And 50+ years later, I still remember

I had a wonderful teacher in 7 and 8 th grade
who use to show us for entertainment that numbers
are bendable. How to check your multiplication
by drawing an X and putting numbers in the X to
check your answers... Also one day he asked for
a series of 9 numbers... which he wrote on the
black board. And then he asked for another 9
which he wrote under the first 9. Then he said,
well, lets see, I guess I will put up 9 more... and
he took his time thinking (as if he was in great
thought) of numbers to put up there. Then he
drew a line under them.. and quickly add them
up. In less than 2 seconds. How did he do that?
Well, he took the top number on the right and
made the answer 1 less than that number. And
then copied the rest of the top line and when he
got to the end... he added an extra 1....making 10
numbers for the answer? So how did he come up
with that? And be correct. The secret was he had
us put up the top 9. Then the second 9. and when
he put his numbers in... what ever the number
was above on the second line, his number with it
had to total 9. So if it was a 8...he would put 1.
If it was a 5 then he would put 4 and etc. Thus,
canceling out itself so to speak. Which would make
the top number on the right, be one less. So if
the top number was 7 ..he would put 6 for the
first number in the answer... and then write the
rest of the top line. Got it? It was neat. And
we thought he was the wisest of men...
Vincent Pelletier.... a man of French
descendent, and proud of it and from just
across the border in Massachusetts. A wonderful
human being, who was loved by all the students.
You could always tell who goofed off in class.
Be it talking when you weren't suppose to or not
paying attention. Which they got rapped across
the head with a eraser, so if you had a yellow
stripe on your head, you had being goofing off.
On occasion, when a boy, as it always seem to be
boys he try to show the errors of their ways,...
he would have them against the wall, run their
hair around his finger, and pull up, and have them
looking in his eyes, and he would whisper something
to that boy, and that boy would be the best kid for
the rest of the day. lol... All of which is illegal today.
But he was the most beloved teacher of all time, at
Berkeley Peckham School in Middletown, R.I. ...