Shall ask him what’s the power of x
And give him, heeding not his groans,
Equations with the three unknowns.
Until at last, his torture’s o’er,
He seeks a School Board’s open door;
And there, by jeers to action stung,
Begins on learning’s lowest rung,
O Conic Sections! oft reviled,
How sweet thou art to this young child!
And book eleven of Euclid too,