Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1921-06-09

"reminiscences of The OFT kee School
Cf Nearly Seventy Years. Ago
BY Rox Handy Rice

the days of OttoiSee's infancy, there
stood upon a hill a lit e no 'th OF
yrur rarn a one story building
containing two rooms divided by
partition In the west end of this
I'D was a room containing d
row of seats running 9long the
west facing to the eas There were
o., s of seats on the north
side that faced toward the west end
e the room midway in the parti-
tim was a door opening ito an
ether room, in the east end of the
building, ct the ght of the door
was a lcng seat, which by crowding
little, ould accomcdate two or
three children; on the north side of
ne door was another long seat
sim ar TO the one Just described. In
the east end Of the ro9n we're raws
cf seats fronting toward the parti-
ten. At the right of the long seat
first mentioned stood small plat
fo m upon which w-s oro@tcd a
more stately desk; the contents Of
which could be made secure from
the inquisitive eye and p'ying
ngers Of the m'schievious, and
was known as "te 4cheT's desk"
1t was into this room where |
first entered the "Ottokee> School"
Ny parents hayirg moved to the
e9 County seat in the spring OF
1884, S xty-s yeats ago; |, hav-
Jig reached the intares. ng age of
ten years.
Upon the LIST day of May a few
days after our arrival at Ottokee,
there was May Dag party given
u der the super vision of Miss Jul a
A.ltsr, she be ng Superintendent and
VII &c pt ST of the 0 .tokee Schools.
Lev them boast of a Pres Dental
JI.auauration, 4 is n side show
- what that y me mt to the OTTO
fie tes; ttettie Hough had the ht nor
Of beng "Queen Of the May" upon
4 4 memo~, BIZ day and you ali
will agree wi h me in saying that
sac nAed the pos tion with all the
grace and dignity requilsd. l can
il " recall some of the lines of a
song written for the occasion By
our teacher Juta Aldrich and sung
by the process on On their line of
march which ran something like the
following:
"There is Hetty, Della, Melia,
Mary, Maggie, Jane and Sarah,
LOUISA, Emma, Becky, Rosy and
a. ar names.
We're a band of schoolmates,
we a band Of schooimates march
, iag through the land,
Then followed the names of the
boys but / must confess that can
not recall any of them except
"Alon1o are our names" but then
you all know that | never did think
much about the boys? / think the
only thing that has kept those
lines in my md for nearly seventy
years is the fact that it was the
first time | had received public no
tice. and it was the first parade
had ever seen and / think the honor
was bestowed upon me through the
fact that We had just moved into
10 vn and / was new girl. One
ING l'e'ssnt feature Of that day will
bob up in memory in spite of all
may do TO effaee it from my mind
sr Oy the name of Henry Day
was placed as my marching partner
ard he Gid not feel one bit proud
of it either, as he made some very
,audib'e unsavory remarks WHICH
went to show how deeply he resent
ed the post on, although ! never
Just knew exactly why and sitting
fhe matter over IN my mind foi
sometime. | decided it YVES all owing
tn fact that nature allowed a
vast space on my face for my mouth
and thai / also marched pigeon toeC
POINTS upon viii h ] would never
dare attempt to prove an q jbi,
can see that old school hous;
yet - recall many incidents that
{ tpok place in those days, many goo;
tc renlenber, many that would lool
bette if viewed through a veil.
ghink the teachers succeeding Julia
Garter we-e viii am McLevman anC
Miss MarthN Meachen, teh former
taac ing in the west room in com
Ipand of the big boys and girls
while M IS Meachen bad charge o1
the small fry. / being elasscd will
tie l1ster. | do recall that we kid
thought at the time that thos'
teachers had to resent to a gfea
many ,confidsntial conferences anG
no douiyt we Thought at the time
they were planning now tortures tt
mete out to new future rue break
ers. PERHAPS some of you may re
ypcnlber who taught in the old doH
Llg ID k'1ing subsequent to thu
reign Of those l have mentioned
among those teachers of the earliel
DAYS were Mrs AM Carter. sis
ter-ln-iaw OF Miss Julia Carter 8nG
James Cobb wAo nai'ed from Lll'
Sunny South and it may be possible
that he belonged to the same fiei'
ct Cobbs from which spFupg tht
notorious TYRUS of base ball game
How many OF you remember M
game we used 10 play on that ole
hill? how we would wrap, our fee
in our skirts roll down the hill
and if we were fortunate enough Il
not lose our grip, we were pronoune
ed good eggs but should JAR fingers
lose their grip the rest would hole
the nose and call "them bad"
| would like to see the girls try Ii
play that game in these davs. Me
thinks the egg inspector would fir,
them all in the garbage. Ny further
remembrance of that old Schoolnouse
dates lack to the morniDy when the
cry rang forth, "The School House
is burning up" After THAI my
memory seems to have slipped q
cog as / remember only the building
of new school house and like Gau
we we're divided into parts. The
older scholars being corraPd in 6
tile old printing office located OF
Main Street near the post office
where Ruth Case at our time hand
ed out the mail. The younger kids
being scattered about in rooms ii
the sold Empire Hall Building"
suppose we may safely say we re
ceived scattering education, during
those days.
Our new school house served as
place of worship as we'll as educa
ton, as it was many wears before
OSokee could boast of having g
church y not in fact until after the
court of justice had been tyansferre1
to Wauseon, their removal having
such an effect upon the morals, thai
for the first time in Ottokee's history
the various Christ an denomination;