Getting There/Detention

In high school, my biggest problem was in getting there on time. At that time I always helped to milk the cows in the morning before going to school. Then I walked a good mile to the end of the Ridge Avenue trolley line at Leverington Avenue and Main Street in Manayunk. From there I would ride to Broad Street and Fairmount Avenue and then walk down Broad Street to Vine Street. This would ordinarily take a little over an hour, but that trolley line on Ridge Avenue always seemed to be delayed by construction work. We were required to enter the school building by a door in the basement where the lockers were located. At nine o'clock sharp, this door was locked and anyone coming later had to enter by the main door on the first floor where we had to sign a paper that would be used for roll call at a detention class after regular hours in the afternoon. This was always in room 35 and that room was always considered the punishment room. Sometimes when there were other offenses, we would be kept until five o'clock which left it very late when I would get home. In the winter months, that would be long after dark.