School was a wonderful experience. I knew most of the children. I knew the others by their family names. Our teacher's name was Miss Winnifred Lamrock. She never married and was my teacher until I graduated to High School. Miss Lamrock came from Oxford Mills and she boarded with a family of adults about ¼ of a mile from the school. This family had a piano and the teacher would occasionally walk all of us up to her home to practise singing. We would sing at the Christmas concerts-do monologues- take part in plays and recitals. Parents as well as a few friends and relatives came and sat near the back. I remember a warm stuffy room-a strong feeling of excitement. Several lanterns were hung to give us light. The school as well as the neighbourhood did not have electricity. The teacher welcomed everyone and then she moved into a corner in the shadows where she could prompt any one that forgot their lines. All programs opened with a prayer and 'God Save The King'. Yes the Christmas Concert was a big event for everyone. After the concert we would go out where the horses were tied to a sturdy tree, and climb on the sleigh and laugh and sing all the way home. If it was very cold Dad would cover us with a Buffalo robe. While getting ready for bed Mother would heap praise on us and our teacher for a great evening. Next morning at breakfast Dad would tease us. He had gone to the same school when he was a boy.

Recess and lunch hour were times of fun and games. In the winter we built two huge forts. Teams were chosen and the snowballs would fly. I never remember being afraid of getting hurt. We were certainly never discouraaged from snow ball fights or rough play. I recall the older children in teams eg young/old-big/small. There was no adult supervision during these times. Another game was 'Red Rover Come Over'

The number of students in the school were as low as 9 and as high as 14. Of course the teacher taught all grades.. She was an excellent teacher but she surely was strict. Miss Lamrock had a strap. It was black-a little over ¼ inches thick and tapered at the end. Some said it was from a horses' harness. She would stand on the platform, call the culprits up to the front and depending on the prank, how many straps we would get on each hand. You dared not pull your hand back because that added to the number. I recall 5 or 6 on each hand for a bad offense, two or three for a minor wrong. When we were lined up I would look down the line and see my brother. We were not bad kids. I always cried- it hurt so much. One boy,Bruce was cross at the teacher and when he left the school to go home he called "good Bye Winnie". The result , the strap. One winter day four of us girls went for a walk at noon hour. A man was taking a load of wood into town and we thought it would be fun to hang onto the back of the sleigh and have a ride back to school. The horses pulled the sleigh with its load including us, up the hill to the school. The teacher saw us, told us the horses had enough to pull without our weight. The four of us received the strap.

Twice a year Miss Lamrock came to out home for supper. We called it supper as our biggest meal was at noon, and that was dinner. I never did see much difference in the size of the meals. When the teacher came and we all sat around the table my Father would say, "Miss Lamrock, are our children behaving?" "Oh yes, Mr. More" was the reply. "Well just remember if they don't bahave give them the strap and when they get home I will give it to them again" said my Father. It was all my siblings and I could keep from laughing. Our Father never strapped us-he was kind and gentle. The most we would get was a scolding. After supper our teacher made a big dish of homemade candy. It was so good, good enough to forget straps. I know the teacher was especially fond of my parents. She invited all of us to go to Oxford Mills to have Thanksgiving dinner. By this time we had a car and this was one big excursion. Bricks were heated and wrapped and put in the car to keep our feet warm. We dressed nicely and warmly. Most of the way to the Lamrocks we were questioned regarding our manners and given case studies by our Mother as to how we would act in certain circumstances, should they arise. The Lamrock family consisted of the father, mother and one sister and our teacher. They were very gracious people and we were warmly received.

I was to go to their place once more. Perhaps it was in the 7th class when the teacher invited me to her home in Oxford Mills for the weekend. Everyone was so good to me. I was given a hot water bottle when I went to bed and Miss Lamorock brought me another one in case I would be cold. I was also given a flashlight. Prayers were said and I slept well. Everybody was nice, everything was nice.

On Monday I was back in school, and I haven't got the least idea what I did. Miss Lamrock told me to stay after school and I presumed it was the strap again. After everyone left she told me to stand up and she told me how she had loved taking me to her home and how very disappointed she was with me. Well I started to cry and I cried all the way home and when I wasn't ashamed of myself,. I was angry with her. Why didn't she just strap me and get it over with? That was my very worst punishment.

The strap was one punishment, but there was another. The teacher had a book with rows upon rows of additions, subtraction, multiplication and division questions. The book also had all the answers. Frequently we were given, in addition to our regular homework, rows of arithmetic. No way to get out of it. Homework had to be completed and that was final. How we hated that little brown book with all its answers. We used to plot and plan how to get rid of it. What would we do with it if we got it? I do not remember or maybe I never knew but the book disappeared. Someone had taken it and threw it up behind Queen Victoria's picture and it wasn't found for months until we were housecleaning the school. As the picture frame was dusted, the book fell to the floor. My hate for the book was perhaps greater than anyone else, because arithmetic was my most detested subject.
_______________________________________
memoirs #
home   1   2   3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10  11