[Magdalen] pencils

[Scott Knitter]

On Tue, Sep 8, 2015 at 7:54 AM, Jo Craddock <jocraddock at gmail.com> wrote:
> Back in my day <grin>, my mother, a teacher, handed out two pencils to me at
> the start of school. They were expected to last through Christmas, at least.
> She worked all manner of crossword puzzles, but wasn't brazen enough to use
> pen. I have a little pile of two-inch-long pencils gathered from around the
> house after she died, and her hand-crank sharpener still hangs beneath a
> kitchen cabinet.

My chief memory of kindergarten back in West Bend, Wisconsin, was of
waiting in line to sharpen my pencil, and a boy called Lloyd was in
front of me. He sharpened his pencil and thought it would be amusing
to turn around and blow the shavings off the pencil point into my eye.
I think the school nurse did an eye wash and later my grandmother
treated my eye to a cold piece of meat. A weird and traumatic day, all
in a blur, as I remember. I hope Lloyd had a fine day after I left.


-- 
Scott R. Knitter
Edgewater, Chicago, Illinois USA