Date: 2007-06-12
From: Campbell Shelter

To: us220
Miles today: 15.6

>> Dear Mrs. Kott's Class,>> Hi there! Thank you for your last entry in my guest book. I talked > to Francie last night and she was telling me about the field trips > you've been taking. It sounds like you have been busy. I bet it was > neat to see the back area of the post office! Francie may not > remember this, but when she was little I would take her to the post > office to get mail out of my p.o. box. She always wanted to be lifted > up so she could look through the box and try to see in the back room. > I guess she finally got to see the working area of the post office.>> I was excited to hear about the museum you went to. I went to one > too! I was walking through a field with old farm equipment and the > trail came out in the middle of The Settlers Museum of Southwest > Virgina. There is an old farm from 1890 as well as a one room school > house on the property. I heard you guys went to one too.>> The school house was used for grades 1-7 and was only attended from > Oct.-Mar. There was a list, dated 1894, of school rules, and the > number of lashes one recieved for breaking them. I thought you would > like to hear them.>> 1. Boys and Girls playing together       -4 lashes> 2. Fighting at school>   -5> 3. Gambling or Betting at school>   -4> 4. Playing cards at school>   -10> 5. Climbing, for every foot over 3 feet, up a tree       -1 lash> 6. Telling lies>   -7> 7. Telling tales out of school>   -8> 8. Giving each other ill names>   -3> 9. Swearing at school>   -8> 10. Mis-behaving to Girls>   -10> 11. Drinking Spirituous Liquors at school       -8> 12. Making swings and swinging on them       -7> 13. Wearing long fingernails>   -2> 14. Mis-behaving to persons on the road      -4> 15. Going to Girl's play places>   -3> 16. Going to Boy's play places>   -3> 17. Coming to school with dirty hands and faces      -2> 18. Calling each other Liars>   -4> 19. Wrestling at school>   -4> 20. Wetting each other while washing at playtime -2>> Mrs. Kott would have had a set of rules to follow also. This list > was written in 1872.>> Teachers each day will fill lamps and clean chimneys.>> Each teacher will bring a bucket of water and a scuttle of coal for > the days session.>> Make your pens carefully. You may widdle nibs to the individual > tastes of the pupil.>> Men teachers may take one evening each week for courting purposes, or > two evenings each week if they go to church regularly.>> After 10 hours in school, the teachers may spend the remaining time > reading the Bible or other good books.>> Women teachers who marry will be dismissed.>> Every teacher will lay aside from each pay, a good sum of his > earnings for his benefit during his declining years, so he wont be a > burden on society.>> Any teacher who smokes, uses liquor in any form, frequents pool or > public halls, or gets shaved in a barber shop, will give a good > reason to suspect his worth, intentions, integrity and honesty.>> The teacher who preforms his labor faithfully and without fault for 5 > years will be given an increase of 25 cents per week in his pay,(the > pay for teachers at that time was 30 dollars a month) providing the > board of education approve.>>> I enjoyed looking around the school house and imagining what it was > like to be a kid back then. There were two outhouses behind the > school, one with a Boys sign and one with a Girls. How would you have > liked to go out there in the winter?>> I hope you enjoy your trips this week. Francie and I went to The > Harriet Tubman House several years ago, but we didn't make it to the > Seward House. Let me know how it goes.>