' In those days , the School and its grounds appeared immense . Toget around those long corridors was indeed a long walk for small legs . There was no driveway in front of the school , for there were few cars ; instead a pleasant lawn stretched across it .
' We usually gathered in or near the Hall as itwas there that we assembled in ranks and filed into our classes . All along the sides of the Hall were wooden steps where we sat and watched games like " chateh " and catching . There was no stage then , and handball was played against the wall at the end .
' Tall trees grew in the middle of ยท the yards . In their shade we did our drills , standing or jumping not on grass or sand but on smalllaterite pebbles . How I hated those pebbles in my shoes ! Those yards were larger than than they are now , for the present canteen and the Brothers ' quarters , the badminton hall and the lavatory block did not exist then . The water closets used to be where the badminton hall now stands .
' The yard near the Waterloo St entrance was the meeting-place of the hawkers at noon . A plate of rice with gravy cost only 2 cents , and 5 cents if a slice of meat was added . Foronecentyoucould get an " ice-ball " covered with syrup . The " ice-ball " consisted of ice-shavings scraped from a block of ice moved against a knife-edge . This school delicacy has long passed into history . It was stopped for being a frequent source of cholera and typhoid .
' Practically all of the second level of the main building was used as living quarters for the Brothers and the Boarders . The Science laboratories and the large library did not exist then . Both the wings were the Boarders ' dormitories . The Brothers ' Rooms took up nearly all the space between the wings , except for a few classrooms near the ' bridge " leading to the Anderson Building . This block of fifteen classrooms used to have only one main stairway in the middle instead of two staircases as at present . Have you ever wondered about those strange windows with small roofs over them which stick out of the main roof ? They served as toilet rooms in the old days .
' The Boarders , numbering one hundred , gavea certain character to the school . They came mostly from Java , Sumatra , Labuan and the Federated States of Malaya . With them around , the school was always a hive of activity . They provided the best of our footballers , hockey players and athletes . The Boarders impressed us as a disciplined lot : they had to be , we thought , with so many Brother Supervisors always " at action stations ". Every day they played games on the field . When the Cathedral bell sounded for the Angelus , they stopped their games and prayed individually . Their times for study , meals and recreation were all strictly regulated . In some way this discipline spread to the rest of the school . Thus it was understood that no one talked at the Assembly in the Hall or when going in the ranks to the classes .
' The Catholic element in the School was manifest : every Standard from Std 3 upwards had at least one Brother as " Form Teacher ". In the Junior and Senior Cambridge classes there were more Brothers . In those days the Brothers wore black robes with white collars and could be seen in every part of the School . On the hour , the School bell rang briefly and the class monitor said : " Let us remember that we are in the holy presence of God ". We paused in our work for a few moments of prayer . When a Brother entered a class , he knelt briefly at the teacher ' s platform for prayer .
' Catechism was taught to Catholics , and Ethics to non-Christians every day for half-an-hour . The " Royal Crown Reader " series , used in Std 2 up to Std 6 , contained many stories and poems which taught moral and spiritual lessons . In Std 7 the regular text for Literature was Cardinal Wiseman ' s " Fabiola " - a moving story woven around the Christian martyrs of the early Roman Church .
' On Sundays Catechism was taught for about 45 minutes before the main Mass in the cathedral . The lessons were usually based on the Gospel passage read at the Mass , which we had to memorize beforehand . On the first Thursdays of the month , priests would come to the School for those who wished to go to Confession in view of receiving Communion at the first Friday Mass .
' The big religious event of the year was the Corpus Christi procession in which large numbers of school boys and girls took part . Turn by turn , each parish in the city held its procession . An altar covered with flowers and candles was set up in the school porch for the Blessed Sacrament which was carried from the Church of SS Peter and Paul , along Waterloo Street and Bras Basah Road into the School . The congregation knelt on the lawn for the Benediction and then the procession continued to the Church by Queen Street . Our boys also took part in the procession from the Cathedral to the Convent and back .' Brother Anthony McNamara recalls that in January 1928 he was the teacher of Standard VII . ' Among the teachers I remember were Mr . Frank [ arnes , Mr . [ ansen , Mr . Freddie Reutens , Mr . CyriIReutens , Mr . Rappa , Mr . lyer , Mr . Pillay , Mr . Sobrielo , Mr . Arthur Phillips , Mr . Guy Machado and Mr . Santhou . Among the ladies who taught in the primary section there was a redoubtableMrs . Barr . Mr . Subramaniamwasthe clerk . It was a very nice school , the discipline was easy and homely , there were no school uniforms and the boys came in a variety of styles . There was no canteen but the hawkers invaded the school hall at the mid-day break and took up a position anywhere . There was an arrangement whereby the contract for selling in the hall was given to the ice-water man and he charged all other hawkers who came to sell in the hall . Some hawkers sold kachang pu teh , some sold cakes and sweets , and a number came in with the traditional Chinese barn-
Memories of Teachers and Pupils , 1900 -1939 29