LEVIN SCHOOL

JUBILEE FUNCTION

MR. R. J. POPE LOOKS BACK

Mr. R. J. Pope, of Wellington, gave an entertaining address at the function held in the Municipal Buildings, Levin, on Saturday in connection with the jubilee celebrations of the Levin Public School. Mr. Pope was the first teacher when the ' original building was opened for use on February 24, 1890. | Mr. Pope described his journey in a bullock dray from the railway station, then only three years old, arid situated at Bartholomew's mill, to- j wards Koputaroa, through the bush to the large natural clearing where the school and schoolhouse then stood. There, too, stood the only real house an Levin at that time, the residence i of the late Mr. Fred Stuckey, chairman of the school committee, whose son, Walter, was the driver of the bullock dray on that day in February, 1890. Remarking on the changes that had ' been made in Oxford Street, Mr. Pope said that as he remembered it first the street was quite impossible to walk through. "Possibly one might have crawled through it, provided one did not object to being torn by lawyer and haled up by supplejacks," he remarked. "The truth is that, had it not been for the foresight of some wise surveyor, who had crudely painted on a rough board the name 'Oxford Street' and nailed it to a large and flourishing tree (in case, I suppose, anyone ever got lost in the bush there), I should not, when I first made its acquaintance, have known it was Oxford Street, or any other street for that matter."' Of the opening of the school Mr. Pope retains a vivid memory. "My first duty was to enrol all the pupils." he said. "This I managed to do without assistance.' There were three present the first day, all members of one family. Their names were: Emily Jane Staff, Charles Albert Staff, an<J Bertram Nye Staff. With three Staffs there on the opening day I felt that the school was likely to be well supported. A BURNT OFFERING. "Religious instruction,. then as now, formed no part of the curriculum. The nearest approach to it was a kind of burnt offering performed from time to time before school opened. A nailcan filled with dried leaves was placed on two bricks in the middle of the floor and set alight. When the room v/as densely filled with smoke the windows were opened and the mosquitoes passed out, in more ways than one, with the smoke." Describing what he believed to be the first public religious service held in Levin, Mr. Pope said that there was a section, a large section, as it turned out, opposed to the idea of holding a service of any kind, "though this section raised no overt objection, just lying low and biding its time. When Sunday evening came the devout made their way to the schoolroom, several maidens, under true Scriptural injunction, taking their lamps with them ready trimmed and filled with oil, though not as yet burning. "The familiar words, 'Dearly beloved brethren,' strike our ear. At the same moment the parson strikes his ear a good resounding slap—'the Scripture moveth us'—another audible slap, this time on his forehead. Though quite out of place, several of the congregation make a like response; 'in sundry places,' adds the parson, accom--panying the words with a pronounced whack with each hand; and the congregation is equally assiduous in its slapping exertions. So it continues, the frequency and intensity of the slaps constantly increasing, till, at the beginning of the second lesson, the clergyman declares the opposition too strong, and he and his flock retreat, taking their lamps with them. Here endeth the first service. The mosquitoes have won." In similar strain, Mr. Pope described other experiences of the early days of the' district. "Little did I realise when I opened the tiny, oneroomed, unlined school, with its three pupils on the first day," he concluded, "that I was sowing the seed of such a noble tree as that which we see in existence today; one destined to bear the flowers and fruit of knowledge, not only for the service of the present time, but also for the service and edification of generations yet unborn." Other speakers were the Speaker of the House of Representatives (the Hon. W. E. Barnard), who entered the school in 1894, and Mr., R. J. Foss, the last headmaster of the^ District High School. Mr. Barnard said that the early teaching he had received at Levin had been a source of inspiration to him throughout his life. In the evening a banquet was held in the Regent Hall, and the celebrations were concluded on Sunday, when a wreath was placed at the foot of the war memorial in the public gardens, and a combined, church service was held in the Regent Theatre.