Summer, 1956
Mama, let me catch my breathfrom running all way home
and then I'll tell you what I
saw with Ben and Jenny Jones.
Something bad is happening
and it's so sad to say
they're tearing down the schoolhouse
and they're hauling it away.
I can't believe that I just
saw those men with wrecking tools
tearing down the chimney
and dismantling the roof.
Boards and beams and broken
glass are piled in disarray.
They're tearing down the schoolhouse
and they're hauling it away.
The cloakroom where we hung our
coats is turned to rubble now.
The big long porch is almost
gone where we played games and how
my two bare feet are going to
miss that floor on summer days.
They're tearing down the schoolhouse
and they're hauling it away.
I'll miss the elevated stage
where Bill Carlisle once played
and where the people cast their
votes on each election day.
I'll miss that big coal heating
stove on frigid winter days.
They're tearing down the schoolhouse
and they're hauling it away.
I know that Grandma went to
school there when she was a girl
and Zane Grey books helped her
escape her isolated world.
And you and Dad both went there
all way up to Seventh Grade.
They're tearing down the schoolhouse
and they're hauling it away.
Mister Penley at the store
said we should worry none.
He said we'll all be better
off when next September comes
and that we'll get to rid a
bus to school ten miles away.
They're tearing down the schoolhouse
and they're hauling it away.
Mama, let me catch my breath
from running all way home
and then I'll tell you what I
saw with Ben and Jenny Jones.
Something bad is happening
and it's so sad to say
they're tearing down the schoolhouse
and they're hauling it away.
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