Monday, September 12, 2016

One Room Schoolhouse


School Days, The One Room Schoolhouse.
Not so long ago.

This Old Farmer's Daughter remembers her
older siblings went to the one room schoolhouse
on the corner of our rural road.

No central heat, no plumbing, walking uphill both ways in the dead of winter! Uh huh, yea!


Actually all that is true, there was a kerosene heater in the room. 
A well out side and water in a bucket with a dipper inside. 
Toilets, not quite. Pit toilets on each side of the entranceway, boy's and girl's, 
at least they didn't have to walk outdoors. How did they keep the smell down? 
Perhaps a handful of lime each day? 
Walking, every day, parents did not spoil the children with a ride, even in bad weather. And our road did go up and down a little each way, but with a substantial hill 
at the top of the road.

A real treat at lunch was porridge, kind of a tapioca pudding. 
They did put on plays for the parents
and decorated the room for the holidays.

This was life until the central school opened in 1956. Then it was a half hour bus ride and embarrassing pictures getting picked up by the bus on the first day of school each year. 


(With interview notes from Old Farmer's Older Daughter : )


I love to hear from my readers. Click on "comments"
 and sign in, try open id if none of the other options work for you.
Open id will allow you access to commenting on many forums
 without having to remember many different user ids/passwords.
To avoid inappropriate or spam comments I will moderate all. Thanks!


7 comments:

Eldon Mains said...

I remember the older cousins going to that school. We never really got to see it because we would visit in the summer when school was out. Being a city kid I was always fascinated with this small one room school house.

Angela said...

A one room school house- it must have been so different!here's that one room schoolhouse today, from google streetview. It's been converted and had a small addition built- I wonder what part of the house the indoor pit toilets are now? Another view

-The Old Farmer's West Coast Granddaughter

jen mains said...

Hi Angela, I will have to look at that google view!

Unknown said...

My dad is 99 mom died a year ago . She had 7 kids. One of my sisters was in the 1St class that went thru all grades my older sisters went from 1 room school house to star point. My mother was a supportive in getting star point started.

jen mains said...

Hi Doug! My older sis also was in the first group to go all the way through. I don't think that included kindergarten...

Unknown said...

HI

Although a city boy (and in the capital) I remember some of the kids did not have shoes to wear most of the year...
We had one class per room, i don't know...perhaps 30 boys (girls were apart)...
But aunt used to tell me about the "five eyed lady" that was the rule used in her time that was slightly spatulated at the extremity (like a flat spoon) and had 5 holes (so 5 eyed)
The rule in my time was straight, perhaps 1,5 inch large...and it was painfull as hell... Usually more then 3 or 4 mistakes per page (about 25 lines) and the snap would start... 6 10 20 or 40 (I think it was the worst I ever saw..about 20 each hand...)
I remember I always cried and complained to my parents "why did you gave me 5 names...?" That was the first thing to be written in the examination was the name. and in the first year we stl were writing so slowly that I felt that the others students were already half-way the test while I was still trying to write my name...
And one year there was a bunch of tree trunks in the yard which we called "the Fort" I never wanted to be part of the "long knives" defending the Fort...I always wanted to be part of the indians that raided it... oh boy...how many "long knives" we through out the Fort...some times with some missing skin and blood everywhere.... (it happened in both sides, of course)... Oh boy, that was so funny...! Those were good times!

jen mains said...

Hi Gauroch2, Thanks for the stories, can you share what city your were in? My next tale that posted esterday is about The Old Farmer's Schooldays and he also was in a city school with separate graded classrooms. That was in Cleveland Ohio.