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FACTS, HEARSAY AND MEMORIES - Page 14 No reminiscences of No. 9 would be complete without reference to "Clarindy," really Clarinda, but nobody young or old ever said it. She was a widow who lived almost across the road. Many times the teacher boarded there. Clarindy was a self appointed supervisor of most school matters. I do not think she took any hand in the making of, or following the curriculum, but she was the school nurse so to speak, and children went to her to have small cuts bandaged, and many doses of peppermint did she give for stomach ache. In the matter of coughs many children came provided with cough drops during the season, and a hand would be raised to announce, as he placed the well known box of S.B. cough drops on the desk, "My mother wants me to eat these in school." So the long bewhiskered gentleman administered to many many children what some thought a pleasant remedy. During my early school years slates and slate pencils were still in use. A bottle of water and a small cloth were kept in the desk. A small perfume bottle with a small opening was the most desirable. Those who were not sufficiently provident to be equipped with these tools drew upon their supply of saliva. The water bottles froze at times and burst. Ink, too, often froze in the large bottle from which the wells were filled. Unless the person filling the ink wells was very careful the ink might run down into the desk with disastrous consequences. We were asked at the end of the school day to give account of ourselves. The desirable comment was, "Tried to be good and haven't whispered." If you could come up with this you received a small merit card, and when you accumulated ten you were given a colored picture. It was quite common in those days if a woman wished to go for a day's shopping or had some special job on hand such as spring cleaning to send a younger child to school. As I had no younger brother or sister I felt so unfortunate that I would ask to take a neighbor child occasionally. That practice could be at times so overdone as to become quite a nuisance. Much more could be told of No. 9, but I should hasten on. Peddlers were in those days very important factors in country life. We had two meat carts. One from Cornell Road then Mosher and Sylvia on Tuesday and Friday; Wednesday and Saturday Charles Austin's from Central Village came. The butcher would raise the back panel to display on a high shelf hams, shoulders, link sausages, and cuts of pork. In the back were small wooden tubs of tripe, liver, and pickles in brine. Then there were pot roasts and different qualities of steak. A long box below contained the various cuts of corned beef. We always had a fish cart Mondays. A man from near us went down to Seakonnet Point Sunday night to get the fish. His coming was always heralded by the blowing of a horn. These peddlers were to be depended upon regularly and other men might bring along fish, clams, quahogs, sea clams, and herrings at such time as they were plentiful. 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
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