To R. W. Merideth, Esq., Louisville, KY.
"The School House on the Hill" (1875)
Song and Chorus
by William Shakespeare Hays, 1837-1907

1.
I remember well the wildwood
Where the children used to play,
Where the boys and girls in childhood
Whiled the happy hours away,
And the footpath through the clover,
And the music of the rill,
And the kind and good old master
Of the school-house on the hill.

CHORUS
Tho' I'm getting old and feeble,
Fresh in my mem'ry still,
Are the early recollections
Of the school-house on the hill.

2.
I remember, too, the flowers
Growing wild along the shore
Of the little running brooklet,
Down the hillside, past the door;
And I think of early schoolmates,
And how few are living still,
Who sat upon the beaches
Of the school-house on the hill.

(CHORUS)

3.
The master kind, is sleeping
'Neath a lonely, grassy mound,
And, years ago the chimney
With the building tottered down;
There is nothing now left standing
But the timbers of the mill,
That used to make its music
Near the school-house on the hill.

(CHORUS)