The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1893-11-17
EducatiOnal Column
BY GEORGE R. WILSON, COUNTY sup'r
The Old SchOOlmaster

1919 by the teacher.poet of Indiana
Lee y Harris, Of Greenfield, Hsncoe
OIcounty. Indiana. Mr.. Harris il ali
Teaching school in Hancock county.l
lie sat by bis desk at the close of Il
day,
For he felt the weight of his man
years,
His form was bent and his hair ws
gray,
Aud his eyes were dim with the alIin
tears,
The school was out and his task wa
done,
And the house seemed now so strangel,
still,
as me last red beam Of the setting su,
stole silently over the window ell.
stole silently into the tw Wight gloom.
And the deepening shadows fell athwar
me vacant seats, and the vacant room
Ana the vacant place in the old mans
heart,
For his school had been all in all to him
who had wife, nor children, nor land,
nor gold;
but his frame wvs weak and his cyes
were dim,
And the fiat was issued at last-"Too
old!"
lie bowed his head on his trembling
hands
A moment as one might bend to pray:-
TOO old they say and the school de-
inands
A wiser and younger head today.
TOO old! Too old! But these men
forgot
1t was who guided their tender years.
Their hearts were hard and they pitied
My trembling lips and my falling tears.
Too old! Too cIdv 1t was all they
said,
looked in their faces one by one,
But they turned away and my heart was
lead,
Oh, God Of the stricken, Thy will be
done I"
The night stole on, and blacker gloom
Was over the vacant benches cast
The master sat in the silent room.
But his mind was back in the days long
past.
And the shadows took, 10 his tear.dim.
med sight,
Dear well-known forms, and his heart
was thrilled
With q blessed sense Of it's old delight.
FOR the vacant benches all were filled.
And he slowly rose at his desk, and
lie welI-worn bible. that lay within,
And he said, as he lightly tapped the ;
II IL the hour let school begin Z"
And he smiled, as his kindly glsnces fell ,
IN the well-beloveh faces there
OH. Rob, and Will, and laughing Nell,
And blue eyed Bess, With the golden ;
hair.
md Tom, and Ch ,rley, and Ben, aud :
Paul
Who stood at the head Of the spelling :
class-
II in their places and yet they all 2
Veie lying under the graveyard grass.
|e read the book, and be knelt to pray. !,
md he called the classes to recite
or the dark ness all had rolled away
rom soul that saw by an in ward :
light, ?
'ith " lords Of praise for a work Of care, =
'ith kind reproof for broken rule, =
be old man totlered, now here, now !,
there, y
hrough the spectral ranks OF hi, shsd. .
ow.school
hus all night long. ill the morning .
came, -
nd darkness folded her robe Of gloom. =
nd the sun looked in with his eve OF =
flame. ~
n the vacant seats of the silent room. q
le wind stole over the window-sill,
nd swept through the sisles in a mer. -
ry rout; ~
II the face OF the master was white o.
and still: ~
10 work was finished. and school was -
out a..
Note: HE poems are bound in one "
lume called Interludes,' and sold At - !,
00] =
p'
Teac hers sh hould bear in mind that the a
" state manual and course OF study IL
rniahed this winter must serve until W
95.6 and that they viii be called upon IN
return them 10 their respective trus. H.
9 when school 10 out, so that they can re
used uext year. m
- - ~
The schools OF Columbis township are Z,
session, and show . good attendance sn
I'm the very beginning. This town. ar ar
Ip 10 growing both from q material ~
d an educational standpoint More ~,
IN 1000 acres OF land was cleared last "a,
nter. aud laid out into farms MANY
" frame residences were constructed, IN
4 they add considerable TO the gener. "a
effect. =.
~ -. sal
IA young teacher d. sires 10 know nu m
secret OF success In his work ho !o'
~..i1 Fall n III