VIII
Saw the school take first position
At the sound of warning gong,
Heard the master’s voice intoning
Some old school or college song;
Saw all in position standing
With demeanour calm and still;
Saw them going through the movements
Of the military drill.
IX
On the walls the maps were hanging,
Colored in blue, red and gold,
Ornamented with the pictures
Of the noted men of old.
Moral maxims, plainly written
On the board in plain relief,
“Order Is First Law of Heaven,”
With some others terse and brief.
X
Summaries of all the home-work
By to-morrow to be learned;
Saw, too, some make interchanges
When the master’s back was turned.
On their slates the younger pupils
Strove to make their cranes and hooks,
While the older ones were busy
Writing in their copy books.
XI
Heard them spell and give the meaning,
And pronounce in unison;
Heard them too, in concert reading,
Reading also, one by one.
Saw them, on the Black-board, parsing
With and without formal line;
Use of “a” and “n” explaining
“These” and “those” and “thy” and “thine.”
XII
Heard them drill at combinations,
Learn to multiply and add,
Now subtracting, now dividing,—
Doing as the master bade;
Saw them on the map locating
Chiefest places of the earth;
Heard them give events in History,
’Fore and since our Saviour’s birth.