July 1961 School Magazine

.B"t"b""" Gt"t"' G

Brisbqno Girls' Grqmmcr School Maqczine

it wqs one ol the iew contocts with clty li{e thot she hod le{t. Vr/ithout the news it brouqht, she would hove gone mod in thcse Jirst lonely weeks, boording with cr {omily she hod never seen before, livlng in o country full of gount sod trees, fence- less ploins ond hcrrsh, cruel sun-so di{ferent from the 1riendly sun thot wormed ond mellowed the fruits in the orchord beside the cool, white house with toll green poplors. Mory ond her friends were quorrellinq heotedly over who should give Miss Bennet the moii. They orgued qmonq them- selves in the hlqh-pitched tone of country children's voices. At lost they reqched their declsion ond Mory, pistoils triumphontly sprouting of riqhlonqles from her heod, stoggered up to the young teqcher, with o bundle o{ newspopers, moil, ond porcels, thot she could not see over. "The mon on ihe iroin sold to give these io you, pleose, Miss Bennet." Miss Bennet smiled in reply. "Ah, the mops hcrd orrived". She looked with sotis{oction ot the tonq, cylL- dricol porcels ond thumbed through the letters one frorrr her fother, one from o friend who wos now o nurse in o Lon- don hospitol, ond one from Dick. _ She iore it open eogerly. "Deor Helen,,, she reod, ,,1 do wish you were with us oll now. There hove been two oloriously heovy {olls of snow in the lost few doys. Everything is foof.i"s like c foirvlond. But I don't suppose ii wiil rook rir.. tn"iw["" it storts to melt. Didn't we hove wonderlul fun in the snow when we were kiddies? Remember the snowboll fishts, cnd the time thot younq brother of yours mode o t}rr". poi"f 't""a- ing on the ice when he tried out hls skoiinq less? . . . ,, A smile hovered oround her mouth. Of course she lemem_ bered. Whot fun it hod been then. She reod quickly on. He wos comlng to Austrolio very soon now. He hod .o,r.d .rr..y penny qnd soon they wculci be oble to stort ofresh in Austrolio, buy o pretty llttie suburbon house ond settle down. Oicf< woula sive up his job in the Airforce ond they would 1ive hoppily ever ofter. For the {irst time in mony long. months, she believei thot she could see the roinbow oqoi.r. Outside the schoolroom, oll noise hqd ceosed. The oir wos- siill. Nothinq stirred crs the greot block clouds of losi reoched the eostern horizon. The liqht srew dim o"d the qret gumleoves qulvered. She put down the letter with o hoppy siqh. Soon, oh soon, she.would be owoy Jrom the ".ln-..o.."d outbock oi err...r._ lond, bock where she belonsed in ihe city. She worlld weor pretty dresses ogdin, go to donces, meet people. How she

longed to meet people osoinl Noi the rough qnd hordened pioneers ol the outbock, thouqh, even in her prejudiced mind, she recognized their qreoi quolities of couroge, humour ond potience. But city people, olive ond owoke to the beouties qnd pleosures ol the world. She picked up o newspoper ond opened it-ond then sow it. The heodlines stood out in three inch letters, blozinq them- selves inio her broin, demondlnq her ottention. "Enqlond De- clores Wor on Germony." "Worl"-ns, she fousht osoinst it. "lt must be o niqht- more," she thouqhi. Above,the little school, the sky wos sud- denly rent by q giont white Jlosh, ond the storm poured forth in o11 its fury. The dork hills echoed ond re-echoed with he crosh- ing thunder. "Dick, Dick who wos on o{ficer in the Air{orce". she thouqht.-"Wor.-He wds coming so soon, ond now months. perhops yeors ol woiting in this inlernol little school, to hove hoppiness snotched {rom her so soon-no. nol" The pent up emotions o{ the post weeks poured forth in greot gosping sobs. Her eyes welled with teors thot overflowed down her cheeks ond her shoulders shook os they hunched over the old desk. . Groduolly the force of her emotions eosed ond presently she looked up. Woter wos trickling throuoh o hole in the roof into o puddle beneoth. She wotched eoch drop os it Jell, forming ever-widening circles until they reoche& the outer 9ds.. "Just like o wor," she thouqht, ';involvins oll oround. Soon the whole world would be couglrt in the trosedy of wor. And then her Ii{e would be the sqme os thot of thousonds of other young sirls." The roin woter drioped more ond more quickly ond fell in o coscode of icy drop.- lhot turned the dusL on the floor into cr glutinous moss. The children were stonding under the little bork porch in o miseroble, shiverlng little bunch. Their eyes were wide qs they gozed of their schoolteocher. They were ofroid to stoy outside, but on even greoter feor prevented them Jrom cominqr inside where the storm of emotions in the young teocher's heort wos even more dreodful thon the one: ocross ihe heovens which wos only now eosing o little. She looked up ot the clock. One o'clock. She reoched over ond ronq the bell. "Come olong in children," she soid in o voice thot she did not recosnlze. She stiffled o sob rislns in her throot, stood erect ond soid, "Now children, the multipli cation toble ogoin, pleose." "Yes, Iliss Bennet." Five ones ore iive, five twos ore ten, {ive threes ore fi{teen . . . Judyth Motthies. 27

f l !

!

t