“ School Days , School Days . Dear Old Golden Rule Days …”
GLADYS TESKE
At five years of age , frightened but excited , I was trundled off to a rural one-room school , where Grades 1 to 8 were taught by one teacher . But before we left for school each day , we had our morning chores to do : milking cows by hand , separating the milk with a hand-operated separator and feeding chickens , pigs , calves and horses before we ate our own breakfasts . Mom served a three-course breakfast … always porridge , then pancakes or bacon and eggs , then toast and jam with milk or hot chocolate . Can you believe my two sisters and I remained so skinny that one of our aunts really worried about us ‘ not eating ’!
Then my two older sisters and I harnessed our horse , Mary , to our buggy in the summer , or the cutter in the winter , to drive three miles to school . We raced our neighbour ’ s two boys each morning . They had a fast pony pulling a light two-wheeled cart — it wasn ’ t a fair race ! In the winter , Mom heated bricks in the oven overnight to add to the sleigh in the morning and Dad got a real bearskin for us to huddle underneath .
We all liked helping our schoolteacher bring in wood and coal in large buckets for the school heater that was always either too hot or too cool ;
regulated with only a damper on a chain . We also carried wood and coal to the teacherage , a small , wooden two-room shack in the corner of the schoolyard that housed the teacher during school months .
With the loud ringing of the school bell , we all stood at attention to salute the flag before entering the building . Our girls ’ and boys ’ cloakrooms , where we hung our coats , placed our lunches on shelves and our boots on the floor , were separated by a very large entryway . Our teacher began the school day with the prayer , “ Our Father ,” then a Bible reading and the singing of “ O Canada .”
At noon , before eating our school lunches ,
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