Part IV - Education, a supplement to the Big Rapids Pioneer Newspaper. Used with permission.



LIFE IN A ONE-ROOM SCHOOL
By Raymond D. Pointer

Most of the one-room schools followed the practice of ringing the school bell 8:30 a.m. If the 8:30 a.m. bell failed to ring, there would be no school that day. The 8:55 bell gave students five minutes to get seated before the 9 a.m. starting time.

Nearby students soon became attuned to the times others who lived farther from school came by their houses and joined them for the walk to school, all arriving together.

The two one-room schools that I attented were about the same in construction. I can't recall the dimensions exactly, but I would guess about 20 feet by 40 feet with three tall windows on each side. Both had a sheltered entrance area at the main door. In that area were hooks for hanging coats and hats and shelves for storing school lunches. Both schools were heated with furnaces which burned a combination of of wood and coal. Both provided an okder male student to clean the building and and to buiuld and keep the fire through the day. To do so the janitor had to come early and stay after the other students had gone home. For this service, the school board paid five dollars a month. I looked forward to becoming old enough to apply for that job, but before I had become that "grown-up" the school boards began allowing the teachers to do their own cleaning up and firing and drawing the five dollars pay for themselves. The teachers gained and the students lost their jobs.

In fair weather, we tried to get to school early so that we could have a short play time before school began. In the school that I attended first, Littke River, we played a type of baseball that we called "Scrub." The little kids had a sort of abbreviated diamond with ony three bases: first, second (in the place of third) and home. When we reached school, we raced into the entry and hung our coats, put up our lunches and rushed out to play "Scrub." We would bid for positions by calling "Scrub" and a number -- "Scrub" 1 or 2 or 3 and so on. Most of the time the the Scrub 1 and 2 were the starting batters. With only two batters we used only first base and home. If we had enough players we used all three bases. With just two batters, the Scrub 3 bidder was the catcher, the 4th the pitcher and the 5th on first base and so forth, If the first batter hit and didn't get back hone, the second batter tried to hit and bat him in. If the first batter failed to get home on the second batter's hit he was out and had to take the last place in the field and everyone moved up one place. The catcher became the batter and the pitcher became catcher, tec. If the second batter failed to hit safely or struck out or flied to hit safely on the out the runner on first held his place and the former catcher the next batter. When the final bell rang, someone grabbed the bat and ball and all went inside.

The interior of those school buikdings was plastered with what I think was sanded plaster and wainscoting on the lower three and a half feet. The plastered area above the wainscoting was painted. To the right of the entry door at the corner was a small table on which sat a pail of water wo which was a diper. The second teacher that I had at my first one room country school changed that. She bought each of the students a cup. The cups were enameled and different colors. She had a naik driven into the top border of the wainscot and wrote a student's name on each nail.

The desks were of the kind used at the time. The frames were cast iron with wood seats. The top and back were fastened to the cast iron with wood screws. There were three sizes. The samll desks were on one side of the room. The middle size, and then the larger on the other side. There were we called recitation seats in front of the individual seats with their ends extending nearly to the wall on each side. There was a space equal to about two aisles of student seats between the inside ends of the recitation seats. Recitation seats used three of the the regular sesk frames with the backs removed. When the wood seat and back were attached to the cast iron frames, the result was some what like the seats used in church commonly referred to as pews.

The movement from desk to recitation seat was some what regimented. The order was like: Third grade arithmetic "Stand." after which that class stood; "Pass," and all the class moved to the middle of the aisle, turned and walked to the front end of the aisle and upon reaching the front of the aisle turned again and stood facing the front oif the building in the front of the recitation seat; and then on the command of "Be Seated," sat down. If a sudent was called upon to recite, he was expected to stand. When the class ended, the movement back to the seats was the former movement in reverse.

There was a 15 minute recess at 10:30 a.m., an hour lunch period starting at noon and a 15 minute recess for the higher grades at 2:30 p.m. when the school day ended for the lower three grades when those students were sent home.

In addition to ther ball playing at recess and lunch, they played "Anti-Over", Prisoners Goal, Run Sheep, Run and stealing sticks. Sometimes the boys brought their hoops to school and some competition developed. In bad weather the big kids square danced. The little kids often went outside and played -- sometimes in the snow, sometimes in the woodshed. The same teacher who provide the cups, was quite generous in the winter. She would send four of the boys to the island in the lake and have us clean the snow from near the island for a place on which to skate. There were large logs that were placed just the right height to sit on, a sort of triangle facing the lake. We cleared the snow off the logs and from inside the triangle. On the open side toward the lake we would place wood for a fire. Then after dark we would gather and bring lanterns along with the fire and our skates. The lanterns along the fire would light the skating area and the triangle. The teacher woud provide hot dogs and buns and tomato soup. She had a portable, spring-driver Victrola and records. We had music, a warm fire and warm foioid during breaks in our skating. Anout 10 p.m. we would break up and go home.

The teacher was not required to lead us in a night skating party. This was something she enjoyed. But, there were two affairs that were mandatory if a teacher wanted to return the following year -- a Last Day of School Program and a Christmas Program.

The Last Day of School Program would consist of demonstrations of the students learning. Spell-downs were common. Oral tests were conducted with older students giving the questions to younger ones. These questions consisted of material we had just been graded on. They didn't come from a prepared list. There will also foot races and sometimes a couoke innings of baseball were played. Baseball was very important in the lives of rural people those days.

Writing was considered an important talent and good penmanship was desired. Examples of student handwriting was on display. A Maypole wind was on schedule after we received a flag and flag pole. A potluck dinner also was among the Last Day of School Activities.

The Christmas Program was so important that work started on it just after Thanksgiving. Usually some man in the neighborhood would volunteer to supply a tree, quite likely a spruce. Sometimes the students would forgo recess or half of theuir lunch hour to make decorations for the tree. Chains of colored paper, strings of popcorn and red berries picked from the woods would be used as decorations. Popcorn balls were often the result of two or more of the neighborhood women making them by the pail full. Most of them were made without strings. There were usually enough to add some decor, but mostly there were for the children who were too young to take part in the activities.

In the Little River school there were an ancient pump organ for music and a more modern piano. Many of the attending students learned to play chords. Some were good enough to accomopany others who sang Christmas Carols, which, along with Christmas plays and recitations were performed to the satisfaction of those attending the affair. It was seldom that every family with childrern was not represented at the program.

After the performances were over, presents from the Christmas tree were distributed. Some neighborhood mad would act as Santa. The students had drawn names, purchased, wrapped and placed the gifts under the tree. The beautiful gifts added to the decor of the tree. The teacher always gavea small sack of goodies for each student. In the sack it was common to find hard candy, an orange and some nuts.

Before the custom of strings of popcorn, berries and paper chains was adopted, candles were used. After the one occasion when Santa's beard was ignited from a candle on the tree, candles were forbidden.

The two events, the Last Day of School and Christmas Programs, were very important to a community when radio, refrigerators, electricity, indoor plumbing, video games, air conditioning, automatic heat and telephones were mostly non-existant. Neighbors talked for days about the kid who won the spell-down, or the long ball hit or the long jump by someone's child at the Last Day of School competition. Also how someone's child spoke or sang or acted at the Christmas Program. Maybe even how ridiculous or old so and so looked when he played Santa.

Return to Mecosta sesquicentennial Page

Return to Home Page