Today’s Laugh from the campfire repertoire of Harold Merton

The new teacher was having a bit of trouble with the grade three children in a school that was located in one of the tougher districts of town.

Profanity seemed to be an everyday thing at the school, even with children this young.

One day when the teacher was busy working with a student someone wrote "bad words" on the board.

The teacher was shocked but wanted to show that she was calm and in control so she lectured the class about the unacceptable conduct and came up with a solution.

"I don't have to know who it was that wrote the bad words on the board but we do have to get that person to wipe them off the board" she told the class.

"What we will do is all put our heads down on the desk and close our eyes and then the person who wrote the bad words will quietly walk up and wipe the bad words off the board!" she said.

Everyone put their heads down and the teacher walked around the room to make sure everyone could not see, then she sat down at her desk and put her head down.

"I made sure everyone had their heads down and their eyes closed and now I am putting my head down too" she said. "Count to ten and then the person who wrote the bad words on the board come up and wipe the board off please" she added.

The room was totally silent and nothing appeared to be happening. Then there was the sound of small footsteps as someone approached the board. A wiping sound was heard, then the familiar sound of chalk on the board.

Then the footsteps moved towards the back of the room. "We're going to open our eyes when I count to ten so if you are still up please get to your seat so we won't see who it is" exclaimed the teacher, feeling that she had solved the situation very appropriately. When she hit "ten" she said "alright class we can open our eyes now!" Everyone looked at the board.

To the teachers amazement the bad words were still there and someone had rubbed the lesson for the day off the board and written even more bad words!

Shocked, the teacher decided to give the guilty party just one more chance.

"This is your last chance" she exclaimed. "I am trying to solve this little problem without punishing the guilty person but writing more bad words is really bad! We'll put our heads down again and the person who wrote it will please come up and wipe all the bad words off the board and write 'sorry' for what you have done!"

Everyone again put their heads down and the teacher checked the room. She took her seat and again said "I am sitting down now and will put my head down. When I count to ten the person can go up and wipe the bad words off the board."

In a few more seconds the sound of footsteps again broke the silence. Once again it sounded like someone wiping the blackboard. The teacher however thought she detected something else happening on the board but did not say anything about it.

The footsteps again headed towards the back of the room and then there was silence!

The teacher lifted her head to make sure no one was still up. In a way perhaps she was hoping that she would see who the culprit was but every one of the children had their head down.

The teacher turned and glanced towards the board just as the class lifted their heads and glanced towards the board as well. She was shocked! There on the board in foot high letters was written "The Phantom Strikes Again!"

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