Memories of an Oklahoma Farm Boy

Transportation was often a problem in getting kids to their school. My older sister, Joan, who was just four years older than I, on two occasions had to board away from home in order to attend school. When she was 9 years old the school was about 5 miles away so arrangements were made for her to live with our Uncle Wayne Piersall and attend Catesby school which was two miles from their house. When time came for her to enter high school, there was no bus service and school was about 15 miles away. She lived with our Grandparents, Charlie Chappell, in Darrouzett, TX to begin her high school career.

I was a hyperactive child which may have influenced my mom to start me in first grade (there was no kindergarten) when I was only five years old. I remember trying to read my first "Readers" but finally resorted to memorizing "Tom is a big boy now and goes to school". I'm probably the only one in our family history who flunked the first grade, but I did. The teacher talked to mom and "suggested" I return to the first grade the next year which I did.

We lived on a farm in northern Ellis County, Oklahoma and my first years of school were at Sunny Slope school. My mom, Merl Chappell, told me she attended the same school in a different location when she was a girl. The school was located on top of a gentle sloping hill so the name was somewhat appropriate. The building faced the south and had two cloakrooms built on the front, one for boys and one for girls. The children would play outside until time for school to begin. There was no school bell so the teacher would stand on the front step and ring a hand bell when it was time to begin. The boys would line up before their cloakroom door and the girls before theirs. At the teacher direction, we would march into the cloakrooms, deposit our coats and lunches, then file into the school room and stand beside our desk. Usually our lunch "box" was a halfgallon syrup pail, containing a biscuit or two or perhaps "white" bread (later called homemade bread) with jelly or peanut butter and possibly an apple. Later the government supplied the schools with sacks of apples or other fruit from surplus supplies. The apples would often rot before all were consumed and one teacher instructed us always to leave those, that way we always ate the "best" available.

The schoolhouse was a large open room with a wood/coal burning stove placed near the center of the room. There was a small building behind the schoolhouse where wood or coal was stored for the stove and the older boys were expected to bring in extra fuel sometime during the day. Coal was normally used since there were no trees in the area for firewood.

The two "outhouses" were toward the back of the lot and about 50 yards apart. Inside the school building there were probably five rows of desks, one or two rows being double desks. There were seldom enough students that two children needed to be assigned to a double desk so it was special when someone had a double desk by himself. In front of the students and between the cloak rooms was a raised platform or stage. The teacher's desk was on the stage, blackboards on the wall behind the desk and immediately before the stage was the "recitation" bench. The blackboards were made of large pieces of true slate. The surface was very hard and often the chalk would squeak when writing on the board. It finally became necessary to replace them with board painted black. There was always an American and Oklahoma flag on display on either side of the teacher's desk. There was also a pump organ in the school but I only remember one or perhaps two teachers who could play the instrument.

The students, ranging from 5 to 15 years of age, would remain standing by their desks until the teacher took her place at the front of the room. While standing, with hands over our hearts we would repeat the "Pledge of Allegiance" to the American flag and usually sing "America the Beautiful" or "My Country 'tis of Thee", then all would be seated and school began. It still amazes me how one teacher could direct 10 to 30 children in all the subjects of grades one through eight, but they had a schedule and did pretty well. There was always myself and at least one other person in my grade as I proceeded toward graduation. My first classmate was a cute little girl by the name of Claudine Camp. I thought of her as my "girl friend" but really she was the only girl of my age in the school. Miss Esther (Esther Baker) and Claudine tried to help me with my reading but their efforts were pretty much in vain.

The school day consisted of studying (or playing) at our desks while Miss Esther would call certain grades or groups to the recitation bench to perform for her. Some grades were combined for recitation in certain subjects which helped the teacher meet the demands placed upon her. We often had breaks from regular class work as we would have "cipher" matches in arithmetic at the blackboards or have "spelling bees". At other times we would gather around the organ and sing Stephen Foster songs like "Old Black Joe" and "My Old Kentucky Home" or "Camp town Races". I really am saddened to think, in our society today, those songs cannot be sung, though they are as much a part of our heritage as Apple Pie.

The school day was broken up with two recesses, one in the morning and one in the afternoon and with a longer break at noon. The kids would play outside if the weather permitted which was most of the time. We would play such games as Anti-Over where two groups were formed, one on each side of the schoolhouse. One child with a rubber ball would yell, "Anti Over" and throw the ball over the house. On the opposite side all would try to catch the ball and if caught all the children would quietly slip both ways around the building. Not knowing who had the ball, the children on the opposite side would not know which way to run. The object of the game was to throw the ball hitting a player on the opposite team who would then become a part of that team. The game would end when all players were on one team or there was no more time left to play. Other games were played such as "Red Rover", "Farmer in the Dell" or "Pop Goes the Weasel" and "Drop the Handkerchief". Inside games were "Fruit Basket Upset" and "Musical Chairs"..

Discipline was always applied by the teacher who always had a paddle or switch handy. Though punishment may at times have been misapplied or even undeserved, parents never interfered. Miss Esther holds the honor of giving me my first spanking at school (it was unwarranted since I didn't do what I was accused of), but an older girl's word was taken and the switch was applied. I can't say I was permanently damaged as a result of the mistake. My older sister, Joan, told dad, Leon Chappell, about the spanking when we got home. He had always told us if we were disciplined at school, we would get a worse spanking when we got home. When he confronted me about the incident he evidently believed me and I did not receive a second spanking. To my knowledge, he never confronted the teacher concerning the incident.

Late in 1935 my dad rented a farm in another school district and we were making preparations to move. Mom didn't want us to change schools in the middle of the year so in September we rode a horse or walked four miles to school for a few weeks. The school was Fair Valley (no valley and not much fair about it) which was located about four miles north of where we lived. We walked past the King ranch, crossed Clear Creek, where there was always water, and about 2 or three miles north of that. The layout of the school was much the same as Sunny Slope had been except the cloak rooms were inside the building on either side of the double east doors. Here the cloak rooms were in the back of the school room rather than the front.

It must have been the school year 1936/37 when Mrs. Berry was our teacher. Mrs. Berry was the wife of a neighbor who lived just one-half mile east of the Bentley place, where we would later move. She taught only one year, as nearly all of our teachers did, and the family deserted their farm, leaving the area. (The older boys at school may have contributed to their moving??). I believe Max Hunter was our first teacher at this school and there were about 20 kids at that time. Max Hunter was a well built man who would take no talk back from the boys. There was one family who had two older boys who were somewhat cocky and unruly. One incident, which I know nothing of the cause, brought Mr. Hunter off the stage near his desk and with his open hand swinging at one of the older boys. Again, to my knowledge, the parents did not interfere. The next year (1937/38) there were only nine pupils and Miss Esther, my first grade teacher from Sunny Slope, taught us. My dad, Leon Chappell, was on the school board that year so probably he recommended her (even though she gave me my first spanking at school). She was a single lady and boarded with the Gebhardts that year. After Miss Esther there were two male teachers beginning with Percy Barrow then Stacey Woods. Percy Barrow could play the organ and sing. The year was 1938/1939. Stacey Woods, the only teacher who stayed two years, (39/40, 40/41) was a favorite teacher for the kids. He liked to sing and could play the guitar. He tried to relate to the kids at their level, something no other teacher had done. He surprised us one day when he brought his play gun and holster to school with him so he could join us in our "Cowboy" games. We were embarrassed and wouldn't play so he gave up the effort. Mr. Woods was the final teacher at Fair Valley before consolidation into the Laverne school system.

So ended my first eight (or nine) years of elementary school. The schools were always the center for community life in those days and their memory will always remain dear to me. There were night meetings when the entire neighborhood would assemble at the school. There were box suppers, special programs put on by the students especially at Christmas, singing groups who toured the area and "Literary" programs which were regularly held at the local school. The schools, more than the towns where people assembled every Saturday afternoon, were the cohesive for each neighborhood. Fair Valley closed the year I graduated from the eighth grade and an era came to an end. The school consolidated with Laverne schools about 15 miles away and bus routes were established. My younger sister, Dessie, and brother, L. E. joined me as we boarded the school bus that Monday morning and made our way into a "city" community. We left behind the old rural community spirit which once prevailed and which will never be raised again.

Virgle L Chappell