love education

Chapter 28 March (3)
Standing at the door were the lumber merchant and his wife, both in festive attire, with their son, who had won third prize in the third grade.However, today I didn't see the guy who usually wears a pussy cap and a chocolate-colored tights. On this occasion, he dressed like a gentleman.I caught a glimpse of Wattini in a box, his collar was trimmed with wide lace, and he disappeared for a while.A box in front of the stage was packed, and there I saw the Captain of Artillery, the father of Robert, the boy on crutches who had rescued the child from under the stagecoach.

At this time, only two people in the band flicked lightly on the piano, and the band began to play.At that moment, the mayor, the prosecutor, the justice, the editor, and many other gentlemen and officials, all dressed in black, came up the steps on the right and sat down one by one on the red front of the stage. After being seated on the chair, the band stopped playing.At this time, I saw the conductor of the school singing troupe walking towards the band with a baton, and he made a gesture.Seeing this, the boys on the seats under the stage stood up one by one, he made another gesture, and the boys began to sing.Seven hundred boys sing a very beautiful song in unison, the voices of seven hundred boys symphony together, what a beautiful song it is!

All were listening in silence. It was a sweet, graceful, slow song that sounded like a carol in a church.When the children stopped singing, everyone clapped enthusiastically.After applauding, they sat up straight again, and the award ceremony for the winners was about to begin.My diminutive third-grade teacher, redheaded and shrewdly blinking, came to the front of the stage, and waited to announce the winners.The twelve boys who are about to present the awards are waiting at the entrance behind the stage, and they are about to issue award certificates to the winners.Even the newspapers have reported the latest news, that is, boys from all the provinces of Italy will present awards to the winners, and everyone knows about this.People were waiting for their entrance, and they were looking curiously at the entrance where the children were about to take the stage. Even the mayor and other gentlemen and officials were staring at them, and the theater became very quiet at this moment. .Then twelve boys trotted onto the stage together and stood in a row, all with smiles on their faces.More than 3000 guests in the entire hall stood up and applauded at the same time, the applause was like thunder, and the boys stood there, a little panicked by the scene in front of them.

"Look, everyone, this is our Italy," cried a voice from the stage, and that's when I immediately noticed Classi, the Calibrian boy, dressed in black as usual.Next to us was a gentleman who worked in the city government, and he knew all of them, so he pointed them out to my mother:
"That little blond boy is the representative of Venice, and that tall curly-haired lad from Rome, the one over there."

Two or three of them were dressed like gentlemen, and the others were workman's children.However, all children are very neatly dressed and clean.The boy from Florence was the youngest, and he wore a blue scarf.The children walked past the mayor one by one.The mayor kissed each child on the forehead, and at the same time, the gentleman standing beside the mayor introduced the cities where these children lived one by one:

"Florence, Naples, Bologna, Palermo." Whenever a child passed in front of the mayor, the guests in the audience gave them warm applause.The children ran to the green podium to get their award certificates.My homeroom teacher in third grade started reading the list of winners with the names of the schools, classes and names of the winners.The winners also walked onto the stage one by one at this time. Before the No.1 award recipient stepped onto the stage, there was a very faint sound of a violin from the back of the big set, and the sound of the violin continued to play as the award recipient kept walking onto the stage , shrouded the whole theater in a gentle and comfortable atmosphere, like many gentle voices confiding in a low voice, and like countless mothers, all male teachers and female teachers sincerely persuading the students in unison Let them be strict with themselves, and at the same time rebuke them with a voice full of kindness.The award-winning children walked past the gentlemen sitting on the stage one by one.These gentlemen presented those award certificates to them, said some words of encouragement to them, and touched their heads lightly.

Whenever they saw a short and thin child or a child in shabby clothes passing in front of them, those children sitting under the stage and in the box would applaud loudly for them. Of course, those children with thick curly hair Children who are well-dressed, or those who are dressed in red and white, will also receive warm applause.Some of the children who passed by in a neat line were from the upper grades of elementary school. As soon as they walked on stage, they became completely overwhelmed and didn't even know where to turn. Seeing this scene, the whole theater burst into laughter .A boy came up on stage, he was very tall and had a huge pink bow tied in his back so that he had a lot of trouble walking.His foot accidentally tripped on the carpet, and he fell with him.The mayor helped him up, and everyone laughed and applauded the child again.There was another child who was so shy when he stepped off the stage that he almost fell over, and the crowd burst into laughter again. Fortunately, he didn't hurt himself.We could see boys of all colors walking past us, some with mischievous faces, some with frightened faces, some with swollen faces as red as cherries, and some with little faces. The guy has a funny face and they have a big grin on everyone.Before they got off the stage and returned to their seats, they were picked up by their respective parents.

When it was our school's turn, I couldn't mention how excited I was!Many people I know passed by me one by one. Kleti walked in the queue, he was dressed in new clothes from head to toe, with a pleasant and charming smile on his face, and even his two rows of white teeth gleamed. It was all exposed brightly.But who knows how much more wood he moved this morning.When the mayor was about to give him his certificate, he asked Cletti what was the cause of the red mark on his forehead, and put a hand on Cletti's shoulder.I looked for Cletti's parents in the seats under the stage, and found that they were covering their mouths with one hand and laughing happily.After that, Deros stepped onto the podium. He was wearing a dazzling blue dress with shiny buttons on it. The curly hair on the top of his head was still golden. He was slender, calm, and held his head high. Tall, looks so chic, so convincing.I want to blow him a kiss and all the gentlemen want to talk to him and shake his hand.

Then, the homeroom teacher called the name of Giulio Roberto.The captain's son walked up to the podium on crutches.Hundreds of children knew of Robert's deeds, and all we heard was a sudden commotion in the audience, followed by long-simmering applause and shouts, the whole theater vibrated, and the gentlemen stood on tiptoes When they got up, the ladies waved their handkerchiefs, and the poor boy stood in the center of the stage blankly, his heart was full of surprise, and his body trembled unceasingly.The mayor drew him to him, handed him his certificate, and kissed him.Then the mayor took off the two laurel wreaths from the back of the seat and hung them on the crossbar of his crutches.He accompanied Robert to his father's box at the front of the stage, where the captain sat.At this time, the captain stood up abruptly, and took his son into the box amidst the loud cheers, the cheers came and went, the excitement was indescribable.

The soft, soothing sound of the violins continued as the boys marched one by one.Those from the Delacon Solta School were almost exclusively the children of small traders, those from the Fanciglia School were mostly workers' children, and those from the Bacampachini School were mostly Many were the sons of farmers, and lastly the boys from Nenely appeared.After all the children on the list came to the stage to receive the awards, the seven hundred teenagers sitting in the audience sang another beautiful and melodious song.After the children sang, the mayor gave a speech, and after the mayor had finished speaking, the justice gave a speech, and he ended his speech like this:
"Before you leave this place, do not forget to salute those who have toiled for you, who have given you the strength to live and the radiance of wisdom, so that you may grow into divine greatness, who are watering their fields with their blood. , they were born to educate you, they died to educate you, and they are sitting there, look at them!"

After speaking, the judge immediately pointed to the box where the teachers were.Afterwards, all the boys, no matter the children in the box, the children in the audience, or the children in the stands, all stood up without exception. They opened their arms to their teachers with kind words in their mouths. shouted, while the teachers, waving arms, hats and handkerchiefs to the children, stood up excitedly.After this, the band played again.The audience also warmly paid tribute to the twelve award-presenting teenagers from various provinces and cities in Italy for the last time. Countless flowers thrown from the stage.

quarrel
Monday 20th
Alas, I had an argument with Cletti this morning, but it wasn't out of jealousy, it was because he got the reward for winning and I didn't, and I wasn't really jealous of him.However, the fault was on me. The teacher placed him next to me. I was practicing calligraphy in the exercise book. The story of the month is messed up.The name of the story is "The Blood of Romagna" and I did it for the little mason because he just got sick.I was very angry at the time, so I cursed at him, and he responded with a smile:

"I didn't mean to touch you." I should have believed him because I knew what he was like.But what upset me the most was that he said that with a smile.All I could think was "Oh, now he's got that award, so everyone's getting giddy!" I decided to fight back, and I sneaked a touch on his elbow too, and he ended up throwing him too. My exercise book is messed up.Cletti's face was flushed with anger. "You did it on purpose," he said to me, raising his fist.The teacher caught a glimpse of us, so he had no choice but to withdraw his hand and added: "If we have the ability, let's talk outside."

I immediately felt guilty, and my anger dissipated at that moment, and I began to regret what I did to Kleti just now, no, Kleti never did that on purpose, I know, he is a good boy.I recall what he was like in his own home, I remember how he worked hard and took care of his very ill mother, I remember how warmly he was treated when he came to our home, and I also Remember how much my father liked him, if only I hadn't said that hateful word to him!How I wish I had never humiliated him so much!I still remember what my father once said to me:

"Is it your fault?"

"Yes,"

"Then ask his forgiveness."

However, I didn't have the guts to do it because it would have humiliated me to admit my mistakes.I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye.I saw that the clothes on his shoulders were wrinkled, maybe because he had carried too much wood, at that moment, I also knew that I loved him, and I said to myself "be brave !” But the phrase “I’m sorry!” stuck in my throat like a fishbone.He also squinted at me from time to time, and the way he looked at me conveyed that he was more sad than angry.Whenever at this time, I would stare at him even more viciously, just to let him know that I am not afraid of him, he said to me again:
"I'm waiting for you outside!"

I also fired back: "We'll figure things out on the outside."

But I kept thinking about what my father once said to me, "If you are wronged, you must maintain your own rights, but don't argue with others."

I said to myself in my heart:

"I want to assert my power, but I won't fight with others."

I was quite dissatisfied in my heart, and I could no longer listen to the class teacher's lectures, so I stayed like this until after school.After school, when I was walking down the street, I realized that Cletti was following me. I stopped and waited for him to approach. I still had a ruler in my hand. He approached me. I also raised the ruler. "No, Enrico," he said, still with his amiable smile on his face, turning the ruler away from my hand, "let's be like before, we've always been good friends."

I stood there dumbfounded. I felt as if someone pushed my shoulders. It turned out that he embraced me with both arms, kissed me gently and said:

"We'll never argue again, will we?"

"Never again, never again!"

I answered him, that's it, and we all left contented.When I got home, I told my father the whole story, expecting him to be pleased.But his face fell, and he said to me:
"You should be the first person to reach out and ask for a settlement because this is your fault."

Then he added another sentence:
"You shouldn't raise a ruler to your classmate, not only is he better than you, but also because he is the son of a soldier!"

He grabbed my ruler, broke it in half, and threw it against the wall.

my sister
Friday the 24th

(End of this chapter)