DIY History | Transcribe | Iowa Women’s Lives: Letters and Diaries | Eve Drewelowe's journals, volumes II-III, 1950s

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Eve Drewelowe's journals, volumes II-III, 1950s

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students. He it was who upon one occasion voiced to the timid little mouse who was I, the positive idea that one day "Little Eva" would be a leader - He did not say might! This was but the expression of a small seed of wishful thinking rather than any attempt at a far-cry prediction that could never have evolved into fulfilment. Words of encouragement indeed, from a kindly, well-meaning teacher in the true sense of the word. Why else should anyone say such an unwarranted thing to me a shy, retiring creature whose teeth chattered and whose knees quaked in tremulous rhythm and who furthermore became wholly inarticulate in the face of a handful of contemporaries? And yet this remark was not foreignly strange on the lips of a good teacher who did not prod, but rather, suggested a never-dreamed-of thought to an awaking youngster during a vastly important formative period. What else could have prompted this speech? The answer, I think, is to be found in the hope, and also perhaps in engendering an incentive. The seeds may be freely sowed among youth for more often than not, infertile soil may prevent germination and a barren harvest. the idea too may have been expressed with a thought of stimulating self reliance and confidence which I certainly have sorely lacked. However inadvertently the remark was dropped it helped give some of the assurance I needed - for it is the sort of thing I like to remember and tightly clutch when I feel so totally inadequate as so often happens - At least someone at one time had a degree of faith in me, or at least this kind teacher convincingly expressed a faith he didn't feel but it serves the same purpose.

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students. He it was who upon one occasion voiced to the timid little mouse who was I, the positive idea that one day "Little Eva" would be a leader - He did not say might! This was but the expression of a small seed of wishful thinking rather than any attempt at a far-cry prediction that could never have evolved into fulfilment. Words of encouragement indeed, from a kindly, well-meaning teacher in the true sense of the word. Why else should anyone say such an unwarranted thing to me a shy, retiring creature whose teeth chattered and whose knees quaked in tremulous rhythm and who furthermore became wholly inarticulate in the face of a handful of contemporaries? And yet this remark was not foreignly strange on the lips of a good teacher who did not prod, but rather, suggested a never-dreamed-of thought to an awaking youngster during a vastly important formative period. What else could have prompted this speech? The answer, I think, is to be found in the hope, and also perhaps in engendering an incentive. The seeds may be freely sowed among youth for more often than not, infertile soil may prevent germination and a barren harvest. the idea too may have been expressed with a thought of stimulating self reliance and confidence which I certainly have sorely lacked. However inadvertently the remark was dropped it helped give some of the assurance I needed - for it is the sort of thing I like to remember and tightly clutch when I feel so totally inadequate as so often happens - At least someone at one time had a degree of faith in me, or at least this kind teacher convincingly expressed a faith he didn't feel but it serves the same purpose.