Chapter 45
-- Compiled by the Cumberland Women's Club
and Published by the Cumberland Advocate
1874-1974
(used by permission of the Cumberland Advocate)
Donated by Linda Mott
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School Days
Mentioning school days brings back fond memories.
At 8:30 A.M. the big bell in the belfry would ring out the first bell telling everyone that it was soon time for school to start. Everyone walked along those days and as children others would join them on the way. Arriving at school you would find at school a platform across the front of the building. It was called the porch or stoop ( I don't know where that word came from). As we entered the school there were 2 entries or cloakrooms, one for the girls and the other for the boys. There were hooks on the wall for coats. On the floor along the wall you would find rubbers (galoshes those days). There stood too, the lunch boxes and dinner pails. In these was the food that could be eaten at recess or at noon.
Entering
the school proper you would see the teacher's desk and chair on a little
platform between the 2 entry doors. This platform allowed the teacher to
look over the school room. On her desk you would find a hand bell, some
books, a writing pad, pencils, pen and ink, and a pointer. On the wall
back of the desk were blackboards above which there were maps that
could
be rolled down when in use. On the main floor in front of the teacher's
desk stood the recitation seat where all the lessons were recited. There
were different sized seats, some single and small for beginners, some larger
and double where 2 pupils could sit together, for the upper grades. In
the center of the room stood a big box stove that heated the room.
Sometimes
when the weather was cold the pupils would march around the stove to keep
warm. On a shelf by the window there was a big dictionary. How big we felt
when we were old enough to look up words. We mustn't forget the clock and
the pictures of Washington and Lincoln on the wall. They were a part of
every school. There were also bracket lamps hung by
the
windows to be used when there were programs or meetings in the evenings.
During the recesses and noon hour many games were played by all, sometimes
even the teacher joined in on them. They were "pump,
pump, pull away", "last
couple out", "drop
the handkerchief", baseball and many, many
others. This is the description of a typical one room school house in
olden
days. Many prominent men and women got their start in the little old school.
to Big
Days
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