Whenever I visit Lindsay I usually look up an old school chum and sit down and have a talk about the "good old days" and query the whereabouts of this guy or that gal that were classmates. I never go away without having had a few good laughs and feeling somewhat nostalgic.
The last visit to Lindsay had me visiting with Bill "Gordie" Graham and we began chatting about our days at Queen Victoria School and some of the teachers we had and some of the memories that will never leave us.
Well, I guess I must be somewhat sadistic, but Bill sure left me laughing when he related a story he had about Misses Maggie Fee and Meta Thorn.
It seems Bill, his brother "Turkey" and another lad found the weather too nice to be cooped up in a classroom so the three decided they would love to do a little fishing and swimming on "school time." For one solid week the boys made their way to the old jungle on Caroline and Colborne streets and took life easy.
Of course we always made certain that we were home at the usual time or our mothers would ask us why we were late getting home from school said Bill. "Well, the pay-off came when we got home on the Friday of our weeks leave-of-absence when father asked how school was. Naturally we told him it was great, but to our surprise, he said that if it was so great why did Allan Blewett (truant officer) call at the house and inquire as to our whereabouts. Well father told us to get out to the back and cut off a switch from a tree we had and we paid well for skipping school and for lying to him.
But the worst was yet to come. We had to take our mothers with us on Monday morning and go see Miss Fee before we could go back to class.
"Well", asked Miss Fee, "what are we to do with these boys?"
Our mothers said it was up to her to punish us as she saw fit. That was enough for Miss Fee. Out came the strap and we had our hands warmed and were told to go back to our classes. I went up to Miss Thorn's class and when I walked in the door she said into the cloakroom Graham" and I wondered why I had to go in there. Well, I heard her desk drawer open and knew then what was coming. Into the cloakroom she came and told me to hold out my hands. I told her that Miss Fee had already given me the strap for skipping school to which she immediately replies, "yes, I know, but this one's for skipping my classes."
"John, I never skipped school again" he said.
