Page 26 - 1964

demerits being an hour of detention at 8:20 Sat­
urday mornings.
The seventh grade also gave us the benefit of
other fine teachers. We were given great floods of
historical and scientific knowledge by that unforget­
table pedagogue, Mrs. Eleanore "more-for-your-
money” Monahon. When we weren't taking trips to
the "hysterical" society, we were dissecting frogs be­
fore lunch. Near the end of the year, a record player
was brought in to class. We rocked ecstatically to
the strains of "In 1814 We Took a Little Trip.”
A new addition to the faculty livened up the
proceedings of the eighth grade. The man was an
Englishman by the name of Ian Coutts. Mr. Coutts
often made hilarious remarks about the obesity of
one of our more prominent class members. "Edouard,
if you don't sit up straight, you will dent that col­
umn against which you are leaning.” Occasionally
in a fit of temper, Mr. Coutts would hurl an eraser
at a whispering student and scream, "Get out, you
wretched boy!” Because of Mr. Coutts, the eighth
grade was a year of poor grades and lively algebra
and geography lessons.
The English classes were also pretty exciting in
this second year of Middip School. Mr. Gardner con­
sidered his honor division mature enough to read
Who runs the school? . . . The Syndicate, of course. Hemingway's Green Hills of Africa, a realistic con­
temporary novel with real swear words! The re­
sponse to this assignment was very favorable. Later
in the year, the eminent writing consultant, Mr.
Darcy Curwen, gave the group an amusing preview
this reason, a great and unforgettable part of our
of rugged high school English. After receiving a
school careers.
lengthy homework assignment we would sometimes
Fifth grade was a rough year. Miss Jensen piled
on the homework with unrelenting fury. It was in mutter "Oh, God!” under our breaths. Mr. Curwen
would overhear us and exclaim joyfully, "Don’t say
this year that the basic wonders of geometry were
introduced to us. We revelled in the glorious meta­ that. God won’t help you here!”
phors of Tennyson and in the vibrant similes of
Joyce Kilmer. We were made aware of totalitarian
regimes as the Franchot-Ridgely-Owen political ma­
chine took over the class. Name-taking of rule vio­
lators was commonly practiced by the class officers.
This forsaking of friends was disillusioning. The
whole thing was over our heads. It was a too-early
preview of adtdt life and responsibility.
The sixth grade was a more pleasant year. Mrs.
Cullen was fanatic about English grammar and com­
position. In this year we were compelled to write
our autobiographies. The school year 1957-58 ex­
posed us to the violence of tackle football and the
thrill of having inter-scholastic athletic contests.
We shall never forget the torturous social studies
class of Mrs. Bliss. Bob Ridgely was the teacher’s
favorite student. He was the only member of the
class not to. receive those famous punishment as­
signments.
The class of 1964 was the first seventh grade class
to enter the new Middle School, presided over by
Lloyd Sprague, math teacher, vacation trip organizer
and avid disciplinarian. Who can forget those fear-
evoking temper tantrums? By the iron hand of Mr.
Sprague, boys were forced to play with blocks on the
floor— a truly crude indignity— for a boy of seventh
grade status! Another innovation of Mr. Sprague
was the demerit system, the consequence of three Another great peg by Quarterback Dunn.