Edith May (middle row, far right), Peggy Reming (top row, third from left)
When I was a child, school children usually thought of the beginning of the school semester as the “fall semester.” Once school started, I said goodbye to summer. For all practical purposes, summer was over. No more lazy days lying on my back and watching clouds go by. No more barefoot days playing on the cool grass of our front lawn. No watermelon or homemade ice cream from a crank ice cream maker. The list was endless, and it didn’t really have to be that way, but school seemed to rush summer away summer. Before we knew it, we were soon into the exciting parts of October that school children liked to celebrate; you know, Columbus Day and Halloween.
School in Texas always began the day after Labor Day which occurred the first Monday of September. Even though it was still summer, it disappeared almost instantly. For several weeks now, about when the cicadas began singing their mating calls, I instinctively knew summer was ending. Mother was busy sewing, making new dresses and panties to match for me to wear to school. I had just about outgrown all my dresses from the last year, and I needed new shoes too, for I had lived in barefoot sandals all summer, and often played barefoot on the grass. My feet had grown at least a full size since June!
I had my hair cut in the traditional Buster Brown bob, and I had gone shopping with my mother to get a few school supplies which we knew I would need: writing tablets, crayons and #2 pencils, along with new socks and a hairclip. I was ready.
I was eagerly looking forward to the first day of school, not only to see my friends, but to meet our new teacher in second grade. It would be a new classroom with different desks. I wondered where I would sit, on the first row or a back row, or where? We would get new books. I wondered what books.
Finally, the day came. At school we had to go into the big auditorium which I remembered from the year before. We sat in a special section for second grade. I whispered to my friends. Most were back this year. I could see all the other classes. There was a teacher with each class. Our teacher came in and her name was Miss DuBoise. She was very pretty and had a pretty smile. I liked her white teeth. She didn’t frown like the third-grade teacher, Mrs. Warner. We had a little talk to greet everybody by Mr. Caffe. He was the principal. I laughed because I thought his name was Mr. Coffee. Then we sang America, and I was proud to know all the words. Then we all stood up and filed out, one class at a time. Since we were in second grade, we were right behind the first class to leave, first grade. Miss DuBoise led us down the steps and down the hall to our classroom. She said we were going to sit alphabetically. Since my last name started with a ‘B’, I was lucky to sit on the second seat of the first row of desks.
Miss DuBoise said we were going to talk a little about our summer. She wanted each pupil to stand up and give their name and tell us something we did that was interesting last summer. Miss DuBoise started with the girl in front of me who told about visiting her grandparents on a ranch. She said she got to ride a horse and that her grandfather put her in front of him on a saddle. They trotted and rode up a hill and back. She told us that when she got off the horse, it was hard for her to walk at first, and that she felt little after being so high up on the horse.
Then it was my turn. I was trying to think of the best thing I did. I decided to tell about our vacation to Colorado where my own grandfather lived. He lived in Denver. I had never driven out of the state of Texas before. Once we were on our way and in New Mexico, every time we met a car, the other car would honk and wave at us. We finally realized it was because we were from Texas. We stopped in Taos, New Mexico to visit the town and then go to the Pueblo where many Indians lived. I got to talk to real live Indians! They were so nice, not like in the movies. The next time we stopped, we were in the mountains of Colorado. I had never seen mountains. They were snow covered and it was so cold. It was also very high, and when we tried to run on the side of a mountain it was hard to get enough air to breathe. Finally, we reached Denver and saw my grandpa and my aunt. It was such fun. While there we rode on a trolley car downtown. There we visited a museum with stuffed animals in it that looked alive. And we visited a place called a mint where they make money. I didn’t want to leave, but we had to drive back to Texas. But it was good to get back home, too. That was the best thing we did last summer. The teacher asked how many children had been out of the state of Texas. Nobody else had. I felt very special since I was the only one.
We spent the rest of the morning just listening to stories from other children. Soon it was time for lunch and play. We lined up when the bell rang and marched into the classroom together. It was time for music. We had Miss Tipton for our teacher, and she brought in pictures of musical instruments. Then we listened to a record of a symphony orchestra, and she told us we would soon learn to know the sounds of many instruments.
Orville next to his father John Babcock
Edith, Margaret Pezoldt Babcock (John’s wife), Frank Willard Babcock (Orville’s brother)
Gertrude, Edith May, Katherine Babcock (Orville’s half-sister),
Ella M. Babcock (Frank’s wife), Kenneth
The last hour of school we had art. We could draw anything we wanted and then we would talk about our favorite colors and tell why we liked them. I decided to draw a picture of a mountain, the Colorado mountain I had seen called Pike’s Peak. I enjoyed drawing and coloring the picture. I added snow, wildflowers and a little girl (me). Miss DuBoise liked it and put it on the bulletin board. The little girl in front of me, whose last name started with ‘A, drew a horse and put herself in the saddle. We became friends. Her name was Patsy. I liked second grade. I liked my teacher. And I didn’t care that summer was over.
