No Man’S Land

In No Man’s Land, five hundred and three,-- Of course you’ll suppose that the date’s B.C. They published a law through the country round, A law which made great trouble, they found, That in all the schools all over the land, They must keep order. You understand How hard it was for the children!

If a boy reached school a second late He stood all day at the entrance gate. If a girl wrote notes in the study-hour, She was prisoned high in the old church tower. There was wailing and weeping from morn till night. They always did wrong, they couldn’t do right. Oh, hard indeed for the children!

Playing tunes on the points of pens, Grunting and growling like beasts in dens, Whoever did this would regret it forever For his head would be bagged in a manner most clever. If they missed a word from a lesson set Not a scrap of food did the poor things get. Oh, this was hard for the children!

A girl was in a sorrowful state If she pictured her neighbors on the slate, A book full of problems in Long Division They made her work out with perfect precision. If a boy was riotous on the stairs He spent his recess in a pit full of bears, Oh, hard it was for the children.

Laughter and whispering; school-desks scarred All had penalties just as hard. Youthful opinions of teachers in verse, The sentence for these was rather worse. In short, as you’ll readily comprehend, Their mischievous wills must break or bend. Oh, wasn’t it hard for the children!

If you had but lived in No Man’s Land Your manners would soon have been taken in hand. But though you’re saved from the dolorous fate Of being punished early and late, It’s just as well to follow the plan Of being always as good as you can. Though that’s rather hard for children.