present, but accounted for, to
the number of 26 more, making in
present and absent still left 80, with
three teachers, viz: Betsev Ramsay
Shaw of Iowa, H. K. Flint of New
Jersey, and Lindorf Morris of this
place. Then an incident relating to
the school, called the Gift" was
read by an old scholar, c. F. Ramsay:
Mr.. Ransay's Poem.
THE MEETING.
The month was March and slushy the
The eve our fathers started one eventfui day.
Each had a lantern roughly punched of tim
And each ta1low dip glmmering within.
Sturdy of step, encased in striped frocks,
They gained with one consent the school
house at the rocks.
These were the legal voters of old district
No. 8,
Called out to tend the yearly lection bee,
To fix school year and sell the teachers board
At auction; they got their wood.
Ambitious each to serve the public veal,
1t wasn't just the style just then to steal
The public funds and slide to parts unknown.
Each felt the public credit as his own,
His clerkship kept the records officially i'm
pressed.
The voters made the motions, did the rest,
All things being done in legal order too.
This brought the wood unfinished into view.
There may be c1irnat where the buds of
tho't
Will blossom out, unbidden and unsought,
But our old shell, all open to the world,
Thro' whose wide cracks old winters ban
ners wI1r1ed-
| Our buds of tho't. could never here aspire,
| Without roaring, ramping, cracking fire,
| And the sure test which rarely came amiss
| When spit upon, the stove must promptly hiss.
And tho the floors open barn,
| Good wood was found to keep the young
| sterS warm.
1t was no fault of those who made the schools
If children failed to learn, or graduated fools.
| And now the wood, the moderator said,
| Must be prepared, at least six months ahead.
| What way'n you take to get the wood
around
We want it dry and short and sound
We'll get the wood by auction" moved the
prudent square"
agreed, says Capt. Jim, well all be there. "
AS in a donkey the winner is the slowest
So here the money goes, to him that bids the
lowest
Terms and description by the auctioneer
Twice given, loud and plain and clear.
Agib and Quincy rapidly essayed
To1and the job for cash was in the trade.
After much chatting, bidding here and there
Twas fastened a quite slim anC
spare,
Feeble in body, with sturdy will,
For bread he ran the village timber mill.
Small show this poor man had for daily food
Much less to find the village school Will
wood