Lois's Graduate studies

My studies started immediately after registering. I took several Biblical courses including "Prophetic Literature of the Old Testament" under Dr.  F. Kearley;  "The Use of Apocalyptic Style  in the Old and New Testaments" under Dr. Ian Fair; "Christian Ethics", under Dr. Carl Spain. The remainder of my studies were "Seminar in Contemporary Problems and Family Studies"  under Dr.  Tom Holland, and "Marriage and Family" under Dr. Paul Faulkner.  The course which entranced me the most, I think, was one I took under Dr. Milholland which required that I go to the Abilene State School where they had mentally disabled children who were sent there by parents who found they could not understand or control their offspring. I especially remember one little boy. He was about eight years old and had the sweetest, most angelic face I had ever seen on a child. This is how my attempted conversation went with him :
    Lois –  Hello
   Boy – Hello
   Lois - How are you
   Boy - How are you
   Lois – I'm fine, thank you
   Boy - I'm fine, thank you
   Lois – I'm glad
   Boy - I'm glad
 Mary, the professional in charge of these kids, came in then and took me aside and told me, "He doesn't understand a single thing you have said to him, he cannot talk normally, he has what is called "Echolalia,"  "lalia" is a Greek word meaning "speech," Some call it "parroting." The children at the State School were taken for walks where they collected wild flowers, leaves, grass, and sticks, etc, which they would take back to school and stick onto white paper. Some of their creations could only be described as "exquisite". I borrowed several of them to take to show the class their
beautiful creations. For my final  endeavour I was asked, by Paul Faulkner, to write to as many churches of Christ and find out how many of them approved of hiring marriage counselors for their congregation's troubled families. He told me not to expect too many responses. I received about 30% response, which Dr. Faulkner thought was particularly good. This, very briefly describes my MS Degree.

Melville's great success as a graduate student

When we first arrived at ACU Mel still lacked a few leveling courses he had to take, but since he had done such fantastic work at SABS, the university allowed him to start on his undergraduate work immediately. He was allowed to begin some of his master's degree work which completing the final semester of his bachelor's which he achieved "Summa Cum Laude." He was now ready to give all his time to his MA degree. He was also inducted into ALPHA CHI, a national honor society.

Abilene Christian University

After we had moved into our apartment I realized I was going to be bored to tears, I knew no-one, the kids were in school – Steve at Taylor Junior School, close to the campus, and Paul at Abilene High School. I said to Melville, "I'm going to go crazy with nothing to do but keep this tiny apartment tidy!" He immediately responded, "Why don't you go and see if they will give you a scholarship, they have all the information about your previous attendance." I immediately cheered up, because I knew that I would love to continue my studies. Since I had worked my last two under-grad years in the Bible department I thought that the fact would give me a better chance of success. So I got myself ready and took myself off to the the office of the Head of the Bible Department. I was thrilled to see he was one of the professors for whom I had worked, and he said he remembered me well. I asked if he thought they would accept me as a graduate student and would give me a scholarship. He said he was sure he could arrange it, and as I left his office I said, "It will have to be 100%" He said, "Go and register and I'll see what I can do and will call you this afternoon." That afternoon I got my positive answer – I was now a Graduate Student!!

Arrival in the States

When we arrived at the airport in Georgia we were met by Deb and Rex who took us, first, to eat at a Chick-fil-A, our first encounter of this popular fast-food eatery, then we proceeded to their home in Montgomery, Alabama, where Rex was working in a Christian book-store. We spent our first American Christmas there before leaving for Abilene, Texas, and Abilene Christian University – my old Alma Mater. Rex had an old Chevy Vega which he sold to us for $1.00, just to make it legal for us to own it. It still worked very well and lasted us until we were ready to return to Southern Africa Bible School (SABS). We left Alabama shortly after Christmas and drove down to our new destination. On the way there we spent the night in West Monroe town before going on to Abilene. That night there was snow storm and the roads were covered in snow. As we entered Texas, we had to cross an ice-coated bridge. One abandoned car was on its side just across the bridge, so we entered the bridge with some trepidation (well considered) and soon found ourselves sliding. Melville is an excellent driver, and knew the technique to follow in such a situation, and we arrived safely, but shaken with fear, on the other side. Paul and Steve were sitting in huddled positions in the back seat – too scared to speak. Then we proceeded to Abilene with no further traumas. We located the house where wwe were to make out home for the next couple of years. It belonged to Dr. Everett Ferguson and was adjacent to his house. He had divided the house into two apartments and we had the larger section Everett was now professor at ACU and was an ex-student with whom I had enjoyed a speech class in our undergraduate days.

Winding down at SABS

 The time for Mel's graduation is coming near. In the last year he has been elected as an elder at Benoni Church of Christ, he has also been approached about going to ACU in order to receive a Master's Degree so that he will be qualified to lecture at SABS. He has accepted the challenge and the school will provide the money for our plane trip. Also, Tim has joined us at SABS, having been released from the Rhodesian (soon to be Zimbabwe) army.  He will attend SABS while Mel, I,  Paul, and Steve  are at ACU. Now, how are we going to finance our education? Benoni had recently had a Gospel meeting with the preacher from the San Antonio, Texas, Charles Prince, preaching. The local church was going to take care of us until we could arrange something else.

We meet our son-in-law

 About 18 months after they were married, Rex and Deb came to visit us at SABS. Deb had scared Rex by telling him that Mel was very strict and he had better mind his "P"s and "Q"s. So when we met them at the Airport he was dressed in a full suit, shirt, and tie. Of course he soon found out that Deb was just teasing him. Both Mel and I loved him from the beginning. When we got home, because the students had been away on vacation and were expected back in a day or two, we had to give our visitors the tiny room which was situated at the rear of the house. When I say "tiny" I mean that. It could scarcely hold their bed. But that was the best we could offer them. We spent the rest of the time talking, showing them around and just generally "catching up". I don't really recall all that we did, but we loved having them with us, and rejoiced that our girl had been so wise in her choice of a husband. Not only was he a Christian, but a wonderful preacher as well.

The Branfords

While we were at SABS we became close friends of Reg and Diane Branford. They had  two kids, and had a baby soon after school began. As time went on and it was getting close to graduation a call  from Pietermaritzburg came to the school, asking for a preacher. Dad thought briefly that he might try, but decided against it, Reg, however, decided to try out for the job.  The Branfords went down and stayed with people who owned a bulldog. As soon as they arrived there they were told not to venture into the back yard as the bulldog was aggressive.  Sunday morning as Reg was getting ready he looked out of the sliding glass doors which faced on to the backyard, and was horrified to see his toddler out there in jaws of the bulldog which was shaking her like a rag doll. Reg opened the sliding doors, though they were almost impossible to open, rushed out and literally tore the dog's jaws open as he freed his child. She was so covered with blood that he yelled for someone to get the car ready to take them to the hospital. He would not allow Diane to see her face as he held the baby up against his chest. When they arrived at the hospital there was only one doctor there who was free to operate. He was a brain surgeon who had just finished an intricate operation, but the good doctor did not hesitate as he took the toddler into the theatre and performed a  fantastically intricate procedure on the her. The dog's teeth had penetrated her cheek  which required that he sew up the inside of her mouth as well. After they came home Diane was visiting me with the little one and was bemoaning the fact that the child was now terrified of ALL dogs.  Candy, our retriever, was in the lounge, lying quietly at a distance from us, and the toddler would not leave her mother's lap. I looked at Candy and then at Diane and said, "Let me see if Candy can help her." I got up and walked over to Candy ad caressed her. Then I said to the child, "Come and see Candy, she will not hurt you, she loves little girls." With some encouragement from Diane she came over slowly, and Candy, bless her loving heart, rolled over onto her back—the ultimate position of surrender—as the child softly touched her—and so started the healing of a cruelly injured little lady.

Rex and Debbie

At  this point I want to focus on Rex and Debbie for a while. Deb had left Harding and enrolled at Alabama Christian College, because her lifelong friend, Beverly Kidwell, had persuaded her to do so.  She wrote to get our approval and moved down lock, stock, and barrel. At this time we were already living on the SABS property. When we had been in the boys dorm for a short while we received a very short  little note from her in which she stated, "There is a cute guy here who is teaching me to drive – don't get any ideas!" Being her mother I, of course, immediately got "IDEAS," but wisely kept my thoughts to myself.  Well, it was not very long until we were asked if it was okay to get engaged to that very same "Cute guy" named – Rex Dutton!! It was some time before they married and we kept in touch until the great day. When the time came I very bravely kept my eyes dry as we lived through the day. I was dry-eyed until the photos arrived – then I lost it and made up for all the tears I should have wept. We were very happy that Rex's family loved our dear daughter from the very first, and once we met Rex we, too, fell in love with our new "son."

Life as SABS Surrogate Mother

Now to continue our surrogate patenting at the Boys' Dorm. After the cat experience we found an advert for Labrador puppies. I have always enjoyed having a dog as a pet, and Mel and I both decided we would like one now. Thus started the delightful saga of Candy. We went to view the puppies and Candy immediately captured our hearts.  When we got her home everybody fell in love with her.  As she grew older she loved to join the boys as they played football in the yard. One day, when she was still a youngish pup, I was washing the lunch dishes when I looked out the window and saw what I thought was a piece of thick rope, about two feet long. Candy was very interested in it and she circled to the front and to my horror the rope reared up and spread its hood—it was a spitting cobra.  I threw down my cloth and dashed out of the house yelling "SNAKE!!" I rushed over to Candy, picked her up bodily and carried her to the side of the house, just as shock took over, and I slumped against the wall. Mel rushed out with the only weapon he could lay his hands on, a broom of some sort, and took care of Mr. Cobra. Phew!! That was a very scary incident. The Lord took care of us and no one was hurt. I asked our boys to take the dead body to the woods across the road, and dispose of it.  Candy, a couple of days later, found its body and presented it to me in the yard—smelly.  So we sent the boys back with it telling them to bury it deep.

Our Years at SABS

It has been some time since my last post, so here goes for the "SABS experience," which will likely take up several new posts. While we were still going to the Hillside Church of Christ Al Horne came to hold a gospel meeting there. We were planning a vacation to Durban and the Hornes invited us to call by their home in Benoni on our way back to spend a few days with them before returning to Bulawayo. This we did and while we were visiting them Al asked Mel to consider coming to SABS as a student. We decided that we would like to do that and as soon as we returned we started to make plans to do so. Deb had already left to attend college in the States. War with the black Africans was on the go and Tim was of the age that he was called up for compulsory army service. Mel tried his best to get him exempt so he could also attend, but the Rhodesian authorities were adamant and we had to leave without him. It almost broke my heart, but we went ahead and arrived in Benoni and were invited to live in the Hardin's house as they were on a visit to USA. This was just to be until one of the houses on the SABS property was vacant.

When we moved to the SABS property we moved into the smaller of the two available houses. The other house was used to house the six teenaged boys who were placed in the care of another couple.

About two weeks later, after classes were over, I looked out the kitchen window and was startled to see the faculty wives stopping in our yard.  This indicated a serious problem and I was, to put it  mildly, alarmed. When they were all seated I set about getting tea ready for them, and while they were drinking it they told us why they were there. They were worried because the boys were very unhappy with the care they were receiving from the family who were put in charge of them. It had reached the pitch that the faculty felt it necessary to make a change and asked if we would consider taking on the job. We agreed and subsequently we moved , lock, stock and barrel, into the large house.

When I first walked into the house I saw the stove  I thought, "Oh, good, a black enameled stove!" But, on closer inspection I saw, to my horror, that it was a white stove which had not been cleaned in ages!! So, job number one – get that stove back to its original beauty, which literally took hours of hard labor – but, at last we had a nice clean white stove!  Now, I had  a house full of hungry mouths to feed. Thus started my period of being a surrogate Mom to these boys, and  our own two sons. Unfortunately, they seemed to think I was going to be doing ALL their washing and ironing – an impossible task for one woman, so we had a little talk and the boys all agreed to see to their own ironing.

While we lived there we acquired a kitten from one of the married couples. It decided that the place to do its business was behind the radio, and I found a perfect cure for that.  She was bothered with fleas and I often had to apply flea powder, which she HATED, and she protested bitterly – so I stood the container in the the cat's chosen corner – end of problem.

Steve's painful bike experience and Elias's knowing what to do.

 While we were living in Fairspire Court our boys, Paul and Steve, befriended another young fellow, about Paul's age. This boy offered to give a bike ride to Steve. On the back of our bikes there was often a carrier on which one could fasten his school satchel or case. It made quite a nice carrier for a passenger too. Well, suddenly we heard a real horrified scream from Steve. I and Elias ran to the window and we saw Steve sitting in the pavement with a lot of blood streaming from his foot. Without a second's hesitation Elias said, "Call the Master (Mel), " as he tore downstairs and picked Steve up holding the deep cut on Steve's foot closed. He rushed upstairs and went directly to the bathroom where he filled  the handbasin  with water, all the time holding the wound closed. Mel rushed home and we tore up to the hospital where they cleansed his foot and sewed it up with several stitches (I think it was seven) and the doctor said that it had missed the tendon by a hair's breadth, which would have meant the loss to movement to his foot. What had happened was that Steve's foot was caught in the spokes of the boy's bike.  When we left Bulawayo to go to Southern Africa Bible School we had to tell Elias that we couldn't take him with us, but I gave him a wonderful reference and he, very soon, was hired to a responsible job with the Municipality. I tell you all this to illustrate what a treasure we found when we hired Elias. When we got home from the hospital Elias was still there, even though it was long passed his knock-off time!! What a Gentleman!!

More about Our Hillside Membership

  When we moved our membership to the Hillside Church of Christ we first moved into a small condo but after a couple of months we moved next door into a very nice apartment in Fairspire  Court. Deb had been getting ready to fly to the USA in order to attend Harding University in Searcy Arkansas. Her interest was aroused by Bro. Shewmaker who was an alumnus, and highly regarded the institution.  The time came for her to leave we all drove out to the Bulawayo Airport. When the call came for the passengers to board we watched her leave the terminal to get on the plane. We were all standing on the verandah upstairs watching them. She did not turn around once — I think she was trying not to cry, just as we were. We waited there until the plane took off with our beloved daughter going away with very little chance of seeing her again for several years — actually it was about 11 years!! But more about that a little later.

 We had a very real black gentleman working for us, cooking our meals and keeping our home clean. This was because I was spending so much time teaching. He was a youngish married man and was really more suited, mentally, to be holding a white man's job, but, sadly the colour bar was still in place at this time. His name was Elias. We tried to convert him but he was a very staunch member in the Dutch Reformed Church. I asked our black preacher to speak to him, but he was unsuccessful also. Anyway Elias loved  our children, and they loved him. While our kids were small I made all their clothes and I had an old Jones Treadle Machine. When I bought myself an electric machine I asked Elias if he would like my old and he was beside himself with joy, so I started giving him pieces of material and he proudly showed me the dresses he made for his little girl. You would have thought he had had sewing lessons, but, no, he worked it out for himself. One day Norman Flynn, a friend who worked for a clothing factory, gave me a fair-sized piece of suiting fabric which I gave to Elias. A few days later he came to work and said, "Madam, do you remember this material you gave me?" He had taken a pair of his worn-out pants apart and used the pieces as a pattern and made himself a perfect pair of trousers, even with the fly made correctly, and he was proudly wearing them to work. I was astonished. More later.

"Intelligent Chatter" and Eye Glasses

When Steve was two years old he was not yet speaking, but only, very intelligently, baby chattering. This highly amused Reg Kidwell, our very good friend, who would hold him up in his arms and Steve would start pointing at things, especially on the ceiling, and would chatter endlessly. Well, a short time later I noticed that Steve seemed to be squinting and I took him to the doctor who confidently stated, "No, I don't think so, his flat baby nose makes it appear so." Not long after that Steve was sickening for something and was running a raised temperature and I noticed that his left eye was moving significantly slower than his right eye — so back to the doctor we went. This time the doc agreed with me and sent us immediately to the eye specialist who had rooms in the same medical block.

He told us that there was a worrying difference and set up some exercises for his eyes, and after treating him for several weeks he prescribed glasses for the little guy. We took the scrip to the same person who always made our glasses. When the glasses were ready we took Steve to have them fitted. The practitioner sat him on the counter and put the glasses on him. Steve sat there, as good as gold, but his little eyes filled with tears, and very soon there were little pools lying in the bottom of the specs.  I took the glasses off and cleaned them and put them back on, talking soothingly to him as I did so. And this time he accepted them. Only once did he pull them off in a temper — I don't know why, but from then on he never tried to see without them. A whole new world had opened up to him — and almost immediately he began to speak fluently (for a two year old). Prior to our discovery of his eye problem he would bring picture books to his Daddy to show him all the interesting things in them. We found out later that young children who are extremely interested in picture books often have an eye problem.

I also remember a time when Paul had a birthday party out in the back yard, and we sat Steve in his high-chair. We put his goodies in his plate and he had the time of his life mixing them all together into one sticky mess, which he proceeded to eat with great enjoyment — much to the amusement of Paul's young guests.

The House-selling saga

Our house had been on the market for several weeks. Many came to look, but there were no takers except for one man who decided that our unused acre at the rear of the house would be very useful for a vegetable garden. Sadly, his wife did not want to live there. But, he came again and told us how much he wanted it, but that his wife was the stumbling block. Well, after the call from my friend, and after I had wept out my heart to the Lord, I suddenly thought of old Brother Will Short, a missionary working with the Hillside Church of Christ, in the community at the  other end of town, and I felt impelled to talk to him for advice. Well, after pouring my heart out to this wonderful and understanding old friend he said, "Lois, Mother (that is what he called his wife) and I have seen the struggle you have been going through, but we didn't want to interfere without being asked. Let me make a suggestion, why don't you leave Queens Park for a while and come and worship with us. When you look at them from a distance you may get things into better perspective and then you can make a final decision."

I thanked him for his patience with me, then called Mel. I gave him the whole story and after thinking for a moment he said. "That is what we are going to do." Now, hold it, the next part took my breath away, about three hours after that call to Mel , my uncle, who was our estate agent, called me to tell me the house was sold — to the man who wanted the vegetable garden. The Lord surely does move in mysterious ways. We never regretted our decision.

Our Surprise Package

When I was in my late 38th year I was fairly certain my childbearing days were over, and so when I began to suspect I was pregnant again I said to Mel, "Honey, I think we are going to have an addition to the family!"  He in his wonderful ability for understatement calmly said, "Oh dear, what are we going to call it?"  I was delighted with the idea and after a couple of weeks it was time to have it confirmed by the doctor. Dr. Mc Nair's reaction, sadly, was the opposite of Mel's. "What?" he said aghast, "that is not a good idea at your age!" (I was at the age when babies with Down's Syndrome may be born). I was aware  of the danger but I really was not afraid and I retorted, very strongly, "Well, I am going to have this baby and there is NOTHING you can do about it!" He did not protest but said, "Well I am going to make very sure you have no more. I will deliver  him by C-section." I agreed and since my due date was a few days after Deb's 13th birthday we would schedule his birth for the 24th of January, Deb's birthday. And that is what happened. All this occurred a short time after Ma had moved in with us and it took place three years before our fostering experience.

Our fostering experience

I mentioned, recently, the children next door on the south of our property. Without going into details, which are not pleasant, I will say this: we fostered the two children for seven months, meanwhile their mother had remarried and now had a stable marriage. Things came to a head with the children and we knew we needed to give our entire attention to our own children when Deb, who was now working said, "Mom, I know the kids need you so let me move to the YWCA." This was after the little girl had found Deb's five years of artwork and defaced every one of her pieces. This was just the culminating event, I had just the night before been told by Mel that we would take them back to the Welfare people the very next day because he saw the devastating effect she was having on me. Fortunately when we took them back they told us that we were going to lose them soon because their mother wanted them back. However, my feelings of guilt about what we had to do kept bugging me for weeks after. As a result I eventually called Sister Shewmaker, a missionary who was working with her husband in the Hillside Church of Christ. I poured out my heart to her, and when I had finished she said, very sweetly, "Lois, you did the right thing. Remember this, God gave you your children; you voluntarily took on the responsibility of those other children of your own free will."  Thank you Sister Shewmaker!!

It was while we had the children that my mother decided, strictly on her own, to use the settlement of Dad's will to move into one of the old-age communities, Coronation Cottages, and live independently. This freed up her flatlet for our use.

Going Back a While

Let me go back to the times before the last post.  This will be about some incidents before Oupa, my Dad, died. Paul was still very little, but was outgrowing his cot, so I decided to buy some 3 by 4 inch planks to make another one myself. I very carefully measured the two side pieces, the top and bottom pieces, and four short legs. I bought 3 inch canvas webbing to weave across the top to make a firm base for his little mattress. I was having the time of my life putting it all together when my Dad walked in and saw what I was doing. He could see what I was trying to do and laughed. "Lois, it looks like a dog cocking his leg! Here, let me take it to my garage and finish it for you." Oupa was master craftsman when to came to any woodwork job, and I gladly handed it to him to finish for me. Paul used that bed for a couple of years, by which time Steve was on the scene and he also used it when Paul got a "big" single bed because now he was a "big boy."

Life with Ma

Getting back to where I left off in order to relate my teaching experiences. After my Dad died Ma (My Mom) moved in with us. Our house was tiny and she had to share Debbie's room. It very soon became obvious that we needed to extend our house and add more rooms. I took it on myself to draw up the plans — adding about 2 feet to the living room and kitchen, putting a huge picture window in the living room and another window in the kitchen. Then I added two more rooms for the boys, and a new master bedroom for Mel and me. I used a book with plans to help me to make the plans look professionally done, and off I went to Central Africa Building Society to ask for an extension to our loan — the Lord must have been behind me 100% because they granted the loan in a few days. We employed the same builder who had built the original house, and we tasted grit and dust for several months as the work progressed. Our home had only one bathroom and one separate toilet, but we were used to that so it didn't bother us. Then my father's will was eventually completed and Ma decided to pay, from the proceeds, to have a very large room built on to the back of the house. It was as wide as the original house and pretty long.  She had a small kitchen area and a shower also. She had no toilet so an intervening door was cut into the end wall of our house, and this door was only locked when Ma decided to lock it.

 Next door to us lived a poor family. The family, including a half-witted adult son, plus an older granny who had her son and wife and two small children living with her. The mother of the children got a divorce from her man and moved to South Africa, leaving the kids for Granny to raise. She was a member of the church and always took them with her to services. One night there was a knock at Ma's door. I was visiting Ma at the time and the granny brought the little girl in and asked if we could help her. She lifted the child's dress and exposed her bottom. I gasped with shock when I saw the one buttock was bright red, with a HUGE boil in the middle. Without thinking I blurted out, "Why haven't you taken her to the hospital?" She replied, "We have no transport and the closest bus stop is too far away for us to walk there." Because of their poverty they would have received free treatment. Unfortunately Mel was out doing personal work at the time and I had no transport, so we couldn't help. I told her I would drive Mel to work in the morning then come home and take the child to the hospital. Meanwhile I took Mandy (the child) down to our bedroom where I turned her over my knee and gently squeezed out as much infection as I could — a good three thimbles full — then cleansed the wound thoroughly and placed a dressing on it. We sent them home and told them to be ready in the morning, which they were, and I took her to the hospital where they dealt with what was left of the boil and gave her an antibiotic to clear up any infection. She recovered very well.

On another occasion the child's frantic aunt burst into our kitchen where I was cooking.  "Please come quickly, Mandy has sown her finger into the sewing machine!!" I rushed over to find the uncle trying to pull her hand through the needle hole in her finger, which was trapped under the needle  which had completely penetrated it. "Stop. " I ordered, "Bring me a screw-driver." When he brought it I put it under the needle-holder and forced it up so that we could safely slide her finger out. I took her home with me, put some antibiotic ointment on it and wound a band-aid around it. She went off as happy as a lark and was soon running around yelling at the top of her voice — a very annoying habit she had.

My High school Classes — continued

I will concentrate largely in my 1D class. I learned to love those kids. My job was to focus on their arithmetic and English. If they behaved themselves all week I would read to them from some appropriate books — but they had to be ones which were attention-holders. One morning the head of the English department brought me a book with which I was familiar, it was a play about a psychological murder, but it had several sexual  portions, howbeit, those passages were skillfully written, but nevertheless, I told the man I would not subject the children to it. His response was, "I wouldn't worry about the sexual references, they get it that sort of talk all the time at home." My immediate comeback was, "Yes, I know, but do we have to feed it to them at school also? I will not do that." So he went to the headmaster and told him and was told by headmaster to tell me to choose my own books. Some of the books I chose  were, Jock of The Bushveld, a book about a bull-terrier whose bravery soon became a legend. King Solomon's Mines, a book about an area in Africa dealing with some old ruins which were thought to date back to the Biblical King Solomon. Swiss Family Robinson, and others which I do not recall at this moment. They were books full of adventure and exciting stories. They loved the story-reading times and if they behaved badly — they were very normal kids — I would threaten them with having to do English on Friday. Actually, I used this method with all the classes I taught. It was surprisingly effective. When I was warned by my doctor that I was heading for a physical breakdown and must resign I did so very sadly. I told the children, and on my last day I came into the class-room and saw they had written with chalk all over the cupboards and black board. I immediately reprimanded them and they said, "Ah! Mrs. Sheasby, read what we have written!" I saw it was a message to me which led to the cupboard by the door, with an arrow pointing to the inside, I opened the door, and started to cry, there was a HUGE bunch of flowers. I still feel weepy when I think of it.  I said, above my emotion, "Thank you all so much. I must take them to the teachers' restroom to put them in water. As I was taking them the headmaster saw me and exclaimed, "Where did those come from?"   I explained it to him and he said, "Nothing like that has ever happened before!" I think the reason for my success with those kids was that they knew I cared about them.

Another class, Form 2D, consisted of boys only — they separated the boys and girls in this form because they found they were so busy with their hormones that they were likely to misbehave in order to get the girls' attention — but that is beside the point. I also learned to love each of them, but the mischief sometimes  got the better of them. As a general rule I was able to quell their bad behavior, but one morning they were all so hyped-up that I had to call in the deputy head. He came in asked me to step out of the room onto the surrounding veranda,  pretty soon I heard "whap-whap" as every single one of them got the cane treatment (corporal punishment was the way they handled naughty boys). When he came out and I went in they all grinned at me, even those with tears still on their cheeks, and all was forgiven because they knew they deserved what they got. That was the only time I had to call on the deputy head. This class also bought me a farewell gift — a box of beautiful lace handkerchiefs. Again, I was very touched.

The Form 3d was, of course, full of well developed boys and girls. One day the deputy head came to tell me that I was going to have a new student, but he warned me, "He has already been expelled twice, but his father brought him in and begged us to give him another chance. We agreed but told the father that one more misdemeanor and he would be out for good." I said it was okay with me. Well, the next morning he turned up in my class, and I could see that all the kids were scared of him. They had a rule in British schools that required the kids  to all stand until the teacher gave them permission to sit. I came into the class and my newcomer was standing as well. I said, "Good morning class," to which they responded, "Good morning, Mrs Sheasby." "You may be seated." All of them, except my new-comer, sat.

He stood at his desk and started rotating his hips, with the grin on his face. An audible gasp went out from the others as they stared in fear, yes, that is the word, and waited for me to respond. "I said you may be seated," Still no response. I closed my eyes and prayed a silent prayer, then is started walking slowly to the door — he sat down. There was an audible "Whoosh" from the class. I had no more trouble from him, but a few days later he was expelled again, but not because of my telling on him. When he was the gone class told me, "Mrs. Sheasby, he is a really bad boy."

After leaving Northlea I had a couple more very short periods of teaching at other schools.

More About Teaching

In addition to teaching I had to choose a class to be their form mistress. I had heard a lot of negative talk about how dim the "D" streamers were, Classes were divided into four streams, according to their intelligence scores. The A and B classes were for the more academic students, while the C and D classes were for those who would never be able to attend a university. When I heard all the negative comments about the C and D classes my sympathy was aroused and so I asked to teach in those classes and see what I could do to raise their sense of worth, so I chose to be the form 1D class teacher. There were about 20 kids in the class. My job would be to try and teach them some arithmetic and English skills.  The British School system divided the high schools into "forms" not "standards". I would also be responsible for teaching those two subjects to the forms 2 and 3.

It did not take me long to get to know the kids and to assess their abilities. There was one girl in my form  1 class who immediately caught my attention and I was aware that she was vastly more talented than the  other children, for three reasons —  1. She was a natural leader and sat in the back row and kept them in an uproar — but in a charming way,  2. Her English vocabulary was vastly superior to that of the others, and 3. She had a much more adult sense of humour.  I brought this to the notice of the head-master and asked that she be put up several streams. He protested at first and showed me her entrance exam results which were pathetically low. I was not taken in by those results and protested that they did not reflect her natural ability. He said, "I will ask the other teachers what they think." After they  thought about it they eventually agreed with me and moved her up. At the end of the year she came SECOND in her class!! After getting to know the kids I came to the conclusion that they did not come from stable families, and I was proved right  again. I learned to love those young people, and they recognized that I was an encourager and showed their appreciation by working very hard for me. It was obvious that they were of lower intelligence than the academic students, but they did their best.

The form 2 class consisted of boys only. The school had determined that at that age their behaviour in class was very disruptive when there were girls to impress. I made it a policy with all the English classes I taught I would read to them on Fridays — if they had behaved themselves during the week.The Head of the English Department had brought me a play to read to them. But I knew the play — it was a psychological murder with considerable sexual undertones and I was not happy with the choice. In a speech class I had taken in university the teacher had asked me to take part in the play — she assured me that they were going to change it considerably because it was not appropriate for a Christian College as it was. I declined, though, because I was about to graduate and still had to much to do before graduation.   More about my teaching experience in my next blog