(crickets chirping)
(light music)
- Breathes there a man, soul so dead.
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my home, my native land.
Whose heart is ne'er within him burned.
Who's home his footsteps ...
Aunt Hetty, such a dull poem.
We'll bore them to death.
- I'll be the judge of what's boring or not, Sara Stanley.
- Aunt Hetty, it's the Lieutenant Governor's reception.
The poem should be more inspiring.
- Hetty look!
Look it's an official letter from
the King's County Board of Education.
Hetty, nobody gets an official letter
unless it's a promotion.
That's it! It's a promotion to be superintendent!
- Perhaps it is a promotion of sorts.
I will admit the timing will be right.
The Lieutenant Governor's reception and everything.
Dear Hetty,
Just a note to let you know, I've been promoted.
I'm now Provencal Superintendent of Schools.
I'm starting a Provence wide tour
and plan a special stop in Avonlea.
I do so look forward to seeing everyone.
Especially having a look a the old school.
Yours truly, Muriel Stacey.
- Oh, Hetty. - Who's Muriel Stacey?
- Oh, she went to teacher's college with Aunt Hetty
and they both taught in Avonlea
but that was several years ago.
- [Hetty] Muriel Stacey.
- It's nice that's she's coming for a visit, Hetty.
- Don't be ridiculous, Olivia, she's not coming to visit,
she's coming to inspect my school.
- Aunt Hetty, that's not what she said in her letter.
- She's far too weasily to say it but it's there
between the lines plain as day.
Well, I don't need inspecting.
Neither does my school.
- Will Miss Stacey go to
the Lieutenant Governor's reception?
- She wouldn't miss it for all of the tea in China.
Perhaps that's why she's rushing up here,
to hog the limelight.
What are you two staring at?
There's work to be done, let's do it.
Paint.
(lively music)
- Mrs. Lawson, I remember plain as day, I ordered -
- Just let me check my list,
they've never made a mistake before.
This is such a big order. (chattering)
- Mine had flowers, this is all wrong.
- Ladies, ladies, calm down.
- Ladies, here it is.
Miss Stacey who is coming to Avonlea to inspect the school
will be staying at Biggings Boarding House
owned by Mrs. Myrtle Biggins.
Miss Stacey who has had many articles published on her
modern views of education has won a number of awards
including the Gold Graduation Medal at Queens College.
- Wasn't that the year you can in second, Hetty?
Lost out to Muriel Stacey by three marks?
- Four.
- I think she cheated on those exams.
- Avonlea owes a great deal to Miss Stacey for her efforts
on behalf of our children.
Students such as Ann Shirley, Gilbert Blythe
went out to great heights due to her encouragement.
- Quite capable of reading the paper without your help,
Sara Spencer.
- It would be known since Muriel Stacey left
school enrollment's dropped like a stone.
Why she got children to go to school
who would've never set foot in the door.
- Far be it for me ladies to toot my own horn,
but my own plans for boosting enrollment.
Just don't blab about it is all.
This very day, in fact, I'm off on one of my searches.
Seek out the lost sheep of Avonlea
and herd them into my fold.
As I've always said,
if there's an uneducated child out there I'll find him
and drag him into school.
- Muriel Stacey never dragged anyone.
Why, children flock to her like bees to honey.
- Now then, since she's staying at my place,
I'll make supper the first night.
Baked cod and turnips.
- You'll do no such thing, Myrtle Biggins.
Proper etiquette dictates I have her first.
I'll not have Muriel Stacey complaining
I didn't do right by her.
No, no, first night she dines at Rose Cottage
and that's that.
That happens to be mine, thank you.
Some people have better things to do
than fuss about hats.
(lively music)
Bees to honey indeed.
Well, Miss Stacey, know it all.
I'll fill that Avonlea Public School full to busting
in no time.
(train whistle blowing)
- Break time!
Break time, break time.
You there, make sure those fish are on ice
before you pack it in.
And wash those tables down.
- That smell, it's suffocating.
- It's an honest smell, Hetty King.
Besides, the fish belong here, you don't.
- I've come for a reason.
These boys should be in school.
Now that lobster season's amend.
- These hooligans?
They'd sooner rot than get stuck in a schoolhouse.
- You think so, do you? - I know so.
Ask for yourself.
- I will.
Yes, I will.
Boys.
Boys, listen to me, I'm here to offer you a chance
to get an education.
- They pay you in school?
- [Gus] Can't be less than McCorkadale's paying us now.
- [Boy] Yeah, how much you paying?
- Oh, look at that, she's doing a play.
(laughing)
- School will change your lives, you'll see.
Golden opportunities will beacon to you.
Doors you found impenetrable will open for you.
(laughing)
Alright, how many of you want to learn to read and write?
- I do.
- Good for you, boy.
You're Gus Pike, aren't you?
What do you say to that, Angus McCorkadale.
- I say, cow chips!
He's too old to learn.
- Mind your language.
You're never too old to learn.
- It's a dollar or the three hours, take your pick.
- Hey, I ain't losing no wages.
- What did I tell you, Hetty King?
These scoundrels live from hand to mouth.
- Angus, a word with you if you don't mind.
I'm shamed of you Angus McCorkadale.
I thought you were a God fearing man.
- Don't you go dragging God into this.
- He's in it whether you like it or not.
This is charity we're discussing, man.
Christian charity.
Now, here's a boy who needs your help.
A boy with gumption.
He wants a chance to get some learning, Angus.
Do your duty as a gentleman and a Presbyterian.
Couldn't you just split the shift?
- Oh, alright.
I suppose he can take a shift before school.
And another after.
If he can't handle the hours, he's fired.
- It's settled.
I'll see you in school, Gus Pike.
Eight-thirty sharp, Monday morning.
(light music)
- I'll see you in school, Gus Pike, 8:30 sharp.
- What do you know? - Good luck, school boy.
- [Children] Nine twos are 18.
Nine threes are 27.
Nine fours are 36.
Nine fives are 45.
Nine sixes are -
- Ah ah, Felix, no counting with your fingers.
- I wasn't, they were moving by themselves.
- Very good class.
Well now, let's practice shall we
for the Lieutenant Governor's reception.
- Run the whole way.
Sweating like a stuck pig.
(laughing)
- Children, I believe some of you know Gus Pike.
Who's managed to be late his very first day of school.
- I told you, I run my guts out.
- A person's guts do not run, Gus.
- Felt like guts running out to me, Miss.
- In my school, punctuality is ...
Get rid of that, that disgusting.
- Put I just lit up.
- Put it out!
There's no smoking allowed in this school
and that fiddle, what'd you bring that for?
- This here fiddle goes where I go,
even to the outhouse.
(laughing)
(tapping)
- That is a phrase we do not use here.
And the fiddle stays at home, understood.
Alright then, over here.
Smirky now, over here.
Ew, you reek of fish, boy.
Kindly change your clothes before you come to school.
- I ain't go no other clothes.
- Do you never wash those?
- Ever Christmas, regular like clock work.
(laughing)
- I see, well stand up straight then, pay attention.
Let's see what you do know.
Can you read?
- No, figure you learn me reading this morning,
writing by quitting time.
- [Hetty] Expected to learn everything in one day, did you?
- [Gus] Yep.
- That's most admirable, Gus.
However, you'll find it takes much longer than a day.
Well then, sit down over there, behind Felix.
- [Gus] Hey, Felix.
- Open the window, Tyler, wide.
We'll start from the beginning then.
Copy this down, Gus, please.
- What's that?
- It's your name.
- My name, no guff?
That's my name?
- It is.
And you can start to learn to print it by copying these
letters in order, over and over again on this slate.
Here's your chalk.
Don't stop until I say so.
For the rest of you, let's recommence
with a rehearsal of our poem, Breathes There a Man.
All together now.
- [Children] Breathes there a man,
with soul so dead.
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my home.
(upbeat fiddle music)
- Gus Pike, stop that at once!
(screaming)
Oh, good Lord.
Cecily King, you could've knocked yourself senseless.
- But Aunt Hetty, did you hear Gus?
Doesn't he play beautifully?
- Wild and foolish behavior, all of you.
Thank the Lord Muriel Stacey wasn't here
to witness this performance.
She'd of had a conniption fit.
And as for you, Gus Pike.
I won't put up with these shenanigans.
Never bring that fiddle into my school again, never.
Alright then, you may resume playing.
(somber music)
- Breathes there a man, with soul so dead.
Who never to himself hath said.
- Gus! - This is my home.
- Gus Pike! - My native land.
Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned.
- Gus Pike, I want a word with you.
How'd you learn that poem?
- It's in my head.
- I beg your pardon?
- They was talking, I was listening.
As home his footsteps he hath turned
from wandering on a foreign strand.
If such there breath, go, mark him well;
For him no Minstrel raptures swell -
- Remarkable, quite, quite remarkable.
With an ability like that you could go a long way,
young man.
And I dare say, give Muriel Stacey something to chew on.
(groaning)
Don't pick your toes in front of me, boy.
- Toe's full of puss, Miss.
Hurts like the devil.
- You have no conception of manners whatsoever, have you?
No doubt about it.
You'd need fixing from top to bottom to be a gentleman.
I certainly don't have the time.
- I want to be a gentleman, Miss, but.
- Well,
this book belonged to my father, Hightower King.
It's mostly drawings, so.
It's called How to be a Gentleman.
- [Gus] What's his finger stuck up in the air for?
- That's how a proper gentleman holds his teacup.
Shows you how to dress properly, how to comb your hair,
how to greet people in public.
Well, Rome wasn't built in a day to be sure.
Take the book with you.
Study the pictures.
Maybe something will rub off on you.
Of course, I will help you, Gus, as much as I'm able.
Since we're both going that way,
perhaps we could walk along together for a while?
- Yes, Miss.
Miss King.
- Yes.
(light music)
Mark my words, boy.
You'll never regret coming to school.
Reading, writing and arithmetic,
they're all one needs really to get through life.
Don't suppose your people are educated?
- Ain't got no people.
- Don't be silly, everyone has relatives of some sort.
- My mother's dead.
- Oh, gracious.
My condolences.
Was it suddenly?
- Yep.
My father busted her heart.
- He busted, how did he do that?
- Got sent to prison.
- Prison?
- Yep, killed a fella.
Whacked his head open with an ax.
- Your father is a murderer?
- He wouldn't no gentleman, Miss.
Well, better get going to work, I'm going to get heck.
I'll see you tomorrow.
(light music)
Bet you don't know what this says.
- It's chicken scratch if you ask me.
- It's my name.
- Your name?
Who cares about your name?
- Get your hands off that.
- Give us a tune, Gus.
- I got other things to do.
- You afraid of what teacher says?
Give us a tune.
Go on, I dare you.
(lively fiddle music)
(cheering)
(fire popping)
(lively music)
- [Man] You're late, Gus.
- You're late.
And what's more, I told you to leave that fiddle at home.
- I forgot.
- You forgot, my my.
It appears you forgot your homework as well.
Where's your notebook.
- Ah, the other fellas were drinking, see.
- Drinking?
- [Gus] I played a tune, you see, I must have snoozed off.
- Fiddling, smoking?
Imagine your father did all of those things as well.
- My father?
He didn't do nothing else, except women.
He'd run with women.
One, her hair was red as flame, you should -
- Gus Pike, that is quite enough.
I see this calls for a complete change in attitude.
I'm confiscating this, Gus.
No more fiddle.
(somber music)
- But that's mine.
- [Hetty] Stands in the way of learning.
You want to learn, don't you?
- Yes, but -
- No buts.
I can't educate you if you persistency
indulge in this foolishness.
- But, I love my music.
- It doesn't love you, Gus.
It's a bad habit.
Do you want to read and write?
Do you want to get somewhere in this world
or do you want to wreck your life
and end up in the gutter?
I see where the danger lurks.
It's in your very soul, do you hear me?
(yelling)
Sara, Sara!
(children chattering)
Alright, Gus, you could take five minutes to eat your lunch.
- I ain't brought none, Miss.
- You may share mine then.
Ah, ah.
Didn't you forget something?
- Thank you, Miss King.
(burping)
- That's the way they eat in the cannery.
A gentleman takes a small bite.
Chews it 10 times, then swallows without gulping.
Remember that when next you eat with those hooligans.
You're different than they are now.
(light music)
- I don't understand you, I hate going to school,
but mother and father force me.
Nobody forces you and you go anyway, how come?
- Because he's concerned about his future, Felix.
Maybe you could own a cannery someday, Gus.
Or a ship.
Aunt Hetty says you have natural intellect.
- Or you could be a musician, you play beautifully.
What do you think you want to do, Gus?
- Ah, nothing, it's stupid.
- Come on, tell us. - We won't laugh, promise.
- I want what you got.
- Us?
But we don't have anything.
- You got lots.
You got people.
- A family?
You want a family?
- Ah, forget it.
I told you it was stupid.
- You're really strange, I want to get rid of my family.
- [Felicity] Felix!
- [Hetty] Put those flowers on the table, Sara.
- Aunt Hetty, could Miss Stacey really fire you
if she felt like it?
- Oh heavens, Sara, she wouldn't do a thing like that.
- Wouldn't she though?
That woman's just itching to write up a bad report,
I know it!
Don't put the flowers there, Sara.
Away, Olivia.
Not like that, for heaven's sakes.
- You seem awfully nervous, Aunt Hetty.
- Me, I'm calm as a cucumber.
Now if you two will kindly leave me
and go and pick up Muriel Stacey at the Biggins.
I shall bathe myself in peace and quiet.
(humming) (singing)
Blasted thing.
(yelling)
(light music)
Help!
- [Olivia] Aunt Hetty's made a wonderful dinner.
- [Hetty] Help!
- [Olivia] What on earth, sounds like Hetty.
- Help! - Hetty!
- Olivia! - Hetty!
Oh, Sara, run inside and see what's burning.
Hetty!
- My, my, my back, I can't move.
- Hetty!
- Out, get her out.
- Aunt Olivia!
Aunt Olivia, the dinner's on fire.
(groaning)
- Good Lord, Hetty, what happened?
- Olivia, you take one arm, I'll take the other.
Sara, you better see to the stove.
Are you in pain, Hetty?
(groaning)
- [Doctor] You're lucky it's only a muscle strain.
- Hetty, Sara's just scraped the few burned bits
off the chicken and I'm going to whip up a little savory.
Supper should be just fine.
- I recommend at least five days total rest.
- Impossible, doctor.
I have school to teach.
- There you see, how can you even think of teaching
when you're in such terrible pain?
The solution's perfectly simple, I'll fill in for you.
- No you won't, you can't, I mean, you mustn't.
It'll upset everything.
- Oh piffle, Hetty.
Teaching school is just like riding a bicycle,
once you've done it, you never forget how.
- Thank you, Miss Stacey.
I don't know what we would've done without you.
- [Doctor] I'm afraid rest is the only cure, Hetty.
- Olivia.
- [Muriel] Good morning, class.
- [Children] Good morning, miss.
- For the benefit of those I haven't already met,
my name is Muriel Stacey.
Please, don't be alarmed.
Miss King took rather a nasty spill last night
and I'm just filling in for a few days
until she's made a complete recovery.
Filling the shoes of a teacher like Miss King
is no easy task.
But let me assure you that I was a teacher
for many, many years and some of the happiest days
were teaching right here in this classroom.
Alright everyone, gather those notebooks together,
we're going to have class outdoors this morning.
Come along.
Come along, now.
Out you go.
(snoring)
- Gus tires himself out, Miss Stacey.
He gets up at three in the morning
to go and work at the cannery.
- Then he comes to school, works again after school
and does his homework without anyone forcing him.
- Oh, dear, no wonder he's so exhausted.
You three go on outside, I'll be along in just a moment.
Go on now, come on.
- [Children] Tens are 120, 12 11s are 132,
12 12s are 144.
(clapping)
- Excellent, just excellent.
Well, you certainly seem to have those multiplication tables
down just fact.
Now, what else have you been doing
as part of the regular curriculum?
- Well, we've mostly been getting ready
for the Lieutenant Governor's reception.
We're reciting a poem that Aunt Hetty picked out.
- May I hear it?
- Breathes there a man, with soul so dead.
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my home, my native land.
Whose heart is ne'er within him burnt.
It's not a very inspiring poem, is it?
- Well, it is Sir Walter Scott, but I do know
that he's not everybody's cup of tea, as they say.
Class, I think that I have just had a rather good idea.
Don't you think that the Lieutenant Governor's reception
might be the perfect occasion to have a special tribute
to Miss King?
- For Aunt Hetty?
What the heck for?
- Because she deserves it, of course.
I don't know much all of you happen to be aware of this,
but Miss King is one of the most respected teachers
on Prince Edward Island.
- I think it's a wonderful idea, Miss Stacey.
Can we do it with music too?
- Oh yes and dancing too.
But we must keep it a secret.
We want this to be a complete surprise for Miss King.
Now, do I have your solemn promise?
Not a word to anyone.
Alright, now that we're all agreed, let's gather round
and put our heads together.
- [Olivia] Some chocolate, Hetty?
Miss Stacey sent them.
- No.
- [Olivia] Mrs. Biggins?
- Hetty King, you're looking rather green around the gills.
Perhaps you should try a tonic.
Muriel Stacey recommends tonic very highly.
- Wouldn't touch them.
Tonics are for weak livered souls.
- Wasn't Muriel Stacey's talk last night at the Biggins
just marvelous?
I had no idea the arts were all the rage.
- Oh, Hetty, here's Olivia's article.
Ladies.
Avonlea's Two Favorite Teachers: Things You Didn't Know
by Olivia King.
Differences are the spice of life.
Miss Muriel Stacey who is staying
for a brief time in Avonlea and Miss Hetty King are
modern career women who have remarkable different tastes.
For example, for breakfast, Miss Stacey adores strawberries,
muffins with apple butter and coffee.
Miss King prefers porridge, no salt.
- No salt, must taste like horse feed.
- For her beauty routine, Miss Stacey is fond of
English powder and French night creme.
- Sounds expensive.
- [Woman] Miss King sticks to soap and water.
(groaning)
- Hetty, let me help you up, dear.
- No, I'm fine, just fine.
Just need a little exercise is all.
I'm stiff, see.
Stiff, stiff, stiff.
Carry on.
- Well, soap's cheap and water's free.
Their favorite books, Miss Stacey loves Pride and Prejudice.
Miss King recommends the Bible.
Their favorite vacation.
Last spring,
Miss Stacey enjoyed a barge cruise on the river Seine.
Miss King took the ferry to Halifax.
(laughing)
- Hetty.
- Olivia King, I could ring your neck.
- I'm sorry.
I thought it would make you sound sensible.
- Sensible?
Sensible as an old dishrag.
They're not laughing at Muriel Stacey, you nincompoop.
They're laughing at me.
(crying)
♪ Come all you young sailor men, listen to me ♪
♪ I'll sing you a song of the fish of the sea ♪
♪ It's windy weather boys, stormy weather, boys ♪
♪ When the wind blows we're all together, boys ♪
♪ Blow ye winds westerly, blow ye winds, blow ♪
♪ Jolly sou'wester, boy, steady she goes ♪
- Children.
- Miss Stacey, Felix is singing out of tune on purpose.
- I am not!
And besides, what makes you so perfect?
- Miss Stacey, Felix has no talent at all.
He should paint scenery.
Gus is the most talented musician in the class.
He could play his fiddle and accompany.
It's right there in the cupboard.
- What an excellent idea, Felicity.
Isn't this wonderful.
Is this yours, Gus?
Marvelous, I didn't know you could play.
Please, give us a tune.
- I don't play no more.
- Gus,
fiddle music would make such an exciting contribution
to the tribute for Miss King.
All the other children are taking part.
Isn't there anything we can do
to convince you to join us?
Are you sure?
- Got these here words to copy, Miss Stacey.
(somber music)
- [Muriel] Please, where might I find Gus Pike?
- [Man] Just around the corner, ma'am.
- Thank you.
Do you help to catch the fish as well?
- Oh, some.
If they're short a man.
I fill the tubs for the baited troll.
If you ask me, hairlines work better.
- You seems to know a great deal about cannery work, Gus.
Yet, Felicity tells me that you've only been at this
a couple of months this summer.
- There's plenty to learn about fish.
About anything if you got the hunger.
- The hunger.
- Yeah.
I got all these questions.
- Ah, and what sort of questions would they be?
- Don't know.
At night, I think about things.
It gets dark, in the quiet, you start thinking.
- Is that why you don't play the fiddle anymore?
- Miss King told me stuff.
How it'd wreck my life.
- Wreck your life?
But why on earth would Miss King say anything like that?
- It's my father's fiddle, he killed a fella.
That thing is cursed.
- That's why you're so afraid.
Gus, it just isn't so.
- No, she can see inside me.
Miss King saw the angel and she saw the devil.
The two and fighting away.
- Do I have your permission to talk with Miss King
about what you've just told me?
- Ain't no use.
She ain't going to hear you.
You know why, because she's right.
- Hetty.
I might as well be blunt.
I've come about Gus Pike.
- Gus.
What'd he do now?
- That's just it, he hasn't done anything,
yet I've never seen a boy more unhappy.
- Unhappy, what do you mean?
He's in school, he's learning to read and write.
What's he got to be unhappy about?
- Hetty, Gus holds you in higher regard
than anyone else on this earth.
Yet, he misses his fiddle terribly.
You've made him afraid even to touch it.
- That's what you're up to, is it?
Should've known.
I'll not have you undermining my rules.
I've told him no fiddle.
- Hetty.
I'm begging you just this once, bend.
- Bend?
I can't bend.
Children wouldn't respect me.
- Hetty, sometimes you can talk such nonsense.
I can't understand.
- I understand alright.
You'll do anything to get those children on your side,
wouldn't you?
- Hetty, really?
- Gus Pike has bad habits, it's in his nature.
- Well, I'm sorry that you feel that way.
Truly sorry.
(lively music)
- Hey school boy?
Teacher wipe the snot off your nose?
What's the matter, you too smart for us now?
Pike, I'm talking to you.
Chicken, you forget how to fight.
- I didn't forget nothing.
(grunting)
(lively music)
- That's enough! - Get him up!
- I warned you, Pike.
You're off.
(lively music)
- [Man] Hey look, there, fire!
- Water!
(yelling)
(somber music)
- We all understand how badly you feel, Gus.
But you mustn't blame yourself.
The fire was an accident, please don't quit school.
- I'm going back to work full time.
I'm going to pay off the damages to Mr. McCorkadale.
- Please reconsider, you have so much ability.
- Ain't no sense in it.
I got bad blood in me.
I ain't coming back.
I'll take my fiddle, Miss Stacey.
- Muriel Stacey, how could you give that fiddle to the boy
when I asked you not to.
Gus Pike, come back here.
- Hetty!
Gus!
- Just what to you mean by ...
Little pitchers have big ears.
I'd like a word with you in private, Miss Stacey.
First, behind my back it seems,
you've undone years of my hard work,
turned my classroom into a carnival and now this,
the fiddle.
- Oh, Hetty, that's not the way it is at all,
not a bit of it.
I didn't give back Gus Pike back his fiddle,
he took it back because he's just quit school.
- He's what?
- Seems there was a bit of a to do
at the cannery last night.
The boys at the bunkhouse got to fighting
and somehow a fire broke out and a shed burnt down.
- Oh, good grief.
Was anyone hurt?
- No, thankfully.
But Angus McCorkadale blames Gus,
so Gus has quit school in order to pay off the damages
to McCorkadale.
- Quit school!
He can't quit school.
It's his only chance to -
- Hetty, I'm am loathed to tell you this, truly I am,
but I must.
If Gus Pike has quit school, it's because of you.
- Me?
What are you saying, woman?
- Don't you see how much he loves his music?
He's perfectly miserable without it,
yet because of something that you said,
he's taken this terrible notion
that his fiddle is something cursed.
And after the fire last night,
he's even more convinced of it than ever.
- Good Lord.
I never meant anything that far fetched.
- Hetty, he'll listen to you, talk to him.
(somber music)
- Gus Pike.
- Miss King.
- It's taken me a lot to come here,
so I want you to listen and listen hard.
I don't like to say I'm wrong.
Not accustomed to it, however, I do believe
I did do something wrong where you're concerned.
No, not a word out of you, boy.
You've ruined the King's English,
so may as well let me do the talking.
Now, when I spoke to you about that fiddle,
I never meant you'd end up in prison like your father.
I only meant that the fiddle
stopped your concentrating in school.
- But you saw the devil in me, you did.
- There's some devil in most people.
Not in me, mind you, but in most.
Yes, you've got your share but,
you've also got a mind that properly nurtured
could lead you to great heights.
You should think hard about coming back to school, Gus.
I believe I'd miss you if you didn't.
(somber music)
- [Children] Despite these titles, power and pelf,
The wretch, concentred all in self.
Living, shall forfeit fair renown,
And, doubly, dying shall we go down.
To the vile dust, from whence he sprung,
unwept, unhonour'd and unsung.
(clapping)
- See, I knew they'd love the poem.
- Thank you, children, thank you.
And now excellency, ma'am, with your kind permission,
I would like to request
that the assembly please remain seated.
The pupils of Avonlea school have prepared a special tribute
to someone whom they greatly respect and admire.
Someone who has given unselfishly for so long,
not only to the school, but to the entire community.
Miss Hetty King.
(clapping)
(light music)
Quickly children, time to get ready for our tribute.
Gus!
- Gus Pike, what's he doing?
- I come because I want to say something to my teacher,
Miss King.
You was the first one who ever tried to help me in my life,
Miss King.
You got me to go to school.
You learned me how to chew 10 times so I won't burp.
If it wasn't for you,
I wouldn't know nothing about learning,
and about getting an education.
I may wreck the King's English,
so I'll say my thanks the only way I know.
(light music)
- Bravo!
(clapping)
Bravo!
(light music)