Six
____________
Inkwells
& Pigtails
School started the
end of August and Pa was usually off working long hours by then. Ma drove us
kids into town in a borrowed car to take us to school one day when our school
bus broke down. Richard had plans to have a day of fun playin’ marbles and
didn’t want to go to school, but it wasn’t up to him.
The school secretary told our Ma that the bus
would bring all of us children home after school. It was only a flat tire and
the elderly bus driver needed help fixin’ the flat and all.
Mamma stopped at the General Store on her way
home and bought two pieces of some fancy material to make my sisters and me
some dresses. I’d been wearin’ a blue silk one made out of my Ma’s wedding
dress most days. It was the same dress I wore for the family photograph we took
in Weatherford on picture day, the day I bought Sarah Jane that beautiful doll.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
“On your account, ma’am?” the young woman
questioned.
“Oh, my goodness, no,” Hilda Charlton nervously
responded. “I always pay cash money, young lady.”
There was no place for credit accounts in the
Charlton family. Mr. Charlton firmly believed that if a person does not have
the money for something, they have no need borrowing money to buy it. His only
exception was farming needs, but he knew that that was also a gamble in these
hard days.
The young woman placed the bulk clothing
material into a sack, received payment, and thanked Mrs. Charlton, saying,
“Come back again soon, ma’am. And, if you don’t mind me sayin’ so, you have
quite a cute little girl there. I bet she’ll be heading off to school one day
soon.”
This fabric will make some nice dresses for my
girls, Mrs. Charlton surmised in her thoughts. And I think there’s enough for a
little dress for Sarah Jane.
Mrs. Charlton returned the borrowed car and then
returned home to work on making the dresses while the Charlton children carried
on their day’s activities at school.
“Richard!” yelled a pretty pigtailed girl
sitting in the desk in front of his, “I’m tellin’ the teacher!”
One of the girl’s pigtails had found its way
into the inkwell at the top of Richard’s school desk. Richard knew that the
teacher would not believe it was an accident, so he tried to bribe his
classmate, “How about I give you one of my favorite marbles and you just keep
quiet? It really was an accident.”
The girl replied, “That’s what you said last
time, Richard.”
“That was different. This time it really was an
accident, I’ll show you.”
Richard demonstrated to the girl how her
pigtails had grown long enough to reach past the top of his desk on down into
the inkwell if she tilted her head back slightly.
She was a little reluctant, but countered
Richard’s offer, “How about you take me to the class dance instead? We all are
supposed to go, but we can go as a couple.”
Richard squirmed for a moment, thinking what was
worse, being with a girl at a dance, or losing one of his favorite marbles.
Finally he answered, “I guess that’ll be ok. Anyway, it’s always sort of dark
in the room when the dancin’ starts.”
“Romantic…,” The girl moaned.
The girl’s name was Mildred Montgomery but
everyone called her ‘Millie’ for short. Her brother met with a tragic accident
the prior year. He went out to a large anthill their father had complained
about in their back field and filled it full of petrol. When he lit the anthill
on fire he suffered the same fate as the ants. Millie had always acted like a
tomboy until that accident, then something changed inside of her and she
started acting more like the rest of the girls. A story once circulated that
when Mille turned seven years old she received a pretty doll for a birthday
present. Lace, ribbons in its hair and just about anything any little girl
would want. Her mother noticed it was missing about a month later and searched
for it. She found in under her daughter’s bed with its hands tied behind its
back, gaged around its mouth, and a with a fingernail file embedded in its
chest.
“So, Richard,” Mille turned around with a smile.
“Yeah?”
“You think you might get me one of those pretty
corsages like all the older girls wear to dances?”
“What’s a corsage?”
“Oh, silly,” Millie laughed lightly, “it’s a
little bouquet of flowers girls wear on special occasions. You never seen a
girl wearin' a corsage?"
Richard bore a disgusted look on his face, “Not
that I ever gave no mind to.”
“Well, I’ll be,” Millie smirked. “It started
‘cause in olden times women wore a coat-like thing called a bodice that had a
flower on it and—”
“Ok, I’ll get ya one. What if I was to make it
myself, that be ok?”
“Oh, anything, Richard, I’ll save it and
treasure it all of my days.”
Mumbling under his breath, Richard groaned,
“That’s great, just great.”
Though they had both started the first grade
together years before, Rae Ann was one year behind her brother in school now. She
had been considered a visitor back in those early days of school due to her age
and had to attend first grade for a second time the following year. Having two
youngins, and finally a third when Mary came along, proved a bit much for Hilda
Charlton to handle along with keeping up with the normal daily chores.
Richard did not want to go to school without his
sister; the two had always been inseparable, so John and Hilda Charlton decided
to ask permission from the school for Rae Ann to be in class with Richard. The
school agreed and all things worked out well for everyone involved, including
the school. Rae Ann proved to be one of the sharpest children in class that
year. Now, years later and a new school, the two siblings had each acquired
their own circle of friends. Teddy and Mary had also adjusted quite nicely to
their own educational endeavors.
“Rae Ann,” the teacher addressed the student in
the front row to her left, “Can you tell us who a few of our country’s first
presidents were?”
“Sure, Rae Ann affirmed, “George Washington was
first, then John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John
Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, John
Tyler, James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor—”
“Ok Rae Ann, thank you,” the surprised teacher
said.
Rae Ann continued, "But there were also
people who guided our country before George Washington, ma'am. Presidents of
Congress and those Presidents under the Articles of Confederation... and even
one who was a president for a day. But there was only one Commander-in-Chief of
the Continental Army back then and that was George Washington. And I ain't
really sure he ever cut down no cherry tree when he was a youngin. Why would
he, anyway?"
“That’s quite enough for one day, Rae Ann. I’m
sure that’ll give your classmates plenty to ponder for some time to come.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Class,” the teacher addressed the students
seriously, “today we will be examining Article 2, Section 1, Clause 5 of our
U.S. Constitution. This section details for us the eligibility requirements
necessary for one to serve in office as our president.”
Rae Ann raised her hand high and waved it
frantically.
“Yes, Rae Ann,” the teacher addressed the
anxious girl.
“I’m pretty sure I can quote some of that
section, maybe all of it, if you’d have a mind for me to do that, ma’am.”
Feeling this may prove to be inspirational to
the class, the teacher agreed.
“No Person except a natural born citizen, or a
citizen of the United States at the time of the Adoption of the Constitution,
shall be eligible to the office of President,” Rae Ann focused her thoughts,
then continued, “neither shall any person be eligible… to that office who isn’t
thirty-five years old and been fourteen years residin’ within these here United
States.”
“That was very good, Rae Ann. The details of
your wording were almost perfect, just a little bit different, but the meaning
came across correctly.”
“And,” the spunky girl continued, “Congress
approved the Twelfth Amendment in 1803 and the states added their approval in
1804. This Amendment changed the Electoral College's choosin' process relatin'
to president and vice president—”
“Ok, Rae Ann,” the teacher smiled and spoke
loudly, “that will be enough for now.” Picking up a pile of papers from her
desk, the teacher commenced handing them out to the class. “I want each of you
students to find that Amendment on this paper I’m handing out and read it over
carefully. Who knows, maybe one day one of you will become President.”
“Rae Ann dreamed of that possibility for a moment
before thinking, Who ever
heard of a woman President? Maybe things will change someday.
“Do you think,” Rae Ann blurted out her question
abruptly, “that we will study the early writings of people like Patrick Henry
and those other early leaders who worked so hard to make sure the addition of
the Bill of Rights was added to our Constitution? Stuff like: freedom of
speech, freedom of the press, trial by jury, freedom of worship, you know.”
Rae Ann’s question caught the teacher and her
classmates by surprise. A quiet stillness came over the classroom like a light
gentle fog over a field of cotton one late August moonlit evening.
“We may, if we get time. Many leaders back then
refused to support the new Constitution without a bill of rights. We’ll see,
Rae Ann… and class,” the teacher pondered the advantages and disadvantages of
providing youngins with this historic information at such a young age.
Later that month Richard took Millie to the dance as promised,
corsage and all. It was quite an evening for both of them; they danced the
schottische, polka, and many other styles throughout the evening. Richard knew
he was changing, he no longer felt repulsed at the thought of being with a
girl… he actually found that he rather enjoyed it.
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