Essay...25º

I made up my mind last night to start writing about my years in Junior/Senior High School...It is much harder to write about ones self than about siblings or other family stories...I found myself again writing about Wood Grove...It holds such happy memories for me and is such a stark example of life in the 50's compared to life in 2013...Hugs To All...OWAV:)

Wood Grove 1952

I breezed through my grade school years at Wood Grove...Classes were not very demanding. We were there to learn the 3 R's. Readin and 'Rithmetic came easy to me. 'Ritin was limited to printing, then cursive. We practiced forming the letters but very little time spent on making sentences. I thought I was smart. Little did I know.

Wood Grove was a one-room country school near Lake Fork. Grades 1 through 8 attended this school with 1 teacher hired to teach 10 to 15 students. In the back corner of the room, stood the pot bellied stove our only source of heat. Windows that opened in spring and fall supplied air conditioning. Water pumped from a well and carried inside for drinking and washing up before lunch. A lone towel hung on a nail next to a small enamel basin and a bar of soap sat in a dish. Everyone shared, soap, water and towel. The water was ice cold in winter, lukewarm in summer and changed occasionally by pitching it out the door and refilling the basin. The water bucket had a dipper that everyone drank from. A small mirror hung above the washbasin and a lone comb lay on the shelf, we shared that also. No one ever had head lice and colds were far and few between. Antibacterial soap had not been invented. 

On the occasion that someone got a cold, they stayed home for a few days and home remedies were used. Mustard plasters applied to the chest for a cold, lots of Vicks vapor rub for sore throats and Vicks nose drops to clear ones head. Aspirin, sulfa drugs and hot lemonade were administered as often as the patient would allow. If your nose was stuffed up and you had a sore throat it was a cold. If you were throwing up it was the stomach flu. If you had a fever and a sore throat it was tonsillitis. If you had tonsillitis more than 3 times in one winter a trip to the doctors office was in store next spring and the tonsils were removed. 

Our playground was a field with a swing set, a teeter-totter and a place to play soft ball. In winter it became a snow field where we played fox and geese, made snow forts and waged war with the only available ammunition, snow balls. All students, young and old, boy or girl wore the same "uniform". Jeans and a shirt. We didn't know about styles or color coordinating or name brands. Clothes were just something to cover ones body and keep one warm. These were idyllic years. I had chores to do at home and didn't expect payment. Payment came in the form of a roof over my head, food on the table, a bed to sleep in and parents who loved me. School lasted for nine months, then the summer was mine. Of course I still had chores to do but I also spent endless hours riding horse back under Jughandle Mountain or on a one speed bicycle, a dog always at my side. We explored the dirt roads and trails. I didn't wear a helmet or a watch but my internal clock seemed to know when I better start for home or maybe it was my stomach signaling that it was time for a meal. There were no lessons, no organized sports, no play dates. I learned to entertain myself and the word bored was not in my vocabulary.