HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1971-12-23, Page 26-4B G,ODERIcil SIc,.,tNAt TAR. THURSDAY, DFf �EMBIR 23, 1971
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emories of the one room schoo!Christrncis concert
Chrt:a s seems to be a time school tomorrow dress warmly '- 1, remember'so well the smell concert that must last about two
ol$ great nostalgia to many. and wear your highest boots of 14 pair of water -soaked hours to justify the parents
Perhaps the very fact that it is an because we are going out to get woollen socks, at least a dozen coming 'out • in such lousy
biistorical event remembered at .. our Christmas tree.' Now that pair of soggy'mits and damp ski weather in the first place, is no
, this time of year as well as one was . a somewt at _ Miotic pants drying by the wood stove . easy joie. Combine . this . with
' of great religious itfiportance statement jn itself right there mixed with the odour of sweaty exceptionally poor facilities, add
•could.- be part . of the reason. sincew we always dressed warmly bodies and Judy's rubberized "l dash of bad luck, sprinkle with
A tither is n • doubt-thatsand' hest„ of us probably only mitts melting because the' were a lack of ability and t arse tor
• Christmas was so wonden,. to had one pair of boots but weleft'tgro near the fire. You lust, two weeks and the result was
us as childrep we can't help but would •throw On an extra sweater doti"t .know what a merry r most definitely a . McGery's
look back on those years gone 'or scarf as a token expression of Christmas is" until you've been, School Christmas Concert to be
by with. fond memories. ,.the 'importance of this anneal through' that. • enjoyed and remembered by one
One of the great events of event on the followingda and all.
Y• Well the anginal plan had v�'°
Christmas to many tf us as we . The next problem our teacher been')to get the tree in the , I remember• curtains,
.r. .s_.....-,r.�.. •,.. ,F� ; �•��� �,„, ,.. , , which Were reP
—t a %oor'back, ati"d sPecr�T fir Coad 'Was -solving w, ho would da r moining.,•.and decorate- it-during.�. ,, ,,'I...:,..,, ?!
mem was the annual ,school' what and -being vniat`''to •this the afternoon (that was always scoffed from,.
Christmas ' concert. Now ,I'm 'winter outing. You must the .plan) .but what . actually 'with safety pins
only 20 ,years of age so what I .remetnber, of course that the happened was that by the time wire, stretched tier
recall didn't really hapeen SQ whole st'hool was to go, not just we arrived back with -the tree the front, opening an
�a
long ago but it was part o way .one class or a chosen few. There whole school was so tired, and school chorus,• 14 str
of life that changed immediately were two reasons for this I f'that .,infludes our poor • old on with about 15
after I left it. That is to say ' suppose;, one being that there teacher, that we resorted to that Christmas Carols.
..g .p . are the school to ever famous ,escape, the art ally too .bad,
group
norm
0 ofa
those
,e
Pthe my �'One would be
no on
0
` tiiSt' br the Mohicans as Tar, as take care of those left behjdd period ♦ It. Seems the art period . ,-,---t h ere -- „- wise si n o
. the one room, township school and secondly there Were only 14 was always a device used with s accompaniment and s
ea
• an over' enthusiastic
too tired to do anything else. ' Next little•G.ary, all dressed in
Now our teacher, Mrs,his best Sunday" go to meeting
Thompson I think was"the name, and Christmas Concert clothes,
could hardly survive an , art came 'on to .represent the grade
period. You see she had put my two•elass (hewa.s the only one in
dad through' the entrance and that grade this year) , with a
was around long enough to put„. recitation. The ,expression ,was
my brother, who was three years•' great but it tended to interfere
'younger than myself, through. .with his memory so with the
that grade as well, and all that help of continual prompting by
walking was starting to hurt. his' moth'e sin the front row, he
-• Well - the art' period did ``struggled Through and wound up
prodiice some decorations for to'-thunde pts pplause from his
the tree so the • day was not , whole family end at least polite
totally `lose but the final recognition frim the remainder
decorating of °the tme had to• of the.audience<
,lied sheets
�. ,, t h>iy- r sdlilteet 'ge"ttiii` ` osras "[ •
me and""'flng looked for the thumb tack
om stovepipe
the school punched in the floor marking his
the whole movements,- the concert ended
ng, comingand everyone poured out into
inutes of the school yard looking like they
It wasn't had emerged from a steam even.
oiisidering On the way home we were
o' r ted r
mus -icy c. ng, atula . . b� p Qud_ parents
me girl in on the fine job we had done and
out to be Mrs. Thompson escaped from
onotone. her self made trial, with •another
reprieve. d • -
Oh there were always after
effects but they seem to be
slightly` foggier in my mind than
the concert itself and the
preparations. I believe
pneumonia was one result,
stemming from the crowd of
overheated parents anc� children
And so it 'continued. The old.
wood stove had begin fed a good
big hardwood, biot k and threw.
heat waves so thick you could
see them. Someone opened the
door yfor a moment but it was
short eed relief as it had to be
closed Wain When_..the ladies in
the hack row began to complain
of cold ankles, • �<
Finally with only two other
mishaps of note, the curtain
falling down in the middle of
"Away in a Manger” ode one of
house ' is cttcerned. We students in the whole school, great success to justify our being Fade five had turn
graduated through the entrance anyway', to school at all when we were
" (remember that w:hat they used
' to 'call grade eight)Jbnly a short Well 1 was always honored with
time before the • new county • bringing either an axe or a saw
school boards were' instituted. or whatever was to be used to
Well back to the Christmas cut, the tree since 1 lived right
Concert since this'is not meant next to the school and therefore
to be,c an article of modern 1 guess the teacher assumed the
history on the•'Ontario School odds. were better that I wouldn't
Syst'i'n. . kill myself with the tool before
'If 2hremory serves me delivering; it at school. The -
correctly the school in which I' others were • delegated to being
, received my grade one through' rope, sleighs, toboggans,
eight, education was,..knci,_wwn by:. snowshoes, shovels ' and an
Oh yes back to the problem.
two names, Both. it 'seems, ,were
official' enough but •fbr some
reason they were two seperate'
, identities in, a, way .that IR haus
never- understood. Ah yes good
old S,S, '12 Drtimmbnd (that
stands ,for School Section
Number` 12 D'r-ummond
Tbwnship) or McGary's School
(this name came .from a
prominent family who settled
the area -at some remote time in
history and whose last living
• descendent died before I was
born). "
So here it is Christmas and
the whole school, all 15 of us
including the teacher, --are
beginning .;to get into the festive
mood despite the fact that plans
are already 'underway on that
annual, disaster "McGary's
School Christmas Concert."
• Before the concert can -be
held however Proper decorations
-of the •season must' ' be
assortment of other tools,
On the 'morning of the big
day we all arrived with our share
of the implements. loaded them- wait until etssedasses so se ,-' ss.,,..ss.,,..,,,, The thirdsitem?, on the
and the younger students in ' Well the Christmas concert , schedule of events' was the
grade one or two onto, the was just two weeks away ,now headliner of the whole e4enin.g, a
sleighs and toboggans and. nand everyone had to realty get massive two act play. I had 'se'seer'seeress
started off in search of the everbusy and get that showtogether, rehearsing my lines for weeks in
etusive Christmas Tree.Everyone worked like a trooper . this my first step towards. ar'�t
Nov either I don't rememberon the project because after all. 4cadem ', ward but as the ,bed
<<er� accurately from one year to sheets party ;;orsjogegs.,lp,ptswWO `i,
,even at the worst of times;.tioing -
the next or we were all rather a Christmas concert was • etter ply curtains; I'' froze, caul el
stupid. You see we arrays went than ._..all those motet li ation 1 }self blLshing and sweat was
o _ p , starting -run dawn -mu-•sides •
into this otie bush lot; which was tables or that See Spot Run �.
located" reasonably "close to the,trash Wasn't jt
school, in search ,ot the tree. - ' �'' Poor Mrs. ompso ,
That's, right, year after year we For us the concert was just a ough ,her'papers at stage left
went into the same woods, over chance to take a break fro' dull ,ing to" find the play and
humdrum . studies , and do
the same'trails and found the � something different. Forspoor completely and if I looked
same stunted, scrawny, lousy old Mrs. Thompson it•was�much ..»
lookingtrees staring back at us. seared and ' embarrassed she
g ; .more. Reniember�',these are, the
We knew all the trees in that da�,s before open house was held1 oked- ten “times worse. Finally',
bush were rotten Christmas trees ' Pe 'of my supporting roles.
at school and this once, year°' b
but in the excitement of startingprompted me .and I quickly
event the ,LL car, ly time m y of
ut I •coul'dn't remember a line,
,'�'' �1� Th n rooted
bersting out of a school 'where
the temperature hung around
the 110 'degree mark into the 20
below December night..
Of course'Sa 1ta had'been`the
final arttraction''of the event and
,had brought along a gift for each
of 'us (usually a toy) and we
enjoyed• many hours of fun with.
it as we awaited the arrival of
Christmas proper. ,
•
Boy as I look back_ we 'Ida a"
really merry Christmas in those
sCIUX,snQr , k.te aren't great .
hi time of"
like Isa�t s
now but
year brings on my annual case of
acute nostalga: sr' ?
I'm going home for Christmas
and i#, will sure be great Co see
that little green and white school
house -. again. Nobody goes to
school there now,, as ,a_ matter of
fact there's a family living in it.
It's been altered of course ,,but
somehow it still looks the same
to me.
How' many of yau.went to a
one room school house, 'or
remember a Christmas concert a
lot like mine? No doubt a great
many. Merry Christmas to you
all frot'n the class of '62 at S.S.
No: 12 Drummond Township.
•
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Health, wealth, and happiness!
CRAIGIE'S
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OPEN r12t�6P.M.
SUNDAY, DEC. 26.
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was e n
off it seems no one ever said the parents were ever insi a the
came back with'his line, and we
Where shall • we go this year", school. As . a result teacher 'Itopped. There was another
completed: Now I'm sure I doh t " instead we all took •off to that moment • of dead silence as e
know to what lengths school alc�_ys seemed to feelshewas on
ng predetermined spot like.- thetrial. Of course such was not the realtp d-ssshe ea
h -a a -and then
swallows returning 'to'case since if we had been jedged. „he prompted again atm
name bac )b with his next line.
children today ge io decorate
their classrooms but I'm sure it
,,,,,,r, couldn't hold a candle to the
efforts, we expended on the
project.
On about the second
Thursday of the month of
• • December, a date almost as fixed
as Christneas itself it seemed, the
teacher would announce. "Now
Capistrano, -, on our ability as actors, singers
'To -make w•hat•w•as a brutally . Finally after this had been
or recitation reciters • Mrs. repeated a half dozen times we
long story .short we. eventually Thompson..would hong _t, efc re• switched. ,parts, even ; if the
tramped around• in waist deep T' been hung froth the
snow' until we were so tired we..
now have costumes +~were--wrayng;• —and-_
• Christmas tree or any other Struggled through the first""act: '
was
could hardly mpve and ,then overhanging object thatl
chopped down a tree close by handy.
sur . point of • exhaustion and - • ,e
with great difficulty -dragged it a To give credit where cr dit Is '
-__children. when you .come. to baelLto the .school • r due • putting on a ' Ch 'stmas '
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V.
.... . . A ""CIVIC and PUBLIC HQLIDAY
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It And Call Upon All Citizens To Govern Themselves Accordingly
W "
the second act went a bit better .
but the audience seemed a little
unfused when I,reverted to my
♦ �•�+5 :-��`� �.?Ca':�'.'��. �.: :�� .' .. .=�a - . y�io. C�'��. i�A:a io. fib► ion. i�
Nk.
o The Citien of the Town of
GODERICH
As _Directed By Resolution Of The Municipa
I Hereby Declare 7
BOXING DAY
MONDAY, December2lth, 1911
Council
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Thy'II Find
.SLIPPERS SHOES or BOOTS
Under the Tree From Ross Shoe
Allow Us To Slip A )g)
Merry .Christmas
UNDER EVERY TREE
A `Ct kr ♦ . r y h . r 00 „ awn r ,, J"lft7,"i
From The Staff Of . -
hX `.iN1.w.ry •.,rtvgr•.n. ,y sir •r.r, ., .
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