RANDOM REMINDER

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31658, 19 April 1968, Page 17

RANDOM REMINDER

FAREWELL SPEECH

Some strange events take place In the classrooni* of secondary schools but few we can recall equal the account of a farewell conversation between master and pupil, sent to us from the West Coast. The boy, the report said, never seemed to grow much or learn much, but one morning he announced to the master that it was his fifteenth birthday and that this was his last day at school. The master mentioned that jobs these days were a little hard to find, and would he not be better off staying on *nd trying for school certificate? The boy said he had a job. The master asked whait he

was going to do. The boy said he would be staying home to look after bis little sister, aged two or three, he wasn't sure which. His brother, he explained, had done it all last year because Mum was out at work, and it was his turn now. The boy expressed the opinion that it wasn’t a bad job, because he would be taking his sister out on the bike a bit, going fishing and suchlike. There didn’t seem much more to be said. The master told the boy he would miss him. She would be right, the boy replied because th* last hadn’t be*n Seen of them all yet —there was a brother to

come to school, then a sister, then the twins, and then the little sister—five more of them. The master expressed the opinion that that seemed about enough to see him into bis retirement. The boy agreed. He had a parting gesture to make. He brought from his pocket a half-filled container known in the trade and among the young fry as a squeezy, and asked the master to have a drink. It wasn’t the usual orange mixture. The master said it wasn't bad, not bad at all, but what was it? The boy looked incredulous. Heavens above, he said, can’t you tell cherry brandy when you taste it?