~ 24 - Sunday, July 17, 1994 - North Shore News Revealing the secret connection of sport Eleanor ITF WAS dismay all around in January 1938 when the kids came back to Pineview school after the Christmas recess. They found they had lost their favorite teacher in the whole world and had, alas, inherited me. The teacher they loved and admired had gone and got mar- tied, That was an automatic invi- tation to dismissal for any female worker in those days. Me, Id been teaching since the fall in my second school, which, unlike the first, was adjacent to a main road that allowed escape once ina while. But in the four months since September I'd used up all my resources for dodging the lascivi- ous overtures of my landlady's husband, so I told my mother, who played bridge with the school inspector's wife, and the transfer as replacement at Pineview was quictly effected. It always needs time for adjustment to a new teacher, but when the former teacher was a real favorite it takes even longer. We shuffled along, I could see some softening but they didn't really loosen up until May, when the playground finally began to recover from winter's depreda- tions, Then the secret connection was revealed. These children had the base- ball bug, and they had it big. The teacher they'd had — strong, live- ly minded and enthusiastic — had over the three years of her tenure made them the baseball champi- ons of their entire school district, which stretched from Vanderhoof all the way east to McBride and south to Quesnel. Now, at last, the children came to life at the prospect of getting ready for their next encounter with the team from wherever, and they obviously were keen to see how I was going to go about strengthening their expertise. I was, of course, aware that part of my duties lay in participat- ing in the “healthy body-healthy mind™ concept but had no more idea of the rules of baseball than | had of polo or tennis or any other sport. Sports was not part of the English step-father's agenda for making us into suitable human beings. All L knew was that you hit a ball with a wooden bat and ran. 1 boldly took on the pitcher's role. I'd pitch, and then d urge — “Run, run, atta boy” — while the children shouted back to me, “That was a foul ball, Miss” or “You threw that outside the plate, Miss.” Well, for me the main object was to stir the blood and get the metabolism going so that the mind would be sharp for the next bout of spelling or arithmetic or Maclean's Method of Writing. I was sure there were refine- ments but I figured they knew them better than I did. After a few days of this stuff they began to lose their original enthusiasm, and so longer rushed out to draw straws for shortstop or whatever. [ had to fetch the bat and ball myself and coax a catcher. The sunny air crackled with grumbles. Perhaps if I left them to them- selves they’d work it out, I thought, so J began to spend Introducing... LEVOLOR™ Window Fashions When you purchase LEVOLOR™ products you are purchasing over 70 years of design innovation. Choose from hundreds of colours and options. 1" MINI BLINDS 50%OFF VERTICALS 50% OFF FREE SHOP AT HOME SERVICE recess at my desk, and ate my lunch inside and marked pupers. Tt was while I was at this one lunch hour that feet came pound- ing up the outside stair and young voices calling, “Come quick, Miss — Karl's setting fire to the school!" Whooosh, and [ was out and down and around to the back ina fash and sure enough, there was Karl, from my Grade 2 class, try- ing hard to ignite a motley collec- tion of debris. He’d collected dry leaves and old grasses and some scrap paper from the waste basket and had it all crammed against the shiplap and was busy scraping matches on his shoe sole. He'd not managed more than some charring but he wasn’t ready to give up the project, either. With the whole schoo! popula- tion of 16 behind me, I questioned his heinous activity and got a straightforward reply: “If the school burned down you'd have to go away.” Well, | had a little talk with his father, who, in turn, had a little talk with me about young boys and baseball, At the end of the school year | ZOt 2 promotion to a two-room school closer to home, The other teacher looked after the sports agenda. By this time of my life, after 52 years of marriage to a man who loves baseball, I’ve even - brought myself to the point where I can say “he flied out” without biting my tongue. ; Poor young Karl. I wish I'd known more about his Field of Dreams. You can say that about a lot of things when you're old, unfortunately. A Mosaic of Talent! FOLKFEST ‘94 This year the North Shore community festival celebrates its 20th Anniversary. On the first of 4 programs to be presented, performers include: Strathcona Chinese Dancers, Weavers Square Dancers, RNB Dance and Theatre Arts Mlada Srbadia, Tatsumi Japanese Dancers and the Sweet Adelines (Dogwood Chapter) Program 2 of 4 Foikfest progrant #2 airs: Tuesday July 19 at 4:30 pm Repeats: Wednesday July 20 at 6:00 pm Thursday July 21 at 11:00 am and 6:30 pm Friday July 22 at 8:00 pm Saturday July 23 at 14:00 am and 5:00 pm Sunday at 9:00 am and 7:00 pm plus MIND & MATTER ART FESTIVAL Produced by Shaw Cable, White Rock, over 100 artists from across the country display their works on 3 acres of beautifully landscaped gardens. Airs: Tuesday July 19 at 6:30 pm Repeats: Thursday July 21 at 9:00 am and 9:00 pm Friday July 22 at 5:00 pm Saturday July 23 at 9:00 am and Sunday July 24 at 9:00 pm and VANCOUVER CANADIANS BASEBALL Live from Nat Bailey Stadium, weather permitting vs Albuquerque Dukes Sunday July 24 at 1:30 pm