Guthrie School House 1925 & Ward Fike Thomas

School started in the fall, I was to be four years old in September. I watched Dora wash up again, after we came from the barn. She would comb her hair, and wash the cow dung from her shoes, as she got ready for school. As soon as she was finished, I would wash up and comb my hair like she did, then I would walk with her to school, when the schoolbell rang, I would go home. I could easily see the schoolhouse from the front porch of our home. So I would watch for the kids to come out to play at recess, as soon as I saw them I would run to play with them. After a while, when recess was over, and the kids were once again inside, I would sit on the schoolhouse porch, and throw small stones into the schoolhouse distracting the kids from their studying. I made such a nuisance of myself, that one day the teacher asked my mother if I could come to school. So I started to school at the age of four. I went to school everyday, barefooted, wearing my good dress. Dora helped me with my abc’s and numbers and it wasn’t long before I could read the book that had been Dora’s first book.

In West Virginia, the state does not buy the schoolbooks, you have to buy them yourself, also paper and pencils. The schoolhouse was a one room with two big windows on each side, it had a big porch that was almost level with the ground, it had a tin roof that really made a loud noise when it rained. The playground that surrounded the schoolhouse was just big enough to play ball, There was two wooden lopsided outhouses, one for girls, and one for boys. I was never in the one for the boys, but the one for girls, had two holes, a big one, and a smaller one, the floor slanted on a downhill angle, so if you missed the hole it would run off, it was always full of spiders and cobwebs. After visiting the outhouse, you always went back to the schoolhouse with cobwebs in your hair. There was two sets of swings, the swings were made of heavy log chains, they were wrapped around huge logs that were loosely planted in the ground, thus when we would swing, the logs would sway back and forth. There was also a seesaw made of a long plank and laid across a huge rock that just happened to be in the schoolyard. This seesaw was everybody’s favorite, we would sit on the end of the rock and wait our turn. I remember one time I got too close to the plank, and got my finger smashed, the end of my finger turned black and my finger nail came off.

On the other side of the schoolhouse was a small building where the coal for the heating stove was kept. Out farther in the woods was a stable, where the teacher kept their horse, if they had one, usually the stable was empty. The stable had a good floor, so on rainy days, us kids would square dance, everyone humming a song to the music. Across the road from the schoolhouse was a small creek, about for feet wide, we would bring magazines from home, then tearing out the pages we made paper boats, then at recess we would sail our boats down the creek. Up the road from the schoolhouse was a small hill and then a sharp turn, on this turn was a big flat rock that was level with the road on one side and about a foot high on the other; from where I sat in school, I could look out the window and see the hill and the rock, I used to watch the cars or trucks come down the hill, if the driver didn’t know the rock was there, wham-o, the front end of the vehicle went down over the rock and it was stuck there. I think Charlie Harshbarger made alot of money pulling automobiles off that rock with his team of horses.

The inside of the schoolhouse had a water cooler in it, it was made of crock, it had a pushbutton spigot on the bottom and a lid on top. Beside the water cooler was a small sink for washing hands. There was a row of nails on the wall next to the door where we all hung our coats. In the corner was a huge cupboard, that was full of books, there was two rows of desks, each row had eight desks, the desks were four feet wide, that had a lid, under the lid was a shelf where we kept our books, when the lid was down the desk was closed, when the lid was up it served as a writing desk. There was a pot-bellied stove in the center of the schoolroom between the two rows of desks, behind the stove was two huge posts that supported the ceiling and roof. Up front was a slate blackboard that went the length of the room, above the blackboard was a row of maps, that was on window blinds. The teachers desk was modern, wide with alot of drawers. Over in the corner was the  organ, every morning whoever could play the organ, would play, and we would song, “My Country Tis of Thee,” and then we would sing “Oh Those West Virginia hills,” And then we said our pledge of allegiance to the flag.

I’ve went everyday to school, that first year, the teacher said, the ones that went to school everyday, would get a silver dollar, I thought for sure, I was going to get the dollar. On the last day of school, I got sick and started throwing up, and Dora had to take me home. I cried and cried, but I only got sicker, I’ve started running a fever and mother put me to bed and gave me some medicine; a couple days later, I was still in bed, the teacher Ward Thomas came to see me, he had my report card and a big rag doll, the doll had a painted face, hair, arms, and legs, it was just two pieces of material sewn together. Anyhow, I thought it was just great, the teacher also gave me fifty cents, he said since I only missed one half a day, I was entitled to half a dollar.

I named the doll flapper fanny and played with it all the time. Mostly I would tie a string around its neck and drag it through the mud. I had another doll, named Peg, she was a big doll, and when I turned her over she cried. I never played with Peg much, I would just look at her, one year for my birthday, mom made Peg a new dress and put some pink lozengers candy in her lap. Mom got me another doll, she sent in a box of coco wheat and got two pieces of material, she sewed them together and then stuffed it, it had a face, arms, legs, and hair painted on it, I called it “Snooks.” My favorite play things was a play horse, I would go down into the woods, and pick out a straight sapling about eight feet long, then I would take fathers eighteen inch handsaw, and saw it down, trim the limbs off it, and then tie a string around the big end, Now I have a horse, I would get a straddle this make belief horse and go galloping all over the farm.

One time my mother was spring cleaning the house, she had taken the curtains down, and laid the curtain rods outside to dry, as she had washed them, they were two wooden poles, painted white, and they got dirty over the winter. I got some binder twine from the granary, and made each a brindle for my imaginary horses. I rode those horses all over the farm, jumping everything that was in our path. I tried jumping over a pile of fence posts, tripped and fell, hurting my leg, so I could hardly walk, my white horse, lie on the ground, I no longer wanted them, so I pretended they died, I took them and buried them inside the straw stack behind the barn.

Mother couldn find her curtain rods, she looked everywhere, she finally gave up and used a string to put her curtains up. One day I was playing with the paper dolls that I had cut from the sears roebuck catalog, I don’t remember who all was in the room, but Dora asked why I wasn’t out playing with my horses, I thought she meant the white horses, so I said “my white horse died, so I buried them in the straw stack.” My mother let out a scream and said, “my curtain rods, her white horses!” Well mother didn’t spank me, but I was pulling weeds for days, my hands were green and sore, I think mother finally felt sorry for me, and told me to never take anything again without asking first, then she put some horse salve on my hands.