3.     My School

When I was a child going to school it was quite a different experience from what today's children are accustomed to. I started my schooling in 1932 when I was seven years old. From then until I turned 14, I would walk 1 ¼ miles to a one-room schoolhouse. It was on the 8th line, near Almonte Ont. Surprisingly, it is still standing today but is now someone's heritage house.

Our one-room schoolhouse was built of stone and perched on a hill overlooking the gravel road that our farm was on. The schoolhouse building was 28 feet wide and 40 feet long. It had an ample front door which opened into an entrance room which was approximately 3 ½ feet square. This room was used for boots, coats and supplies. It had two doors on either side, which led into the main schoolroom. In the centre of the classroom stood the box stove and the wood box. There were three large bay windows on either side of the room, a platform at the front with four large blackboards and close by was the pointer and yardstick. The back wall had storage cupboards and a large picture of Queen Victoria.

Our desks had one seat attached to the one in front- good seating arrangements for cheating or mischief. The water-pail and dipper sat on one of the bay windows. An older boy, who had graduated from the 8th class, came early in the morning and took out the ashes and lit the fire. He would cross the road to a neighbours and bring back a pail or two of drinking water.

It was up to the teacher and us students to keep the fire burning on the cold days. Outside and at the back of the school were two outhouses, one for the girls and one for the boys, divided by a wooden partition. East of the school, about a mile away, was the Auld Kirk Cemetery. Long ago Scottish people had settled in this area and the Kirk had been a Presbyterian Church at one time. To the west of our school, and down the hill, ran a little creek, Wolf Creek. It became a raging torrent in the spring. On the other side of the creek stood a beautiful stone building called the Tannery. It was a cheese factory and farmers from the area used to haul their milk to this place. When I began school the cheese factory was no longer in use. ______________________________________________
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