School Days

Boston started First Grade last week. She likes school, and reported to her parents that she already had two new best friends. Oh, how quickly time passes. Wasn't it just yesterday that she was learning to walk? I hope that her enthusiasm for learning continues, and that she has teachers who are wise enough to challenge her and keep her moving ever forward.





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I am continually amazed at what my grandkids are learning. They are light years ahead of what I learned at the same ages. Their opportunities are limitless. My prayer for them is that they should never stop learning. This is also my unsolicited advice to them. The day that I do not learn something new is a day wasted.

Boston's first day at school brought to mind stories of other school children. Her Great-Grandpa Matheny attended the White Pine School, which was located about a quarter mile from the Matheny farm in Taylor Township, Beltrami County. His father, Clifford Alton Matheny, was one of those responsible for organizing and building some of the rural schools in that neighborhood of Minnesota. Dad told me that his oldest sister, Lois, was one of his teachers at that school. He said that he liked having Lois teach him, but the downside was that his shenanigans were curtailed somewhat, because she would report his misbehavior at school to their father. He also related a story about encountering a black bear on one of his walks to school. It seems that the bear was at least as afraid of him as Dad was of it, and the bear headed off into the woods. Dad completed the Eighth Grade at that school, and then, as was commonplace in those times, did not go on to High School, but worked on the family farm until he married my Mother in 1945.

This photo was taken at the White Pine School. The three boys in the back row are Dad's brothers, Keith, Kenneth and Bruce. The three girls on the left in the front row are not known to me, but are neighbor children, as is the boy with the hat. Dad's sister, Clarice, is the smallest girl with the dark dress, and Dad is the little boy on the far right. Dad once showed me where he had carved his initials into the siding of the schoolhouse when he was a student there. Those initials, sadly, are gone. A few years back, an arsonist decided to burn down the school, and it is no more.

Boston's Great-Grandma was born and grew up in the town of Blackduck where her father, Andrew Jackson Paul, was Depot Agent, and that was where she attended school, graduating from Blackduck High School in 1942. She had musical talent, as did most of her family, and she won a High School Letter for her work in the High School's music program. She played piano, violin and cello, and she told me that the Letter was for playing cello in the school orchestra. I wish that some of that musical talent had been passed on to me, but alas, it was not. I tried piano lessons as a child, but lacked the interest or patience to practice. And Mom had a beautiful alto singing voice, which passed me by as well. Nope. Can't carry a tune. Not even in a bucket.

I have photos of Mom when she was of a school age, but this is the only one I believe is related to school. The kids are dressed in what looks like Colonial costumes, and this looks like it could be part of some sort of pageant. Mom is the little girl on the far left of the photo. I wish I had found this photo while Mom was still living, so I could have asked her about it.

It is amazing how things have changed since my parents went to school. My grandkids are learning things that were unheard of even when I attended school, like anything computer related. I recall that it was a big deal when my Typing class got an electric typewriter. Just one. We took turns using it. It has been years since I saw a typewriter in an office. When I went to High School in the early 1960's, the only options for girls were Home Economics, Secretarial courses or the basic classes if you wanted to become a teacher. And if you wanted to be a nurse, you took Biology. Now the sky is the limit. Girls can be whatever they want, whether it is the head of a corporation, an astronaut or a candidate for President of the United States. And how good it is that these options are available. I expect great things from the First Day of School girl, as I do from all of my grandchildren. They all have the opportunity to become whatever they wish, and the intelligence to do it. They are, after all, my grandchildren!