News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1912-12-25
THE OLD sCHooLHOUsE BY THE BROOK

| Comrades of chlJhOud's sChOOldays,
AS you sit in the waning glow
OF the twilight, when day is over,
Does memory whisper low,
OF those long days in spring time,
With moruing air fragrant and cool
And Joyous with notes of the song birds
When we went to the "district school. "
Are there many who now remember
The grove where we used to play,
The brook and bridge which spanned it
And the schoolhOuse low and gray?
That lowly structure has fallen
! And nothing marks its site;
! Gone are its long battered benches
! Where we carved our names with delight
Never more shall "warnings'' be posted
| On it's nal-studded outer door
| TO summon the district fathers"
! To meet when the day is DER;
| And within its walls no teacher,
| Though she may be wise and fine,
| win e'er ring the bell and begin her
sway
| Just on the stroke of nine.
| Within its walls no music
! VIII e'er sound from a mimic stage,
Or its aisles be filled with parents,
Who came TO cheer and praise;
That miniature stage has vanished
And its actors have wandered far;
In later efforts on life's real stage,
May each be accounted a star.
1t gave us pleasure if teacher"
In hours when the "sChool was out"
Would liDger with us by the hrookside
To watch the darling trout;
She shared the first wild berries,
Pucked by chubby little hands,
The ripest to be discovered
BY this merry searching band;
She wore the earliest blossoms,
Which were gathered to deck her brow;
May the fragrance which chung to their
petals
Pervade years which are passing now.
Her fair hands could administer justice,
Whenever rebellion seemed rife,
Some mischievOus youths received shak-
ngs,
Wnrcn may have proved good through
lltr:
One offender has since preached the Cos
pei
Which brings peace to every heart;
Could moral suason's more gentle way
A better result impart?
All, our loyal district teacher,
Though she be short or tall,
With sunny hair or tresses of brown,
She strictly governed us all;
She taught the "three r's' with unspar-
ing hand,
To draw maps of the world with glee,
To teach histOrys dates or the laws of
our land,
Who need do better than she?
She encouraged pride in our spelling,
nh,nfrh al Ia - ! I,
Not pei picked by modern methods
Old classmates yet spell down the crowd.
They also, like scores Of Others
To be met in their states business halls,
Have mastery grasp upon Figures"
Which was learned not mid college walls.
A renowned Institu gave us teachers,
y lis located in "opunky Lamoille"-
And for years il has been the lode-star
Of mar y compelled to toll
To secure the elusive dollars
Which an education demands.
And to add to those scanty dollars,
With untinng brain and hands.
Ne honor this institutes students,
May their fair ranks never grow less,
Nay the sill YER toned bells of the Normal /
Ever chime, future ages TO bless.
True hearted Disciples of Knowledge,
on came at the districts call, !
70 be guide and faithful instructor
n that rural schoolhouse small;
Eou led wisely and we'll up learning's
path,
'ausing, a song to repeat,
Md if never again should you be with us,
Or we your kind faces greet,
,ome lines of the lesson you taught us,
ii poetry, prose or prayer,
Will tendeIly linger unto the grave;
Who shall say all endeth there ?
Johnson, Vt. A. NJ. &.
Note-The schoolhouse, written of
bove, stood in Johnson near the home
# the late Isaac Patch. The teachers
Included several young men, two of whom
lie now well-known LAWYERS.