Gordon's Scraps of Advice

Children love buried treasures. Sometimes a treasure is as close as an old chest. While I was growing up, I knew which chest contained my mother’s buried past. Now and then, I’d get a glimpse, but one thing I never got to see for more than a few seconds was her sister Gordon’s scrapbook. I longed to see what was inside the pages of this black book, but it was not for my eyes.

This weekend, I visited South Carolina and found Gordon’s scrapbook out of the chest, atop a bookshelf. Emboldened, I took this treasure into my hands for the first time and opened it to the first page. As I leafed through the album, I began to jot things down to remember. (Sallie! So that was Gordon’s first name.) That’s when my mother gave it to me. She handed me her most prized keepsake.

Studying the scrapbook later that evening, I realized that it wasn’t something Gordon put together before she said goodbye to family and friends. Instead, this book was what her mother Ruth compiled in 1930 after Gordon died, at the age of twelve, in Roper Hospital in Charleston, SC, before penicillin was available to treat children with ruptured appendices. What lessons can we learn after all these years from Gordon McClary to share with our own children?

Cherish your schooling. Gordon loved school. Every time she ended up with good grades, her name ended up in the weekly newspaper alongside other names noted as “distinguished” or “honorably mentioned.” In the third grade, during the month of October 1927, she received an award for “distinction in Lessons and Deportment.” Pinned to this certificate is a button that says Crafts School Honor Roll. A report card from the third grade lists lots of A’s with a few marks of B+ for arithmetic and penmanship.

Study hard, but don’t forget the joy of extracurricular activities. Her last year in school, Gordon played Matilda Bradford in a Thanksgiving pageant. Another time, she participated in a program called “The Road to Health,” wherein children made exhibits to honor Dr. Fresh Air, Dr. Sleep, Dr. Rest, Dr. Vegetable, Dr. Sunshine, Dr. Water, Dr. Milk, and Dr. Laughter. As they are now, festivals were important then. The Parent-Teacher Association sponsored a festival one evening for ten cents admission, and Gordon helped.

Whatever your own circumstances are, remember to help others. Service activities were integral to schooling. Once, according to a newspaper clipping, Gordon and her classmates collected fifteen baskets of fruit for Roper Hospital, St. Margaret’s Home, and Kings’ Daughters Nursery. Another time, they donated two baskets of dolls to the Charleston Orphan House.

Have a lot of fun being a child. Just as our children today find time for fun, Gordon and her friends had time to play around. They shared affection freely. Colorful valentines fill the last pages of Gordon’s scrapbook, where there is also a note somebody passed her in school and a drawing Gordon made of two girls swinging: “Good Old Times.” In 1928, H.B. Reese Candy Company introduced the peanut butter cup. Gordon ate one.

Wear your life as if it will never go out of style. The first few pages of Gordon’s scrapbook contain sepia photographs of a fashionable girl from three to eleven. In one photo, wearing a cloche, Gordon grins. In another, she stands barefooted with sisters Brown and Audrey. One year, she was a cat for Halloween. In my favorite photo, Gordon is standing with a paper bag in one hand and a book in another. It is her first day of school.

Felicia Mitchell. First published in Washington County News (Abingdon, VA), 13 October 2004, p. A6. WCN is a publication of Media General Operations. Copyright 2004.