The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1920-05-06
Good Letter From Mrs. Kate Strong.

Good Letter From Mrs. Kate Strong.
Geary, Okla, April Is, 1920;
tie leisure time will write a line or
two Mr.. Strong is able to work
again outside, but mostly on the out
side at the dining table. The sketch
E. o. program and it may interest
some of the old timers.
Dear Pupil-The last day of
school will be held at tht home of
Bette Stephenson Tuesday. A good
ly number of pupils are desired and
all are urged to search the highways
and byways for those who have not
open promptly at ! O'Clock p. m. AS
there will be recess all are request
ed to bring their dinner pals. You
are also requested to come prepared
to sing or speak a piece, or read an
essay, and dress as you did in your
II there are any questions you would
like to ask about, call your teacher,
Grace Ballew.
do not think ! ever laughed SO
much or ever saw a more silly lot
of school girls than these old girls
were. Most Of them wore short
dresses, the style Of many years ago,
With ribbons Of ali colors. The
teacher was dressed as a typical old
maid, old time black basque, hair
dressed high and large ribbon bow
at her throat: She looked rs years
older than she was. / did not dress
the part, my youthful days VS. were re- too 90
The first one Was. p' WHO O. was the
first man she did not know" All
hands went up but they were not al
lowed to tell. Her next was "Who
were the two first boys?' She did not
know but thought one was sorghum
silly questions, and all we're funny
If we had eaten before the exercises
we would have split wide open. We
laughed until we cried. but went
home we'll satisfied.
The next was composition by
Kate Strong, as follows:
The Last Day of School-One OF
the most pleasant memorable last
days of school which looms out the
the spying of 1859, many, many
years. ksiore any Of you ladies were
borr., ahe teacher Of the Decatur
City ;zS%lol was C. G. Bridges, offer
ed four prizes for arithmetic, read
ing, grammar and spelling, 90 cents
0dCu, "AlCll was us AAoASy Ia SAAcoN
days. AS l wanted to earn a prize
l studied by daylight and candle
light, which was condensed grease
called tallow candles. ! had my les
sons perfect, Or thought l had. The
next thing to be considered was my
been a puzzling problem to all CT US
since Eve tried to make a camisole
out of fig leaf. The first article
had to adjust was my hoop shirt,
as the one ! had worn was democrat
lied by riding horseback to school,
a mile and half, as we lived that ina
rived on time, even if it was through
snow to my knees. In those days
they used large umbrellas with rat,
tan bows. ! rummaged around and
found an old one, torn to pieces,
split the rattan in two ivy f ana ran @h5t It
petticoat 1t made most wonder.
full elastic bow, but proved somewhat
stiff when ! went to sit down, SO |
Just sat on the edge of the seat. That
helped some. The next Important
thing was my slippers: My mother
could only get three of my toes in
hers, but mine suited me, better, as
they were beauties, at least thought
so, with black morocco vamps,, up
pers were of pale, green leather,
with black ties. Now it is called
patent leather. Ny dress came
full white book muslin dress which
later on was called white swiss, and
is now called organdy, but not any
nicer than in those days. My mother
let me wear her beautiful open work
white hose which she wore on her
wedding day; ! wasn't IKE ioe+ the ne pea pea
as nv dress. Well, that last day Of
school / walked the mile and half
to town, wore my shoes until / got
to town, then changed them. After
the usual exercises were over the
trial test came. As my mother was
too, but mostly myself. and out OF
the four prizes was awarded two,
one on spelling and one in grammar.
/ guess it was BY accident won the
prize in grammar. The three Judges
gave the class sentence to parse, !
have forgotten what it vas, also
class missed it until it came to me
and just happened TO think any
thing that tells how much, when
or where is an adverb, so ! said 1t
| was an adverb, and it vas correct,
and soon the two silver half dollars
were ciinkingsin my hand, and had s
! Houston was one of the judges. His
head was snow white. l remember
the week following that last day OF
school a peddler came to our house
and mother bought me q pretty lawn
dress with my prize money: 1t was
white with small green vine trail
ling through it, q perfect match for
| nv slippers; but l never wore the
beautiful white hose again as my
mother passed away the following
July and they dressed her in all hef
/ lovely wedding garments. She was
only ~ years old, so sad to die 90
! young, but sadder for the ones LETT
behind in all their helplessness.