A 108 YEAR OLD TEXTBOOK!

I owe this post to Sean of "FAIR AND SQUARE HANDYMAN SERVICES".

Fair and Square Handyman Services

Sean's mother came across a very old school book which had belonged to her aunt. The aunt, Mary (May) Williams, happens to be my aunt too. 

Mary (May) Williams and her younger sister
standing behind their parents

Mary Williams attended St Patrick's Convent School more than one hundred years ago so she would have been taught by some of the Presentation Sisters who had come over from Ireland on the Newfoundland Mission!  

Mother M DeSales Walsh (1866-1968)

Among the Irish Sisters was Mother Mary DeSales Walsh who was born in Tralee, Co Kerry, in 1866. Mother DeSales was just 16 years old when she arrived in St John's to join the Presentation Sisters at Cathedral Square. Mother DeSales had a long and distinguished life. She taught at various schools, including St Patrick's, and served two terms as Mother General of the Presentation Sisters in Newfoundland. She was also one of May's favourite teachers!  Mother DeSales died at Presentation Motherhouse on 1 March 1968. She was 102 years old.

English textbook used by St Patrick's pupils
more than 100 years ago

Now back to that book! The book is an English text book that children of that time used in school. Sean has taken pictures of some of the pages where we can see where May marked the pages to be studied. Homework, perhaps? He has also taken pictures of the front cover and of the inside back cover. On the inside back cover, May has written her name and the date. At this time, so soon after our commemoration of the signing of the Armistice on 11 November 1918, the pictures set me thinking about the children who learned from copies of this textbook. They would have lived through the dreadful years of WWI. Many of them would have been in the thick of it, fighting in the mud and blood of the trenches. Sadly, so very many of them would never again return to their beloved Newfoundland. May lost her first beau just days before the Armistice was signed. He died in a military hospital in France at the tender age of 17.  

A peek inside an English textbook from the early 1900s

Could you handle this at 11 or 12 years of age?

Once again, thank you Sean, for the pictures and for others that you have kindly sent to me over the years. I must not forget to thank Sean's mother, my sister Doreen.  She too gets a vote of thanks for keeping the book safe and keeping alive the memory of a 12 year old St Patrick's Girl who studied at our school over one hundred years ago.

Inside back cover with May's signature and the date

MOTHER MARY DeSALES WALSH

Mother DeSales, enjoying a sing-along, Christmas 1965

Margaret Walsh was born in Tralee, County Kerry, Ireland, on 12th February 1866. In 1882, when she was just sixteen years old, this courageous young girl left kith and kin and sailed across the Atlantic. Arriving in St John’s, Newfoundland in July, she entered the Presentation Order. After a period of formation and training, Sr Mary DeSales, as she was now known, taught at Presentation Convent until 1895.

In 1895 Sr DeSales was transferred to St Patrick’s Convent, Riverhead. At St Patrick’s, Sr DeSales quickly won the minds and hearts of the young West Enders. Back in the 1960s, one of her former pupils was still recounting the story of Sister's leave taking of St Patrick’s Convent in 1912. According to this fervent admirer, it was a sad day indeed when the school girls heard that Sr DeSales was leaving them. Tears flowed in profusion as their beloved teacher left to take up her new appointment at Torbay.

In 1919, after a period as superior in Torbay, Mother DeSales was welcomed back to St Patrick’s. Alas, in 1925, the popular Sister left St Patrick’s to return to the Mother House at Cathedral Square. The pupils of Presentation Convent School then became the beneficiaries of her teaching and musical gifts.

In 1931, Mother DeSales was elected Superior General of the Congregation. She brought all her talents and boundless enthusiasm to this post. Never losing her love of the children, Mother visited all the Presentation Schools in the Province as often as possible. After a very successful term of six years, the little Nun from Kerry was re-elected for another six year term. So it was that Mother De Sales guided and directed the Presentation Sisters in Newfoundland for twelve successful years, from 1931 – 1943.

At the end of her second term as Superior General, Mother DeSales was 77 years of age. She remained at the Mother House where she was active in the life of the community and taught music until she was in her 90s.

February 1966 was an exciting month for the Presentation Sisters in Newfoundland. The whole Congregation was preparing to celebrate the 100th Birthday of Mother DeSales on 12th February. The days preceding and following 12th February, and the day itself, were days of great celebration. Concerts, visitors, birthday cakes, flowers, congratulations and, to be sure, much joy, abounded. Mother DeSales, petite and dignified, took it all in her stride.

It is the sea kissed coast of Newfoundland which welcomes every new year to North America and so it was there  that Canada’s Centennial Year began.   As the last seconds of 1966 ticked away and the first shades of 1967 crept over the continent, 101 year old Mother DeSales was atop Signal Hill, St John’s.  With television cameras and the press in attendance, Mother DeSales and Premier Joseph R Smallwood lit the first Centennial Flame that would soon spread across the country as 1967 was born.

Just weeks after her 102nd birthday, the long and fruitful life of Mother De Sales drew to a close. On 1st March 1968, Mother Mary DeSales Walsh, former teacher at St Patrick’s Convent School and twice Superior General of the Presentation Sisters in Newfoundland, died peacefully at Presentation Mother House. Following Mass of Requiem, this prayerful, cultured and gracious lady was laid to rest in the Sisters’ Cemetery, Cathedral Square.