Anamosa - A Reminiscence 1838 - 1988

to sit in their own seats.
School was dismissed at 4 o'clock. The flre was
banked with several large chunks of wood. but these
soon burned, and by the next moming the school was
cold.
The water froze in the water pail overnight. if the pail
was not emptied. Two pupils were chosen each day to
go to a nearby farm house to obtain a pail of water.
Two kerosene lamps anchored on the wall served as
lights for school programs, box-socials and card parties
which were held in the evening.
Games played at school were very different from the
games played at the schools of today. The favorite
winter-time game was Fox and Geese, Pom-Pom Pull-
Away, Hide and Seek, Tag, Circle and Drop the
Handkerchief. The three little ditches or gullies, now
are gone. as are the large trees. which were favorite
hiding places. ln the 1940s, basketball and baseball
were played.
The teachers usually boarded and roomed with some
family in the school district. Others hired livery rigs to
bring them to and from school. Some lived with parents
who resided nearby. Later teachers provided their own
transportation.
Those were the ‘good oi’ days’. l wonder if we thought
they were good.
Remember how we rushed from school. changed our
clothes, ate a bite of lunch, and went outside to do our
various chores? There was the wood box to fill; cobs to
be picked up on the hog iloor, for kindling fires; cows to
milk; the old cream separator to turn: the calves to
teach to drink; the hogs to feed; the cattle to hay and
feed; hay and silage to throw down for the next
morning; the horses to lead out to drink; and girls had
chickens to feed, and eggs to gather.
There was very little studying done at home as after
supper the dishes had to be washed. We went to bed
early, since there were no radios or TV‘s. We arose
early the next morning to milk the cows and clean the
barn; then into the house to eat breakfast and off to
school, so that we were there before 9 o'clock.
Yes, it was a busy day, but we are glad that we were a
part of the community; a community that is proud of its
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Antioch School — Back row: Florence Postel
(teacher), Genevieve Streeter: third row: Malinda
Nielsen. Lucile Scheele, LaVonne Streeter, Dorothy
Byerly; second row: Andy Nielsen. Kenneth Hay,
Eldon Soper, Horace Soper, Carl Hay: on step.
Raymond Dose. (Photo submitted by Malinda Derga)
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Antioch School, I915 (Photo submitted by Malinda
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Antioch School. back row: Glen Hay, Gilbert Hay.
Ina Byerly. Middle row: Jennie Landis, Clara Reuter,
Alvin Byerly, Mildred Byerly. Second row: Helen
Morrissey. Laura Reuter. Front row: Laura Nielsen.
Clarence Nielsen. (Photo submitted by Mildred Brown}
I925 classes at Antioch School — Front row: Ben
Knutsen, LaVonne Streeter, Lucile Sheele, Anna Dose.
George Knutsen, Fred Dose, Lee Mohr. Virgil Mohr.
Back row: Raymond Dose, John Knutsen, Bud Soper,
Genevieve Streeter, Ruby Shoop (teacher), Minnie
Knutsen, Malinda Nielsen, Eldon Soper, Dorothy
Byerly. (Photo submitted by Malinda Derga)
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