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Transcription
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THE ONE ROOM SCHOOL
There were two of us in my class for the years that I was in country school, Catherine Raben and myself. When we were called on to recite our lessons, the teacher would call us to the front of the room, and we would sit on chairs facing her as she sat at her desk. If I was poorly prepared, or had forgotten some of that day's assignment, I felt as if I were being called before a judge for some traffic violation.
Normally, the teacher's questions began with our assignment that day, but it could be on something we should have remembered from the day before. Some times she would ask for illustrations on the black board. Arithmetic, English and geography were often assignments that called for black- board work. I liked mathematics and geography but English and grammar gave me a headache, and it remains one of my problems as I write the story of my life.
The early grades were not hard for me, but I found the eighth grade more difficult. I have decided that the students in the lower grades had the advantage of hearing the higher grades recite their lessons. It was a help for those who followed, but by the time I got to the eighth grade, I was on my own.
One of the highlights of my time in the country school were the two recess periods, we had 15 minutes in morning about 10 o'clock and another in the afternoon at 2:30. We usually played outside if the weather permitted, snow on the ground meant we could play fox and geese, or snow ball. The snowball fights often ended in some of the small children getting hit hard enough to call for intervention from the teacher. We played baseball in the spring when it was warm, and this included both girls and boys.
The school house was a cold place in the winter. We were always dressed well, long johns and heavy undershirts. The stove in the middle of the room was usually fired with wood or coal that we would carry in from a shed close by. The most difficult time to stay in school was when spring came. It was hard to stay inside and study when the birds were singing and flowers blooming.
To get to school during the winter could be a problem if the snow was deep, and to get caught at school in a blizzard was a worry for parents. There was little warning if there was a blizzard on the way. The weather could be nice when left home in the morning and be a raging storm by the time school was out.
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Rights
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Metzger Memories
