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"FRIDAY AFTERNOON"TO WILLIAM MORRIS PIERSON [1868-1870]
Of the wealth of facts and fancies
That our memories may recall,
The old school-day romances
Are the dearest, after all!--.
When some sweet thought revises
The half-forgotten tune
That opened "Exercises"
On "Friday Afternoon." We seem to hear the clicking
Of the pencil and the pen,
And the solemn, ceaseless ticking
Of the timepiece ticking then;
And we note the watchful master,
As he waves the warning rod,
With our own heart beating faster
Than the boy`s who threw the wad. Some little hand uplifted,
And the creaking of a shoe:--
A problem left unsifted
For the teacher`s hand to do:
The murmured hum of learning--
And the flutter of a book;
The smell of something burning,
And the school`s inquiring look. The bashful boy in blushes;
And the girl, with glancing eyes,
Who hides her smiles, and hushes
The laugh about to rise,--
Then, with a quick invention,
Assumes a serious face,
To meet the words, "Attention!
Every scholar in his place!" The opening song, page 20.--
Ah! dear old "Golden Wreath,"
You willed your sweets in plenty;
And some who look beneath
The leaves of Time will linger,
And loving tears will start,
As Fancy trails her finger
O`er the index of the heart. "Good News from Home"--We hear it
Welling tremulous, yet clear
And holy as the spirit
Of the song we used to hear--
"Good news for me" (A throbbing
And an aching melody)--
"Has come across the"--(sobbing,
Yea, and salty) "dark blue sea!" Or the paean "Scotland`s burning!"
With its mighty surge and swell
Of chorus, still returning
To its universal yell--
Till we`re almost glad to drop to
Something sad and full of pain--
And "Skip verse three," and stop, too,
Ere our hearts are broke again. Then "the big girls`" compositions,
With their doubt, and hope, and glow
Of heart and face,--conditions
Of "the big boys"--even so,--
When themes of "Spring," and "Summer"
And of "Fall," and "Winter-time"
Droop our heads and hold us dumber
Than the sleigh-bell`s fancied chime. Elocutionary science--
(Still in changeless infancy!)--
With its "Cataline`s Defiance,"
And "The Banner of the Free":
Or, lured from Grandma`s attic,
A ramshackle "rocker" there,
Adds a skreek of the dramatic
To the poet`s "Old Arm-Chair." Or the "Speech of Logan" shifts us
From the pathos, to the fire;
And Tell (with Gessler) lifts us
Many noble notches higher.--
Till a youngster, far from sunny,
With sad eyes of watery blue,
Winds up with something "funny,"
Like "Cock-a-doodle-do!" Then a dialogue--selected
For its realistic worth:--
The Cruel Boy detected
With a turtle turned to earth
Back downward; and, in pleading,
The Good Boy--strangely gay
At such a sad proceeding--
Says, "Turn him over, pray!" So the exercises taper
Through gradations of delight
To the reading of "The Paper,"
Which is entertaining--quite!
For it goes ahead and mentions
"If a certain Mr. O.
Has serious intentions
That he ought to tell her so." It also "Asks permission
To intimate to `John`
The dubious condition
Of the ground he`s standing on";
And, dropping the suggestion
To "mind what he`s about,"
It stuns him with the question:
"Does his mother know he`s out?" And among the contributions
To this "Academic Press"
Are "Versified Effusions"
By--"Our lady editress"--
Which fact is proudly stated
By the CHIEF of the concern,--
"Though the verse communicated
Bears the pen-name `Fanny Fern.` " . . . . . .
When all has been recited,
And the teacher`s bell is heard,
And visitors, invited,
Have dropped a kindly word,
A hush of holy feeling
Falls down upon us there,
As though the day were kneeling,
With the twilight for the prayer. . . . . . .
Midst the wealth of facts and fancies
That our memories may recall,
Thus the old school-day romances
Are the dearest, after all!--
When some sweet thought revises
The half-forgotten tune
That opened "Exercises,"
On "Friday Afternoon."
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