"The Old School House" (1841)
Words by Park Benjamin
Music by Henry Russell, 1812-1900

1.
On the village green it stood,
  And a tree was at the door,
Whose shadow, broad and good,
  Reached far along the floor
Of the school-room, when the sun
  Put on his crimson vest,
And, his daily labour done,
  Like a monarch sunk to rest.

2.
How the threshold wood was worn!
  How the lintel post decay'd!
By the tread at eve and morn,
  Of the feet that o'er it stray'd
By the pressure of the crowd
  Within the portal small
By the ivy's emerald shroud
  That wrapped and darken'd all.

3.
That school-house dim and old---
  How many years have flown
Since in its little fold
  My name was kindly known!
How different it seems
  From what it used to be,
When, gay as morning dreams,
  We played around the tree!

4.
How we watched the lengthened ray
  Through the dusty window-pane!
How we longed to be away
  And at sport upon the plain---
To leave the weary books
  And the master's careful eye,
For the flowers and for the brooks,
  And the cool and open sky.

5.
Alas! where now are they---
  My early comrades dear
Departed far away,
  And I alone am here!
Some are in distant climes;
  And some in churchyard cold---
Yet it tells of happy times,
  That school-house dim and old!