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Washington, D.C., circa 1924. "Maret French School." Our vocabulary word for the day: Ennui. National Photo Company glass negative. View full size.
Desks aligned near the windows and radiators brought back memories of my 7th grade class at Shrine Of The Little Flower grade school in Baltimore in the 50's
I head the dubious pleasure of occupying a seat inches from both windows and radiators which caused me all kinds of trouble from my seventh grade teacher Sister Mary "Crunchy" Crescentia.
The windows were landing platforms for all kinds of birds and insects which no self respecting 11 yr old boy could ignore.
The radiators emitted warmth to the whole room but if you sat next to it after a 15 minute recess break in the winter it could put you to sleep better than any sleep tablet on the market.
The worst time was at the start of the day when the Baltimore Catechism was the study subject. The combination of boring religious instruction and radiant heat after marching from morning mass to the classroom would put you to sleep faster than a Prozac.
Within seconds of nodding off an eraser or piece of chalk would be whizzing my way and usually did the job of waking me up.
Those were the days before your parents would sue the Archdiocese for child abuse because than if you said a nun had thrown something at you your parents would say, "If she threw it, you probably deserved it." so there was no way you would complain to Mom since you would get punished for upsetting the good Sister.
The Maret School still exists in Northwest DC.
When you're so cool that you can wear anything... wear a headband!
The boy in suit, tie and white shirt straining to see the book and paper in front of him looks as though he needs glasses, but none of these kids have them. The girl in the first row closest to us appears to be wearing authentic pilgrim shoes from 300 years earlier.
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