slam with bare feet was really intriguing , so I tried to do the same but the results were disastrous . I sprained my foot , and that night I took the train at Tank Road Station carrying one of my boots in my hand , and it had to be like that all the way to Penang . Tank Road Station was quite a small station for such an important place as Singapore , but there was a reason . The Causeway had been completed the year before , and so there was no train going direct from Singapore town onto the peninsula until the Causeway was completed . Those were the days of funerals on Sunday , with plenty of scrolls , Chinese bands , banners and gongs . So it was on the Sunday morning of my arrival that I witnessed a Chinese funeral procession , and Iwas impressed by the colourful send-off the deceased was receiving . Also , on the way to Katong on that Sunday evening I passed a place where there was a wedding reception , Chinese style , and I found the music and general outlook so intriguing that I realised I was going to like life in the Orient .
' I returned to Singapore in January 1928 , and was the teacher of Standard Seven . The Director was Brother Stephen , the Sub-Director was Bro . Dominic , and the Brothers on the staff were Brothers Honorius , [ ohn-Edward , Lawrence Robless , Daniel , Anselm , Coleman , Sebastian , Andrew , Julius Anthony , Louis and Augustus .
' The Brothers were all keen on games and the Director was also a tennis enthusiast . Whenever he played , always doubles , we took great care to give him a good partner so that he would always win . The Brothers had a sampan and we used it every time we were at Katong . During my time we became very interested in baseball , and we spent very many pleasant evenings . No one wanted to miss going to Katong but someone had to stay back at St . [ oseph ' s to look after the Boarders . So we took it in turns to do this duty , but Katong was a very happy place . During the long holiday we would stay at Katong all the time , and indulge in long walks . Occasionally we would walk from Katong to Ponggol via [ oo Chiat Road , Geylang Road , Payar Lebar and Serangoon Roads . It was a walk of eleven miles , and so the double walk , going and returning , was abou t twen ty-two miles . Some used to cycle because it was always easy to hire cycles from cycle shops which were rather common in the outlying areas . During my time we were warned at one time not to go in the Bedok direction beca use the pug marks of a tiger had been seen , and it was calculated that the tiger had swum from [ chore to Pulau Ubin and from Pulau Ubin to Singapore .
' On Sundays , during the holidays , Brother Dominic , the Sub-Director , used to go into town in the afternoon in connection with a Sodality meeting . Everything he did was well thought out , and before going he would practise driving the Baby Austin round and round a coconut tree . One Sunday , he was coming back through Katong village when he came upon a man standing in the middle of the road in the path of the oncoming car . Brother Dominicdid not stop , but being a very careful driver he was not going at any speed and he knocked the man down . A crowd soon gathered and when the victim had stood up again Brother Dominic took out his wallet and gave the man five dollars . Then the man began speaking and when Brother Dominic asked the onlookers what he was saying someone explained . " He says that if you have
another five dollars you may knock him down again ."
' In the Brothers ' quarters in St . [ oseph ' s thefts were rather common . One day a man in overalls came with a ladder which he put up against the wall outside the Brothers ' dining room , at a place where there was a clock . He asked one of the Brothers to hold the ladder steady while he took down the clock . Then with ladder and clock , he thanked the Brother and went off . Later Brother Step hen asked what had happened to the clock .
He was told that a workman had taken it , and when the Director said '' Which workman ?" it was realised that it had been stolen .
' One morning when the Brothers rose , no one could find his shoes . During the night a thief had gone into every room and takenawayaU the shoes . On another occasion it was raining in the morning but every Brother discovered that he did not have an umbrella . A thief had made another collection .
' At the end of1928 I received the sad news that I was to go to Malacca after a very happy year in Singapore .' The name of Brother Stephen Buckley is preeminent among the Brothers of the interwar years . He was a great sportsman , laid tennis courts , and introduced volleyball and handball , a game that he brought from his beloved Ireland . One of the Brothers said that he was a typicallrishman , quicktempered and big-hearted . He came from a well-todo family in County Cork , which had sent a number of its members into the mission field . He came out to the East in 1897 , to Hong Kong . He came as Sub- Director to SJI in 1909 , and helped Brother Michael with all his improvements . At the age of thirty-six he became the Director of SJ1 . Brother Stephen had an abundant sense of fun . His face could change from an earnestseriousnesstoa winsomesrnile . Hewasstern with malefactors but had a certain tolerance towards boyish mischief . He was always open to new ideas . Above aUhe had a passion for goodness that coloured all he did . He maintained that even if a boy should learn little at school it would all be worthwhile if he only learned to be a good man .
From 1921to 1927he was the Director of St lohn ' s , Kuala Lumpur , and when he returned to SJIhe was confronted by the perennial problem of overcrowding . In 1927 a new class was opened at Kampong Bahru . In 1929 , with an enrolment of 1365 , Brother Stephen sent Standard Vli to Kampong Bahru and Standard liD was lodged in a temporary room in the compound of the Chinese Church . As it was quite
20 Memories of 5 / 1