Dear Aunt Sadie.

If you remember we all called you Aunt Sadie even though you were just our teacher.  I guess you reminded us of some aunt we really liked.  I remember your silver hair with every hair in its proper place all day long.  Your five foot two just barely taller than most of us boys and your back straight as a yard stick.  Yes, I remember how you used to keep the yardstick in the corner by the wastebasket.  When you wanted our attention you used to take that yard stick and point it at us so we knew who you were talking to.  The only other time you used the yard stick was when you wanted to make a straight lie on the blackboard.  Oh yes, I remember the day you pointed it at me and said, “Young man, keep your eyes on me when I am talking to you.  You can look at that young lady after school.”

We didn’t need a clock in our room because you always walked to the door and opened it just before the bell rang.  The amazing thing was you didn’t have a watch or have a clock in the room.  After the first day of class we never ran out the door even if it was a fire alarm test.  We walked.  You were strict but never raised your voice or spoke in anger.

At the end of the class period you would always write the next days assignment on the black board.  A few weeks into the semester you asked me a question about the assignment for the day.  I had forgotten what the assignment was all about and was not at all able to give you an answer.  I suppose I was daydreaming or looking out the window.  You looked at me and said, without raising your voice, “Young man, from the looks of your paper I would say you are not very interested in become educated or amounting to something. In this class you will amount to something.  Tomorrow morning you will hand in todays lesson corrected and tomorrows lesson as well.”

Of course everyone in the class was about to break out laughing and you stood up behind your desk and said. “Every one of you take your paper and write the correct answer to todays lesson, found on page 23, three times and hand it in to me in the next fifteen minutes”  There was a mad rush in the class.  You sat down in your chair and quietly watched the class.

We all turned in our papers as you requested.  The bell rang and we left the class.  You stood by the door and said, “Thank you Children.  We will have a very good class tomorrow.”  And we did.  It was your caring spirit that I believe we all responded to and your loving us that helped us to amount to something.