A Little Red School House

Once long ago a schoolhouse stood
Beneath tall trees of cototnwood;
A small school in a trampled yard
By years of childish footbeats scarred,
A fence, a stile, a wide-plank walk,
All marked for games with blackboard chalk.

A handbell with discordant din
Would summon straggling children in;
Reluctantly, with backward looks
They turned to learning gained from books -
Some lessons of a formal make
To add to those of "give and take."

In retrospect, I still recall
The corner stove, the windowed wall,
The board's expanse, dull black and wide,
With cloak-rooms ranged on either side,
And rows of desks for every grade,
Where future citizens were made.

The years have rapidly passed on -
The small red schoolhouse now is gone.
But since it was, it can but be
An instrument of destiny
To all whose memories still know
That little school of long ago.

~ Ruth Jenner