The Terrible Miss Dove by F.G. Patton

Miss Dove was a geography teacher at a school in a small town in America. She was very strict, and the pupils were afraid of her. If a pupil put a pencil or a piece of paper in his mouth, Miss Dove told him to go out and wash his mouth with soap and water. If a page in his exercise book was not clean, he had to write it again. If a pupil wanted to drink some water during the lesson, he had to ask Miss Dove for permission, but usually he was afraid to ask. When a pupil asked, Miss Dove only looked at him. The class looked at him too. Then the pupil sat down again at his desk.

At 1 o’clock the school bell rang for the break, but in the geography room forty-three children sat at their desks and did not look up.

“Attention, please,” said Miss Dove, and all the pupils looked at her. “Put your books in your desks.” The children quickly did so. “Now you may leave the classroom.” The pupils walked out one after another without a word.

After the break another class came into the geography room. Miss Dove stood at the door and watched. They came in quickly, said “Good afternoon” to her, and went to their places. Miss Dove looked at her pupils, but she thought of the children who had learned geography in this room many years ago. The boys of that time were all at war. She remembered two of those boys very well. One day, when they went out of the classroom to drink some water, Tommy Baker said, “I am not afraid of Miss Dove. I could beat her with my little finger.” When he looked up, he saw Miss Dove near him. She looked at him a long time and said, “Thomas Baker, you talk too much, don’t you?”

“Yes, Miss Dove,” Thomas answered. He did not drink any water but returned to the classroom.

“Open your exercise books, class,” said Miss Dove. At that moment, Randy Baker put up his hand. All the pupils looked at him.

“Yes, Randolph?” said Miss Dove.

Randolph stood up. Miss Dove’s pupils always stood when they spoke to her.

“I got a letter from Tommy yesterday,” he said.

“Yes, Randolph,” said Miss Dove. “That’s nice. You got a letter from your brother yesterday.”

“Yes, Miss Dove,” said Randy. He paused, then continued, “Tommy got a medal for bravery, and he writes about it in his letter.”

“Have you brought the letter? If so, you may read that part to the class,” said Miss Dove.

“You want to know if I was afraid when the enemy attacked us. The answer is yes, I was. But I was more afraid that day in school when I said I could beat Miss Dove with my little finger, and she heard me. I did not run then, and I will not run now. And then, when I was on my raft like Robinson Crusoe, what do you think I thought about? I thought about Miss Dove and our school, and I ask you to give the terrible Miss Dove a kiss for me.” This was the end of Tommy Baker’s letter. Miss Dove came up to Randy and stood near him.

“Well, Randolph,” said Miss Dove, “I am ready.” Randy stood with the letter in his hand, walked up to Miss Dove, and gave her a kiss.

“Thank you, Randolph,” said Miss Dove. “Tell your brother when you write to him that I remember him very well, too.”

She looked at the class, and the class looked at their teacher. Then one of the girls spoke. She said, “That is like a medal. Randy’s brother has given Miss Dove a medal.”