My School
By Jessie E. Sampter
Annotations by Mary Miller
Ah, you have bonny things to tell of school- days long gone by, Your cheeks were ruddy as you went, your hearts were light; but I — I watched you caper down the road to Knowledge-land, and then, With smiles to keep the tears away, I wandered toward the glen, The woods, the rills, the haunted nooks, where many an imp and elf Was waiting for the sickly child—my poor, untutored self. I lay upon the balmy earth; a canopy of pine Was spread above to cool my brow, a kingly court was mine, Where music welled for freedom’s sake, and asked for nothing more, While venerable teachers came to teach me ancient lore. I fear their pupil was not apt, yet do I nothing doubt But all the masters of the world were gathered thereabout. The rill was whispering 'mid the ferns, enchanted as a dream; It hastened down and lost itself within the wider stream; It told me of a mighty world that never thought of me, And myriad little laboring brooks that perish in the sea! And, all unheeded, by my side I saw a lily spring; It taught me of a Love and Law that guideth everything! From out the throats of wondrous birds melodious anthems poured Of all the lovely, holy things that live not for reward. And when upon the ethereal sky the rose of even smiled. I turned me slowly home again, a solemn dreaming child. Your books were lightly thrown aside, you bubbled o’er with play, But I was pondering o’er the things I learned in school that day.
SAMPTER, JESSIE E. “MY SCHOOL.” ST. NICHOLAS MAGAZINE 28, No. 7 (MAY 1901): 638.
Contexts
This poem speaks of an illness that, because of the narrator’s relatively immobility, may suggest polio. In the early 20th century, polio was one of the most feared diseases in industrialized countries, paralyzing hundreds of thousands of children every year. Dr. Jonas Salk and his team of medical researchers developed a vaccine, which ultimately ended the epidemic in the industrialized world. This was a time when scientists were trusted and respected by the public, and many people received the vaccine in public places such as schools. Dr. Salk refused to take out a patent, saying that he believed the vaccine belonged to the people.
Definitions from Oxford English Dictionary:
rill: A small stream or brook.
etherial: of the sky; heavenly.
Resources for Further Study
- Learn more about the history of polio and the development of the vaccine which virtually eliminated this dreadful disease.
- Read about Sampter and other early twentieth-century women who were trailblazers in their work to imagine and build a more perfect world through Jewish political and religious traditions. In “Hadassah and the Gender of Modern Jewish Thought,” Cara Rock-Singer argues that they have “gone unrecognized as such because of the fundamentally gendered constructions that undergird these traditions and their study.”
Contemporary Connections
Prior to 1975, disabled children in the United States were often unable to receive an appropriate public education. The following information on legislation to protect the educational rights of disabled children is from the US Department of Education: “On November 29, 1975, President Gerald Ford signed into law the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (Public Law 94-142), now known as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). In adopting this landmark civil rights measure, Congress opened public school doors for millions of children with disabilities and laid the foundation of the country’s commitment to ensuring that children with disabilities have opportunities to develop their talents, share their gifts, and contribute to their communities.
