I was going to ask about the inkwells, Max; dont remember them in the late 40s, but then I dont recall all that much from then. the holes were there in the desks, but we already had ballpoints or fountain pens, I guess.
I know the feeling...
Doug
On 2013-03-13, at 7:54 AM, Patrick McManus <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Watch Max it my Ozz niece's partner is a Lawless- from Melbourne!!
> :-) P -off to poet thingy tonight
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Poetryetc: poetry and poetics [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> Behalf Of Max Richards
> Sent: 13 March 2013 13:33
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: 'Deportment'
>
> Deportment
>
> was a category
> in our primary-
> school reports sent
>
> home to Mum and Dad
> each term-end
> in an envelope,
>
> trusted to us to hand
> over unopened.
> Others were
>
> Attendance and
> Punctuality.
> Had anyone
>
> dawdled too long
> down School Road
> of a morning?
>
> or hidden behind
> the toilet block
> till ferreted out?
>
> Had he forged
> illiterate
> excuse notes?
>
> Earned being
> named truant?
> Others had
>
> 'problems', not us.
> We'd set out
> each morning
>
> well-breakfasted,
> with clean hanky
> and cut lunch,
>
> which we never
> ate till lunchtime!
> Play-lunch also
>
> and little else
> we had in our
> leather satchels.
>
> Around us swirled
> rule-breakers,
> trouble-makers,
>
> smart alecs and
> answerer-backs.
> In their schoolbags
>
> they'd hidden smokes.
> Not us, sister
> and I. We stood
>
> to attention, stepped
> out smartly
> in the parade
>
> to the classroom,
> sat with elbows in,
> shoulders squared
>
> at our desks,
> ankles crossed,
> inkwell watched.
>
> Others slouched,
> tripped classmates,
> spilled ink, yawned
>
> defiantly, and let
> their noses run.
> Sniggering,
>
> giggling, burping
> and calculated
> farting occurred.
>
> Miss Feist (she was
> thought to wear corsets)
> wanted us all to sit
>
> straight, stand straight,
> walk straight, like her.
> Some of us did.
>
> We earned high marks
> for Deportment.
> We'd never get
>
> round-shouldered
> or spinal curvature.
> We'd look people
>
> in the eye, they'd
> trust us, we'd
> be respected
>
> amongst the world's
> respectable.
> Others went home
>
> at term-end
> destroying
> that envelope,
>
> to parents who
> didn't even care!
> didn't perhaps read.
>
> Their houses
> were dirty,
> noisy - sometimes
>
> 'disreputable',
> like the Lawless
> family opposite.
>
> Lawless! their
> actual name!
> Motorbikes were
>
> their life, weeds
> instead of grass,
> clothes-line a disgrace.
>
> Their letterbox
> spilled bill reminders.
> Loud laughers, careless -
>
> while we whispered
> and held ourselves
> well in, and sat straight.
>
> And made our parents
> praise us proudly -
> never loudly.
>
>
> [when did inkwells go out? this was 1947-8]
>
Douglas Barbour
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