Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1940-07-04

| SiSHL OF the venerable old structure
we beat a retreat and again W,
| headed the procession with NOR,
energy and activity in the middl.
| section of the parade. 1t was a case
| OF being between the devil and the
deep blue sea- If there was any
thing disquieting in mothers mine
! over the conduct of her unruly off
| spring, she easily met the condi
tions.
She arranged to have some
neighbors along the way to threat
en- and skurry me on, SO / was re
| layed to school. 1t was known as
| the "Smith school," Soon after
wards they built little frame
school house on up the hollow ir
the woods to be nearer the center
of the "deestrict," as some called il
with much emphasis on the two
| esq 1t was expected of the teach
er to govern the school with three
directors as backing These direc.
tors hired the teacher. usually the
one who would do it the cheapest
This sometimes made it necessary
for the teacher to board around
eihiOHS tnC oCHOlctI .. w udI du ITOU
constitution and copper-lined
stomach these knowledge dispensers
had to have. These directors were
very often in dire need of little
horse sense themselves. Periodical
ly they would visit the school in a
body and come marching in like
the three kings of the Orient They
took great delight in showing their
authority.
If not too crowded, the teacher
would assign them a seat to them
selves. Their eyes would peer out
through a dense growth of neglect
ed hair and long, shaggy whiskers,
and at the request of the Lilliputian
teacher, Gas these lordly directors
viewed them the one that knew
the least and could talk the loudest
would be the spokesman and reel
off spell and succeed admiral bly, in
making an ass out of himself.
My! How scared this little snot-
nose would be and how we would
cover and bunker down over our
primer and pretend to study while
these "high-brows' roasted on the
throne.
The old Smith school would be
full during the winter, while the
youngsters would attend in the sum-
mer. Some mothers sent their
young ones to school at a very ten
der age so as not to be pestered
with them in the home Some chill
dren were started even before they
knew their A B C's If some of
hocn to6c would olr ,;c<o l.
mispronounce a word or something
of the kind it would often be the
start of a nickname
A big lummox of boy was
standing at the teachers knee GO
ing over the alphabet in a blunder-
ing way, glancing up into the
teachers face to be told what it
was and halted at the letter "U''
the teacher says, "Well, Eddie,
what does it. look like?" ''Looks
like pap's clevis," promptly answer
ed the boy. AS long as the family
was in the community Eddie was
known as "Clevis.'
Sometimes the teacher would
chalk the letters on the blackboard
and with a pointer would designate
SCI ldlH lCttClo III q dill DlluS w dy .
Little Johnny was sitting on a
bench in front of some larger boys.
One of them, bent on mischief had
fixed a pin in the toe of his boot.
"What is this letter, Johnny?'
pointing to the letter &C. the big
boy behind gave Johnny a little
prod. Gee says Johnny. That's
right, Johnny" but don't yell it out
SO loud Pointing to the letter
"L"-"This one, Johnny" "Hell, :"
yipped out Johnny. ''You mean
Il. Johnny; you must be English. :"
What is this one, Johnny, that's
crooked like a snake Another
harder prod. Ouch! Oh, my, IS,
ward when the teacher made a dis
covery the punishment followed in
short order. Bending pins so that
the points would stick up and plac-
ing them on the seat so that some
unsuspecting one would sit down on
it was a mean trick too often prac-
ticed on the sly.
We recall that not all parents
were negligent about getting their
children started in their schooling
at the home. But the teacher didn't
always know this, and would have
to try the new pupil out. Picking
up spelling book the teacher says,
Samuel, come up and let us see if
you know your letters" But Sam
uel had passed that stage, so the
teacher turned over leaf, Alb, Eb,
Ib was much too easy SO the teach
er turned over to words of three
or four letters and the boy was
fright at home there "Well, Sam
uel; where have you got to, any
way" ''Let's try Bacon blizzard, :"
confidently exclaimed the boy. Us
ually youngsters became interested
in attendance through the associa-
ton of other children-the games,
plays, etc.
But not so with two young lads
down at the old log. Danny E. was
one of the unfortunates and the
writer was the other. Both being
quite small for our age, this was
one reason we were chosen for the
ordeal. This little incident is para
mount in our first experience at the
summer term of school. Dame Ma
ture must have been kind to us, else
we would have sickened for the lack
of exercise, as the noon-hour meant
but little to us. It was this way:
Some of the big girls had a play
house in the corner of rail fence
under the spreading branches of an
oak tree. These girls were wise,
doubtless much more than their
mothers would suspect. They well
knew some of the myths that were
current at the time the stork would
make his usually biennial visits and
there were often large families, but
not so in Dann's case He was the
only child of peculiar talkative
mother and very strange acting
father, however an exceedingly
Lx;crht hou for hic xaarc Mhathar