School Days

Somebody liked cars! I love the cool hood ornament on this one.

What could I possibly say about school? I loved it!! I have so many little stories that I could share, you'd be bored to tears! Ah, but what the hell.......here goes a few anyway.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my Grade 4 year started off in the new Rollo Bay Consolidated School. What an experience for those of us who rode that transition. And it's just a memory now too, as it is long gone, having made way for the beautiful new K-12 French School on the same spot.

But my memories of my first three years in the little one room school at Rollo Bay are as strong and as sweet as ever. (They say that the long-term memory is the last thing to go.......)

I remember walking in the snow to the school, it was cold and crispy, and the sun glittered on the snow like the rhinestones in my new headband. Will you ever forget those hard plastic horseshoe-shaped bands with the rows of little teeth? Talk about painful, especially when you first pushed it on and wiggled it to make it comfortable. I probably still have the trenches on my scalp where it dug in.

A packet of fresh new Hilroy scribblers to open.

A couple of unsharpened pencils, and waiting in line at the sharpener to get that first peel off, while Mrs. Chaisson kept her eye on you.

As in most one room schools, there was a coal burning stove in the middle, near the back. Older boys in the school would come in early and start the stove when cold weather started. When you walked in to the room, there was that unmistakeable smell of oil (from that dirty old coal) dust (chalk) and that green pine-scented damp powder that the teacher used to sweep the floors. I wonder if that stuff still exists.....Since there was no fan or means of circulation, you either froze anyway from being too far from the stove, roasted because you were seated right beside it, or like Goldilocks you were somewhere in the middle and "just right!"

There were two cloak rooms, one for boys and one for girls, where you hung up your coat. And of course if nature called, there was a cute little outhouse nestled in the trees at the edge of the property.

A water fountain was situated near the front of the classroom, with a spigot to dispense water. If you were lucky there was a small supply of paper cups. If not, you would use the cover off your thermos. And that cold, clean delicious water was pumped right straight out of the ground every day by the boys strong enough to handle the big pump out in the school yard, and carry the bucket to refill the dispenser. I felt like I'd come up in the world! Wow! To press a little button and water came out!

I'll never forget the maps, big large colorful maps! One of the Island, in between the beautiful framed pictures of the Queen and Prince Phillip, and on every wall, maps of the world. They rolled up and down, so that the teacher would have access to the chalkboard.

And I remember the "sponsors" printed in each corner of the maps, it was Neilsons Chocolate Bar Company. Each corner featured a full color picture of a different bar, so even in the early 60s, candy companies knew how to merchandise to kids. We hardly ever saw one, let alone have one, but we felt sure we'd know what to ask for if we got a dime and a trip to Gert Deveau's store!

And to this day, I love maps, for whatever reason. I love old maps and new maps and a good atlas and all sorts. When my kids were younger, and they were studying geography or social science, I bought a bright colorful map of the world, used it as a tablecloth on my big round hitchen table, and kept it covered with a sheet of clear plastic. They couldn't help but learn, as they set the table or removed dishes or did their homework. You may think kids wouldn't take any pass of that, but you'd be surprised. I liked to ask no one in particular, "Where is Mexico on the map? Which continent?" and questions like that, and one of them always took a look, and maybe just by accident, get drawn in to the exotic names of far away cities and oceans.........like I would. I also used the same trick for math problems and times tables memorization. I might holler out "What's 9 times 8?" and one of them would answer. No calculators or computers on the table then!

My father had such a big beautiful smile and it looks like he liked me. And on the wall behind him, although it's not a great copy and it's kind of hazy, is a picture of my beautiful aunt Dottie, his sister.

I remember wearing a long sleeved white sweater to school for the first time, it was new and kind of rough textured. I loved it. There was even a new pencil case, plaid with a zipper, with not much to put in it, but it was mine.

The school yard was surrounded by a white board fence, and we kids always sat perched on the top rail with our feet hooked in the bottom rail. The bigger kids would be playing ball or Red Rover, but some of us were too small to be interesting as a teammate. There was always an extra ball around, and we would play 3-corner catch or hopscotch during recess or our lunch, we never stayed inside.

Lunch would consist of a home made bread sandwich, maybe just buttered. If Momma had any sweets, I'd have a cookie or slice of cake, sometimes an apple. No neat little packets of yogurt (unknown at that time in Rollo Bay) no granola bars (also unknown in Rollo Bay at that time) but I do remember a crazy very short-lived treat called "Shake-A-Pudding." It came as a kit, where you poured a dry powder into a little plastic cup that was provided. You went to the fountain and poured water to the marked level, put the cap on, shook it for a minute, and voila! A perfect little tub of sugar loaded pudding! I was a rock star! My grandmother may have had few resources, but she was a good manager. She loved to try new things, and rarely came home from a trip to Charlottetown without treats from Woolworth's or The Metropolitan. I still don't know how she did it.

There was no bus system yet, but no one knew any better. We walked to school and we walked back home. Everyone did. No wonder we were famished all the time!

Since Ann was the teacher, she was from the community and knew each family. I was never asked the inevitable questions about my name, what was my father's name, my mother's name, all that school stuff that is necessary but repetitive. That misery was to come later, in the "new" school.

Some of you readers may remember the never to be forgotten Mr. Hynes, the School Superintendent. He was an imposing man, brilliant and brisk wth that shock of white hair. And I think for the teacher, he was a little intimidating, since by the questions asked of the students, he was there to make sure the teachers were carrying out the proper curriculum. He would put columns of numbers on the board to be added and wait for one of the older students to come up with the answer, a pop quiz of the day. Of course, he could add it all up in his head, but he was sharp and he expected that the teacher was teaching proper math. He would throw out spellings and wait impatiently for any student to answer. Correctly. He had a short fuse for wrong answers. In fact, he was testing the teacher. He would blow in once a year or so, just like the auditors at any bank. Enough to put the fear of God in anyone.

We were visited a couple times a year by the Public Health Nurse. Since they were also the ones who administed the vaccines of the day, we had a healthy fear of their arrival. But sometimes they were just doing routine checks for lice, or some lessons on dental hygiene, which was sadly lacking in those days. Times have changed in that department, thank god.

I have absolutely no recollections of Christmas in the old school, although of course there would have been something. I don't remember any concerts either.

I do remember a spelling bee once, where I came second. I was devastated. I must have been born with a competitive streak, because I've always been the same. It's never stopped me from trying things, that's for sure, but I hate losing!! Perhaps that's made me pushy. I'm not pushy. Am I pushy? No......well maybe just a little pushy........

I know my father re-enlisted into the Reserves after the war, and this picture has all the trappings of a barracks. Combat boots, fatigues, guys in bunks and lockers. And my handsome father.

Another thing I have no memory of is bullying. I don't rememer any one getting picked on. It seemed all the students, probably around 30 of us, just got along. Of course there was a lot of cases of siblings, so perhaps that had something to do with it. (That changed when we moved) The teacher never spoke sharply to anyone except the occasional "Pay Attention" and no doubt I got that once or twice too, but it must have been like herding cats, to keep everyone in line! What a job!

There were five students in my grade: Louis Mooney, Gerard Deveau (I think) Teresa Doucette, Mary Perry and me. We were a little team and sat scattered about the classroom, but stayed together for those three years until we entered the exciting halls of the new school in fourth grade. Mary is the only one I know the whereabouts of now, the others moved on. Wouldn't a reunion of all former students, plus Mrs. Chaisson be wonderful? Someone out there must have a few pictures.

Stay tuned for next week.......