Ol' Smithy

The god-fearing citizens of the flower-bedecked village of Wavon went about their daily business one early spring morning. Older men walked with a slower gait. Young girls skipped along happily in cotton dresses. Women with braided grey hair occasionally halted to rest their weary limbs.

Greengrocers laid out their cabbages and beetroot carefully on their market stalls. The smell of freshly baked bread wafted from the green door of the local bakery. The village blacksmith fired up his furnace, sending multi-coloured sparks high into the air. Small children holding their mummy's hand stopped and gazed at the sight.

School going boys and girls, leather satchels strapped carefully on their growing shoulders, wended their way down the country lane that led to the schoolhouse. Occasionally an unsuspecting rabbit crossed their frost-encrusted path.

Schoolmaster Smith or Ol' Smithy as he was affectionately known, had the large wooden door ajar, as the children turned the corner and made their way into the schoolyard. Swirls of navy blue smoke already curled upwards into a sky of fluffy cloud.

Ol' Smithy peered over his dark-rimmed glasses and greeted  the early arrivals, ' Good morning children and how are you this Spring morning?'

'We are well Sir,' they replied in unison as they were wont to do.

Life flowed at a gentle pace in Wavon. 

Dropping their satchels by the neatly laid out rows of desks, the children ran out to play hopscotch on the cobblestones before lessons began. Squeals of delight filled the air.

'Minnie, is Ol' Smithy goin off to be a ploughman ?' ten- year- old Edward asked with a serious air.

Twelve- year- old Minnie giggled as she blurted out, 'Edward, what a crazy idea. Can you imagine Ol' Smithy scaring the horses with those big glasses?  

Who would teach us to spell ?

'Dunno, Minnie, Dunno,' Edward answered, 'never know with Ol' Smithy what he's going to do next. Remember when he dressed up as Winnie the Pooh. We giggled the whole day.'

Just then Humphrey Hawkins arrived, late, as usual, guffawing loudly.

It wasn't long before Humphrey was adding fuel to the fire of Ol' Smithy's departure.

'Ol' Smithy's going to war..have you heard?' Humphrey said to no one in particular. 'Never have to go to school again. Hurrah!'

Minnie stopped playing hopscotch in mid- step.

'Humphrey,' Minnie said, 'you are so silly. Wherever do you get your ideas from? Ol' Smithy is not goin anywhere. He is staying here to teach us our ABC's.'

'T'is true Minnie. Everybody in the village is talking about it. Someone saw him in the village the other night in an army uniform with a gun slung over his shoulder. Ol' Smithy on the battlefield, ha!ha!.'

'What war,' Minnie asked with alarm. 'My dad says the war ended in Europe about five years before I was born.

As the school bell clanged loudly the fifteen or so children ambled into the warm interior of the schoolhouse. By now most of the smoke from lighting the fire had cleared away.

 Rays of pallid spring sunshine reflected off the cracked, grey, pot-bellied stove in the corner illuminating the cobwebs. Some of the children lingered by the stove a little longer to warm their numbed fingers. Others stomped their feet on the wooden floorboards.

Ol' Smithy arranged books and copybooks neatly in a pile to the left of his oaken desk. Then positioning a chair alongside the creaking bookcase, he climbed up, took down the globe from the top shelf.

Blowing the dust off the globe he placed it on the right side of the desk where all the children could see it.

When his back was turned Humphrey whispered to Minnie,' Psst, look at the army cap underneath the desk.'

Minnie bent down to take a closer look. She couldn't believe her eyes. There it was, a green beret with a badge on the front. Minnie reached her hand in to touch it just to make sure it was real.

Minnie  wasn't sure what to think. Maybe Humphrey was right. Ol' Smithy may be going to war after all.

Minnie was muddled now. She loved going to school and reading stories. Ol' Smithy was really good at telling stories.

She didn't want to be like her older brother not able to read or write. Minnie wanted to travel and see the world. She wanted to know where all the other countries in the world were so she could take a train and get off at the correct station. How was she going to learn all that if Humphrey was right and Ol' Smithy was going to fight in the war?

But what war? Minnie decided that she would ask her dad as soon as she got home about the war.

Ol' Smithy interrupted Minnie's reverie as he wrote the name of one of the world's oceans in capital letters on the blackboard: PACIFIC OCEAN.

The children stared. Many of the younger ones had never heard the names of the oceans before.

Smithy spun the globe around and pointed to the different oceans.

Minnie couldn't concentrate. She chewed the end of her pencil and stared out of the window at the flock of sheep grazing on the hillside.

As soon as the lunchtime bell rang the children slammed their desks shut and ran outside. Some lolled about on the grass verge and watched the sheep on the hillside. Others chewed their crusty bread from the bakery and their thick slices of sheep's cheese.

Suddenly they heard the sound of music, loud thumping music. It was coming from the classroom. Only Ol' Smithy stayed in the classroom at lunchtime.

Minne ran to the classroom window to look in. The blinds were pulled down and she couldn't see inside.

Humphrey came running from the other side of the schoolhouse.

'Minnie, Minnie,' he called,' Ol' Smithy is practising for going to war. Listen to the bang of the drums. You have to bang drums in war, Minnie.'

Minnie listened spellbound.

The music stopped suddenly. The curtains were opened and the children lined up to go back into the classroom.

Everything was the same as before in the classroom. It was all so mysterious.

On the way home, Minnie and Humphrey pondered what was going to happen.

'Ol' Smithy is crazy,' Humphrey said.

'What if...what if ..' Minnie didn't want to think about it too much.

Minnie and Humphrey walked slowly through the village on their way home.

All seemed normal. Old Mr Jenkins was walking his poodle as he did every afternoon. Sparks of every hue still rose high into the air from the blacksmith's anvil.

Minnie was sad though. Now she would never be able to travel the world if she did not know her geography.

Ol' Smithy would not be there to show her the globe and guide her steps.

Suddenly Humphrey shouted,' Minnie, Minnie..look at the Post Office door, the big poster. Ol' Smithy is on the poster. It's music, a show, he is in a show in the town hall in March. It's called 'South Pacific.'

Minnie stared hard at the poster. It was just like the beret she had seen under his desk

'Humphrey, Ol' Smithy is playing a soldier. So he's not going to fight after all.'

Minnie and Humphrey ran laughing down the street.