SCENE in Passing
What a beautiful weekend for the annual Gallatin

Gofer Fest. The powers that be provided a delightful, balmy day for this community's celebration, which is also their fundraiser for the maintenance of Gallatin's Community Center. It is so good to see people at work in a meaningful way, having fun and still producing funds for a good cause. I would have really enjoyed the horseback ride, but we no longer have horses. (This is the season, once upon a time, when we participated in horse shows every weekend for about 13 weeks. Each of the clubs which formed the East Texas Rodeo and Horse Show Association hosted a show. It was fun and competitive. Ah well, it is great to have the good ole' days to provide our memories for today's smiles.)

Looking ahead, it will be a busy season for end-of-year school events and that will mark the month of May.

Graduation will of course be the highlight. Smaller but equally large functions will include the Rusk All Sports banquet and Alto All Sports Banquet and concluding sports events.

It has been an outstanding school year for Cherokee County. We are blessed to have such good school systems during a time of trials and tribulations at this level of life for many of our state and nation's citizens. We can be very thankful. We can salute our school leaders for performing difficult tasks in today's environment.

I love to hear from yesterday's children. Here's a portion of an epistle, a collaborative effort by John and JoAnn Spurgeon of Vinita, Ok. and John Blank of Rusk. The original from the Spurgeons was sent to Mr. Blank who shared with me to share with you. It has to do with this thing called "education." It is a copy of a document on file at the Smokey Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina and reprinted by the Salina Journal. The referred to document is an 8th grade final exam from 1895. Students were given five hours to complete. Space will not allow us to reprint all of the questions, but just for example, here are several of them:

"Define verse, stanza and paragraph. What is punctuation and give rules for principal marks of punctuation. Name and define the fundamental rules of arithmetic. What is the cost of a square farm at $15 per acre, the distance of which is 640 rods? These are from the grammar and arithmetic portions. From the section on U. S. history, these are among the questions.

"Give the epochs into which the U.S. history is divided. Relate the causes and results of the Revolutionary War and name events connected with these dates: 1607, 1620, 1800, 1849 and 1865."

And then from the category labeled orthography, the question asks, "what is meant by the following: alphabet, phonetic, orthography, etymology and syllabication. What are the following and give examples of each: trigraph, subvocals, diphthong, cognate, letters, linguals."

Geography is the final section, asking what is climate? Upon what does climate depend? How do you account for the extremes of climate in Kansas?

Now, these are questions for an 8th grade student in 1895. It causes me to feel quite pleased that I it took me so long to be born and have to struggle with an 8th grade education. I do not remember all of this, do you? I can see the smiles on the faces of several from my generation, but I decline to name names. The point to all this is that it has been said many times of someone, "Oh, he only had an 8th grade education." And this test gives a whole new meaning to the definition. I just can't quit, "Describe the movements of the earth. Give the inclination of the earth." I wonder if today's meteorologists could pass such a test? Are today's kids studying the right stuff? Questions. Always questions.

Thanks to our exstudents of RHS.

What's happening on the health scene? June and Rudy Cervenka plan to begin an exercise program next week. I suggested she watch for a lot of folks she knows who are already enrolled in this health giving facility of service.

Another of our under the weather citizens is Dorthy McClure. After some time with the help of her foot doctor (that's a podiatrist, I think), and a specially-designed pair of shoes, she is doing better. It is difficult to get better when it's so hard to walk. But she is better.

And her daughter, Dottie Norton, continues to move slowly toward improved health.

Get ready to welcome May. I wish I knew where the first four months of this year slipped away to, but I can't, and they did. In just four more, it will be September. Mercy.

To close, here's a thought worth entertaining: "Your rewards in life are always in direct proportion to your contribution." Keep smiling?