Reclaimed Memories

y third position, while we were in Harrisburg, Ohio, was as a teacher of first and second grade boys, in the State Feeble Minded Institution, in Orient. Orient was about two miles from the parsonage, and the town was principally composed of the many buildings housing the large institution. There were three teachers for the boys and three for the girls. The youngsters, who were chosen to be in school, were those whom the supervisor of this group of children considered capable of learning to read and write. Some of the ones I had were not even capable of that, but all were trainable, and could care for their toilet and bathing needs. Their ages ranged between seven and fifteen years, about equally divided between blacks and whites.

The school rooms were in the basements of two of the buildings. The rooms for the two sexes were widely separated so the boys and girls were not together at any time, except once a week when all were taken to an auditorium for music. This consisted of trying to teach them simple songs.

After I started the school year there I learned that they still needed a teacher for a class of boys. Our organist had taught on a provisional certificate for a few years and she applied and secured the position. From that time to the end of the school year we rode together to work. The teachers ate in a separate dining room, with other members of the staff, and we had a long lunch break. After we ate we had a lounge to which we went for about an hour of rest and relaxation before the afternoon session, which ended at four in the afternoon. I believe all the classes were taught by people who had no real training for the job. My only qualification, beyond high school at that time, was the three years of Theological Seminary I had received. It was a discouraging job! The same materials had to be gone over and over for the children to learn the simplest things.

But some funny things did happen. I always started my class by reading them a Bible story from Marion's Bible story book and having prayer. I stopped often in my reading to explain something I had just read. They were always attentive and seemed to enjoy this period and I wanted to make sure they understood what I was reading. I came to the word "paradise" and after reading the sentence stopped and asked, "Do you know what paradise is?" A hand immediately shot up and the youngster said, "I do Miss. I do. I have a pair." Of course, I explained that the word did not mean "a pair of dice," but a very beautiful place to live called "The Garden of Eden, " where God put Adam and Eve. The name for any teacher was always "Miss."

We teachers all had a good laugh, one rest period when one of the teachers of a girls' section told of her morning experience. Our books were all used ones from the public schools and with the children the same materials were covered over and over. When the teacher announced "We will read the story of The little Red Hen this morning," we could understand the frustration of one of the girls. She jumped up, slammed her book on the desk and exclaimed "I am so God damned tired of the little red hen, I don't know what to do!"

One day during the morning recess I was amused when I heard two boys taking about their families. One remarked "There's twenty-one children in my family," and the other replied "Huh! That ain't no family! That's a institution!" I think that was a right discerning answer for a retarded child.

I had an operation which kept me out of the classroom for six weeks, during this our last year in Ohio.

When we received the news of the explosion of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the information about atomic energy in the newspapers, Howard claims that his dad said to me, "Betty, they will be going to the moon in our lifetime," and that I replied, "Oh Troy, don't be silly!" It is hard for me to believe that there was any really serious talk of going to the moon until the late fifties. Troy was always rather skeptical about events in the future. At that time he firmly believed in the return of Christ in our lifetime. The moon trip was Kennedy's dream and he took office in 1960.

Like everyone else on V-J day in 1945 we rode around town, making as much noise as we possibly could with Howard blowing on the mouth piece of Troy's clarinet. Troy had his two degrees (Bachelor of Arts from Otterbein; Master of Arts in Political Science from Ohio State) tucked safely away and we were ready to return to the West Virginia Conference of the United Brethren Church.

NEXT - ELKINS, WEST VIRGINIA, 1945 -1952