OLD SCHOOL DAY ROMANCES JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY in \ y THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA GIFT OF Marion K. Morrow University of California Berkeley OLD SCHOOL - DAY ROMANCES -THE GIRL -WITH GLANCING EYES, OLD SCHOOL DAY ROMANCES BY JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY ILLUSTRATED Cr* DECORATED. BY E STETSON CRAWFORD INDIANAPOLIS THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY PUBLISHERS COPYRIGHT 1909 JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY TO DR. WILLIAM MORRIS PIERSON The Girl with Glancing Eyes Frontispiece The Watchful Master - - Page 9 Exercises Friday Afternoon - - Page 10 A Problem Left Unsifted - Page 1 1 The Half- Forgotten Tune - Page 12 A Youngster Far From Funny - Page 13 As He Waves the Warning Rod - Page 17 The Smell of Something Burning - Page 25 Scotland's Burning! - Page 33 A Hush of Holy Feeling - - Page 41 Of the wealth of facts and fancies That our memories may recall, The old school-day romances Are the dearest, after all ! When some sweet thought revises The half-forgotten tune That opened "Exercises" On "Friday Afternoon." We seem to hear the clicking Of the pencil and the pen, And the solemn ceaseless ticking Of the time - piece ticking then ; And we note the watchful master, As he waves the warning rod, With our own heart beating faster, Than the boy's who threw the wad Some little hand uplifted, And the creaking of a shoe: A problem left unsifted For the teacher's hand to do. The murmured hum of learning And the flutter of a book The smell of something burning, And the school's inquiring look. The bashful boy in blushes; And the girl, with glancing eyes, Who hides her smiles, and hushes The laugh about to rise, Then, with a quick invention, Assumes a serious face, To meet the words, "Attention! Every scholar in his place! The opening song, page 20 Ah! dear old "Golden Wreath, You willed your sweets in plenty; And some who look beneath HE WAVES THE WARNING The leaves of Time will linger, And loving tears will start, As Fancy trails her finger O'er the index of the heart. ''Good news from Home' We hear it Welling tremulous, yet clear And holy as the spirit Of the song we used to hear Good news for me" (A throbbing And an aching melody) Has come across the" (sobbing, Yea and salty) "dark blue sea! Or the paean " Scotland's burning! With its mighty surge and swell Of chorus, still returning To its universal yell Till we're almost glad to drop to Something sad and full of pain And "Skip verse three," and stop, too, Ere our hearts are broke again. Then "the big girls'" composition With their doubt, and hope, and glow Of heart and face, conditions Of "the big boys" even so, THE SMELL OF SOMETHING BURNING When themes of "Spring" and "Summer, % And of "Fall" and "Wintertime" Droop our heads and hold us dumber Than the sleighbell's fancied chime. Elocutionary Science Still in changeless infancy: With its "Cataline's Defiance And "The Banner of the Free Or lured from Grandma's attic, A ramshackle rocker there- Adds a shriek of the dramatic To the poet's "Old Arm-Chair. Or the ' ' Speech of Logan ' ' shifts us From the pathos to the fire; And Tell (with Gessler) lifts us Many noble notches higher Till a youngster, far from sunny, With sad eyes of watery blue, Winds up with something "funny, Like "Cock-a-doodle-do." > 9 Then a Dialogue selected For its realistic worth :- The Cruel Boy detected With a turtle turned to earth SCOTLAND'S BURNING! Back -downward; and, in pleading, The Good Boy strangely gay At such a sad proceeding Says, "Turn him over, pray!" JL jj So the exercises taper Through gradations of delight To the reading of "The Paper" Which is entertaining quite! For it goes ahead and mentions If a certain Mr. O. Has serious intentions That he ought to tell her so. It also "Asks permission To intimate to 'John' The dubious condition Of the ground he's standing on"; And, dropping the suggestion To "mind what he's about," It stuns him with the question "Does his mother know he's out? And among the contributions To this "Academic Press Are "Versified Effusions By "Our Lady editress HUSH OF HOLY FEELING f /^^ Which fact is proudly stated By the Chief of the concern, Though the verse communicated Bears the pen-name "Fanny Fern." When all has been recited, And the teacher's bell is heard And visitors, invited, Have dropped a kindly word, A hush of holy feeling Falls down upon us there, As though the day were kneeling, With the twilight for the prayer. Midst the wealth of fact and fancies That our memories may recall, Thus the old school -day romances Are the dearest, after all! SJ i * When some sweet thought revises The half-forgotten tune That opened "Exercises," On "Friday Afternoon." 01 7 \