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flat on my face in a flower bed.  The dog was on me in a flash.  I screamed like a lost soul.  The President and his wife rushed out of the house.  The position was certainly undignified, but what made it totally ridiculous was that the dog, far from attacking me, merely stood there licking my face while I tried to fend him off.  I felt utterly chagrined and could not stop trembling when they led me into the house and gave me a cup of tea.  So began my first adventure in job-hunting.  It turned out well, however.  I was assigned to teach the eighth grade in the grammar school.

On the first day, as the pupils began entering the classroom, I was astonished to see that at least half of them were virtually grown men.  They were the sons of Portuguese fishermen, big, brawny, with hairy arms and hands and some of them looked like pirates.  But they were so earnest, so receptive, that it was an immensely rewarding experience to work with them.  They were well past the age for grammar school and I soon discovered that they had enrolled primarily to study English and the history of the United States.  It was wonderful