Page 43 - 1940

CLASS HISTORY

LOWER SCHOOL her debut for us in this grade; we sat up
“Scenes where we have loved to linger, with attention and joined in lustily with the
singing of Frere Jacques. Here one of her
In the pleasant days of yore.” greatest pleasures just before the holidays
These words from our Alma Mater ex­ was writing the French names for all the
press our thoughts more aptly than we can. foods found on the table; i.e., le dindon, les
Yet it is pleasant, now that we have run the pommes de terre, le petit pois,. . . topped by
course, to speculate on familiar scenes of le glace and le gateau. Miss Derrickson tried
our early days in the lower school, full of to teach us better penmanship; let us hope
life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. her efforts were not all in vain. We didn’t
Our quest began only twelve years ago. do all this work without some compensa­
It seems like yesterday! With no thought of tion—a reading period Friday afternoons,
how we felt about it, our parents one day when the story of King Arthur was related
left us with Miss Woodbury in the Kinder­ to us.
garten. That was the first of many pleasant In the Third Grade under the strict
days spent in play and games that gave us guidance of Miss Wilson we found our num­
co-ordination of hands and minds in prepa­ bers again increased. Such names as Harry
ration for the harder work we encountered Baldwin, Robert Dodds, and Adrian San­
next year in First Grade. In no time at all, ford were on our class roll.
it seems to us now, we moved to the first- Our most important subject was mathe­
grade room, to be more fully initiated into matics, but there were only a few who un­
school life and routine. For most of us the derstood what was going on! We assisted
first day was one of mixed feelings—terror, the fifth grade this year by dancing a minuet
curiosity, and homesickness. But when we between the acts. Miss Wilson painstaking­
had overcome our self-consciousness, we ly taught us the dance, although she was
soon found an ambitious group of fine men- hampered by a broken arm. By this time
to-be. A few of these, Sam Parsons, Bill competitive sports began to take the place
Bellows, Fletch Burton, Bill Kimball, Dun- of our earlier “aggies" or “cops and rob­
ny Dunbar, Johnny Beckwith, have been bers.” We played football and baseball,
faithful to the end. Our teacher, Miss Smith and we even saw part of the first Father
taught us the Pledge of Allegiance, with and Son Day activities.
which we opened each morning’s activities, The following year we advanced to the
followed by singing and marching. Miss First Intermediate under the tutelage of
Eastman ably assisted in introducing us to Miss Schofield. Nature and history figured
the three R ’s. This work was supplemented prominently in our curriculum. Nature
by drawing, which appealed to and brought was more popular because of the wralks we
out our interest, if not our best ability. took on the campus whenever the weather
With scarcely time to enjoy our vacation, permitted. Also we ventured onto the stage
we were back again, a grade and a floor with a play called Abe Lincoln. Mr. Lincoln
higher, for this year we were introduced to was ably portrayed by Bob Dodds.
that Southern belle, Miss Derrickson. We This year we were treated to a thrilling
were divided into three groups according to glimpse of the dirigible “Los Angeles” as it
our several abilities. Madame Warge made sailed over Providence. In interpreting the