Building — An Education

Image from Days Gone By

BUILDING

There’s joy in building anything,
Though it may be very small.
A baby whiles away long hours
With building blocks, which fall.

The older boys build sleds and kites,
Of wood and wire and strings;
And tiny girls build home for dolls,
With furniture and things.

Smart engineers build bridges, which
Extend across large streams;
And architects, in buildings, find
The answers to their dreams.

But here’s construction’s greatest boon,
(Though it keeps wise heads swimmin’)
It’s teaching little boys and girls,
Yes, building men and women!

Lyla Myers, Little Rock, Ark.

The Oshkosh Northwestern (Oshkosh, Wisconsin) Mar 10, 1936

Image of Cicero from Wikipedia

Author of the quote not cited in the newspaper, but it is attributed to Joseph Addison.

EDUCATION is like a companion which no misfortune can repress, no enemy destroy, no despotism enslave. At home, a friend; abroad an introduction — in solitude, a solace — in society, an ornament. It chastens vice, it guards virtue; and gives at once, grace and government to genius. Without it, what is man? A splendid slave — a reasoning savage!

American Freeman (Prairieville, Wisconsin) Apr 5, 1848

Tags: 1848, 1936, Children, Cicero, Education, Joseph Addison, Lyla Myers, Poetry