Page:The Glugs of Gosh (C. J. Dennis, 1917).djvu/57

"Do unto others," the teacher said . . .
Then suddenly stopped and scratched his head.
"You may look up the rest in a book," said he.
"At present it doesn't occur to me;
But do it, whatever it happens to be."

"And now," said the teacher, "the day's task brings
Consideration of practical things.
If a man makes a profit of fifteen pounds
On one week's takings from two milk rounds.
How many . . ." And Sym went dreaming away
To the sunlit lands where the field-mice play,
And wrens hold revel the livelong day.

He walked in the welcoming fields alone,
While from far, far away came the pedagogue's drone :
"If a man makes . . . Multiply . . . Abstract nouns . . .
From B take . . . Population of towns . . .
Rods, poles or perches . . . Derived from Greek . . ."
Oh, the hawthorn buds came out this week,
And robins are nesting down by the creek.

So Sym was head of his class not once;
And his aunt repeatedly dubbed him "Dunce."
But "Give him a chance," said his father, Joi.
"His head is abnormally large for a boy."