In a prior blog, we provided a poem written by Adam F Bechtel when he was a teacher at Jugs Corners School. He taught 3 semesters at Jugs Corners and then moved to Kings Corners School in 1870. Here is a poem that Mr Bechtel wrote at age 86, and dedicated it to his Kings Corners days.
Sixty-six years have silently come and gone,
Since I walked to Kings Corners on a crisp early morn;
To meet a group of jolly girls and boys,
Who greeted me with their childish noise,
Came loaded with school books used in the day,
The authors being Pineo, McGuffey and Ray,
Maxwells numbering seven and McWms numbered eight,
Who seldom were tardy by coming too late.
Seven Hiskeys, Harve, Frank, Jim, Sanford and Lute,
With Homer and Ellsworth thrown in to boot.
Two Williams, two Shulers, Dora and Alice,
Four Shaucks, who to none, ever held malice.
From the south came Lizzie Detwiler LeBard,
And Theron Ink, whom we cannot discard.
From the north came Harry, Josie and Allie Glosser,
Douglass kiddies with faces round as a saucer.
Kings Corners was noted the whole year round,
For winter and summer at same time was found;
George Summers the cobbler who lived close by,
And Michael Winters the farmer a little bit shy.
But these families never changed the climatic conditions,
As we find them today in many places and regions;
For in Kansas the winters grow colder and colder,
And the summers get hotter as we all grow older.
One class of little tots about seven yours old,
Came forward when called so proudly and bold;
Led by Maggie Maxwell, the sweet little leader,
To read their lesson in McGuffey’s first reader.
One sentence that created considerable fun,
Was “Up, up Lucy and see the sun;”
Louisa seeing the two ups, glibly begun,
Double up Lucy and see the sun.
But on reminiscences I must not dwell,
As time will not permit me to tell,
But as I look forward and try to remember,
Your kind invitation for the 5th of September;
I sincerely regret the distance too great,
For teacher and pupils to again congregate.
But let us look forward to some future date,
To hold a reunion at heaven’s beautiful gate.