Charlotte's World

Mrs. Stout made Charlotte's clothes. She always did. One day she made a black dress for Charlotte and sewed yellow chickens on both pockets. Charlotte thought her dress was nice. It was certainly different, but she liked it. But when she went to school it was a different matter. Oh, how the children made fun of her new dress. But, boy did she ever tell them off and set matters straight: "Well, it's my dress and I like it. I find it attractive, if you don't mind." Charlotte didn't have to tell them her mother made the dress for her for they had drawn that conclusion instantly. In recounting her tale to Verona, Charlotte put her shoulders back, sat up straight and lifted her chin high. She brought her right shoulder forward just under her slightly tilted chin and glared at Verona. Then she remarked: "A snooty bunch they were, I tell you, but I sure put them in their place. And there is something else I must tell you…something I will never ever forget. Or someone, I should say…Miss Granger. She was my teacher. And, a nicer person you couldn't find anywhere. She was single at the time. I don't know if she ever got married later, but she was such a lovely person. She surely was lovely and nice. She both saw and heard what the children were saying and how I stood up for myself. I tell you. She walked right over to me and put two dollar bills in one pocket and a handkerchief in the other. What a nice thing to do! What a nice thing she did for me! I tell you, I will always remember what Miss Granger did. Children can be so cruel! I was eight years old at the time. And, she spoke so nicely to me in front of all those children. "'Now little girl,' she said. 'I think this is one of the nicest dresses I have ever seen.' "Of course, all the children were looking on. They saw and heard what our teacher did and what she said. "That told them and shut them up all right!" declared Charlotte with a toss of her head and a straightening up of her back and shoulders. Then she continued relating her story to Verona. "We didn't have much at that time. It was during the Great Depression. But we managed," she said. Charlotte is not afraid of anything, neither the living nor the dead. And, that was why she took the bull by the horns and gored herself through life with a can do, fearless attitude.