It was 1923 and I was five years old. Finally, the day had come when I would start school. I walked with my brother, Bill, one mile to a little country school house. I was very excited. I had been looking at books and wondering what was inside them. I was eager to learn to read.

The school bell was ringing. We had to hurry as we had only five minutes before the final bell rang. We could not be late! When we entered the school, I went to the girl’s cloak room and hung up my jacket, and Bill went to the boys cloak room. Then we met inside and were assigned a desk to share.

(Arlo Sears is the boy on the right)

I liked my teacher, Mary Loring. She had a kind look, but I sensed she was strict. Her desk set on a platform in the front of the room. The blackboard was behind it and a long rope hung down to ring the bell for school to start, and for recess time. There was a clock on the wall and a portrait of George Washington crossing the Delaware. On the side of the room there were shelves that reached to the ceiling. The lower shelves were for dinner pails. The top shelves were for art materials. On the left side of the room was the library where I knew I would spend much time with the books. In front of it, were huge maps of the different states and of the world.

A large round stove about five feet tall stood in the back of the room. It had to be fired with coal. There were hooks on the wall near the stove to hang coats in the winter time. The recitations seat was in the front of the room where the teacher called the eight classes one at a time. Most of the desks were double and were shared with another student. Each desk had an ink well, as we used straight pens for penmanship. In the front was a single desk that was used for the water pail and dipper. We all had little metal cups that folded up, and we kept them in our desk. Another single desk in the front of the room was used for the "Mother Goose" book and the dictionary. We were encouraged to use the library and dictionary often.

The floors were wooden and had to be swept and mopped as well as the blackboards had to be cleaned. The coal had to be brought in from a shed in a coal scuttle. The water had to be pumped from the well outside the school. We all helped the teacher with the chores. There were rows of windows on each side of the room that furnished plenty of light.

The classes were called up front to the recitation seat. There were eight classes. We listened at times to the grades ahead of us, and learned from them. Recess was a special time for us. We only had fifteen minutes, but we made every minute count. We played soft ball, high jump, broad jump, raced, "hide and go seek", "anti-over", "fox and geese", and "turkey tail" "Turkey tail", was one of our favorites. We liked it so much that there were permanent tracks in the ground where we played it.

The place we liked most was the swamp. It was close to the school. There was a winding creek that ran through it where buttercups, watercress, wintergreen, with berries, hazelnuts, violets, and lady slippers grew. We never picked the lady slippers, as they were rare. It was like a little haven to us with birds singing, frogs croaking, and butterflies flying in the air. There were pollywogs in the creek and sometimes we saw a snake. We were living next to nature and felt the joy of it.

In the fall, we made "huts’. We cut branches from the bushes and intertwined them to make rectangular huts. We filled in the walls with leaves and also put leaves over the top for the roof. The winters were very cold. I think we had deeper snow in those days, but I realize I was closer to the ground back then. We had to wear warm clothing; long legged underwear, heavy coats, with scarves and stocking caps with a tassel on the top, and galoshes with buckles to close them up.

When I was ten years old, 4H classes were becoming popular. Our teacher included a hot lunch program that could be included for credit for achievements in 4H club work. We had a kerosene stove in front of the room to cook on. Each week the teacher put menus on the side blackboard and asked for volunteers to bring food items from home. We had many different kinds of soup, creamed vegetables, casseroles, and cocoa, to name a few. We also brought our sandwiches from home in our dinner pail.

My brother and I had a black and white terrier named "Tippy" that followed us to school. He would not stay home so the teacher gave him a desk. Everybody liked Tippy and he sat up at the desk like a person. When he wanted to go out, he would open the door with his nose. One day, a boy brought in his German Shepard to school and they got into a fight in front of the school room. I found myself yelling out, "Come on, Tippy, come on!" Can you imagine something like that taking place in a school room?

I made friends easily, but I had two special friends. One was the teacher’s daughter, Mabel Loring. She used to bring me large square molasses cookies with frosting on the top. Sometimes I went home with her to spend the night. She had a small upright piano that I loved. We used sit and play and sing popular songs from the Twenties, such as "My Blue Heaven" and the music of Rudy Vallie. She taught me to dance the Charleston, which was popular in the era of the Roaring Twenties.

Another great friend of mine was Elvia Dutcher, who was also my neighbor. She changed my name from Elizabeth to Betty as the boys were calling me Lizzie. It followed me all through life. I spent a lot of time in her home with her family and we are still friends today.