LAUREL'S CAROL BERTHRONG--part II

       I also taught elementary music. The children came to the gymnasium and sat on the bleachers, while I sat at the piano below them. They were always wanting my attention. They would come down from the bleachers to tie their shoes. Tommy Shallenberger didn't want to be left out. So one day I saw him unlacing his boots. Sure enough he came down to me so I could lace his boots.
       Do you remember the Christmas productions we put on in the new gym? One night the high school put on a living Christmas tree. They used colored cellophane over flashlights to shine on their faces to make the ornaments.
       That night the little ones enacted the Christmas story. In the midst of the performance the lights went out caused by an ice storm that happened quickly. I believe it was Mr. Shaper who drove his pickup up to the gym door and flashed a special light, that he had, into the gym toward the stage. The high school students with their flashlights moved to the floor below the stage and turned their lights on the performing children.  It turned out to be a beautiful and effective setting for that Christmas story.
       Another time we put on an operetta, "Toyland." In act 2, the toys in the workshop came alive. I always wrote in parts so everyone could take part equally. Each one had something to say and to sing, and a dance or a drill. The chorus of the little Santa Claus.boys had pillow tummies. During their action part, they were to jump up and down. It became hilarious when one little fellow's tummy kept sliding down, down, down.
       I can still see Betty Jo Brown and Tommy Shallenberger, dressed as a bride and a groom, singing, "Too Young." What a production!
       I always saw to it that every boy and girl in high school was in vocal music. We had a huge mixed chorus. One year we did an arrangement of the Battle Hymn of the Republic. I was the accompanist  for the Marshalltown Men's Chorus. They too, were practicing the same arrangement. They invited our group to sing with them at their public performance. What a thrill that was for us!
       Every boy was in the boy's chorus. They dressed in black trousers, white shirts and black ties for the state contest. They looked great! When it was our turn to sing, the audience would gasp to see so many boys walk out to sing. At that time other schools were having a difficult time getting the boys to sing. But not Laurel!