Chapter 8 - The Making of a True Patriot -- Fifth Grade

1955 - 1956

Miller School in 2014

     Fifth grade was my favorite academic year. We studied U.S. history and our teacher, Miss Peavey, made it fun. My classmate Andy remembers our teacher sending us outside into the fresh air on beautiful days to do our school work. She sat in the doorway of a nearby historical building enjoying the privilege. I don’t share that memory but I have spent many sunny days since fifth grade wishing myself outside while in school or work. Maybe that’s Miss Peavey’s legacy.

      Miller School had been attended by Henry Ford in its original location in east Dearborn. When Mr. Ford moved the building to Greenfield Village, he recreated the little waterway that had run in front of the school as well. In that waterway he had crafted a small wooden waterwheel, one of his early experiments. A replica stood rotting at one end of the moat when we were in school. Today any sign of the waterway and the waterwheel are gone but I remember playing in the dead-leaf-filled and slimy water during recess.

     Today’s Miller School is also lacking the set of wooden steps that we climbed up and down many times a day (see the photos), which surely must have been an awkward route. Also missing are the unfriendly peacocks in the yard beside the school. I still recall the pleasure of finding a lost peacock feather and bringing it home to treasure.

      Memory is a funny thing. We couldn’t have played Red Rover every day during fifth grade recess but we played it often. I really loved that game. The class is split into two long lines that hold hands facing each other and the entire line chants “Red Rover, Red Rover, let (child’s name) come over!” The child whose name is called then runs as fast as he or she can for the weakest hand-hold and tries to break through. If successful, it’s the other team’s turn to call. If you can’t break through, you have to go back. I loved charging through -- it was really great fun. Marbles, jacks and jump rope sound so dated today but honing my skills at these activities were among my favorite recesses.

      Miss Peavey had a reputation as a strict but fair teacher. She liked the ideas of an educator named Rudolf Steiner who believed that students have unlimited power to learn (he founded the Waldorf Schools) and she incorporated some of his ideas into her classroom. Years later I ran into Miss Peavey while taking my own three little children to visit Greenfield Village and was amazed to discover our shared admiration for Steiner.

      We had a wonderful discussion about educational philosophy and I was so impressed with this former teacher of mine. Miss Peavey liked to lecture about the ideals upon which our country was founded. “Freedom” and “responsibility” were her favorite words and many students quickly learned that either of those words pleased her. She would lecture for a few minutes and pause before ending her sentence. This was our cue to guess the word that would complete the thought. Eventually I saw that either “freedom” or “responsibility” was the missing word…and even if they weren't, Miss Peavey would say, “No, but that’s a good answer.” My little soul really responded to her assumption that I had a soul and it longed for both freedom and responsibility. I was (am) a true believer in Democracy.

It was perhaps no coincidence that Miss Peavey taught U.S. History and that I enjoyed it so much. We had several projects to reinforce the information and the one I liked best was the paper mural. It was really a gigantic roll of paper upon which we illustrated scenes of early American history, such as the Ride of Paul Revere. It was a community effort: All the students contributed – we were assigned different sections in small groups. I remember the paper on the floor, the pencil drawings and the coloring-in to finish each panel. Then they were hung mural-style above the baseboards around the room. I was able to draw some of the horses, my favorite subject.

      We were required to keep a two-hole notebook of our U.S. History assignments which included lots of handwriting with our own illustrations and much creativity. We had to write with a fountain pen. Before the wondrous invention of the cartridge pen, you had to pull a lever and siphon in the ink, a sometimes messy process. The new pen effectively ended the art of re-inking, and the permanent damage caused by spilled ink. I remember my joy in finding a turquoise color of blue ink in a cartridge that didn’t go with the dark blue ink elsewhere in my notebook, but it was worth the discord to enjoy that shade of turquoise. I can still see it in my mind. Actually, I might even still have it in my basement.

      Miller School is a short block away from the childhood home of Wilbur and Orville Wright which Mr. Ford moved from Dayton, Ohio. For three warm spring days, we acted out a short play inside the Wright house, each performance with a different cast. Miss Peavey had divided us into three groups so that everyone had an important part. There must have been three young Wilbur Wrights, three young Orville Wrights and so on. There was no room for an audience but some VIPs attended – including the principal. I played the part of Orville and Wilbur’s younger sister, Katharine (although in my memory, my name was Priscilla – memory is a funny thing). We dressed up in 19^th Century clothing, memorized lines and I loved it.

      Occasionally a representative from the Edison Institute asked to borrow students to use as models for their promotional photos, sometimes dressed in period clothing. So far I have found only one such photo. It was taken while we were in fifth grade to promote a beautiful old racing car, a 1913 (or so) Mercer Raceabout. My mother dated this photo to January, 1956. On the back it states “Courtesy of The Henry Ford Museum, Dearborn, Michigan”. The Mercer automobiles were produced in New Jersey from 1910 to 1925, and this model looks to be in the 1911 to 1914 period. It is no longer owned by The Henry Ford.

     In the photo, there are two boys and one girl (me). Each of the boys seem to have found an unusual feature to study on the hot rod. Bucky seems to be studying a piece of trim or a sidelight and Paul is clearly pretty interested in the wooden dashboard. On the other hand, I look like I’m entranced by a small section of painted metal. Or maybe there was an insect. Although today I appreciate their beauty, in those days I only wanted to see horses, not cars. So I can only laugh when I see this photo of me feigning interest.