Page 41 - 1934
P. 41
Class History
H A K E SPE A R E , in one of his countless true-to-life portrayals,
speaks of the " w h in in g schoolboy, w ith his satchel and shining
m o rn in g face, creep in g like snail u n w illin g ly to school.” O n our
first d ay of school, however, w e presented a quite different picture.
A t that ag e w hen, w ith a little p aren tal persuasion, w e w ere w illin g
to try an yth in g once, w e clu n g h ard to our m others’ hands and on a
fateful d ay in Septem ber, 1922, w ere introduced to a new and m ys
terious form of life. A s varied as our inw ard em otions w ere our notions about
"sch o o l.” W e h ad h eard scattered reports of such a thing, but our personal im pres
sions w ere so m eth in g bo rd erin g on the m iraculous. O ne expected to find a room
d ark lik e a m ovie th eatre that he had been p rivileg ed to visit; another closely as
sociated "sch o o l” w ith dungeons and birch rods. H e indeed w as a m an of the w orld.
O ur first school d ay w as one of revelations, and w e becam e qu ickly reconciled to
the " d iscip lin e” because of our n ew friends, especially M iss B radley, the teacher.
A fter our m em o rab le first d ay w e settled dow n to finding out m ore and m ore
about m ore and m ore. W e learn ed to w rite the alp h ab et w ith o ut too frequently
co n su ltin g the cards h a n g in g above the blackboards. W h a r a th rill w h en w e first
w e re ab le to w rite our nam es! A n d it w a sn ’t lo n g before other people w e re ab le to
decipher w h a t w e had w ritten . W ith the aid of som e la rg e cardboard cards w e
learn ed the proper noise to m ak e w h en a certain letter appeared, an d then w e
started to b u ild our noises together. A s a result of this accom plishm ent w e w e re
introduced to the Elson Reader and delved into its p ag es of never-to-be-forgotten
tales.
M iss P itm an w as our d ra w in g teacher, w hose job it w as to b rin g out the artist
in us. I dare say she succeeded even at this early date w ith Russ D avis, a potential
artist.
A d d itio n an d subtraction, the m ost difficult barriers to hurdle, cam e later on in
the year. C o m in g events cast their shadow s before, and in these tw o step p in g stones
Tage thirty-seven
