Page 48 - a-columbia-county-boys-recollections-and-memories-of-columbia-county-florida-(2012)-lenvil-h-dicks

A Columbia County Boy's Recollections and Memories of Columbia County Florida (2012) Lenvil H. Dicks

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7 grade experiences

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When I was in the 7 ’ grade, in the large 2-story brick building where the County School Administrative
Offices are now located, I had a female teacher, with red hair, named Mrs. Martin.

Elsewhere in this accounting of my memories, I have stated that 1 never received a whipping during all
of my 12 years in the public schools, but I really came close with Mrs. Martin.

1 just loved io aggravate her, and if 1 had a mean streak, it would come out in her presence. 1 could tell
she wanted to slap me so bad she could hardly contain it, and there was one occasion when I provoked
her to the point that she grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me until I was about sea-sick. I thought
she was really going to get on me, but after a severe shaking had been administered she went back to her
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desk and left me alone. Another reason I particularly remember the 7 grade was, at the beginning of the
year, I made a vow to myself that I would read seven books per week, or one for every day, during that
whole school year.

1 did indeed accomplish that, and spent every spare moment, including the ride to and from school on
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the school bus, reading a book. I recall that some of the books I read in 7 grade were “The Three
Musketeers”, The Count of Monte Christo”, and “Le Miserables”, as well as “A Tale of Two Cities”, not
to mention dozens and dozens of books of a lighter nature. That reading apparently improved my
vocabulary to the extent that I really aced my English Course while I was a freshman at Stetson.

Mrs. Sarah Louise Rivers had been my English Teacher during my Junior and Senior years at Columbia
High School, and she was an excellent teacher, and I recall that I had to do a term paper during my
senior year for her, and 1 chose to do it on the Pyramids of Egypt. I knew nothing about the Pyramids of
course but by the time 1 got through with my research and had written the paper, I can tell you all about
them to this day. Also, Mrs. Rivers was a stickler for teaching vocabulary, and I learned many, many
words and their meanings that I do not believe are being taught to high school seniors today. When I
entered Stetson University as a freshmen in 1948,1 applied to be exempt from Freshmen English, and
they gave me a test, with a result that I was allowed to skip taking Freshmen English in College. I went
right into the Sophomore English section, and the Professor of that course was an old spinster lady
named Mrs. Williams.

Like Sarah Louise Rivers, Mrs. Williams was also a stickler for vocabulary. Each Monday morning she
would write 10 words that she thought none of us had ever heard of on the black board with instructions
to look up the meaning, write down the definitions, and take a test on the words every Friday morning.

The truth of the matter is that many of the words she chose to put on the black board to increase our
vocabulary were words that I already knew the meaning of, and sometimes I was the only person in the
class who did. Therefore, I managed to make straight A’s in Sophomore English while I was still a
Freshmen, and that astounded most of my classmates and some of the Professors.

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I wonder how much of that goes back to the shaking I received from Mrs. Martin in the 7 grade?

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