News at Eleven: My teacher was a dear old man,

Who took me on his knee,
And better far than vexing books,
He held a kiss from me." (When she recited this poem to her children she changed the word "from" to "for.")

That was and still is a curious phrase. She kissed her teacher? But looking at it from Eliza's innocent eyes, it might have meant that she had wrapped her teacher around her little finger, who put aside the vexing books for a kiss and taught her things that interested Eliza, maybe about nature and folklore.

from Picayune Item: Eliza Jane Poitevent

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