Teacher Donna Griffith leads a “Puritan funeral procession” at Mason High School last week. (Michael Snyder photo) | ZOOM |

        MASON — Dressed mostly in black, some with yardsticks, two dozen teens silently walked into the lobby at Mason High School and took their seats.

        “Shift not in seats, but continue in the place where your superiors order you,” demanded teacher Donna Griffith as the “Puritan funeral” began Friday. “Fix thine eye on the minister. Let it not wildly wander to gaze on any person or thing.”

        Shortly thereafter, tither (church leader) Joe Hayden poked his yardstick into the back of an unsuspecting classmate who was not sitting up straight in the makeshift meetinghouse.

        For 20 minutes, the students in Ms. Griffith's social and cultural American history class took on the roles of Mayflower passengers at a Puritan funeral. Truant officer Rick Huff, himself a licensed minister, delivered a fire-and-brimstone sermon taken from a 1741 writing by Jonathan Edwards before students returned to the classroom for a Puritan feast — complete with venison.

        Said Joe, 16, who took on the role of Myles Standish, “This was a lot better than just reading about it.”

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