Post Four

The years flew by, and I was in high school. I was always able to hold my own in school. Oh, how I loved my school days – the friends I made, my teachers, and the wonderful times out of school. If only young people realized how happy they could be – I must say that I did a minimum of work, and so others less fortunate than I could enjoy their days and pass without difficulty.

Talking was my difficulty and I never seemed to remember not to talk. The principal of the high school made a rule that every time anyone was caught talking should have one demerit, and if you got 20 in a month, you had to stay after school for a month. Well, I got my 20 and never got out of detention for months until the holidays came around, and then we were all free, until we got some more in the next term.

However, he never seemed to hold it against me.  In study hall where he presided, he would call me out, saying, “Sarah, step to the desk please!” (he was the only person who ever called me Sarah), and when I got there he would tell me a story.

We lived about two miles from school and in winter we had fun catching a ride on any wagon that came along – the trouble was getting off and many a spill did we get!

My dearest friend in High School was Agnes Kennedy and she was beautiful – dark-haired with creamy skin and rosy cheeks. We had such fun together, writing notes, skipping school, and doing all the things we shouldn’t have done.  One day, when we skipped school to go to the movies to see Pearl White.  Of course, we weren’t supposed to go to the movies either.  We were walking down Main Street when we saw Agnes’ two older sisters. We knew we had to hide and fortunately, we were near a coffee and tea shop, where they sold coffee and tea in huge cans, so we dashed in and hid ourselves behind two coffee tins.  Never a hint of whether we had been spotted or not – so we were fortunate and went along to the movies. Don’t remember anything at all of the movie, just our escapade.  Of course, these adventures didn’t improve our marks in school, but, anyway, we got by because we had Regents in Amsterdam, and if you passed them that was all there was to it.

In my senior year we had the usual questions on the work we had during the year, but one question which had many marks was about the earliest Norwegian settlers in Minnesota, and if I hadn’t happened to read about them in some newspaper, I wouldn’t have known whatever they were talking  
about, so I wrote about them and, lo and behold, I was the only one in the class to be able to answer the question. Later, the teacher asked me how I knew it and I said I had read about it in the newspaper.

But it was a different matter in my chemistry exam. We had a very nice young teacher, and we certainly gave him all he was worth. Agnes, Whilhelmena Clark, and I called ourselves the “Plumbrun Group”. That is the name given to certain gases or something in chemistry. On our escapades, Agnes and I had taken Mr. Horton ice cream cones to pacify him.  So when we had the Regents Exams and we found it hard, we wrote at the end of our papers, “Remember the ice cream cones”.  I don’t remember whether Agnes passed her exam, but I didn’t, and I felt so ashamed, not only because it was the only exam I ever failed, but because I couldn’t bear to have my Father see my report card. Father was a scientist and had received medals from the Prince of Wales in England, besides being a member of the Royal Society. Punishment enough for me to let him know of my misdemeamors. Anyway, I passed them on my second attempt the following January.