Memory Monday #7

A swing set/tetter-totter similar to the one in my school yard

     As I related in my last Memory blog, I loved my first grade teacher....now, my second grade teacher was a little different story!  Mrs. A. was a large woman; she was a bit more strick and I was a little bit scared of her!  She did have one mesmerizing feature though.  When she would work at the chalk board, especially when she erased, I was in awe of her rather extensive underarm flab as it would sway excessively with the movement!!
      I remember one time on the playground, I had walked into the seat of a swing!  I was always a little "unobservant"...had my head in a cloud..so it was no surprise that I would get smacked in the mouth!  The swings were heavy wood with iron on the ends and chains attached...not the cute light plastic swings of today.  Anyway, I wasn't hurt badly, but  I did end up with a bloody lip.  I just remember being back in our classroom with a wad of cotton stuffed behind my upper lip with the admonishment to "leave it there"!
     So class proceeded...Mrs. A. gave us instructions to get out paper, etc..  I, being the smart child that I was, knew we would also need scissors, glue, etc.....the knowledge which I needed to whisper to my across the aisle neighbor.  Because of the wad in my mouth, he could not understand me...so I had to repeat myself a couple more times, getting a little louder each time!  By my fourth time to blurt out, Mrs. A. came striding down the aisle (we were in the back), reprimanding me and reminding me that this was my last demerit for talking!   And the ultimate punishment for this was public humiliation...a dunce cap and a seat in front of the whole class for a period of time!!

Not really me, but add a couple years, and it certainly could be!!

     See what the kids of today are missing!!!  No one considered that to be child cruelty and I don't think it scarred me permanently!  And I don't remember ever talking in Mrs. A's class again!!