 Children had to sit in the corner on a stool with dunce cap on for punishment if they did not get their lessons. Other punishment, small children were hung by their hands on 2x4 on the blackboard to hold until the child said, " Please let me down." One student was too tall to hang on the blackboard so he was hung on the door.
Boys and girls had separate playgrounds - one on each side of the building. Mr. Pearson remembered that he carried his lunch of sausage, biscuit, boiled eggs and tea cakes in a 1/2 gallon syrup bucket. The lunch period was one hour, with a 15 minute recess a.m. & p.m. There were at one time 100 kids to one teacher. He did not recall any discipline problems. "They knew a whipping at school meant a whipping at home. They were promoted by readers. First through fifth reader was followed by Texas history, then United States history, then you were finished. Arithmetic, grammar and spelling went along. We had no report cards." Kids walked to school, some 3 miles. On April Fool's Day all the kids would run away from school. Mr. Pearson remembered that the neighbors would cut wood for the stove in the middle of the room. The older boys would carry in the wood and the teacher would start the fire. The school was the center of community entertainment. Spelling Bees were held on Friday night. Sunday night there would be gospel singing. Sunday a.m. religious services were held when a preacher was available. Pie suppers and Box suppers were held to raise money for a Christmas tree. Fruit and candy would be handed out by Santa at a community Christmas tree. Easter Egg rolls at Easter was also a community project.  Willow Springs School History Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson CountyTXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |