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Mathilda was a good speller and looked forward to each Friday afternoon, when spelling matches were held. Prizes were given to the last ones who "stayed up." Sometimes a five cent rubber eraser was given. Along with the spelliing matches there were anthmetic and geography drills and diagramming of words. A great deal of memorizing went on in the early schools. Mathilda learned readings from Whittier, Walt Whitman and Longfellow's "Hiawatha." One of the classes had a rule that if anyone whispered five times he had to write "whisper" a thousand times and also memorize and recite for the class, "Skeleton in Armor." Recess was waited for eagerly. If the weather permitted, the children played hopscotch jump the rope, ball, crack the whip, Ginnie, Duck and marbles. When it was stormy the girls spread the capes or shawls they wore on their desks or on the floor and played "jacks," which were agate marbles. When the Principal rang the bell there was scurrying to the lines, and all marched back to the school rooms and lessons. The teachers were very strict disciplinarians, and some carried a rawhide whip, which was used to bring the unruly into line. Holidays were looked forward to with great anticipation. On Saint Valentine's Day a red and white crepe paper-covered box stood in a corner to receive all the Valentine hearts the children had made. At Christmas time the older boys would go into the mountains to get Pine or Juniper trees, which would be decorated with circles of paper chains, popcorn and cranberry strings. Graduation from the eighth grade was a big event with a fine program given by the students. The girls carried little baskets of lilacs and bachelor buttons. Mathilda was lovely in her long, white ruffled dress, adorned with ribbons and lace and starched petticoat underneath. The boys were handsome in their knickerbocker pants and white shirts with wide, stiff collars and large bowties. The first graduating class from the eighth grade of the Mt. Pleasant Public School was in 1898. There was no High School there until 1908, so it was a big step for teh graduates to go to Ephriam to Snow Academy after eighth grade graduation. 1891 is a long time ago. School day memories are precious, whether they are made in 1891 or in 1975. The early schools prepared our parents and grandparents to cope with the society in which they lived as the educa-tional methods of today prepare their grandchildren for a new and different society. Each one worked toward the same goal of building strong character and teaching students to get a long well with people. This is the foundation of educational practices, whether in Mathilda's day or in our day. Source: History of MathiIda Lund from Family Records Diary of Christian N. Lund in Church Histrian's Office, These Our Fathers. -36- |
