Mahone Bay Old School_A Life and Times_Bob Sayer

and June always wore a white ribbon in her hair. June’s brother Maurice is to right
[at end of row behind June] of June. He has his hair pulled over his left eye.’
The Whole School Photo
Photo: Courtesy Settlers Museum
Photo Two: Courtesy Settlers Museum
Some Thoughts on the Photos: ‘Those Were The Days’
• In 1914 photos were solemn occasions, very formal. Students and teachers
were not used to them. Few students are smiling, particularly in photo two.
Miss Kennedy sets the tone-very stern. Edith Young has a sunnier look
[maybe that’s why Dr. Hayford was attracted]. So does her class.
• The students have been told to dress up. Some did and some didn’t: very
likely a reflection of families who could afford to and those who couldn’t.
Some boys are in shirt and tie, and look decidedly uncomfortable.
• Dresses, Braids, Ringlets and Bows-Pauline M. Veinot
A lot of girls are in white dresses and ribbons & bows are everywhere.
Veteran Lunenburg County newspaper columnist, Pauline M. Veinot, longtime
resident of Blockhouse and teacher, had her columns, Those Were The
Days, published. On page 252 she writes about special [the first day, photo
day, Empire Day etc] school days.
‘We dressed in almost our best. We did not wear our-Sunday-go-meeting-clothes
but we wore the next best. The girls wore dresses.. Hair was braided or put into rags
the night before; that is if you didn’t have natural curls. There were always one or
two who had ringlets. If you did not have a real ribbon bow you made one of crepe
paper, but a bow you had to have.’
Unfortunately, the whole school photo, next, is undated. It’s an early photo:
one to celebrate the new school. Hope Hyson-Bustin, a student in the photo
[who celebrated her 103rd birthday in May, 2006, believes the principal,
standing on the steps with the staff, is not Emery Langille. And the man in
the photo is certainly older than twenty two [Claude Keddy]. That leaves us
with Mr. Bissett or Mr. Jacques. Clara Quinlan always wore black, and only
one teacher sports that colour. It is tempting to speculate 1918-1919, but
there is no hard evidence. See the close up on the next page.
• It was a very special occasion. There is no other whole school photo
available from the early years, and they are rare for any time.
• There before us is the first generation of the brand new Mahone
Academy students.
A Student Death, January, 1915 Ray Knock Skating Accident
The Mahone News column in the Wednesday, January 18, 1915, edition of the
Progress Enterprise reported a death on the harbour ice:
‘On Saturday evening while skating on the harbour near his home, Ray Knock,
a thirteen year old son of Nathan Knock, met with what proved to be a fatal
accident. A number of boys were having a game of some kind, and, in swift skating,
young Knock and a companion came together with such force that a fall followed with
the result that he fractured his skull, and expired shortly after being taken to his home.’
There would have been no grief counselors called to the school in 1915.
The classroom teacher and family would have dealt with it quietly.
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