Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1890-04-04
Grandma.s -. Day At sehoe1.

Every one about the house knew
that school was to begin on Monday.
and Bess was saying for the twentieth
time:
"I'm all ready, grandma, everything.
Just think! it's only tomorrow"
How times have changed since L
was little girl and went to SCHOOL,"
said grandma, with that far-away look
in her eyes that was always there when
she was 'memberin'," as Bess said.
90, grandma, I never thought that
you ever went to school, as old as you
are"
81 was Just as young as you are once,
my dear, said grandma.
"Tell me bout when you went to
school, begged Bess, drawing close to
dear grandma.
81 was eight or nine years old before
L started to school, grandma began.
eve lived in Ohio, and it was more
than sixty years ago.
every one had to pay to go, and
the school only lasted three months in
the winter, when it was too cold to
work.
my little brother John went with
me-
"DIy mother wove d piece of flannel
on the big loom from the wool of our
own sheep. Then she colored it brown
with walnut hulIs. From this she
made me a brand-new flannel dress,
very long, with tucks In it to let out as
/ grew.
Father went to the woods, and shot
q deer and skinned him and tanned the
hide. From this deerskin he made me
a pair of buckskin shoes. They were
tied together with leather strings, and
were stiff and heavy.
Mother next sold some tallow, and
bought a square of real store flannel
/ Of q bright red color. She cut this in
two on the bias, so as to make one
! piece larger than the other. The
! smaller of these three cornered pieces
was for me to wear around my neck as
! a handkerchief The larger one was
! to serve as a shawl and hat, for wore
/ it over my head.
"With all my new things on and
little tin bucket in one hand, with our
dinner in it, and the little primer my
mother had bought me Rugged to my
breast we started to school right after
breakfast, father, John and I.
Father carried his ak on his shout
der, going on before us and blazing
the way. By blazing L mean he
chopped a large chip out of the trees
brush for a path. The school-hOuse
was mile and a quarter from our
house, over hills and through hOllOws.
"The schoOl-house was built Of big
round logs with clay stuffed in to fill
up the cracks. There was wide
chimney where a log fire burned
"The seats were logs split with stout
legs stuck in them. We sat on the
fat side. My feet never touched the
floor. They used to get very tired
hanging down, and L would swing
them back and forth to rest them.
There were no backs to these seats,
and no desks In front of them.
81 did not know what a school was
like, and I felt very strange. L was
afraid of the teacher, he was such q
large fellow, and went around carrying
a big stick three or four feet long un-
der his arm. He was called the mas
ter.
Father told him our names, and then
went home, telling us not to getlOst, but
come straight home by the path he had
made. I felt like crying when father
left, everything was so strange.
"That day the teacher put all the big
boys and girls IN one class and the lit
tie ones in another.
when noon came we all opened our
dinner BUCKETS and ate our dinners, for
some of the children had come three
miles.
eve then all went outdoors, and
the big boys played ball very much as
boys do now. The girls and smaller
boys played blind mans buff, drop
the handkerchief and 'black man
just as children do now. 1t was al
most dark before we reached home
that night. The teacher went with us
to stay a week at our house, as he did
with all the other pupils. That was the
first day L ever spent at school. -
Youths Companion.