by Audrey Schading
"More pegs! More pegs!" Our teacher, Miss Lustig, heard this from us all day long! We three first-graders were busily at our desks, making Braille letters by eagerly filling up our 4-lined, 10-cell peg board. Although the attached tray where we kept our pegs was secure, we were always inadvertently dropping pegs onto the floor, constantly running out of them, and asking for more!
Miss Lustig dutifully gave us more, as she checked our alphabet work, all the while retrieving the pegs from the floor with a magnet attached to a very long stick. (I wonder if that was her invention, or if she learned it from another Braille teacher?)
Writing Braille letters with pegs was such an exciting adventure for me, as I knew it would lead to actually learning how to read! But I kept wondering and wondering, "How did a person learn to read? How did it work? Would I be able to read stories like my Dad read to me, such as ‘The City Mouse and the Country Mouse,’ or books like my Mom had read such as ‘Mr. Popper's Penguins?’" I kept thinking of this as I boarded the school bus for the very first time on Wednesday, September 9, 1959. After changing buses, I finally arrived at my destination, school 71!
As I walked into the school, I was met by my teacher who introduced herself to me. I said in the best voice I knew how, "Audrey Bardotz, first grade!" "Yes, I know!" replied Miss Lustig, as she guided me to my classroom. She showed me the room, including my very own desk with my name Scotch taped on it in Braille. I could open it, put things inside and marvel at the open circle on the left-hand side, an inkwell, which of course we did not need to use.
There were three of us in that first-grade class, and directly across from us were four second-graders, who immediately began our morning by reading a story! I sat there mesmerized, listening and pondering. Of course I was listening, because I wanted to hear the story! However, I was also earnestly pondering, as I had absolutely no idea of how they were reading! How did this work? How, how, how?
How indeed! I wanted to read so, so, so much!
We mastered a-b the first day, which happened to be a half day. That evening, all I could talk about to my Dad and my brother Paul was learning Braille and wanting to read. I took a pencil and made holes in a piece of paper, hoping I could somehow re-create the Braille that I had touched that day!
The next day, another half day, we learned c-h, and on Friday, a full day, we were introduced to i-x.
By that time, I'd acquired my own peg board at home. My dad, a Wonder Bread deliveryman, happened to deliver bread to Batavia, N.Y., which is approximately one hour outside of Buffalo, where I grew up. Batavia is also the home of the New York State School for the Blind, and my dad purposely got to know the principal, Mr. Paul Ruland. Over that first year, Mr. Ruland happily provided me with a peg board and a 6-inch paper ruler to keep, as well as many Braille reading books to borrow.
My Dad had acquired a Braille alphabet card, and over the weekend, he taught me the letters “y” and “z,” so that when I got back to school and showed my teacher what I had learned, she said: "How did you know that?"
Thus, the journey of reading began during the second week, as we were given large alphabet books, lovingly hand-copied and put together by my teacher! Thus, my reading adventures began, as my question was clearly answered, and I began to understand that words were made by putting these wonderful letters together. My imagination soared! It became fun, natural and so easy to read Braille! I loved taking my turn! Soon we were reading about marvelous happenings with Alice and Jerry, Mr. Carl, the little monkey and the organ grinder, and mischievous David from "Anything Can Happen!"
I could never (and still can't) get enough books! I'd take out a book for the summer, and have it finished in two days!
So, let's keep carrying and passing this torch, and never put it down!