Thursday, February 11, 2010

Things I remember about my one-room schoolhouse days

I remember my first day of school; when Mother and I arrived, there was only the teacher and another mom with her little boy, Carroll; they suggested the boy and I go play on the teeter-totter; I don't think either of us really wanted to.
At some point in my first year of school, I decided at first recess to slide down the teeter-totter as though it were a slide.  This turned out to be one of my worst ideas ever, since I picked up what felt like dozens of splinters in my buttocks, and I could do nothing but sit on the source of my pain all day long.  As soon as I got home that day, I told Mama what happened; she had me lay face-down on the couch while she removed the splinters one by one.  What a relief!
I remember, on bad-weather days, playing "Upset the fruit basket".  I loved that game.  Do children ever play that any more?  
There was a sandbox-table in the front of the schoolroom on the right; if we got our assignments done, we could go there and play quietly.  A little boy and I were playing there, and I just couldn't stop whispering to him; Mrs. Eighmy tapped me on the head with her pencil to shush me, and it broke my heart.  I loved my teacher.  
I remember us students singing "Who Can See The Wind" and "This is My Father's World".  
I recall a Christmas program where we sang, "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth".  We used licorice-flavored gum to cover our two front teeth so it would look like we had lost them.  
I used to walk home from school when the weather was good; I have no idea how far it was, probably a mile or so.  My mother warned me to never accept a ride from anybody because some murderer she heard of had lured a little girl into his car, cut her in pieces, and thrown her body parts out the window of his car, one piece at a time, as he drove.  So when the father of one of my schoolmates offered me a ride home, you can bet I refused!   
My mother had all kinds of horror stories to fit any occasion.  Like the one about some little kid that swallowed too much chewing gum and had to be taken to a hospital where they operated to remove the big ball of gum from his stomach; or the lady who bit her fingernails and swallowed the bits of nail she chewed off, and they lodged in her appendix and cause appendicitis.  
I remember taking bread-and-butter sandwiches as my school lunch, and Mother explaining to the teacher that we had other things to eat, but that's the only kind of sandwich I liked.  Mother didn't want anybody thinking she didn't feed her child properly.   
And that's todays walk down memory lane.  

12 comments:

  1. Vicki6:58 AM

    My Mom had a story to cure nose picking. She would point out a big ugly tree and say, "That tree was a little girl that picked her nose, now she's a Pickanose tree". It worked, my little granddaughter can even spot "Pickanose" trees. Vicki

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  2. Anonymous7:31 AM

    OH! I remember the one about the fingernails and the appendix - although I always thought it was true as my older sister had to have her appendix out at about age 10 or so and she always bit her fingernails down to nothing...just remembered another - if you crossed your eyes and fell down they would stay crossed
    Marcia/WY

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  3. Lindie9:47 AM

    I remember how a little friend had a lard and bread sandwich and I thought she must be very poor. Maybe she just liked it. I was in a school that was 2 rooms. 1 for the 1st to 4th and the other 5th thru 8th. And I remember running away from the highway when 2 men stopped their car nearby and looked at us.

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  4. Anonymous10:19 AM

    DONNA, YOUR MEMORIES ARE INTERESTING.
    MINE GO BACK TO THE YEAR 1924 WHEN FOUR YEARS OLD, WALKING TO THE ONE ROOM SCHOOL THAT SERVED HOMESTEAD FAMILIES. I WALKED WITH AN OLDER SISTER, TO VISIT SCHOOL.
    THIS IN WESTERN COLORADO NEAR HAYDEN.
    THE TEACHER PUT ME IN FIRST GRADE AS I WAS LEARNING WITH THE FIRST GRADERS, BOTH OF THEM.
    THERE WERE ONLY TWELVE STUDENTS IN THE EIGHT GRADES.
    STUDENTS TOOK TURNS CARRYING DRINKING WATER FROM A SPRING, IN A TWO GALLON BUCKET.
    A COMMON DIPPER WAS USED UNLESS THEIR OWN CUP WAS USED. I REMEMBER ONE HAD A COLLAPSIBBLE METAL CUP THAT COULD BE CARRIED IN A POCKET.
    THE TEACHER RODE A HORSE TO SCHOOL. sam

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  5. I love the old school memories. Well, all except the first day of Kindergarten when I went in and a bigger boy threatened to steal my little box of crayons that I was so proud of. Remember it like it was yesterday. Wonder what ever happened to that brat boy?! ha!

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  6. LOVE YOUR SCHOOL MEMORIES. wE CALLED THAT GAME fRUIT bASKET tURNOVER. i LIKED IT TOO. a FEW YEARS AGO THEY TORN MY RED BRICK SCHOOL HOUSE DOWN. NOW I COULD BUY A BRICK FROM IT IF I WANTED TO. tHE MONEY GOES FOR A GOOD CAUSE.

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  7. Why did anybody ever think teeter-totters were fun?

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  8. Bet those splinters did hurt. We played a game called fruit basket turn over, bet it was the same game.I have heard the one about chewing off your fingernails. I bet you were a nervous wreck by the time you walked all the way home hearing those kinds of warnings. Helen

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  9. hi! did you ever haev a fruit roll to honor your favorite teacher? come by Lurkynat!
    great entry1 I have a friend from beautiful country and she still has vivid memories of ehr walks to school! Imgaine that

    hugs, natalie
    Lurkynat

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  10. Hi Donna.

    Long time since I visited your blog. Thanks for stopping by time and again.

    I realised I missed lots of interesting stories in your blog all this while. One of it in particular is this story which I love the most.

    I can visualise the simpler days as I read your post. It gives me an inspiration to write my other fond and not so happy experiences while I was in kindergarten and primary school.

    Your post brings back many memories about my school days in the village.

    Have a good weekend!

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  11. Loved reading about your memories. Granny told me the story about the little girl-but in her story he put the pieces in a suitcase : )

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  12. Really enjoyed sharing your memories with you! Don't think i know the fruit basket game. Could you tell us how it went?

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