Struggle by R. J. Gale & Laziness by James J. Montague

Life is forever calling--
The school forever still,
And the lad who looks from its windows
Must hold him with a will.
Teachers and  books and playmates
Inveigle him to stay--
But wind and brook and open field
Call, "Up, lad! and away!" - R. J. Gale

Today schools in Northwest Arkansas are closed due to heavy snow, so will have a day in the wood shop and some tractor time moving the snow about.

My teacher says a little boy is just a worthless shirk
Who sits around inventin' ways for gettin' out o' work.
An' then next day he reads about a little chap named Watt
That watched the water boilin' in a battered irom pot.
An' loafed around the kitchen til he'd figured out a scheme
To have the hardest kinds o' work all nicely done by steam.
An' there was Robert Fulton, loafin' round the Upper Bay,
An' watchin' barges rowed along about a mile a dy.
Of course he knew that work was right, an' dodgin' it was wrong
But still he thought a boat had ought to push itself along.
An' while he sat there by the dock a swingin' of his heels,
He planned hisself a boat that run by steam an' paddle wheels.
Inventors almost every day is makin' somethin' new
To save a lot o' people work they used to haff to do.
The fellers gets along the best who sits around and dreams
Of how to stall off honest toil with labor-savin' schemes.
I don't care whet my teacher says, for all my life I've found
That it ain't work, it's laziness that makes the world go round.

If you are blessed with a snow day, enjoy. Make, fix, create. You never know what you might come up with. Both of these poems are from 200 Poems for Teachers of Industrial Arts Education.

As you can see in the photo at left, I am assembling the last cabinet for the new book.  The wood is black locust. After the glue securing the top has set overnight, I'll add dowels at the top, fit the door and add the internal hangers.


This article from the Huffington Post claims that 10 States are Running out of Smart People. And another article sent to me by John Grossbohlin addresses the problem of high school graduates being ill prepared for employment. Graduates, but Ill-Prepared:
Big Disparity Reported Between Getting a Diploma and College-Readiness Rates If you want better news, you'll made to do it yourself. Again, Make, fix, create.