Up The Down Staircase

37. Neatly, in Ink

NOTE BOOK

Alice Blake Calvin Coolidge High

Home Room Teacher: Home Room—304

Miss Barrett

Keep all material in note-book. Write neatly, in ink. 1 1/2 inch margins.

"I'm a stranger and afraid

In a world I never made"

How true, how true! How did the author know?....

Correct the following for Fri.

1. Rowing on the lake the moon was romantic.

Correction—While rowing on the lake the moon was romantic?

Or—Rowing on the lake, the moon, was romantic?

2. Looking out of the window was a tree.

Correction—Looking out of the window a tree appeared in view.

3. I found a pencil loitering in the hall.

Correction—A pencil loitering in the hall was found by me.

Active vocabulary—Use three times to make the word yours.

Passive vocabulary—Don't use three times.

Bring in own sentences illustr. vocab. words:

enigmatic — She was very enigmatic,

vindictive — She was very vindictive,

vacillating — She was very vacillating.

Hand in tomorrow—History & Math

Look up and memorize dates & events leading up to war

Chapt. 14 Ans. quest. 1-10 back of book

May have test tomorrow. (Be absent!)

"April is the cruellest month mixing something and desire . . ."

Note to myself—Memorize all poetry lines Barringer reads.

His voice . . . the way his eyebrows goes up . . . the hair on the back of his hands ... it is too much . . . too much to bear . . .

Have Ma sign this—

PARENTS’ CONSENT SLIP

I HEREBY GIVE MY (SON, DAUGHTER) _______ PERMISSION TO PURCHASE TICKETS FOR ________ I UNDERSTAND THAT THIS PRODUCTION WAS INTENDED PRIMARILY FOR ADULTS AND NOT FOR CHILDREN. SIGNATURE OF PARENT OR GUARDIAN:________

DATE:________

Carole—Did you read Fanny Hill yet?

Alice

I read Topic of Cancer, nothing to it.

Carole

Let's see your Math.

Alice

I didn't do it. I'm 4 days late and Frantick!

Carole

Who you kidding? You're only a virgin! A.

That's what you think! Is this a long Home Room? C.

I can't make out your handwriting . . . whisper instead of marking up my note-book. A,

Can't—Miss Barrett is looking this way! C.

She's alright. A.

I think you hate her. C.

You're nuts! A.

She likes Barringer. C.

You're nuts! A.

Do you think she's sexy? C.

She's not even married. A.

Don't be a dope! C.

She's cute looking. A.

You hate her. C.

You're nuts. I like the way she smiles . . . it's not put on. A.

You hate her anyway. Did you do ex. 9? What does X equal? C.

5.3 gallons. A.

How did you get it? C.

It's in the back of the book. A.

Oh, my beloved . . . Only know me . . . Understand me ... The first time I walked into 309 my heart told me it was fated to be ... When you looked at me. ... No one else in the World understands this feeling deep within me except you . . . my only love . . . If only . . . Last Sunday I took the subway to your

Carole—Do you like her dress? Miss Barrett's. The color. Alice

It's sexy looking. Carole

She uses too much make up. A.

Only Lipstick. She likes Barringer. C.

You're ruining my note-book.... A.

You started it. C.

Because we're sitting alphabetical . . . No one else is behind me. A.

You must be a genius, you know Blanca comes after Blake! C.

Whisper instead. A.

Note to myself: Look up T. Elliot, a poet.

Look up word darkling.

Je veux tu veux il veut

nous voulons vous voulez ils

Assignments: Math—p. 51 ex. 3

p. 60 ex. 1, 7, 10

French—Traduizes 2nd paragr. and

review verbs for test (Be absent!)

Physics—??? Manheim forgot to give assignment again!

(Put in my Diary about seeing Paul & Barrett in Coffee Shoppe & the anguish of it... Also how he held the door open for me and how his sleeve touched my arm . . . How to describe the ecstacy of it?....)

Get— 3 different note-books. In math he wants hard cover 6 by 4 and with no lines and in pencil only. In Eng. must be loose-leaf 8 by 10 and French cahier she wants soft cover for declensions. In Soc. Studies—different color tabs.

"April is the cruellest month . . ." (Look up for myself & memorize)

A+ = 98-100 (Fat chance!)

A = 94-97

A— = 90-93

D = 66-69

F = 0-65

When will the bell ring? Carole

What's your hurry? Alice

This Home Room is cruddy. C.

You're nuts. A.

This whole school is cruddy. C.

The boys are cruddy. Especially Farone. A.

He's crazy about Barrett. C.

You're nuts. Don't scribble in my book. A.

The books they make us read in school are cruddy!

Sale of Two Titties

Silly Ass Marner

Reminder: Open School Day Thurs. (Tell ma not to come!)

Did you ever think, like on a subway platform you see some one and maybe they're just the one for you but he's going the wrong way in the train? And you never meet? Alice

Do you believe in Fate? Carole

In Kismet I do. A.

Me too. C.

Conjugate

Decline et ecrivez en francais

Look up & be prepared to discuss McCarran Bill

Alice Blake — Marriage

Paul Barringer — Friendship

Love—Hate—Friendship—Marriage

Alice Blake—Marriage

Pauly Barringer—comes out Marriage too!!!

Mrs. Pauly Barringer. Alice Barringer

Mrs. Alice B. Barringer

Barringer, Alice

List of my Best Books:

1. This is My Beloved

2. Catcher in the Rye

3. Love Poems of the Ages

4. Marriage Manuel

5. Zen

New moons, darks of the moon

Full moons—watch for full moon and write poetry!

My birthday—Taurus the Bull. Paul's birthday?

April birthstone—diamond. Flower—sweet pea.

May birthstone—emerald. Flower—lilly of the valley.

They're always interrupting when she talks to us.

Are you buying a ticket for the Thanksgiving Dance from Kagan? Alice

Who elected Harry Kagan anyhow? He's a pain in the ass. Carole

He's a fat pain in the ass. Are you going? A.

He's a big fat pain in the ass. Frank is taking me. Are you going? C.

Every day you're ruining my note-book! A.

You started it. C.

ME

My height—5 ft. 2 in.

My weight—should be 110, is 112

Color hair—brownette

Color eyes—gray-blue or blue-gray

My name My address My telephone My next of kin My school My Home Room Teacher My blood type My allergies My favorite color My lucky number My likes My dislikes

Calories: Bacon 95 cal.

hamburg 245

baked pot. 145

ice cream (vanilla) 200

coke 80

pizza—?

Note to myself—Improve posture. Look up darkling.

World's largest cities Tokyo London N.Y.

World's best dressed woman

World's best movie stars

Oh, my beloved, if you but knew ... I am so near, and yet so far ... in this very room, a heart-throb away ... So ready ... so ready for you & all you stand for ... Last Sunday I took the subway to your stop (Your address is on the Time Card) and I walked back & forth across the street from your house . . . back and forth . . . just to see where you live. For a moment I saw you in the window. . . . But perhaps it wasn't even you. My heart was throbbing with love and sadness ... If I could die for you! . . . Like the Lady of Shalot you read to us, floating dead on the river under his window, and Lancelot never knowing . . . never knowing . . . saying only "She has a lovely face, the Lady of Shalot . . ."

I wonder if I’ll ever dare to give you this letter ... for you to take into your hand . . . My Real Self in your keeping . . . Maybe then you will look upon me and know me . . . know me!!!! "Alice", you would say—"lovely Alice, the first time you walked into Room 309 I felt it ... It was meant to be . . ." Paul, my beloved, I feel it too and my pulses are throbbing with all that is inside me. Remember when you held the door open for me and my elbow touched your suit?

Sometimes I feel I'm the only person in the World or even the Universe . . . There's no one but I and I want to jump up to the sky higher and higher and throw my arms and yell like I'm crazy or maybe cry and weep . . . I don't know what it is but I can't bear it. "I am half sick of shadows, said the Lady of Shalot. . . ." That morning when you were talking to Miss Barrett in the Coffee Shoppe I wanted to die or kill her, although she's a very nice teacher. In my bed at night I pray to the ceiling, Dear Ceiling, make him love me or notice me in class where I sit . . . Make me worthy of him . . . Make him take me in his bold and throbbing embrace! . . . When I look at the cracks in the ceiling and how ugly everything is I think it's unreal, my house and my parents . . . Real life is someplace else . . . on moonlit terraces . . . in tropic gardens . . . foreign cities . . . darkling woods. . . . We are standing on a darkling hill together and your hungry lips seek

Acetalyn in water plus what?

Potassium

Oxalic acid

Boyles Law

My Spelling Demons—

Write in note-book three times, neatly in ink:

alright

alright

alright.

Je me porte tres bien et vous?

Merci. Je aussi.

Note to myself—Rewrite letter to Barringer on new pink stationary, use best handwriting and put in his letter-box. I dare me!

Tues. Assembly postponed to Wed. Music program. Listen courteously. No stamping of feet for applause.

Quotation marks when talk to a person

No quotation marks when talk to a thing (indirect)

Bring money for Scholastic. (Get from WHO ?????????)

Carole—What did I miss yesterday? Alice

Dr. God E. Clarke gave a speech. Same thing. And Dr. Bastard observed us in English and we missed half of Physics because of Shelter Drill. You didn't miss a thing. Carole

Guest Speaker on Vocations for Young People:

Archeology

Diatetics

Forestry

Law

Medicine

Millinery

Refrigeration

Religious Work

Teaching

Dear Beloved . . . Last Sunday when I took the subway to your stop, little did you know

Note to myself: don't forget skirt & shoemaker

Put letter in P.B.'s Box tomorrow

and be absent!

Alice Blake Barringer—A.B.B.

(A.B.—same initials as before marriage!!!!)

Carole—Did you do Totalitarian Countries?

Alice

McHabe is a Dictator! Carole

He's a crud. A.

Pastorfield is a crud. She's crazy about you know who! C.

But he's only a kid in her class! A.

What the diff? She's desparate! C.

I thought Bob was Linda's boy-friend. A.

One of hers. She's crazy. C.

She's alright. A.

I think P.B. is crazy about S.B. C.

You're nuts! And stop writing in my book! A.

Dearest Beloved, My heart is throbbing with the loneliest

American Labor Party

Laissez-Faire Capitalism

2y

If X = — what does

4

Note to myself: Stop carrying it around and Do It!!!

Alice—What's the matter with you? Were you sick when you left the room? Carole

I had to go down to the Letter Box & get something back. Alice.

Did you? C. It was too late. A.

Oh my God, dear God, what did I do! He's got my letter now . . . My soul lies naked in his hands . . . I'll die . . . I'll just die. . . . . . . . . .

Answer the following questions at the end of the chapter

Dear Mr. Barringer,

Last Sunday I took the subway to

your stop having looked it up on your

Time Card…. I hope you don’t mind

the presumtion …. I walked back and

forth across the street from your house

back and forth …. And I thought I saw

cliché you and my heart was throbbing with

omit this love I bear for you ….

no caps I feel so deeply the Beauty and

cliché Truth of the poetry you read in class ….

I alone …. Especially such lines like

“ She has a lovely face, the Lady of

Shalot. ….”

I think of you all the time ….

word? at night, darkling, I pray to be worthy

not clear of you and all that you stand for ….

I believe we understand each other and

awkward no one else ….And if ever you need me

to die for you I will gladly do so ….

I hope you don’t think me

presumptious but I have to speak out

the truth …. the only truth ….

Sincerely yours,

Alice Blake

Alice—

Thank you for your note. Watch spelling and

punctuation; you tend to use a series of dots

to avoid it! Watch repetitions and clichés.

You might look up the spelling at the

Lady in Tennyson’s “Idylls of the King” –

P B

38. Unfortunate Incident

Dear Miss Barrett,

Thank you for everything ….. It’s not your fault ….. I wish you all the happiness and joy you (der) deserve …. Some day they will all know ….. Be well and take care of yourself …..

I hope I didn’t inconveniance You.

Alice Blake

INTRASCHOOL COMMUNICATION

FROM: H. Pastorfield, Room 307

TO: S. Barrett, Room 304

Dear Sylvia,

Can you spare some chalk?

What's all the commotion outside?

Henrietta

INTRASCHOOL COMMUNICATION

FROM: Mary Lewis, Main Office

TO: S. Barrett, Room 304

Sylvia— How awful! How perfectly awful! We've never had anything like this since I've been here. Where is Paul? His time card is punched in, but no one can find him. How awful that it happened in his room!

Mary

(The office is Bedlam. Finch is in hysterics—never saw her like this before!)

INTRASCHOOL COMMUNICATION

FROM: Marcus Manheim, Room 306

TO: Sylvia Barrett, Room 304

Dear Miss Barrett,

They need me as a witness, although I didn't really see it—I was just passing by 309. If you're not teaching, can you cover my class for a few minutes while I sign the papers and forms? Thank you.

S. Manheim

FROM: JAMES J. MCHABE, ADM. ASST.

TO: ALL TEACHERS

ALL TEACHERS AND STUDENTS WILL PLEASE REMAIN IN THEIR ROOMS, DISREGARDING THE BELLS, UNTIL THE AMBULANCE ARRIVES.

JJ McH

Dear Miss Barrett,

Please send down Health Card for Alice Blake—Urgent!

Do you have any blank Accident Reports? I'm all out—Urgent!

Do you know where Mr. Barringer is?—Urgent!

Frances Egan

School Nurse

INTRASCHOOL COMMUNICATION

FROM: 508

TO: 304

Dear Syl—

It's ghastly, I know, but try to keep the kids busy.

Can you reach Paul? It seems she left a letter for him on his desk.

Bea

FROM: JAMES J. MCHABE, ADM. ASST.

TO: ALL TEACHERS

AN UNFORTUNATE INCIDENT HAS OCCURRED. YOU ARE REQUESTED NOT TO DISCUSS IT WITH ANY POLICE OFFICERS IN THE BUILDING OR ANY OUTSIDERS. WE MUST NOT ALLOW THE PUBLIC IMAGE OF OUR SCHOOL TO BE DISTORTED UNDER STRESS.

JJ McH

Dear Miss Barrett,

Please initial the entry: "Jumped or fell" over the red line on the enclosed PRC for Blake, Alice.

You will note that her CC's for the last 4 terms indicate excellent adjustment:

Term 1: Nice & helpful

" 2: Leadership potential

" 3: Reliable—blackboard monitor

" 4: Lovely girl—polite

It's most atypical for a girl with her stable PPP to have done what she did, but there are factors beyond our control.

Ella Friedenberg

Guidance Counselor

Dear Miss Barrett,

Please fill out the enclosed Emergency Form:

CHECK ONE: PARENT OR GUARDIAN

REACHED

NOT REACHED

BY TELEPHONE

BY TELEGRAM

TO: PARENT OR GUARDIAN OF _____________

WE REGRET TO INFORM You THAT YOUR

SON ____________________________

DAUGHTER _______________________

INTRASCHOOL COMMUNICATION

FROM: 508

TO: 304

Dear Syl—

Anything I can do?

Bea

FROM: JAMES J. MCHABE, ADM. ASST.

TO: ALL TEACHERS

YOU ARE REQUESTED NOT TO OBSTRUCT ANY INFORMATION THE POLICE WISH TO HAVE, PROVIDED YOU WERE A DIRECT WITNESS TO THE OCCURRENCE, IN WHICH CASE YOU ARE TO REPORT TO THE OFFICE AT ONCE.

JJ McH

INTRASCHOOL COMMUNICATION

FROM: H. Pastorfield, Room 307

TO: S. Barrett, Room 304

Dear Sylvia,

What's the latest? Did Paul show up yet? I understand she left him a love letter! That's what happens when sex drives are repressed. This whole business should be aired out in the open!

Henrietta

FROM: JAMES J. MCHABE, ADM. ASST.

TO: ALL TEACHERS

THE NEXT TWO PERIODS WILL BE SHORTENED TO 38 MINUTES EACH, TO MAKE UP FOR THE LONG 1st PERIOD DUE TO THE UNFORTUNATE INCIDENT.

TO PREVENT IRREGULARITIES IN THE FUTURE, TEACHERS MUST REDOUBLE THEIR VIGILANCE AT ALL TIMES. NO ROOM IS TO BE LEFT UNCOVERED AT ANY TIME, WHEN NOT IN USE.

JJ McH

Disregard bells.

Sadie Finch

School Clerk

TELEPHONE MESSAGE

FOR: Miss Barrett, 304

In answer to your call, Hospital called back to say no change in condition.

Dear Miss Barrett,

If you're free, can you relieve me in the Health Office for a while? I must lie down someplace.

Frances Egan

School Nurse

INTRASCHOOL COMMUNICATION

FROM: Mary Lewis, Main Office

TO: S. Barrett, Room 304

Dear Sylvia—

Paul just breezed in!

Guess who's been punching him in every morning? —Sadie Finch!

Mary

Dear Miss Barrett,

It has been a great shock to all of us, particularly to those who, like you, knew the child. If you wish to be excused from your classes, I shall be glad to take them over.

Sincerely,

Samuel Bester

Sylvia!

Just stepped into a hornet's nest.

I am the villain of the melodrama.

Was I supposed to encourage a neurotic adolescent?

My real crime seems to be that I wasn't in my room the first period—even though I have no class. How could I know she would walk in and do it?

They tell me her fall was broken by the ledge below the window. Thank God for small mercies!

She left me a note full of dots and renunciation. It had to do with a love letter she had sent me, which I handled in the only way possible.

I can use a drink.

Meet me for lunch?

Paul

FROM: JAMES J. MCHABE, ADM. ASST.

TO: ALL TEACHERS

LESSONS ARE TO PROCEED AS USUAL, WITH NO REFERENCE TO THE INCIDENT. TEACHERS ARE TO DISCOURAGE MORBID CURIOSITY ON THE PART OF THE STUDENTS.

JJ McH

Dear Miss Barrett, Is it OK if I start collecting money from the Home Room kids in my different subject classes to send flowers to Alice in the hospital? If she's OK. The thing is we always used to sit in front of each other.

Carole Blanca

39. Debits and Credits

Nov. 17

Dear Ellen,

So much has happened since the last time I wrote to you, I don't know where to begin. Little Alice Blake threw herself out of a window, for the love of Lancelot. But instead of floating, pale and lovely, past his window like the Lady of Shalott (this was one of her fantasies I glimpsed when I found her notebook), she is lying in splints and traction in the hospital. She may need an operation on her hip bone, her doctor tells me. She may limp for the rest of her life. So far, she has refused to see anyone from school.

There has been a frantic spurt of directives.

McHabe advised us to keep our public image intact and our students in their seats.

Bester reminded the English Dept. to open windows from the top only. I said I would—except for my broken window, which is broken from the bottom.

There has even been a circular from Clarke, addressed to: Homeroom Teachers, Subject Teachers, Faculty Advisers, Deans, Administrative Officers, Clerical Staff, Coaches and Custodial Staff, urging us all to be aware of our responsibility in a democracy.

Paul asks how I would have handled a love letter from a student. I don't know—by talking, maybe, by listening. I don't know.

How sad that we don't hear each other—any of us.

Major issues are submerged by minor ones; catastrophes by absurdities. There was a bit of a to-do about the school clerk who had been punching Paul's card in the time clock—a practice more honored in the breach. She, at least, proved her love in a practical manner. After a brief burst of unexpected emotion, she is spewing out mimeographs as impersonally as ever.

This was a week for erupting passions. Henrietta Pastorfield, hep spinster, good sport, pupils' pal, found her best student, Bob, in the deserted Book Room with Linda Rosen. She flew into a hysterical rage and had to be sent home. I don't know what she saw; apparently the kids had been "making out." What the exact boundaries of making out are I'm not sure. I'm not sure the kids are sure either. But it was enough to devastate poor Henrietta. "She can't even spell," she kept gasping between sobs. "He won the Essay Contest, and she can't even spell. . . ."

She hasn't been back since, and we have a young per diem substitute who had taught shoes in a vocational high school on her last job. Though her license is English, she had been called to the Shoe Department, where she traced the history of shoes from Cinderella and Puss in Boots through Galsworthy and modern advertising. "Best shoe lesson they ever had," she told me cheerfully. "Until a cop came in, dangling handcuffs: 'Lady, that kid I gotta have.'" To her, Calvin Coolidge is Paradise.

While Henrietta is recovering from her moment of truth and Alice is lying in the hospital, life goes on. We are now involved in preparations for the Midterm Exams and the Thanksgiving Dance.

But Alice's attempt to die was not in vain. Teachers are now more careful about punching in, and Paul has appointed a monitor to guard his room when he's not in it.

You ask about Ferone and Willowdale, in that order. I received a beautiful letter from the Department Chairman at Willowdale. He addressed me as if

I were a lady and a scholar (hey, that's me!) and invited me to come for a personal interview in December.

And Ferone is still testing, testing me, with all the tricks of the trade. He pretends not to hear and keeps asking me to repeat. He drops books loudly, spends a long time picking them up, drops them again. He arrives late and stands gaping in the doorway. He answers me with false humility: "Yes'm, teach, you're the boss." He rocks on his heels, hands in pockets, the inevitable toothpick in his mouth.

"I got no homework."

"Why not?"

"1 didn't do it."

"Why?"

"I just didn't."

"How do you expect to pass?"

"I'm supposed to accelerate at my own speed. I'm supposed to compete with myself. Well, I'm not so hot!"

Why do I bother? Because I feel something in him that is worth saving, and because once he wrote me: "1 wish I could believe you."

Not that he's in class much; he keeps cutting to be with Grayson. I don't know what goes on down there. After the scandal about custodial misuse of funds, I look upon the whole Basement with a wary eye. There was, of course, a directive: STUDENTS ARE NOT TO USE STAIRCASE WHICH TERMINATES IN THE BASEMENT.

All staircases but one terminate in the basement.

But whenever I feel too frustrated to go on, I find an unexpected compensation: a girl whose face lights up when she enters the room; a boy who begins to make sense out of words on a printed page; or a class that groans in dismay when the end-of-period bell rings.

In order to remember the rewards when the going gets rough, I've made out a list of Debits and Credits:

DEBITS

Ferone (still unreached)

Eddie Williams ( " " )

Harry Kagan ( " " )

McHabe (!!!!!!)

Mild bladder symptoms (This is an occupational disease: there is simply no time to go to the bathroom!)

Clerical work piling up, up up!

Nov. Faculty Conference:

problems of overworked teachers, overcrowded classrooms, dropouts, integration, teachers' strikes, salary raises, teacher training, building scandals—were all "postponed for lack of time"—just as they were in Sept. and Oct.

Lunch hour at 10:17 A.M.

Not enough books, chalk, time to teach, endurance ...

Etc., Etc., Etc.!

CREDITS

Jose Rodriguez no longer signs "Me"!

Vivian Paine losing weight; likes herself better.

Lou Martin, in the midst of clowning, raises a hand to answer a question!

Four kids took out public library cards for first time!!!

I may look forward to retirement after 35 years of service; at 70 it's mandatory!

Yes, Mother still sends me gory clippings. At the same time, she inquires delicately whether or not there is a young man in my life. I tell her there are many. Over a hundred.

I'm glad Suzie liked my birthday present. It's delicious to shop for a little girl of two. And please stop remonstrating—I may be a teacher, but I'm not that poor!

Tell me about your Thanksgiving. I was supposed to have dinner with Paul, but how can you wish on a turkey wishbone with a man who is capable of correcting a love letter?

Love,

Syl

P.S. Did you know that a third of all New York City teachers are substitutes?

S.

40. From the Suggestion Box

I suggest they do away with graff and coruption and make a school where we don't have to stand up in Assembly and Lunch! We should have a sit down strike but there's no place to sit, Ha-ha, joke!

Lou Martin

1. I like the way you "put it over" (Julius Ceazer)

2. Open School is a farse!

3. You didn't have to hush it up we knew all about it.

A. Why she tried to kill her self!

1. Misunderstandings of feelings between pupils and teachers.

2. Misunderstandings of feelings between children and parents.

Teenager

You never call on me and if you do it's very seldom.

Cutter

Most fellows dislike their teacher not because the teacher is good or bad but just because the teacher is a teacher. You are different because you don't treat us like a teacher. Now coming down to the human side of things, you for one don't look like an old hag but beautiful every day. It slays me! Never in my life did I feel this in school. The way you walk up and down the isle really sends me and I hope you take it in the right spirit.

In these "distressful times" when any day the whole world can just as soon "blow up" I enjoy "poetry". The way your tone of voices make it sound in changing it to sadness or happiness or whatever it is suited for, depending on the "poem". I went to the school "librery" to look for more "Frost" but it was closed.

Chas. H. Robbins

If you could only be a man instead of a female I would say the only decent teachers in this school are you and Mr. Grayson and he's not even a teacher.

Rusty

I don't like the way you read, too emoting, and over our heads.

Yr Emeny

You gave me the courage to read a book.

Reader

When he said the fault dear Brutis is not in our stars meaning we got only ourselfs to blame he wasn't a color person.

Edward Williams, Esq.

Don't ever change! There is a pleasing way in your manner of dressing (red suit) & shape. With you I could spend a whole day with nothing but English.

A Bashful Nobody

For my money you stink.

Poisen

I never in my life used to have use for poems but when you read it aloud it makes the words come true. If every one would read it the way you do no one would be left hating poems. Can you recommend another poem?

Jose Rodriguez

I have a math teacher for English and a typing teacher for Eco and you for Home Room and for French they keep changing around. I'm willing to do my best if they would only meet me 1/2 way.

A True Pupil

Too much homework but I don't mind I don't do it anyway. And I'm possitively not writting any more for you.

What I like about you is you're brainy. In a nice way. I wish I could have you always but have to quit and go to work so must say a sincere goodbye.

Dropout

If other teachers would be young and sexy looking like you they wouldn't have to snoop around and make trouble for couples that go steady. Snoopervisers make education hard to learn.

Linda Rosen

Have Monday Orals on Tues. and Thurs. too. It breaks a lot of us out of our shyness when speaking in front of a crowd.

Mark Anthony

I suggest more quiet classrooms because I like to sleep a lot.

Dead To The World

On Mondays what the hell do you think we are, Oraters?

Disgusted

Not enough men's rooms, a disgrace to mankind! A lavaratory centrally located would be a great comfort to all concerned.

Sophomore

Don't be so kind hearted because people take advantage. For instants, when I didn't do my homework and you gave me a break by letting me hand it in tomorrow, I felt I was a big shot and didn't have to do things til the last moment. Don't worry, I broke out of it very fast but with some one else it might have been bad for you. Well, don't take it so hard.

I am losing weihgt rappidly just looking how slim you are in your red suit and others. You are much prettier than my sister. My goal is you.

Vivian Paine

(Did you notice how I wear my hair behind since you told me how you liked it?)

It is my considerable opinion that you are very well qualified. No matter how boring the lesson you always make it interesting. I suggest you continue your enjoyable and educational teachings.

Harry A. Kagan

(The Students Choice)

I'm not even in your class but hello anyway!

Dr. Ben Casey

When you call on me to answer don't call on me when I don't know what the answer is, it makes me look dumb in front of the class. You always call on the others when they know what the answer is.

Edward Williams, Esq.

I give the appearance of being mature but it's just the opposite.

Doodlebug

I can honestly and truly say I disliked the book J. Ceaser by W. Shak. It has its good points but some how or another they didn't appeal to me. I suggest for J. Ceaser to have more humor to it, it's too sad.

Disatisfied-with-Shak. Student

Miss P—ld and, Miss B-tt are in love with B-b and J-e and Miss F—ch with Mr. B—er and Alice B. also, she had his b-by, that's why.

Guess Who

You really made me get to the bottom of Julius Caesar.

Stander

We're behind you 95%. Don't worry.

How come Dr. Bester is so nice and different in class than in his office, he's a good teacher but you'd never know it looking at him?

Lazy Mary

They shouldn't allow bad morals in the Book Room.

Unsigned

You are the most understanding person I ever knew and the best English teacher I ever had, and that includes other subjects. This comes from the heart and not the mouth.

Carole Blanca

Teachers are ruining America.

Zero