Mahone Bay Old School_A Life and Times_Bob Sayer

We grew our own fruit, apple trees, pear, cherry and grapevine. I guess we didn’t go
hungry.
•Everyone in the family could sing but me. When we had singsongs I heard giggles
and laughter. When I sang I was as flat as a pancake. Someone consoled me by
saying-God made crows as well as canaries.
• Kids say the darndest things. One day a little girl wanted to go home with me. I said,
“What would your mother say?” and she said, “ She will be glad to get rid of me.”
• Growing up I swam, skated, sleigh coasted…I also played tennis.’
Student and Teacher
• Hope was eleven years old when the new
school opened.
• She remembered getting strapped by
teacher, Jessie Dauphinee: ‘I hated her…She
left the room and told the students not to look
at the test on her desk..Some of the boys looked,
so we all looked. She caught us and everyone in
the class got strapped.’
• She remembered the dislike for Mr. Jacques
and the opposite for Emery Langille, who
was to be, for her first year of teaching, her
principal
Hope, primary teacher, just out of Normal
College.
Photo: Courtesy: Hyson-Bustin collection
•She was a warm, witty, sharp-minded person, very modest and unassuming,
and was Guest Of Honour at the 2000 School Reunion
• Hope had obviously enjoyed her career as a teacher [at Mahone Bay, Truro
and Bridgewater] with the very young children, mostly primary or kindergarten.
She referred to them affectionately as “my babies”.
• When I graduated from high school, I wished I could have been a designer [of
clothes] but my sister Myrna talked me into going to Normal College [the provincial
teacher training institute at Truro-from where Myrna had graduated].
• When I graduated from College the Town Clerk [Orren Joudrey] of Mahone Bay
phoned me to ask me to teach the Primary Grade…I loved all the kids and can still
picture where some of them sat.
The situation of the hiring is recorded in the school board minute book for
the July 8th 1923 meeting. Miss A. M. Veinot had been appointed to start
primary in September but she wrote a withdrawal for health reasons.
Moved by Commissioners Eisener [interesting to note the flexible spelling, for
this was the building construction supervisor, Warren Eisenhauer] and Hirtle:
The Secretary [O.S. Joudrey, also the Town Clerk] endeavour to secure the services
of Miss Hope Hyson.. Hope agreed over the phone and remembers: I was so
pleased I didn’t have to apply or be interviewed. Her reputation went before her.
Mahone Bay Primary Teacher, 1924-27
• Hope remembers the students using slates and that the room had no blinds
The Tom Thumb Wedding: A Patriotic
Demonstration & Fund-raiser
This was the big memory of the year for Miss Hyson and a number of her students.
The Board had decided on a fundraiser and met with the teachers and
town council to enlist their support. The minutes of March 17th 1924 read:
• Mayor Zwicker thanked the teachers and council for attending and asked Comm.
Mader to explain the nature of the meeting….
Moved Mader and Davis: The School Board with the cooperation of the teachers
and general public, hold a patriotic demonstration on the school grounds May 23rd
for the purpose of raising funds for school purposes. Carried
Hope’s class took first prize at the parade. See photo on next page The combination
of idea, size, innocence and costume is irresistible. Hope believes she
may have taken the photo. Proud parents and grandparents look on.
Hope’s only regret was that , “I didn’t thank the parents enough for all their
preparation”. The prize was the presentation of a gramophone from the local
Member of Parliament.
A letter of thanks to the donor was sent by the Board in September [meeting
on the 4th]: “Vote of Thanks” be extended to Mr. Duff M.P. for the presentation
of a “gramophone” to the Primary Department. It came with the added
bonus of a suitable desk with drawers.
Even with her flat as a pancake voice, this writer is sure Hope enjoyed singing along
with her students and the gramophone.
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