KINDERGARTEN MEMOIRS

My experiences in Kindergarten, I'll never forget. My teacher was Mrs. Smith; I will never forget her name. There were two tall children in our class, I was one and the other was my friend Ronnie Gill. I am Caucasian and Ronnie, African American. Well she couldn't stand either one of us and picked on us continuously. I guess she just didn't like tall children. Much to my dismay, Kindergarten did not turn out to be the experience I had anticipated it to be. I will continue with a couple of happenings that stand out in my mind most.

This one particular time, I was playing with a much-used dolly in our playhouse. I always loved dollies and would never have damaged one. I still have my childhood dolls today. Well, while I was playing with the doll (which had a latex body, I remember that because I had one almost like it at home), the arm tore off. Mrs. Smith grabbed the doll from me along with the torn arm; and put them in a bag with a note to my parents, explaining what a despicable thing I'd done. She followed up with telling me I was a bad girl and that I had hurt the dolly. I remember how those words stung and I cried and cried. She didn't care that I cried, she just left me there and went on with the other kids. Ronnie came over and told me not to cry that everything would be all right.

When I got home with the dolly in the bag and gave it to momma, I began to cry again. Momma comforted me and got the dolly and the note from the bag. Momma said, "Get your coat we're going back to school". Momma was furious; she told Mrs. Smith that she was never to tell me I was a bad girl again, or that I had hurt the dolly. She went ahead to say anyone could see the doll had been just plain worn out. She told her what good care I took of my dollies at home and how much I loved them. To this day I remember how that felt. Mrs. Smith demanded that momma replace the dolly, but momma said no.

Another time, Mrs. Smith called my parents and told them that they should stop discussing politics in front of me. Their reply was, "what are you talking about"? It seems I had seen a T. V. program on the Trojan War and if you remember one of the factions in the fight were the Publicans. I had made the statement; "I hated those Publicans" and of course she was certain, I had meant Republicans. Momma said, I never did use baby talk; I always spoke clearly. Anyway, after that we all knew which political party she belonged to. My parents got a good laugh over that one after it was all sorted out.

Barbara J. Ervin-Weymouth