HICKORY STICK RAG

She made us add numbers,/ She made us spell words,/ There must be more to it/ Or school's for the birds."" But in fact there is at least one bird among this ""cranky and mean"" country schoolteacher's pupils; the rest are a rabbit, a raccoon, and other small animals who, when they're not playing hooky, spend their time throwing spitballs and stinkbombs, putting tacks on ""her"" chair, etc. ""Whenever she caught us/ She gave us the dickens,/ We all had our share/ Of her lectures and lickings."" By June though they're all so grateful to be out of school that they give her a party ""With good things galore""--a goody-goody ending that should come as no surprise after the knee-jerk nostalgia of Clyde Watson's dull jingles and her sister's scratchy watercolors.