| Show t0 eat on our desks in our home room Then we would finish quickly and start to play jacks on the desk as we were allowed to remain inside at noon though recess was for out-of-doors Reading followed the noon hour Here we took turns reading aloud always hoped forshort paragraph as reading was not my best subject Geography followed This was great fun for me loved to hear of other countries and cultures The teacher often read the lesson from our books or from CarpenterGeography which was most interesting The last lesson of the day was spelling which always ended withspelling bee on Fridays Holidays brought mmerous celebrations Great lessons were taught in these programs Thanksgiving wasmuch-lookedforvard-to day How we loved to dress like Pilgrims read Indian stories or poems such as Hiawatha Miles Standish Jamestown or Priscilla Christmas was celebrated with songs such as The Night 1like shepherds or scene After two with our new toys plays and poems Before Christmas Then we loved to dress wise men and participate in the cradle weeks vacation we were glad to be back tc show Lincolnbirthday was celebrated with such songs as Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory of the Coming of the Loxd Tenting Tonight on the ld Campground Dixie and stories of his honesty and great leadership Washingtonbirthday brought songs of America such as Hail Columbia and The Star-Spangled Banner For these celebrations we looked forward to dressing in white wigs and taking parts such as Betsy Ross nmaking the first flag The close of school atso hrought program of drills etc We would go to the Opera House above the old Union Store There on the stage we put on wonderful demonstrations of our abilities to act We portrayed everything from flowers or birds or baby dolls to dragons Conpletion of the eighth grade was the end of our formal education Most of the graduating class were girls as those graduating had to pass strict standards of grammar diagramming sentences arithmetic and other required subjects Since the boys were required to work on their family farms during the fall and spring periods they often fell behind in thelr work and could not pass these strict formal examinations And no exceptions were made Our class consisted of twenty-five girls and two boys -121 |
