That Old Country School
By Larry Lee, BraceBeagling Editor
January 28, 2004

I love returning to my old hometown in Millington, Michigan. However, I hate the circumstance that keeps bringing me back there. It is usually the death of someone I know. I return to give my condolences to the family members who are left behind. While I am there I usually lapse into memories of happier times I spent there when I was a kid. Today’s return brought back vivid memories of the old one room country school I attended well over 50 years ago. Many of you may relate to my experience.

Yesterday was no different with the exception it was the death of the mother of some of the kids I went to the old country one-room school with. Her name was Maxine Schlosser and she had suffered a massive heart attack last Thursday morning while preparing to go to lunch with her daughters, Myrtle, Sharon and Diane to celebrate Myrtle’s birthday. My trip to the funeral home and discussion with Maxine’s three daughters brought back many happy memories. I remembered Maxine as a happy, bubbly type person who had a great zest for life and lived it to the fullest. I recognized her immediately as she lay in her coffin surrounded by beautiful sprays of flowers even though I hadn’t seen her in many years.

Would you believe that eight grades were crowded into that little schoolhouse? The small desks where the little kids sat were on the right side of the room. The rows of larger seats began in the middle of the room and extended to the wall on the left side of the building. We all crammed in there together. Sometimes there were over 50 children enrolled at what was called the Gunnel School in Arbela Township..

There were no indoor toilets and when Mother Nature called we raised either one finger or two and then were excused by the teacher to go outside to the old out-door toilet. It was cold and drafty. It also had a high upper window that was just large enough to let in air. In the winter snow also sweep through it.

The schoolroom was heated by a wood and coal-burning stove. The belching monster had to be continually fed in order to keep us warm. The teacher would pay us two cents a bucket for each bucket of coal we carried in. In the winter most of the girls wore blue jeans under their skirts to protect them from the cold. Just wearing jeans alone would not have been proper back in the late forties and early fifties..

We walked to school much of the time. Most families only owned one car. Many fathers used the car to travel to Flint, Michigan to work in the auto industry. Some parents were farmers and in very inclement weather they piled as many kids as possible into the back seat and took them to school. However, most of the time we just walked or in spring and fall we rode our bicycles.

The individual classes, grade K through eight, were called to the front of the room and the children sat down in a row of seats where they went over their assignments together. In the lower grades every child was expected to read out loud some portion of the reading assignment. Each child was also called to the blackboard to do math problems. Flash cards were a major element used in both spelling and math. Kids would compete to see who could claim the most cards. While each class was in session at the front of the room the rest of the students remained silent in their seats either preparing their lesson or spent the time learning by listening to what was going on in front of them.

Spelling bees were a mainline activity for all in the school. We learned to spell hundreds of words individually and then competed with the rest of our schoolmates several times a years for laurels. Each class also practiced penmanship doing the many swirls and straight and slanted line segments that were designed to help us develop good writing habits.

During fourth grade we were introduced to the subject of geography. We studied about different countries of the world. Their location, culture, major crops that they grew were things that we were expected to learn. .

What was called 4-H was a fine program that was held after school one day a week. It was here that we first learned the specifics of electricity and built an electric motor to display them. We also worked with wood. We learned the specifics of measurement and how to use a saw, hammer and nails and use screws to assemble things. I built what was called a trouble lamp. I finished it by coating it with wood sealer and varnish and gained the knowledge of wood finishing.

We opened each school day by singing the National Anthem and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag and sometimes by prayer. Usually the smaller children sat on the laps of the older ones during this time. I specifically remember setting on the laps of two eighth grade boys named Bob Blake and Jack Monroe. When we were excused for recess or lunch it was the big bell hanging in the Bell Free that called us back to class. Each child was allowed a turn at ringing the bell by pulling on the large rope that extended from the ceiling at the front of the room. Believe me it was fun. Sometimes an over zealous student would get carried away and turn the bell over. One of the bigger boys in the school, such as Bob or Jack, would have to climb up into the Bell Free and turn the bell back over and set it right so it would ring clearly again.

During my first years there was no running water piped into the room. We had to pump water outside from the standing pump that stood on the west side of the school. We did have electric lights during the time I attended. However my older brother and sister did not enjoy that luxury.

Now get this! Each month a missionary would come to the school with a flannel board and tell us Bible stories using flannel pictures of biblical characters as a prop. After graduating from fifth grade each year each member in that class was given a small Gidean Bible to take home as his or her prize possession.

We all longed for the Christmas season to arrive. A play was selected and individual monologues were assigned for the Christmas program that we performed each year. We would start rehearsing a month before the date that the play was going to be performed reading over our parts each day after our school assignments were finished. During the final week before the play was scheduled to begin we just concentrated on memorizing our parts. We moved to the church next to the school where the play was going to be performed and practiced there during that final week. What a wonderful experience we all shared together. On the night of the play all the parents filled the little room in the sanctuary to over capacity to watch us perform. We all sang Christmas carols and performed the play and did our individual monologues. After the program we all exchanged gifts before we left to go home for the night. What a wonderful time it was for all of us.

Another high light I distinctly remember is eating the delicious dinners provided by the Ladies Aide. These dinners were usually held in the church basement next door to the school. Each lady would prepare a dish and it was usually her best. Children could eat for the price of 25 cents. The food was excellent.

In the spring we arranged ball games with other country schools. Usually there were two or three such schools within a four or five square mile radius. On these days the memberships of both competing school were released from class for the afternoon as we either participated or cheer for our individual teams.

In the spring at the end of another school year we all gathered together to receive our final report cards and to see if we had passed into the next grade. Then it was home for the summer where many of the kids worked on their family farms

Sometimes I long for those old school memories and it was great to talk to people such as Myrtle, Sharon and Diane who had shared that experience with me many years ago. I only wish we could have shared our memories under different conditions then the loss of their precious mother.