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my interpretation of an easy teacher was that the teacher was lazy. That the teacher was not teaching.

In the earliest elementary grades, I think that the average student was aware of this, and reacted in kind to it.

Well, the intersting thing for me is that I don't understand why I'm putting all this emphasis on school and learning and what not as the dominant thing in my early childhood. It sounds terribly one-sided. I don't remember it as one-sided. School took most of my day. And when I got home, my mother was a pretty fascinating taskmistress. First thing she wanted to know, about my sister and about me, was whether we did our homework. I also remember that she was never pleased with anything short of excellence, and I was not always excellent. When report card time came around, it was anxiety time, because Miriam would want to know why it wasn't an A in this or that or the other.

Well, going back to your first tutoring, how long were these sessions with Mrs. Husbands?

I really don't know, in terms of absolute time. They were just long--you know.

They were long because you saw the bread and the jam --?

-- that's right. I must say, they weren't by any means cruelly long. No.

You don't recall that they were oppressive?

Oh no, just -- they were not oppressive, except in terms of the fact that I would rather be playing. You know. And I knew that I would