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Show Written for the Doily Uerald. THE VILLAGE SCHOOL-IN REPOSE. BY J. LYO.V. The villrtqro school is closed for half an hour, And Mistress pank is liit asleep. Around Her room a score of girls, hid tumbling o'er Karh other, yet she snores in sleep 11s auinid As if 'twere midnipht, on her curihi' ued chair Worn out and gray and wrinkled o'er with euro. A little mink. with foolscap on her head, Has mounted o- the desk where truant shame Must pay her penance for misdeeds, or dread For certain something worse, I will not name. So sly ?he looks the ca,i to drup, in hand Lest Spank should wuke aud jump from off the stand. - Miss Mugiri, the parson's daughter, with her skirts Knee high, now bows before the seneles, trance And mimics her, w,:ile othe wary flirts Push her alone, yet fearful, shuuld mischance Waken Zepporu from her troubled .leep; The door wide open, to fly out they keep. Upon the table where the workbox stand Another imp turns out the well stored drawer, Misplacing everything with her rude hands, Wliile underneath, a bolder girl by far. Is upward peeping, while she's pinning down To the floor carpet, Mrs. Spank's silk gown Before the mirror stand, with pride elate, A belle, with cap and feather on her head; Another, with uprated liand- admires her -tate. And o'er her ni:stres' .-houlde1 laugh in dread ; While quieter uruhuis, hall piea-eJ. .-teal a idanue At M:ss Muggs' da;-;ng naked .-k.pping dance. A full grown maiden, trickier than the rest, Pretends to read attentively her ta.-k. While she with liool- upon the head down pressed Hurts a child pupil. Sitting ueaih her desk. On the same seal, another quarreling pair Are striving to pull out each other's hair. There the embroidered footstool, tnmbled o"ef Spools, toys and birth,made playthings for the cat, Strewn in confusiun nil around the floor, U'hen Mrs. Spank wink s wakein: crynig,"Wuat! Wherefore this noise, as if it wen a fair, If I but dose one moment in my chair J There ! take you that ! (a smart box on the ear) And that!" (a kick would make a ba-e ball fly) Round goes the birch, all catch it, front and rear, Till the sad urchins all for mercy cry. And Mrs. Spank, pleaed with her daily rule, Resumes the lessons of her model school. |
