The Mena weekly star., 1922-02-02
h poik countp in ye olden Tine
N. Q. ALLEN ON EARLY
 DAYS IN POLK COUNTY


 Inw-loft Missouri with oxen and tar pole wagons to go to Texas. They crossed the Arkansas river at Var Duren and came to Fort Smitlt Here they were in camp the night the stars fell. in 1883. From here they went t6 Fort Towson, Ok. Someone told then of this country, that there was lot' of game. deer, and turkeys and some Vooa farming land. So they decided fn come here. They came east to Me Gains or Ultimathule, 10 miles west of De Queen. Mccain told them that ka hnd never been up here but thal hunters said there was some good land here and plenty of deer and tur- key so they decided to come up here There were no roads in this country So the men with their axes and the women and children drove the wagons and started out. They came about n half mile west of Grannis then thru Hatton Gap then on to Potter ar fhe Gam crossing, one haH mile south of Potter. So Winton decided to settle that place. That left Shults to hunt him place and in doing so he got down on Six-Mile creek ana settled tho place where Henry Miller now lives. Now there was no names for the creeks SC 1t was sup pused to be two miles from Winton's near Potter to Two-Mile creek, thus two mile creek and four miles from Two-Mile creek to the next creek makes six miles, thus Six-Mile creek. I have heard the Shults state this myself almost word for word. This was Sevier county then. Let me give the boundary of Sevier then. Texas pn ghe South. Hampstead, Pike and Montgomery on the East, Scott coun- ty ou the North and the Indian Ter ritory on the West. Paraclifta was the county seat,
 My father, Peter B. Allen, left Terre Haute, Ind, in 1889, after travelling one year bought a stock of goods in New Orleans and came up Red river to Lanesport, 5 miles of Rocky Comfort in Little River coun- ty. After staying there one year, all sick. he thought they would hunt a healthy location, so came up here in lS4l. Understand this was still in Sewier county and remained Sevier till the latter part of 1S43 or IA 1 was born February 2, 1844, l was born in Polk county. Polk county was named for James K. Polk, the president, altho Polk was not presi- dent until lS45. Old Dallas, the coun- ty seat, was named from George M. Dallas, vice president under Polk. Dallas went by the name of Panther postofiice for few years owing to the fact that a panther caught child there, but an older sister grabbed up q pole and beat the panther off and got the child in the house and saved ik They hollowed until some of the neighbors came in with dogs and ran the panther off and treed and killed 1t, have seen the child that the panther attacked myself, After she was grown and married the scar was very plain in her neck.
 l want to give you little idea how the schools were conducted then For instance man wanted to teach school in the community, he would draw up an article of agreement something like this:
 John Doe, giving the teacher name of the first part and the under signed of the second part. |, John Doe, of the first part, agree to teach the following studies; Reading, writing, spelling, arithmetic and geography, for the term of 3 months, for which the undersigned agree to pay 0 the party of the first part $1 per scholar
 Our school house was usually split pine log houses In the first houses the board was always put on with weight-poles, putting pole for the first course to rest against. We had no malls then Father paid 25 cents a pound for nails to cover his first house. My first book was little oak board about 10 inches long and 15a inches broad Father made it and pasted writing paper on one side and made thee capital letters of the al- phahet on it. He made the letters with goose quill pen My first les- son was from A to II then from II to Q and so on until got to z. when l learned to know my letters. [ thought l was thru with them, but no. ! hnd to learn them from bottom up. ! was week learning my letters, but when ] was thru I certainly knew them. l never forgot them. can read them from bottom to top by memory Our seats in the school ansiSe were logs split open and dressed of, with legs. Our writing desk was log cut out of one side ot the house and turned inside out to write on Understand we had no tables then, but we used states to hgurc oa Our teacher was the only one who had comfortable seat. He had 3 chair and sat by the side of the door We had no windows In houses then And the teacher sat there. too, Tor he never stood up to give stu dents instructions Ise always had to have hls pants pt2ched before his school was out. When child wanted to know what a word was they went to where he was sitting, pointing their hnges at the word The woods was the toilet One side for the girls and the other side for the boys. The boys and girls were not allowed to play together We had a little hooked stick for pass. 1t hung by the side of the door on a nail. When anyone wanted to be excused they had to take that stick. It was whittied off white. so everyone could see it Only two were allowed to leave the room at A time and they didn't have to be gone very long either, for the teacher al- ways had 3 good whip laying on the uoor by him and when one was to be whipped they had to come to him He would usually get new whin ence a week. The teacher seldom Pafd any board He stayed around with the scholars. We had no hlack- eoand then No school lasted longer tnaR three months and sometimes one months in two years, so between inc school periods we would forvet ebo,,s