The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1934-11-21

crashe I into the sides OF the creek
bed.
II boys who prided themselves
on their skating ability skated
down the length of the creek.
Henry Raible. rejecting upon
those escapades. said that he
skates we're merely one wooden
narrow strip nailed at right
angles with the center Of another
strip and carved into a shape
similar 70 he present models.
Mr.. Raible and Bill Sponsel used
10 cut many a fancy figure even
with those crude skates.
COUTH Of the pond there was
- built in 1875 the first building
Of the Franciscan Fathers.
Misfortune did not overlook the
pioneer priests who erected their
little mission near the Goose
pond. When the first load Of
bricks arrived, the trusting nd
unworldly Father Alardus paid
the driver s7O0 The driver
skipped town and the priests had
to repay the company.
The brothers and priests suf-
fered from malaria, caused, pre-
sumably, by mosquitoes bred in
the pond. Then, a cold contracted
by the Very Reverend de
O'Conner. o. S. B.. vicar-general
for the Bishop de st. Palais, when
he was laying the corner stone
for the church building, caused
his death.
There was only a picket fence
b~ween the Sisters convent luilt
in 1873, and the Goose pond. OPP
posite the church building, the
boys played ball under the direc-
ton of Brother Leopold on f1e
ground where now is a row of
houses facing Palmer street.
Tho school was on the lower
floor of the building which now
is used wholly as the priests
monastery. The rear of the same
floor was the priests house and
the second floor was the church.
There every dsy some luckless lad
had his turn at pumping the
organ for mass.
Every boy was "Yohnny" to the
organist who used to shout:
Pump. Yohnny, pump. You'd
better pumpl"
NNE of the girl members of the
OOld school, since grown irto
an elderly woman, tells of the
laugh the rest Of the class had at
her expence one day. Because
there had been some difficulty
with the spelling of the word
slippery" a brother had written
it upon the blackboard in man.
moth letters.
One morning, the girl came to
school just as the rest were leav-
ing the classroom for mass. The
brother in charge told her to
write her name on the board so
that every one might know she
had been tardy. When the rest
of the children filed back into the
classroom, they could not sup
press their giggles.
There, in bold letters was this
legend: Slippery Annie Climber"
For the boys who lOitered on
the Goose pond when they should
have been on their way home to
chop wood and do chores,
Brothers Leopold and Mark would
whistle in a loud, piercing tone.
If the boys feigned deafness, they
were rewarded by a thrashing.
Throwing clay balls, made from
the muShy clay in Palmer and
Union streets. was a favorite sport
not on the curriculum. The clay
provided material for a brick yard
worked by a Mr.. Zimmerman who
owned a farm across from the
church.
THE farm. which included a
Il plundered apple orchard, ran
along Union street and was
bounded by a walnut rail fence.
Along the fence were sage
orange" trees, as the boys called
them.
They looked more like hedges
than trees. with their big green
bulbs as large as oranges. Be-
hind this tract was the rick
yard. surrounded by a stone wall,
-