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II.
Around were the walls, gray and dingy, which every old school-sanctum hath,
With many a break on their surface, where grinned a wood-grating of lath;
With many a break on their surface, where grinned a wood-grating of lath;
A patch of thick plaster, just over the school-master's rickety chair,
Seemed threat'ningly o'er him suspended, like Damocles' sword, by a hair;
Seemed threat'ningly o'er him suspended, like Damocles' sword, by a hair;
There were tracks on the desks where the knife-blades had wandered in search of their prey;
Their tops were as duskily spattered as if they drank ink every day;
Their tops were as duskily spattered as if they drank ink every day;
21
The square stove it puffed and it thundered, and broke out in red-flaming sores,
Till the great iron quadruped trembled like a dog fierce to rush out-o'-doors;
Till the great iron quadruped trembled like a dog fierce to rush out-o'-doors;
White snow-flakes looked in at the windows; the gale pressed its lips to the cracks;
And the children's hot faces were streaming, the while they were freezing their backs.
And the children's hot faces were streaming, the while they were freezing their backs.
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