Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1905-05-13

"A living and shining light" John S: 35
A rawboned Yankee from the frozen
North,
A sprout from Dedham, Massachusetts
bred,
Alumnus of old Amhersts' classic shades,
His head a vast library in itself.
Filled full of books yes, duodecimos,
Octavos, folios piled high in one big
So to us wondering boys our Teacher
seem'd,
When he to Berlin came and walked
our streets,
A little stiff and awkward in his mien;
A live Encyclopedia on two feet.
Southern breezes gave him welcome.
Smiled and made him feel at home:
Were the Yankees all like this one.
Let thousand others come!
Puritans never have done better
Than in fathering such as he
Loring Johnson, Loring Johnson,
Nomen Venerabile!
Came back with him rare days of Greece
and Rome,
OF Livy, Virgil and Demosthenes,
And Mathematics at his fingers ends.
Modest as woman, blushing like girl,
His wrath could flame and WELD heavy
hand
He shook Jim Dirickson with earthquake
shock,
He slapped Phil Nelson with resounding
slap.
Those were heroic days and Jim consoled
Himself with eating twenty herring
more,
And Philip found relief in hearty Philip
pics,
Profanity sub rosa yet profound,
Johnson shakes were quite tonic
In those good Old-fashioned days;
Slaps were orthodox and wholesome,
Helping us amend our ways.
Thus mems destinies were moulding
At the old Academy:
Loring Johnson, Loring Johnson
Nomen slap-erabile!
A strong clean character loomed at the
His solid traits, as stanch as Plymouth
Stood based on Scripture and on common
sense;
Erect, Christian and a gentleman;
His life benediction to the town,
A proof of Christianity's high claims,
Faith demonstrated clear as Euclid's
axioms.
And bound to leave an impress as he
went.
He stood before us like yon tulip-tree,
Which faces storms while yet arrayed
i'm flowers
Blossoms of the sage and poet
Hung together from his boughs;
Thought and piety and goodness
Clustering on his rugged brows.
There he stood sublime and simple
From ignoble passions free;
Loring johnson, Loring Johnson,
Nomen Venerabilei
Who ever dream'd of him as beau or
loveri
We is fellows thought We had cinch on
And loved the girls enough for all the
school.
Then Summer came and off he went up
North
And. tell it not in Gath, brought back a
There all the time, within that silent
breast,
Had nestled that hyperborean bloom.
She was not beautiful like Southern
girls,
But smart like him and homely, good
and true.
And strong and firm as was John Alden's
bride.
Yes, amid that learned medley,
Algebra and languages,
Geometry and chalk and blackboard,
Yankee lass had kept first place.
To the stern and thoughtful nature,
Cupid held the subtle key;
Loring johnson, Loring Johnson,
Nomen Venerable!
And never did his pupils, now enthused,
Feel more inclined to follow in his wake;
And Berlin girls, out dazzling by all
odds
The Plymouth brand, were at premium.
And thus in every way this model man
Of granite build, the thinker, husband,
friend,
Left deep his mark on head and heart
and life,
On both the sexes and on young and
old.
Another Goldsmith should have known
his worth
And sung the fame of Berlin's peda-
gOgue
AS sweetly as Sweet Auburn's of the
Plain.
Ho, We old surviving comrades,
We will laud our Teacher friend,
Wave aloft the Johnson banners,
Wear his badges to the end.
North and South unite to claim him,