School Post 1 Sept. 1948 [antikvár]

your Lelter from the Editor I hope you have all enjoyed your kolidays and thai you are not too sad at the thought of going back to school. If you are like I used to be, you tvill certainly not be delighted at the idea, though I daresay somé of your parents will be quite relieved to see you surrounded by books and kept out of mischief! I have vivid memories of a grim day in September somé twenty-six years ago, when I was taken to school for the first Ume. In honour of the occasion I was escorted by both parents, mother on the left-hand side and father on the right. I objected very strongly to the whole business and (to my shame!) I howled my head off. I said thai I did not want to go to school and couldn't see any reason why I should do so; and furthermore, if I really must be educated, why couldn't I go to a school of my own choosing instead of being taken to one selected by my parents? Of course, my protests were in vain and a quarter of an hour later I found myself "alone in the world" in the company of a lot of other small boys and girls who were as bewildered as I was. Having reached the school I stopped crying, largely, I imagine, because I had used up my store of tears, but there were severál other young people who had obviously saved tlieirs until the moment came to say good-bye to their mothers. Then they started in earnest, while I looked at them and wondered why I didrít jóin their chorus. I can't remember what we did on this first day at school, for my memory is limited to the crying and to the welcome sight of our mothers when they came to collect us at twelve o'clock. Of course, we soon settled down to our new life, and in a few days we were learning to reád and write — and to paint. The painting was a grand pastime. We álways painted landscapes, and they were so easy because all you had to do was to divide your piece of paper in half. paint the top half blue and the bottom half green — and there you had a field and the sky. At a later stage when we were véry clever, there was a brown fence separating the field from tlie sky and a red circle at the top of the picture that was called the sun. I never put people or cows in my paintinqs, because I couldn't draw them very well and didn't like to spoil thet picture by including objects which no-one could be expected to recognize. As an artist, I was álways timid! I stayed at this school for three years, and then entered a far bipger world by going to a grammar school where there were six hundred boys. It was a great change, and meant another grim day in September. A few of the senior boys were nineteen years old, and of course they seemed very important men to little fellows like myself. They used to carry armfuls of books, and when they laughed they did it in a very superior way. But as the years passed by, we learnt to imitaie them and finally when we became senior boys ourselves, we were just as high and mighty as they had been and looked at the "new" boys in the same critical and lofty manner! With best wishes, My postai address is: Editor, School Post, Wien V, Crüngasse 14 Alfréd Klett (Krems) — 7 years. "I am beginning to understand and speak a little English. I am learning the most common words and phrases that are used in school every hour of the day by teachers and pupíls. Of course, my pro-nunciation is far from perfect, but that will soon improve, I hope. I can reád quite a lot of your "School Post" and find it very interesting, but I have to look up many words in my dictionary. "I can learn many English words quite easily, because they are similar in English and Germán. As I want to improve my knowledge of English, I would like to correspond with an English boy of about my own age. Per-haps you can help me in this mat-ter." * Alexandra Reyhan (Vienna) — 14 years. "How is your cat? I, too, have a cat; she is a grey one and her name is Mika. We alsó have a hedgehog. His name is Árki and he is very nice. When we want to give him somé milk (he likes milk very much), we call, "Arki, Arki!" and he comes quickly. Mika is alsó fond of milk, and though her name is not Arki, she comes too and then they are very cross with each other. But natur-ally Arki is always the winner because of his prickles!" Please Note Now that the holiday period is over, "School Post" will once again be published on the lst and 15th oí each month. New readers wish-ing to order copies regularly should write to: Zeitungs- und Zeitschriften-Vertrieb Flórian May-er, Wien I., Rabensteig S, Telephon U 25-2-09, U 20-3-24.