The Headmasters Papers (13 page)

But enough of that. How's tricks in the woods? Did you shoot your own turkey, or is that no longer ecological? I meant it about wanting to know your reading. I am not searching your soul or measuring your taste. I am out for nourishment myself. I dearly hope 
Eve of St. Agnes
 passes its annual test later this evening.

A nurse calls—most unusual. I must go.

Best,

John

28 November

Mr. Francis Laughlin
Poetry Editor
Commonweal
232 Madison Avenue
New York, New York

Dear Mr. Laughlin,

I am submitting the enclosed poem for your consideration for 
Commonweal.

I am not sure if you require much personal background from those who submit unsolicited material, but for what it's worth, I am a schoolmaster who has published some poems and some criticism and some reviews in “little magazines” and in professional journals.

Because the enclosed has a living referent, I wonder, in the event that you decide to print it, if I might use a pseudonym? If so, “J.G. Oberon.”

My good wishes,

John Oberon Greeve

     THE DEAD BURY THEIR DEAD

Here lies a woman dying.
One thing, then another, is taken away,
And she becomes the knowledge of her disease,
An apple feeling where its worm has been.

The presence of this process
We solemnly attend,
Repeating until our worry wilts
A story about ending.

A story about ending,
Death: a dream we dream to deny
The itch, the bursting, the bloom,
The apple, the eating, the worm.

1 December

Mr. Terrence Doherty
1745 Woodrow Drive
Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania

Dear Terry,

I received your thoughtful letter and your resume this morning, and I am writing at once to say I find both very impressive. There is not, however, a position open or, so far as I can see ahead, one opening up in social studies. There may well be a position in math, but that is hardly up your street, is it? At any rate, school personnel, especially these days, have a way of surprising one, so the outlook may be altogether different in the spring, which is when contracts are offered and when most hiring seems to be done. Consider yourself applied.

One caution, however—and pardon me if this is something you have already thought through. There is a certain lure for one about to begin teaching to return to alma mater. This is sometimes, but not always, a good thing. Because, for better or worse, Wells is familiar ground for you, it may be a little too easy to imagine. The whole terror and glory of beginning to teach, it seems to me, involves making exertions and adjustments you never imagined. For this reason, even if you would like to work at Wells ultimately, it might be a fine thing to cut your teeth on another school, perhaps a very different land of school, for a couple of years.

Believe me, Terry, I value very much the kind words about the quality of your experience here. I hope you know how mutual the feeling is. It is good to be in touch.

If you don't mind, I'll pass the prospect of your candidacy, with resume, around to my fellow heads in Seven Schools and keep an eye out for openings elsewhere in New England. Please convey my warmest regards to your mother and father.

Faithfully,

John Greeve

2 December

R
EMARKS
T
O
T
HE
S
CHOOL

Welcome back. You look to me well fed and rested—at least you boys do. The faculty, if you'll observe closely, looks pale and wan. I am sure this is due to their feverish grading of your exams. Believe me, taking them for four of five hours bears no relation to the tedium and stress of grading them for forty. It's a wonder we do it. Incidentally, for those of you changing classes or sections this term, do collect your exams and other first-term work today, if possible. Today, remember, is the first day of the winter term, not the last day of the fall term.

It's important to make each day count, considering that there are only 19 shopping days and 17 schools days till Christmas. This odd, inconvenient wedge of time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is always, for some reason, the best time of year. I don't quite know why that is so.

The most obvious answer is that it resonates with old, cozy childhood associations with the holidays, visions of free time, skiing, and loot. But it is more than that, because actual school life is fun, too. It might have something to do with the opening of winter sports: the 
first
 basketball game, wrestling and swim meets. And the upper form play is always somehow especially galvanizing for falling when it does. At least one good, authoritative snowfall usually helps, too. There is of course our last night's Candle Sing, but that's just the capstone, the 
recognition
 of what feels so good. I'd like to think the spirit comes a little from the Christmas drives, from that glorious theme of giving things away that is so hard to summon up during the other months. Whatever it is, it's wonderful, and I hope that each of you can find a way to play a part in it.

On a more somber note: Seniors! Contrary to all pernicious rumor and false tradition, the academic year is not over. College admissions officers do 
not
 read all but the last two columns of your transcripts. Do not slump. I repeat, do not. No matter how far you think you have come, no matter how great the sophistication, it is as easy as sloth to turn stupid again overnight, just as in some sort of academic fairy tale. I have personally seen it happen hundreds of times. So be warned, seniors—models, leaders, examples to others, etc.

And to the rest of you, good morning.

2 December

MEMO to Arnold Lieber
Maintenance

Arnold,

I am afraid it is time for the Christmas tree again. This year, for a novelty, let's not make war about this. We need a full-sized, at least 15' spruce for the commons. The boys will trim if you and Andy will haul out the ornaments. Please do not ask me about aluminum trees, and please do not remind me of how many aluminum trees we could have purchased for the price of the last dozen real ones. We could save even more if we put up no tree. In my opinion, an aluminum tree is not a tree. They don't smell right.

Merry Christmas,

J.O.G.

3 December

Ms. Camilla Lang
Editor, The Home Forum Page
The Christian Science Monitor
1 Norway Street
Boston, Massachusetts

Dear Mrs. Lang,

I enclose for your consideration, I hope not too late, a short Christmas poem.

I am not sure if you require background information from those who submit unsolicited material, but, for whatever interest it may provide, I am a schoolmaster who has written occasional poems, essays, and reviews for magazines.

My good wishes,

John O. Greeve

THIS CHRISTMAS

For it to be true,
And for us to know it,
Wouldn't it occur in the cold,
In a near absence of light,
Eclipsed, perhaps, by a festival
Of carols and all our gaudy hopes—
Like this?

4 December

Mr. William G. Truax
President, Fiduciary Trust Company
P.O. Box 121
New Haven, Connecticut

Dear Bill,

Thanks for your prompt and frank appraisal of my “Wells: Ten Years . . .” draft. I am sorry it did not appeal, but I guess I knew it wouldn't.

I am afraid the problem—or maybe my problem—lies in the nature of the assignment. You and the board would like those of us in the ranks to look to the immediate and long-range future of the school and to imagine, when all is said and done, what we would like to 
buy.
 What you want, at its nub, is a guideline for raising money. Right?

Well, Bill, you know what to raise money for, and you've always known it: faculty salaries, scholarships, maintenance of facilities, and expansion of facilities. A comfortable retirement plan would make a hit. More books in the library is more desirable than otherwise. An enclosed practice space would be dandy. Enough scholarship money to enable us to admit boys according to sheer merit and personal promise would be a dream. I don't think we need a formal plan to make these obvious points. Our predecessors managed to build up quite a coherent and effective Wells without, to my knowledge, the aid of a formal plan. I am serious about that futurist fallacy I wrote you about. There are no 
future
 criteria on which to shape the future; all criteria are in the past and the present.

I know I sent you “rhetoric,” and maybe it needs revising or even scrapping, but it does cover what Wells is up to and what it will be up to in the future—unless it ceases to be a school. What do you mean by “hard data”? 
Questionnaires?
 Would you really like to know what percentage of the parents or faculty or students preferred improvement to plant over an increased remuneration for staff or increased financial aid? Which preference would be right?

Do you make long-range plans at the bank? What are they based on, expert forecasts of the economy?

We can do better than that because, unlike the economy, which is an amoral aggregate of individual choices about where to lay down money, school is directed by unchanging moral imperatives. School is always in the business of passing on the best of the culture to emerging new members. It is always preserving what is established and testing what is new and promising. The process requires adults who know both about the culture and how children learn. The process requires space and facilities. Up to a limited point, money buys better people and better facilities; beyond that point, there are only marginal improvements and often diminishing returns. Wells, through the largesse of its past boards and alumni, is pretty damned near the point. And I hope we are in the same relative position in a hundred years.

So what's next? For starters, I'll pare down my rhetoric. Then how about my submitting a weighted ranking of capital expenditures necessary before the decade is out, then a similar list of expenditures desired? Would those data be “hard” enough? In the old days didn't people give and bequeath money to schools out of simple gratitude and affection? Or was there some hard data back then of which I am unaware?

I shall revise and resubmit tirelessly until you are well pleased.

With humble obedience,

John

5 December

R
EMARKS
T
O
T
HE
S
CHOOL

I must precede these luncheon announcements with some very sad news. As some of you may already have heard, this morning during the third class, there was an accident in the pool, in which a fourth former, David Lewandowski, was killed. This is still such a surprise and shock to us that it is hard to tell you much about it. Three boys, including one with Senior Lifesaving, decided to take a swim through the midmorning break. David, while swimming in the diving end, may have had a convulsion. Whatever happened, his friends were unable to take hold of him in the water, and by the time Mr. Kreble was called to the scene, David was unconscious. Mr. Kreble and Doug Froehling applied resuscitation techniques until an ambulance arrived, which took David to Three Counties Clinic, where he was pronounced dead on arrival.

I have just talked to both Mr. and Mrs. Lewandowski, who are on their way to school and should arrive early this evening. Those of you who knew David may want to talk with them after dinner. I know that would be an immeasurable comfort to them. Right now they are simply numb with hurt and loss.

Tomorrow morning's chapel will be a formal one in David's memory. The goal for the time being is to do all we can to support David's friends here and the Lewandowskis.

5 December

DEPOSITION

To Wells Village Police Department

Wells, Connecticut

This morning, December 5, shortly after the beginning of the third class (approximately 10:05 a.m.) three boys, David Lewandowski, Doug Froehling, and Mark Tepler, were dismissed from their geometry class for causing some sort of disturbance in the classroom. They were not told to report anywhere in particular, and, since school break follows third class, they felt they would have time for a swim. Free swimming in the pool is permitted if an athletic department member approves and if one of the swimmers has passed Senior Lifesaving. In this case, Froehling has passed Senior Lifesaving. When the boys arrived in the pool office complex, Mr. Kreble, who usually gives the permissions, was out. The boys claim some confusion about permission being necessary. They cited other times they had been swimming without faculty supervision or permission and presumed it was allowed.

At approximately 10:25, as the boys report it, Froehling was swimming laps in one of the racing lanes in the shallow end, Tepler was sitting on the pool edge of the deep end, and Lewandowski was diving off the low board. As Lewandowski surfaced from one of his dives, he began thrashing about in the water. Tepler noticed this first, but paid little attention, as he assumed it was only energetic fooling around. When the thrashing persisted for what Tepler estimates might have been a minute or two, he began shouting to Lewandowski asking if he were all right. Lewandowski was by this time “out of control,” in Tepler's opinion, and was periodically going under. Tepler, who is not a strong swimmer, swam out to Lewandowski and tried to hook his arm around Lewandowski's waist and haul him to the side of the pool. At this, Tepler said, Lewandowski locked an arm around Tepler's neck and pulled him under. Tepler managed to get free and shouted to Froehling, a strong swimmer, to help. Froehling did not hear the shouts at first, but after a short delay made his way to the deep end and tried to fasten an arm under Lewandowski's chin so as to drag him backwards to safety. At this Lewandowski pitched over and, as with Tepler, the movement forced Froehling under. As Froehling attempted to work himself back up to the surface, he caught an elbow on the side of one eye and was momentarily dazed. Deciding he could not bring Lewandowski immediately to safety, he told Tepler to find Jack Kreble and a rope or a ladder or a pole.