Conjunction

All of the children at the orphanage went to Elizabeth Ziegler P.S. of E.Z. eezee for short. The school was a very good school with very high standards as I was not to realize for many years. Some of the teachers were real characters. The teachers I had and remember were Grade 3 Miss Uffleman, Grade 4 Miss McKenzie, Grade 5 Miss Brand, Grade 6 MrMcGrigor, Grade 7 Mr Dunsmore, Grade 8 and Principal Mr. McGregor. Art Class Mr Anderson, P.T. Mr Hollingsworth.

A few years ago an Ex Principal of E.Z. Mr. Ellis Little ask me to write something about the orphanage and school for the Waterloo Historical Society, and when he did he mentioned, Andy Dunsmore, and when he did I had to think for a minute, not whether to do it or not but, who was Andy Dunsmore. It connected almost immediately, but I had to tell him that I never knew Mr. Dunsmore's first name until he mentioned it that minute, and it was the same for all the other teachers, we never knew there first name, they were all, Miss, Mrs. or Mr.

The class I liked the best was Manuel Training, with Mr. McLennon, and the teachers I liked the best were Mr. McGrigor and Mr. Dunsmore, they were both real characters. Mr McLennon was a great M.T. teacher and was a perfectionist when it came to building something, it's probably hard to believe , but one of the things I built was a magazine rack of oak that is still in use at my cottage some 55 years later. Mr McLennon was building his own house on Allen St. just down the street from the school, and would have the students drop in from time to time to help him getting practical experience in actual building. Raymond Eckstein was the best kid in our class in woodworking, and likely because his father was good at it and had all the tools, so he had outside first hand experience. I wasn't to far behind Raymond though, I loved woodworking, I wish I could say it stayed with me, but it didn't.

Mr McGrigor had been in the Air Force in WW ll and Mr. Dunsmore said the reason he, Mr. McGrigor was in bombers was that was the only thing that could get him up. We had a brother and sister in Mr. McGrigor's class and one day when the brother got in some sort of trouble, he was called to the Cloak Room to get the strap, and after hearing a couple whacks with the strap followed by yelps, the boy heads back to his desk. Mr. McGrigor then says, I might as well get the rest of the family, and calls the girl up and sends her to the Cloak Room at which time we all look at each other and wonder what is he doing, the girl hadn't done anything. We hear a couple whacks, followed by yelps and the girl comes back to her desk, and we were all wondering what had just happened. When we got out for recess, and remember at this time the girls, and boys played in different areas, the girls ask the girl who got the strap what had happened, or what did we miss, and she says, he never gave me the strap he just hit the wall and ask me to yelp. I thought that was a good trick and appreciated him after that.

The school year of 1950-51 found me in Mr. Dunsmore's class grade 7 and within a few days Mr Dunsmore heard someone talking when he should have been listening, and he bellows at the culprit, " IF YOUR SO SMART SPELL SIZZEGEE" everyone looks up in surprise, the kid kind of looks sheepish, and the class continues on, as does life. A couple weeks later, the same thing happens, someone is talking when they should have been listening, and Mr Dunsmore bellows again "IF YOUR SO SMART SPELL SIZZEGEE" the kid kind of looks sheepish and the class continues, but I thought it's inevitable that he is going to get me, so I better find out how to spell the word, so I head for the library and a dictionary, and go through all the esses to the very end.
A few weeks after that the inevitable happens Mr Dunsmore bellows Allan, if your so smart spell Syzygy. I bellow SYZYGY, and he has kind of a stunned look on his face and then he bellows, WHAT DOES IT MEAN" at which I bellow " Conjunction" an astronomical term, the triagulation between the earth the sun and the moon. Mr Dunsmore's jaw drops and from that time on I could do no wrong in his class. Mr. Dunsmore was a man of great humour and I really liked him a lot. In Mr. Dunsmores class was when we began debateing, which was the only thing I ever did homework for, I loved debating, I did it quite a bit and I think If I never did anything else right I could debate, and I don't think I ever lost a debate in class. I was in Mr Dunsmore's class one day when Mr MacGregor the Principal thunders in and calls me to the front of the room, and shows me a sheet of paper with what appeared to be my hanwriting, and tells me, and everyone else, in no uncertain terms, that I have the worst handwriting in the history of the school, and if it doesnt get better I will not be advancing to grade 8, his class. He then shows me a sample of handwriting, and asks me if I know whose it is. While thinking is he for real, how would I know that, and I say that I don't but it looks like a girls. Mr. MacGregor thunders back, it's your brothers and perhaps the best he had ever seen, and how could mine be so bad and his so good. Mr. MacGregor was a stern looking man, but with a controlled and understated sense of humour, and I have the feeling that after giving someone a dressing down for some infraction or another, he would turn and hold himself to keep from laughing, and I have the feeling that this was one of those times, and that he walked away giggling to himself.