Passion of the Pearl: Letter P

Souce: namu project

The Letter P

Could it be perfume, pink, pandering, pancakes ...?

Strong to my traditional form, the letter P is for:
Pearl

Pearl harbored serious obsession here.

This Pearl is Great-Aunt Pearl, whom I knew only by reputation and photos. Grandmother Amy was the oldest of three sisters with the middle sister Grace and youngest sister Pearl. 

In 1911, Pearl was in high school, with all the expectations of any young woman in the early 1900s, which were basically marriage, children, and home.


But, OH, first came the tender innocent love, romance with its soft touches, shy kisses, sweet words...

In her English textbook, Pearl practiced writing her name, over and over.  Other pages were covered with doodles and sketches, dreamy sketches of young men.  
Even her perception of Hell expressed a passionate moment in her life.

This textbook must have been all over the classroom, passed from girl to girl.  Squelched giggles and hurried scribbles asked and answered questions.  Comments and questions (what did he say about me?...Certainly I know that YOU know!..Girls are made to flirt with men---But men with girls??  Oh! No!...) ***

 Pearl's dreams of romance were recorded for a great-niece to find:

The drawings and notes were found in History of English Literature by Reuben Post Halleck, M.A  (Yale), published by the American Book Company in 1900.

Pearl married shortly after graduation, at the age of eighteen or so.  The man she married was named Fred, who was rather plain and balding early, liked to fish, and was not greatly ambitious.  He was the very antithesis of the ideal heroic man of her dreams. 

On March 6, 1913, in a double wedding, Pearl married Fred Funk AND
her sister Grace married John Friend.

Whenever I asked my grandmother about her sister Pearl, she would sigh and say, "Oh, Pearl..."

I was an over-achiever.  I never did any of this.  Seriously.


Imagine what Pearl and her friends could have done with Smart Phones.

***Copied from the text book, written in pencil.

Now, what did YOU do during a high school class?  Be honest, now!

The Joy of 9

Source

Kevin listened for the first ten minutes and then his eyes wondered.  “The red head…she has the greatest pair of…” 

The lecture was called “The Joy of 9”*.  So far Kevin felt no joy.

….Let’s consider why that works.  Call  the first number you consider  as ‘x’….tripling that x gives you 3x…when you add 6, that makes 3x+6…Triple that will make 3(3x+6), or 9x+18…….

“Oh, Debbie.  Sweet Debbie, how I love your…”

….do an example like this: 3, 456.  Adding the digits together and we have 18, and 18 is a multiple of 9.  And, guess what? 3,456 is a multiple of 9!  What about 1,234?  Its digits add up to….

Kevin’s gaze swung over to the girl sitting in the row below him, Karen.  She was doodling.  Not only doodling, Karen was doodling semi-porn doodles.  “Dang!  She’s good!”

While he watched, the Joy of 9 continued.  …How about a bigger problem: 91,787+42,864.  If we add those wonderful numbers together correctly, we will arrive at 134,651.  If we check our answers, we add the digits to get 20; then add 2+0 and get 2… 

Source

The Joy of 9 lecture concluded with “…and the resulting number is 9…therefore…”

Kevin and the class staggered out the lecture hall.  Kevin caught up with…

Who do you think Kevin will choose?  Will he borrow someone’s notes?  Will he pass the next exam?

*This lecture was partially derived from The Joy of Mathematics by Professor Arthur T. Benjamin.   Words have been changed from the lecture to avoid copyright infringement.  No insult was meant or implied to Dr. Benjamin.  My husband would hang on his every word, while I would be the one dozing off.  

P.S.  My husband reads stuff like this, even has a video of Professor Benjamin presenting the real lecture.  He watches videos like this.  And, he tries to share the ideas with me. 

The next time a program on “Joy of Quilting” I am on that like fly on molasses.