The Amish Teacher's Dilemma. Patricia Davids
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coatroom wondering why a man as bright as Willis hadn’t enjoyed his school years. Maybe one day he would tell her but for now she had her own students to worry about. Willis left a short time later. The building felt oddly empty without him.
She sat at her desk and pored over her notes and lesson plans for each grade. The school board was thorough. She opened the enrollment forms and began to memorize the names of the students in each grade. If she knew the name, she wouldn’t have trouble putting a face to it when school started. Looking through them she noticed she didn’t have enrollment forms for Maddie, Otto or Harley. She would remind Willis the next time she saw him. She considered dropping by his home again that evening but decided against it. She had to draw a line between friendly and too friendly. Evening visits to his home were definitely out. Samuel Yoder would frown on that for sure and certain, but there was no reason why she couldn’t stop by the smithy while he was working.
A loud grumble from her stomach reminded her it was long past lunch. She slipped her paperwork into the desk drawer, stood, stretched with her hands pressed to the small of her back and then walked to the window. A middle-aged Amish matron and several younger women were all getting out of a buggy in front of Eva’s new house. Each of the young women had a baby in her arms. Eva rushed outside to meet them.
The women began unloading boxes from the backseat of the buggy. “Can I give you a hand?” Eva called out as she approached.
“Are you the new teacher?” the older woman asked.
“I am. I’m Eva Coblentz.
“Wunderbar. I’m Dinah Lapp. This is my daughter, Gemma Crump, and our neighbor, Bethany Shetler. Give her the kinder, girls, and let’s get this stuff inside.”
Gemma Crump deposited her baby in Eva’s arms. “This is Hope.”
The tiny girl with red hair gazed solemnly at Eva. “Hello, Hope.”
Gemma turned away to pull a large box from the back of the buggy and carry it inside.
Bethany stepped up to Eva. “This is my sohn, Eli.” She laid the babe in Eva’s free arm and began helping the other two women unpack the buggy and carry boxes inside.
Eva smiled at the babies in her arms and chuckled. “Clearly, we are supposed to stay out of the way.” She began to sway back and forth to keep her new charges happy. For the first time in years she was struck by the notion that she had missed out on something special when marriage passed her by. Perhaps that was why God had chosen her to be a teacher—so she could have dozens of youngsters to enjoy and look after. It was a humbling thought.
The sounds of running footsteps made her turn around. Maddie came rushing up to her. “What’s going on?”
Eva nodded toward the house. “Some women have brought me gifts.”
Maddie stared at the babies with wide eyes. “Do you get to keep them?”
Eva laughed at her expression. “Nee, I’m holding Hope and Eli while their mothers are busy.”
Maddie took a step closer. “Can I hold one? Bubble has always wanted a baby sister.”
Dinah came out of the house and motioned to Eva with little sweeps of her hand. “Come on in. You need to tell us where everything goes. Hello, Maddie.”
Eva mounted the step and handed Hope to her grandmother. Bethany was waiting inside to take Eli from her. Maddie came inside, too. With both hands free, Eva parked them on her hips and surveyed the room. More than a dozen boxes took up much of the small sitting room. “What is all this?”
“When my husband, Leroy, told me you had accepted the job of becoming our teacher, we got together a few little things we thought you might need.”
“A few little things?” The ad had mentioned a home would be provided. When she first opened the door and saw the kitchen appliances and a table with two chairs, she thought she would have to provide the rest. There was a bed and a rocking chair for the bedroom and a desk in the sitting room but nothing for the second bedroom.
“The men are bringing over the larger furnishings on our wagon tomorrow,” Gemma said.
Dinah handed the baby to Gemma and opened the first box. “Kitchen towels and dishcloths.”
“This is very kind.” Eva was overwhelmed.
“We are thrilled to be able to start our own school,” Dinah said. “The public school has been very accommodating to our students but as the bishop says, ‘Raise up a child in the way that they should go and they will not vary from it,’ and that means educating our kinder without undue influence from the outside. Okay, next box. Flatware, knives, canning jars and cooking utensils.” Dinah looked at her expectantly.
“In the kitchen.” Eva led the way.
Soon they were all unpacking boxes. The two infants were nestled together inside one of the larger boxes so their mothers would have free hands. Maddie knelt on the floor beside them, talking to Bubble and the babies nonstop. In less than an hour’s time Eva had sheets and towels stored in her linen closet, a full set of dishes, a teapot and a coffeepot along with a pantry full of preserved fruits and vegetables and three new kapps in the style the New Covenant women wore. She would wear her old congregation’s style kapp until she had been accepted into Bishop Schultz’s church, but it was heartening to see they believed she would remain among them.
When everything was put away, Eva used her new kettle to heat water for tea.
The box she was most excited about was the one containing school supplies. “Maddie, come see this.”
Eva lifted out pencils and rulers, colored chalk, paints and plenty of wide-ruled notebooks for the children to write in.
“Is this for me?” Maddie asked.
“For you and all the school children,” Dinah said.
Maddie picked up a box of crayons. “Bubble is really glad she gets to go to school. It’s going to be so much fun.” She put the box on the table and patted it. “I’m going to go tell Otto that this school is a lot better than his old one.” She charged out the door.
Eva glanced at all the women. “Danki. I’m very grateful and so will my students be when class starts.”
“We weren’t sure what you would need,” Bethany said, picking up her baby who was beginning to fuss.
“Sadly, I’m not sure what I need. I’ve never taught school before. From my own school days I remember the teacher wrote out the date and the arithmetic assignments for each of the classes on the blackboard first thing in the morning. After that she chose a passage to read from the Old or the New Testament. Following the reading, we stood up, clasped our hands together and repeated the Lord’s Prayer in unison.”
Formal religion was not taught in school. That was the responsibility of the parents and the church community.
Gemma chuckled. “That’s what we did, too. After the prayer we scholars filed to the front of the room and lined up in our assigned places to sing.”
Singing was an important part of the school day. It was all a cappella. No musical instruments were used in Amish schools or church services. “It was the same for me,” Bethany added.
“I have a copy of Unpartheyisches Gesang-Buch.” The German songbook had been used in Amish schools for decades. “Will the bishop find that acceptable?”
“It’s the school board that decides which books will be used. Hymns that are in common use will be fine. I used to allow the kinder to take turns choosing the hymns. Sometimes they would sing English songs and hymns. They sure enjoyed their time singing.” Dinah smiled at the memory.
“You were a teacher?” Eva clasped her hands together. How wonderful to know there was someone she could turn to with her questions.
Dinah nodded.