The Best Teacher

I wrote this several years ago.
I got an email a little while ago from an old friend back in New England (actually a cousin of
mine). We grew up in Northern New Hampshire. He now lives across the river (Connecticut) in
Vermont. He told me about visiting our old teacher in the nursing home where she resides. He
took her a quart of maple syrup and they reminisced about having sugar on snow for a treat at
school every spring. He said she was doing well.
At this point this story could go a dozen different ways. Which way to go?
Millie Morse is the name of our teacher. She had her hundredth birthday in 2005. I was up there
a few days after her birthday and visited her with my son and two of my grandsons. The local
paper had a long write-up about her and included the article she wrote for a magazine some years
back entitled "Thirteen Years in a Country School". She had written me to write some of my
memories and I sent her some which were included in her article and attributed to me. I have a
copy but can't use it without permission because it is the property of the Betz Family Archives.
I can do another though.
When I started first grade two other girls and myself were the only first graders. Three of my
brothers were still in school there as it had grades one through eighth. The school was called
Great Rock School because of the massive rock just across the road. We could go sit on it and eat
our lunches on good days. It was also called #15 though by that time there were not that many
country schools. The number of pupils was low after I finished the fifth grade so we were all
transferred to the Grange School #7 which was three or four miles away and were bused there by
my Aunt Mildred (my uncle was on the school board). It did not much matter which school. Our
activities were about the same. Besides our studies we did many things. Mrs. Morse was an
accomplished artist and that led to many things. I wish I had pictures of the monthly wet chalk
drawings she did on one of the chalkboards.
From Thanksgiving to Christmas we spent a lot of time making Christmas gifts for our parents.
Every year it was something different. We knitted yarn through a spool and then sewed the little
rolls together and made holders or mats. We made small cases of fabric remnants and then filled
them with balsam fir needles (wonderful smell). We made things with raffia, gourds, and others I
do not now remember.
At the same time we worked on our Christmas Program. Mrs. Morse's sister, Alice, could play the
piano so she came nearly every day while we practiced singing Christmas Carols (the real ones).
We also learned poems to recite and had a couple of short plays. Mrs. Morse would rig a curtain
with borrowed sheets and a wire across in front of the desks. And of course we also made many
decorations for the room. This was done with very little money and what was spent came from
her meager paycheck.
On the day of the program, many parents and friends filled the desks and other chairs while we
gave the performance. They enjoyed our errors and miscues as much as they did that which went
right. You see, everyone in the school participated regardless of age or ability.

Millie Morse passed away shortly before her 105th birthday in 2010. I last saw her in 2008 when cousin Howard and I visited her. She was so delighted to see us.