[This is a partial transcript of a poem that Paul wrote by hand when he was a young student struggling with Algebra. Help transcribe the poem on the Daily Dunbar Facebook page.]
I think I am . . .
(They never can be told in words)
For all the times I ever had
In Algebra were very bad.
(My lessons are all . . . here)
And o're them I've shed many a tear (?)
But such is life, and such is school
And such is Algebra, the tool
Which science gives to learned folks
. . .
P. Laurence Dunbar
Manuscript for Paul's juvenile poem Algebra. Courtesy of the Ohio History Connection. Paul Laurence Dunbar Collection, MSS 114. Image MSS114_B10_F03_001.tif.
