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Don’t believe them


Utah Bob #35998

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They did not have to walk to school in the snow! What other lies have they told us? :blink:

98D1AB76-A46E-41B5-9119-5CD4059FAA32.jpeg

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Well, I  was lucky. We lived lass than a mile from the one-room school I attended from first through 8th grade.  There was a hill between so I did walk uphill both ways.   There was no telephones so if weather was bad, we went to school and if the teacher didn't show up by 9:00am, we walked home.   Some kids walked up to 4 miles (one way) to school and some of those cut through foot paths through the woods and fields. 

 

Hard to believe,   but being closest,  I had a key to the padlock on the front (and only) door.  It was my job to get there about 30 minutes early and start the fire in the oil fired stove.  I was 8 years old when I was given this job.  I remember,  open the door to expose the burner, turn on the oil,  hold the button down for a count of 10, light a paper towl and pitch it in.  

 

Running water was a cistern that caught rainwater off the roof.   It was topped by a crank chain link pump.  We had "boys", and "girls" outhouses.  When I first started school, there was no playground equipment.   Later, someone put in a teeter totter.  Later, Uncle Norman installed an industrial duty swing set made of 4" heavy pipe.  I remember it being something like 12' tall. Neither would pass safety requirements today. 

 

Sometime the county schools commissioner made the school put in a refrigerator.  Once a week the Skygo Farms Dairy truck would deliver a case of milk for the week.  For some reason they thought milk was good for education.   The county health nurse came around once a year and gave shots as needed. 

 

One teacher for all 8 grades.  Some grades didn't have any kids.  Older kids often tutored the younger.  I graduated 8th grade with Harry and Kathy.  The school consolidated the year I graduated so we were the last one room school kids in the county.  That would have been 1962.

 

I hated going to high school.   I was at the end of our bus route.  One hour bus ride morning and evening.  Roads were rough.  The consolidated school was big, modern and confusing.   A culture shock. Just having to race to another room for another subject waa just weird.  A lot of kids had been in this school system all their lives.  So there were "them" and there were us new kids that didn't know anyone.  

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well I had to walk a mile or so to the school bus stop.. in the snow!!

We had NO BUS and I walked a mile, in the snow!!

:P

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Heck, if you believe some of the Florida old timers.....they had to walk 5 miles to school, up hill, through the snow, through the sandspurs, in a hurricane, at night, on Sunday, carrying their sister and brother while barefoot. And that's not to mention having to fight off the Indians in the woods while on the way home.

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They did not have to walk to school in the snow! What other lies have they told us? :blink:

98D1AB76-A46E-41B5-9119-5CD4059FAA32.jpeg

 

 

I'm wondering what the doughnut shape is along the roof line towards the front.  Maybe a port hole to see to make turns?

 

The picture says school bus, but it could be also public transportation in someplace like Frostbite Falls. I can see it being used to deliver stuff to and from a train depot.  Or even some ranch or farmer coming to town in this kind of weather. 

 

Cars and trucks were not commonly used by farmers until after WWII.  I read about a near riot in the 1930s in our town because the farmers would come to town in their wagons and hitch at the court house square.  On Saturdays they would have livestock auction on the square.   The downtown merchants welcomed the trade but really didn't want the animal "pollution" left behind.  They tried to get the city to prohibit horses and livestock from downtown.  Getting no action, vandals ripped out the hitching rails around the court house square.   Finally they establishs a farmer's market area a few blocks away on the outskirts of town.  After WWII,  the farmer's market area was turned into baseball fields and also used for county fairs.  Now just a city park with playgrounds and a soccer field. 

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When I was a child (early 80s) I had to walk about a mile and a half to the bus stop... alone. I did it in the rain, in the snow, and the driving wind. These days I see kids are picked up right outside their driveways, and if another kid lives 100 yards further down the street the bus picks them up in front of their driveway too. Supposedly it's done out of concern for the children's safety. I guess I was simply too ugly for anyone to ever worry about me being abducted.

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When I was a boy we lived right across the street from the school. I had to walk all the way down to the crosswalk at the corner. Exhausting. 

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