Very soon the Yankee teachers <br />Came down and set up school; <br />But, oh! how the Rebs did hate it, - <br />It was agin' their rule. <br /> <br />Our masters always tried to hide <br />Book learning from our eyes; <br />Knowledge did'nt agree with slavery - <br />'Twould make us all too wise. <br /> <br />But some of us would try to steal <br />A little from the book, <br />And put the words together, <br />And learn by hook or crook. <br /> <br />I remember Uncle Caldwell, <br />Who took pot liquor fat <br />And greased the pages of his book, <br />And hid it in his hat. <br /> <br />And had his master ever seen <br />The leaves upon his head, <br />He'd have thought them greasy papers, <br />But nothing to be read. <br /> <br />And there was Mr. Turner's Ben, <br />Who heard the children spell, <br />And picked the words right up by heart, <br />And learned to read 'em well. <br /> <br />Well, the Northern folks kept sending <br />The Yankee teachers down; <br />And they stood right up and helped us, <br />Though Rebs did sneer and frown. <br /> <br />And I longed to read my Bible, <br />For precious words it said; <br />But when I begun to learn it, <br />Folks just shook their heads, <br /> <br />And said there is no use trying, <br />Oh! Chloe, you're too late; <br />But as I was rising sixty, <br />I had no time to wait. <br /> <br />So I got a pair of glasses, <br />And straight to work I went, <br />And never stopped till I could read <br />The hymns and Testament. <br /> <br />Then I got a little cabin <br />A place to call my own - <br />And I felt as independent <br />As the queen upon her throne.<br /><br />Frances Ellen Watkins Harper<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/learning-to-read/
