My Memoirs - Citizen of the World

Deodete’s Teaching Career and Our Engagement
Deodete returned from São Jorge and began teaching in Agualva, a
small village about 25 miles from the city. Unlike a regular school
facility, the school was converted from an older house, which
meant it had very little equipment. Deodete rented a room nearby
in another house. She enjoyed teaching very much, but it was a lot
of work dealing with 52 students, ages seven to fourteen, grades
one through four, in one classroom. Many students did not pass
and they had to repeat a grade. That was the system used in many
rural villages in Portugal. In the cities, teachers were assigned to
just one grade in well-equipped classrooms. It is interesting to
note that the students who completed the fourth grade were always
well-prepared, having acquired a very good basic education. In
fact, I sometimes brought my adult American students to observe
Deodete’s teaching and the response from them was that they were
always very impressed with the students’ knowledge of geometry
and mathematics. They even noted that some subjects observed in
Deodete’s classroom were only taught in high schools in America.
Our courtship became very serious and I would see her every
chance I could. Since she was a teacher, she was afforded a
lengthy summer vacation, and a year later I traveled to São Jorge
to ask her father if I could marry his daughter. There I met her
mother, Dos Anjos, her father, João Raimundo, her oldest sister,
Maria Alice and the youngest sister, Bernardete. In those days, in
Portugal, the courtship was usually done by first visiting the girl's
house. She would be inside the window and the boy would be
outside, so they would have to improvise several methods to touch
one another and make the courtship more pleasant. Only after the
engagement could the boy enter the parent's house. But, in my
case, it was a little different because I traveled to another island
where there were no hotels. Thus my future in-laws agreed that I
could stay in their house at Fajã de Santo Amaro, but in separate
rooms, of course. It would be a sin to sleep with a girl without
being married.
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