Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1888-01-26

wanted; all the sleds in the crowd
of those school days I could but con-
trast the present with those days gone
by. My first recollection of our old
schOOlhouse was this: it stood at the
foot of a high hill, facing the west,
where two roads crossed, one going
north ond south, from Springfield to
Tollond, one from east to west, from
Stafford to Enfield, on one of the cor
ners. On the opposite corner was a
large building, which had been tav-
ern; on each of the other cornors were
dwelling houses. Where the roads
crossed there was large green, where
in the summer and fall seasons the boys
played base hall. Just south of the
green a large brook run, with mills and
watershops down and below the bridge
that spanntd the brook. What s.pen-
did times we had skating on those
ponds, when the ice was strong enough
to be safe; and right here let ne say
never saw a schoolma' ann tan as many
hides at one tanning as saw one after
noon. 1t was at the beginning of the
freezing up of the ponds. We had that
winter short, thick-set young woman
for teacher. She was not very large;
but she had, as / heard some of the
parents say, the old rubety in her. 1
tell you, Mr.. Editor, what she lacked
in size she made up In spunk. This
schoolma' am had written on the black
board with chalk, in large letters:
ANY boy or girl seen on either or any
of the ponds on the ice, until permission
is given, will get whipping" Now
if there is anything in the world that
will make boy or girl want to do a
thing, it is to forbid them doing that
thing without a reason. do not know
was but a little bit of boy at that
time, but when noon came and school
dismissed, and the scholars had finish
ed their dinners, all the large boys of the
school made for that pond, and there
were about twelve or ifteen of them,
some full grown. All we little ones
stood at the windows looking at them.
We were so interested in the sport on
the ice, we did not see the schoolma' am
until she came in to take up school
again. AS she looked out of the win
dow and saw all those boys on the ice,
her brow fairly grew black with wrath
land I always thought it was black
enough before). do not remember that
she spoke a word, but walked out of
the schoolhouse, up by the upper pond
where some young birches grew and
cut about a dozen good, long, keen
switches. When she came back, she
laid that bundle of switches on the
table, then raped on the window 1--WE
had no bells in those days.. AS those
big boys came trooping in and took
their seats all, we little ones huddled
up in one corner, for We were awfully
frightened. Boys, did you see that
writing on the black board?" "Yes,
man," "Were you on the ice:" Eyes,
man." As she took up one of those
sic spOhC W Doy al tAC
head of the class: "Walk out here and
take off your coat" That big boy got
up, but refused to take off his coat for
just one moment, but the second look
at the schoolmam decided him, for he
saw there were no fooling to be d one.
He took that coat off pretty quick, and
the way that woman laid that bircl.
on his back would have made drum
major envious. After she had finished
with him: "Put on your coat and take
your seat" Next, and next, until she
had gone through with the whole class.
Well, the next day those boys did not
go on the ice, but waited until permits
sion was given by the school officers,
for there had been number ofpersons
nearly drowned the winter before.
think it was in the year lS35-the
same winter one of the most disas-
trous fires occurred in New York City;
the weather was intensely cold, and