Cover of January, 1944 Inwood Chatter
In this January, 1944 edition of the “Inwood Chatter,” produced by the students of P.S. 52 in Inwood, New York City, the nation remained locked in the grips of the Second World War. It must have been a trying time for the children of Inwood as funerals of returning dead, war rations and talk of battles in far off lands dominated local conversation.
The students of P.S. 52 were all too aware of the war that raged around the planet. In this issue, students wrote about sacrifice, death and their wish that the war would soon end.
On page 32 student Doris Kessler contributed the following poem:
WAR FEVER
Why must I think of war again
Of that bloody and sickening battle
Of the children’s cry and the wounded man’s sigh
Of the people who are driven like cattle.
Why must I think of war again
Of those cruel and tyrannical men
Of the Nazi’s sneer and the people’s fear
Of the hundred imprisoned as ten.
Why must I think of the war again
Of those slanty-eyed men of Japan
Who slaughter and mangle and torture a being
Not caring that he is a man.
Each day I stop and think of this
And am ever so grateful and glad
That a free people, a happy people
Are stopping these leaders so mad.
What follows is the complete edition of the “Inwood Chatter” from January, 1944. If you have any old copies of the Chatter that you’d care to share, please let me know. This particular edition is from the collection of Inwood resident Don Rice.
