Chasing the Amish Dream by Loren Beachy

Author:Loren Beachy [Beachy, Loren]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-8361-9907-9
Publisher: Herald Press
Published: 2014-11-09T05:00:00+00:00

PART III

Spring

22

SCHOOL VISITATION

I HATE TO break it to you,” teacher Mike Lambright, tongue-in-cheek, tells his Cloverleaf pupils, “but I guess we’llgo play a game of softball.”

A softball game should be a thrilling end to our delightful day of visiting schools so far. Our school’s sixth, seventh, and eighth graders, as well as a few parents and we teachers, have visited eight schools and the Subway in Topeka already today.

We have been welcomed warmly, like at Spring Valley the first thing this morning. Teachers Johnny Lambright and Barb Miller made us feel at home even though we showed up before any of their students did. The praise songs we sang at Spring Valley during devotions were a fitting way to commence the day.

We have been entertained and educated, like at Northside. This second school we visited sang the “President Song” three times through before coming to an abrupt stop. I hadn’t realized Grover Cleveland served two separate terms. Now I know.

We have seen education in action, like at Little Acorn. Arithmetic and reading classes were held as we observed.

We have been awed by state-of-the-art facilities, like at Buck Creek in LaGrange. What would we do with all that room? Rosetta Eicher and her co-teacher hold classes in a spacious, nearly new building.

We have been humbled and impressed by children’s sportsmanship, like at Countryside. Edna Yoder and Leona Mast’s crew simply does an exceptional job of encouraging everyone, be it teammate or opponent. They do an exceptional job of hitting softballs too, if the final score was any indicator.

We have had our rumbling stomachs satisfied, like at the little Subway in Topeka. There were a few tables there but not enough for our crew of fourteen, so some of us stood to eat our sandwiches.

We have been soundly trounced at a game of softball, like at Whispering Wind. My friend Calvin welcomed us warmly, and then he and his students socked it to us fair and square on the diamond. My chance to get a lick in came when Calvin asked me to tell his school a story. I told everyone about the time we tricked Calvin and took him to Kentucky instead of Pennsylvania as he had been planning. (We actually made it to Kentucky in broad daylight before he noticed something was amiss.)

We have been encouraged, like at Eden Meadow. They sang the song “Gott Isz Grosz” in our native Pennsylvania German, which reminded us that no matter how tough the circumstances, God is, indeed, great.

We have even done some acting, like at Clay Ridge. Steve Mast’s wife, Ida, evidently found out we were planning to visit her children’s school. She told teachers Joella Knepp, Alice Bontrager, and Martha Miller in no uncertain terms that they were to make us perform for them when we came. This they did. And we tried to oblige. Co-teacher Delmar and I performed a skit after we enjoyed watching Joella’s German spelling class.

To be fair, when Clay Ridge visited us last week, we put them on the spot and had them perform a play for us.

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