SELECT READING—THE BLACKBOARD AND CHALK.
1. Learned sages may reason, the fluent may talk,
But they ne'er can compute what we owe to the chalk.
From the embryo mind of the infant of four,
To the graduate, wise in collegiate lore;
From the old district school-house to Harvard's proud hall,
The chalk rules with absolute sway over all.
2. Go, enter the school-room of primary grade,
And see how conspicuous the blackboard is made.
The teacher makes letters and calls them by name,
And says to the children, "Now all do the same;"
Mere infants you see, scarcely able to walk,
But none are too feeble to handle the chalk.
3. We visit the school of much higher pretension,
The blackboard here claims undivided attention;
The walls, dark as Erebus, first greet the eye,
Before them bright misses and lads we espy;
And the sound of the crayon's irregular tappings
Reminds us of spirits' mysterious rappings.
4. One has pictured a vessel, with streamers unfurled,
Another is making a map of the world;
A third has a problem in fractions to solve,
A fourth is explaining how planets revolve;
While a young physiologist, skilled in the art,
Is sketching the muscles, the lungs, and the heart.
5. In the midst of this bustle the school-master stands,
And, lo! he's a crayon in each of his hands;
And the chalk in his hand has a magical power:
A teacher might reason and talk by the hour,
But naught would avail all his reason and talk—
The truth is made plain by the use of the chalk.
6. And the teacher of music the blackboard employs,
The chalk must be used e'en in training the voice;
Be it rhythm or melody, accent or force,
He always insists on the regular course;
Declaring the secret of musical skill
Is found in the blackboard, the chalk, and the drill.
7. See the chalk in the hand of the artist. Behold
What beauteous forms as by magic unfold!
The store-house of Nature he swiftly displays,
Till the dazzled beholder is lost in the maze;
Designs without number appear to the view,
And show what the chalk and the blackboard can do.
8. O wise PESTALOZZI! we place on thy brow
A coronet, bright and unfading; for thou
A legacy rich hast bequeathed unto men:
Our one feeble talent by thee is made ten;
We prize thy rare gift, but we never may know
How much to thy matchless invention we owe.
9. O chalk! What a powerful monarch thou art!
In this age of reform how important thy part;
Those minds that are swaying the world unrestrained
In childhood and youth in thy empire were trained.
Of the wonderful power of the press we may talk—
It never can vie with the blackboard and chalk.
10. An engine so powerful, so mighty to aid,
So simple in structure, so readily made,
A helper so potent in training the young—
'Tis meet that thy praise by the muse should be sung;
For though sages may reason, and orators talk,
They can ne'er make their mark without blackboard and chalk.