Page 48 - 1936

pleasant year was celebrated in true ’36 style by the marriage of Miss Piccard. Who
the lucky man was we never learned.
Our second year was inaugurated by the addition of that temperamental gentle­
man, Mr. Newcombe, to the already assembled ’36’ers: Gifford, Fox, Freeman,
Lemon, Moore, and Steere. He, being unacquainted with the quality of the society
into which he was so happily thrown, declined to stay with us through the first day,
but instead went A.W.O.L. However, he was prevailed upon to rejoin us the next
day, and since then has been a whole-hearted and spirited member of our class.
This year it was Miss Anderson who had the none too easy task of keeping us in
line and at the same time driving the rudiments of reading, writing, and ’rithmetic
into our unreceptive skulls. She is remembered by ’36 for her blond hair and her
instruction in the art of penmanship. Oh, the agony of trying to make a barrel-roll
that didn’t look like an inky Daddy Long-legs gone mad on paper!
Of all the pleasant memories of this year the dearest is that of singing "Au
Claire de la Lune” and other folk songs with the help of Madame Warge. No
teacher has ever so completely won our trust and affection in so short a time as did
this motherly little French lady, who seemed to love us all alike and who certainly
was loved by all.
We entered on the third year of our education under that kind, but extremely
firm disciplinarian, Miss Locke. She was the first to keep us in our place forcibly:
witness the case of one Bill Alexander, who had a roving bent which he could not
restrain even in the classroom. For him Miss Locke procured a section of clothes
line to tie the hapless youth to his chair. Billy looked on scornfully while she tied
numerous "granny” knots in a vain effort to carry her point. No sooner had she
turned her back than William stood up to prove to the world at large that no
"dame” could get him hitched.
No tale of this year is complete without mention of that marvelous ditty
"Jimmy and James and Me.” After fierce competition it was finally decided that
Freddy Moore was the man to carry our banner into the fray; so he faced the vast
audience of parents, alone on the platform, like Horatius at the bridge, while we
mingled our silver notes with his from our lowly station in the benches. He "went
to the woods where the evergreens stood” and "Chopped and chopped and chopped”
even better than that famous Roman fought, and consequently goes down in his­
tory as our leading songbird.
We found in our fourth year at Moses Brown that school was no longer a
huge and terrifying place. Indeed, under Miss Straw, a kindly, understanding per­
son with wise-looking glasses, our resolve to hate our Alma Mater began to wilt,
and actual enjoyment crept in. By this time, the members of the class of ’36 were
older and more worldly than ever, and what is more we were First Intermediates.
Some of us were so grown that we brought offerings to teacher when we were late,
and even dared purposefully to miss sports every so often.
During this year we did many memorable things. I remember best the "extra
work” in fractions that our clever instructress always copied on a side board. Miss

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