King's Corner: An Unexpected Education

King's Corner column for February 28, 2025

Schools come in all shapes and sizes. Centuries ago in England reading was taught by learning to read the Bible. The King James version was one of the first bibles in English – rather than Latin – and was a project involving many including William Shakespeare who is said to have creatively translated Psalm 46. And there’s a long history of church-sponsored schools, especially by the Catholics.

 My father, Robert ‘Mark’ King, started primary school at a Catholic School named St Mary’s. The front entrance still has fluted concrete pillars and two flights of large circular steps, each slightly smaller than the one below, which lead to an open area covered by a round dome. Father Stone was the director of the school. Sister Bernadino was the head of all the nuns and one of my father’s teachers. And dad – his mom called him “Bobbie” –  was always in trouble.

 There was an older man who often came by the school leading his horse and carriage, collecting recyclables and junk. In the depression years everyone did what they could to make a living.

 During recess, while the old man was somewhere inside the school, the other kids dared Bobbie to take the horse. He detached the horse from the wagon, and led him up the marble steps into the marble rotunda. Then the bell rang to go into class. The horse was left by himself in the rotunda where the sisters discovered it.

 A teacher, Sister Mary Margaret, came around to each class with an offer: any student who could lead the horse safely down the slippery steps to the cart could have three days off school. Bobbie promptly put up his hand to volunteer, not realizing he was also casting suspicion on himself as the person likely to have led the horse up the steps.

 Bobbie gently coaxed the horse down each step as Sister Bernadino stood at the top watching. She noticed when he attached the horse to the front of the carriage, knowing exactly how to do it.

 As he came back up the steps she told him to put out his hands, and he expected a reward. Instead she went to rap his knuckles with her key chain. He instinctively pulled his hands back and she missed. She demanded he put them out a second time, and she swung her chain. As he backed up defensively and started to fall down the stairs, he grabbed for anything to catch his fall. He tumbled down two flight of steps and landed at the bottom holding Sister Bernadino’s wooden leg.

 Bobbie ran several blocks then sat down wondering what to do with the leg. Another student, Melison Dipterial, came by, late for school, and he handed her the wooden leg to give to Sister Bernadino. He then ran home, and hid in a large cardboard box in the backyard for several hours.

 The next morning his mother led him back to school to see Father Stone, who also had Sister Bernadino and Sister Mary Margaret in his office. They sat in front of Father Stone’s large desk, while he sat in a chair with a high back, and behind him was a window with a view over the school.

 Father Stone said, “I hear some disturbing reports about you, that you led a horse into the rotunda then back down again. You know that could be considered stealing. What happened?” and Bobbie told him. He turned his chair around to face the window. The chair was shaking. Bobbie could see he was laughing but was trying to keep stern. He turned back around and said “Now that we have all the facts you two sisters can go.” Sister Bernadino wanted to stay and see him punished, but Father Stone insisted and they very reluctantly left.

 The Father started questioning Bobbie more about the horse and the wagon, and the full story of the dare came out.  Bobbie explained how the horse and he were good friends as he always fed him part of his lunch. All he had to do was unhook the chains from his harness to the “single tree” (not a “whipple tree” as there was only one horse), a wooden piece with a pivot in the center. On the horse’s body there are two leather holes where two posts go through to pull the wagon, so he just pulled out the posts and gathered up the long reins. Bobbie then put his fingers through his snaffle bit and guided him up the ten stairs, then a landing, then up the next 8-10 stairs. The poor horse was scared to death when Bobbie later led him back down the stairs.

 Father Stone spun around to look out the window again, and the back of the chair was shaking as he was trying to control his laughter. Then he turned around with his hands covering his face so Bobbie wasn’t supposed to see he had a smile on his face as he said as sternly as possible, “You know we have to do something about this, don’t you? We have to give you a week’s suspension from school.” 

 So rather than the promised three days, he got a whole week off school.