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It goes without saying, this teacher's task
Was such as no easy man would ask:
'Twas hard the material to procure,
Without the aid of literature—
That coral reef of the clambering mind.
This hard-worked man, who could only find
A few scant relics his eyes could see,
And some conjectures that disagree,
Used all that his eager hands could reach:
But teachers must teach what others teach.
So pumping away at an unprimed brain,
His ample salary to retain,
(He had an expensive family,
Who nothing in ancient mounds could see)
He feared that he yet might go insane.
And this short poem would seem to tell
The mental famine that him befell,
As he arose and in plaintive tone,
Vouchsafed to the throng this rhythmic moan.
Was such as no easy man would ask:
'Twas hard the material to procure,
Without the aid of literature—
That coral reef of the clambering mind.
This hard-worked man, who could only find
A few scant relics his eyes could see,
And some conjectures that disagree,
Used all that his eager hands could reach:
But teachers must teach what others teach.
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His ample salary to retain,
(He had an expensive family,
Who nothing in ancient mounds could see)
He feared that he yet might go insane.
And this short poem would seem to tell
The mental famine that him befell,
As he arose and in plaintive tone,
Vouchsafed to the throng this rhythmic moan.
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