She was only about five feet tall and probably never weighed more than 110 pounds. However, Miss Bessie was a(n)__1__ presence in the classroom. From 1938 to 1942, when I attended Saint Bernard’s High School, she taught me a lot __2__ I realized.
There was never a(n)__3__problem in Miss Bessie’s classes. We didn’t dare to trouble a woman who knew about the Battle of Hastings and could also play the piano and __4__ Shakespeare and Milton.
Miss Bessie knew that my family couldn’t afford to buy a newspaper. She knew we didn’t __5__ own a radio. Still, she __6__ me to look out for my __7__ and find some ways to __8___ what’s going on in the world. __9___ I became a delivery boy who delivered newspapers. I __10__ made a dollar a week, but I got to read a newspaper every day.
Miss Bessie noticed things that had nothing to do with schoolwork but were vital to a youngster’s __11__. Once a few classmates made fun of my ___12__ overcoat. As I was leaving school, Miss Bessie ___13__ me on the back of that old overcoat and said，“ Carl, never worry about what you don’t have. Just make the most of what you do have—a(n) __14__．”
Among the things that I didn’t have was __15__ in the little wooden house. But because of her __16__， I spent many hours beside a kerosene lamp( 煤油灯 ) reading Shakespeare’s works. Miss Bessie introduced me __17__ a wonderful world of poems and stories. She led me to ___18__ that I could write poems as well as Shakespeare.
