The Gazette – Thursday, February 19, 1981 – Ville Platte, La.
Editor's note: This is the third article In a series by Miss Mabel Thompson about the old schools of the area.
There were other teachers, as I have mentioned and in 1885 William Thomas (who was the father of Ed, Sam, Georgie, Lillian and John) taught in an old cabin. School had started in the old Methodist Church but the room was as too small so teacher and pupils moved to the cabin.
It was here that Mrs. Rosa Tatman Helmer first started her education. Mr. Thomas was her first teacher, and was ill and died the following year. It was about this school that Mrs. Helmer wrote this story and gave to me a few years before her death in 1968 at the age of 93 years.
I am going to put it down just as she wrote it out in her own handwriting:
This is a story of a little girl's first experience in the "Halls of Learning", or in other words her introduction into the world of public school life back in 1885. Schools were few and far between, and teachers just as scarse. No school houses though a few years later regular school houses sprang up here and there throughout the country. These had glass windows, front and back doors, home made desks and benches, a blackboard if teacher made a fuss for one. That was also made of plank on legs and the teacher painted it herself.
I am talking about my first introduction into school life back in '85. The schools were then taught in a church or vacant house. Our school was taught in an old cabin built at the edge of the woods on a low hill, a beautiful location. The cabin had two rooms, but we used the larger, even this was small.
There were two windows, and a door on the front, a window in one end kind a fireplace in the other. Three desks which accommodated about four or five pupils each by squeezing, and enough benches, all home made, and rough, to seat every one else.
There were nice ire woods back of the house which furnished wood for fires. The boys picked up branches and broke them. On cold days we had a fire which was not much more than a smoke, for the chimney was made of mud. To make a mud chimney you first make a square frame of sticks nailed to posts, set that up, then wrap them with "cats" made of moss and wrapped in mud. If a stick is not well wrapped it might catch fire, then that would be too bad, so on cold days we made out. The teacher, an elderly man, who was not too well sat in a chair near the fire (Mrs, Helmer said she later found out the teacher received the magnificent sum of $30 a month.)
An old barn had blown down and that was what the girls used for a rest room. The woods being near the boys fared very well.
Our drinking, water came from a neighbor's well about a quarter mile away. The boys with a bucket on a stick, went for the water. With so many to drink one bucket did not last long. We never had any water to wash our hands. If there were any germs around, they stayed under cover.
At noon we ate our lunch, which we carried in buckets, picnic style depending on weather conditions, in the yard on the ground. We usually had potatoes, meat, bread, milk and syrup, maybe a piece of cake, sometimes a popcorn ball, always plenty.
We did not know anything about going to the store for extras, there was no money and stores were not close, but every one seemed happy though occasionally a squabble broke out.
This country, school opened the last week in October. At first there were fifteen or sixteen pupils, but later the big boys began coming in and that little room became pretty crowded, the teacher did not know who was in the house or out, and the more advanced had to help by having lessons of less advanced, you heard lessons that had been assigned.
One of the boys studied Latin . I liked to hear him conjugate those Latin verbs. He did most of the substituting as he was studying for the ministry.
Some of these boys walked four miles, several six. There were two little girls the oldest ten, the next eight and a little boy six who walked three miles. They were Evie, Olive and Preston GRIFFITH, children of Carey GRIFFITH.
They never missed a day back then there was no nice bus to pick them up. Between their home and the school was Chicot bayou. spanned by a bridge, but after a big rain the bayou overflowed and the water was deep wading on both sides. The bridge was way out in the water. These children stopped to consider the situation, when it came to going to school the big girl was not to be daunted.
She took off her shoes and stockings, had the other girl do the same, then stripped their little brother, led him across the water nearly to his neck, redressed him, put on their shoes and stockings and on to school. They took this in stride as they did other things. These girls became teachers of high rank, and the boy an educator in Baton Rouge.
Books we used were bought by our parents, and descended from the oldest child in the family down the line to the youngest as they advanced. The same books were used year in and year out. there were no changes.
We had McGuffey's Readers. from Primer to Sixth Reader. McGuffey's Speller, old editions. Robinson's Arithmetic, Mitchell's Geography and Smith's Grammar. Regular writing for everybody as all had a slate and a pencil. There were no tablets or lead pencils for writing sums.
At noon the big boys played “Annie Over", and little ones were told to keep out of the way or else. Little boys played "Leap Frog” or fought it out. The little girls played “Ring Around the Rosie", or "Drop the Handkerchief." we were left to do what we wanted do what we wanted to, no one supervised. The teacher went home for lunch.
The climax of the day's work was Spelling. All from the Fourth Reader stood in line. The teacher gave out the words from the Speller, starting at the head on down the line. If one missed a word the person below spelled it and he went up. Once in a while there'd be an argument.
When all words were spelled, we'd call our numbers starting at the head. There was one boy who could not talk plain, his number was thirteen, but he said "sirteen", we simpletons thought that the funniest thing we ever heard and giggled over it until school was dismissed a few minutes later.
That was a rabble crowd that went my way. They'd trip us, stick pins in us, batter our heads with dinner buckets, you had to fight to get by. One day a girl snatched me by my which I wore in a plait. When she did this I was the biggest and managed to get a hold on her hair. I do not know who separated us. That settled so much rowdyism, and no one ever looked as if they wanted to pull my hair after that. Her pa came to see my folks about the "trouble" as they called it, and wanted me punished. I thought for sure I was in for a paddling but when they found out how it was the trouble blew over.
I think this school lasted five months. The teacher, Mr. Thomas, died soon after school closed. Some students that went to this school the same time as I did were Maggie TATMAN, Evie, Olive and Preston GRIFFITH, Aaron and Charlie HAAS, Marion SPARKS, Frank, Otis, and Leonard WHARTON, Lloyd COMPTON. Mary and Ed WOLFF, Sam, John, and Lillian THOMAS, Edwin, Cliff, Perk, John and Tilden TUBRE, Charlie and Zeno CARPENTER, Louis SUDDETH, John FORMAN, Sr., Bud, Aleck, and Leon HAAS.
(End of Mrs. Rosa Tatman HELMER's story.)
