Clementius Stupnagel di Montefalcone: the saga of a smart artist (smartast)

Chapter 5
Although neither she (CSM's mother) nor her husband were jewish, she decided to send her son to the B’nai Haftorah Yeshiva in Brooklyn, which had a reputation of being one of the best schools in the Flatbush area. CSM had trouble learning Hebrew, all the more so that in the meantime, his father had returned and spoke nothing but italian, a language unfamiliar to CSM and to CSM’s mother. CSM thus became dyslexic and was thrown out of the Yeshiva, especially after the rumor went around about the love affair CSM’s father had had with the Duce.
Public schools in New York were full of immigrant children after the war, most of whom did not speak English, and so they were not willing to cope with dyslexic children too. This forced CSM’s mother to place her child in a private school, The New School in Manhattan, recommended by the Grosshandels. Being near pennyless, Stupnagel and di Montefalcone requested a scholarship for their son, which was granted on the grounds that CSM was a gifted, although dyslexic, child (information conveyed by the Grosshandels). The problem was that Stupnagel, di Montefalcone and son lived in Brooklyn and the school was in Manhattan, so that at a very early age CSM was forced to travel in the subway.