Advice From Days Gone By
Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010I found this poem in a 1899 copy of “The School Paper” published by the Education Department of Victoria, Australia. It caught my eye after I had watched a television program on how parents in an African country did everything in their power to get their daughter enrolled in school.
I wonder what poem there was for girls?
What the School-Bell Says
It is wonderful what unlike things
The school-bell says to the boys when it rings.
For instance, the laggard who drags along
On his way to school hears this sort of song:
Study till four -
Books are a bore!
Oh, how I wish
I could rush off and fish
See, there’s the brook,
Here’s line and hook
Suppose I must go
Whether or no,
Study till four -
Books are a bore.
Then the boy who loves to be faithful and true,
Who does what his parents think he should do,
Comes bravely along with satchel and books,
The breeze in his whistle the sun in his looks;
And these are the thoughts that well up like a song,
And he hears the old bell with it’s faithful ding-dong
Cling, clang, cling -
I’m so glad I can sing!
Even a boy
Finds study a joy.
When my work’s done,
I’m ready for fun;
Keener my play for the tasks of the day.
These are the songs that the two boys heard
When the school bell was ringing, word for word.
Don’t be a laggard I far better, say
To work when you work, and play when you play
From The Children’s Friend
Any comments? Have times changed?
