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Picture Credits:
After the sound of the church bell we marched into the building to our respective classrooms. Standing by our desks we recited the pledge of allegiance, said an Our Father and Hail Mary, maybe an Act of Contrition, then took our seats for the role call, after which the lessons began. Sometime around mid morning on unspecified days, a siren would blare and an announcement came over the PA system from our Principal Sister Clotilde, "Air Raid Drill." We immediately closed our books and either ducked under our desks or assembled in the hallway, kneeling down, covering our heads. We'd hold those positions until the 'all clear' was sounded. We took these exercises very seriously.
When the drill was over, it was back to the books and that infernal yardstick. The days dragged on, the years flew past. With each successive grade I was assigned a different teacher. Sister Florence also taught the second grade, Mrs. Marsden, our lay teacher (third), Sister Rose-Patricia (fourth), Sister Immaculata (fifth), Sister Teresa (sixth), Sister Ann-Regis (seventh), finally, Sister Michelle (eight grade). We had Music Appreciation taught each year by Mrs. Bergen and our Art instructor was Mr. Carmine Pluccino. Monsignor Moore was the Dominican Prelate in charge, assisted by Father McKenna, Fr. Dorney, and Fr. Gengslenger. Father McKenna would come to our classroom every Tuesday morning to ask catechism questions. Tuesday was also the day public school Catholics came to Our Savior for religious instruction. These sessions would occur in the afternoon, so the regular students had half-day.
This was the era of blackboards, of wooden desks with decorative wrought-iron frames. The desks were bolted to the bare hardwood floors. Each desk had an inkwell and lift-lids. This was the era of fountain pens, and ink eradicator. Ink eradicator was the precursor to white-out. It was a clear liquid in a square glass bottle. The applicator was also glass with a tiny bulb at the end of it and a rubber grip on top. Put too much of a drop of this stuff on the paper and either the ink would run or you'd wind up putting a hole in the paper, like I did on many occasions. Every class had one huge Remington or Underwood manual typewriters. These were antiques even in those days.
When erasers got filled with too much chalk, one lucky kid would get permission to go into the street and bang two of the erasers together to pound the chalk out of them. There was a transom above each classroom doorway. The transom was that horizontal framed window. It was opened and close with a long pole with an iron hook attached to the end of it to grab a ring at the bottom of the transom. Curiously enough, during every air raid drill, the janitor or sister would pull them shut. I guess it was a way of preventing radiation from a nuclear blast from seeping into the hallway!
No one had backpacks in those years. We used book bags. You know, the type with only one wide opening and a thick flap with a buckle to snap it shut. Leather pencil cases, with a zipper, held our pens, pencils, erasers, rulers, compasses, protractors and other school aids. On wintry or rainy days we all wore galoshes, those old-fashioned calf-high rubber boots with metal buckles to fasten them. I haven't seen a pair of those in forty years.
Punishment for minor infractions, like a wrong answer or talking out of turn, were usual - standing in the corner facing the wall (minus the dunce cap), or writing the infraction a thousand times on the blackboard. Corporal punishment was not out of the question in parochial schools, but it was relatively rarely enforced, only in severe cases of misbehavior. Protocol required all students to raise their hand to be acknowledged and called on, then to stand beside their desk to respond. You always stood up when addressing the teacher or nun, out of respect for the most part.
Our sixth grade teacher Sister Teresa had a special awards program. Anyone who excelled in scholastic work for that week got to sit in the far right row (usually five of us). This was the honors row. It was an achievement to get to sit there for a week, and it was usually filled with the same smart students.
The nuns and priests were very dedicated and caring. They prepared us well with stern discipline and rigorous study. The New York State Board of Regents syllabus was used, and most of the children, who weren't left back, made it to the high school of their choice.
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The photo above is the courtyard of 450 East 184th Street. This is also a recent picture (1997)...but the courtyard hasn't changed all that much since the 1950's. The only differences are the metal railings which have replaced stone and brick walls. This was the entrance to my apartment building which was right around the corner from Our Savior school.
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Next Chapter: New Faces, New Friends
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