Anamosa - A Reminiscence 1838 - 1988

Teaching in a Country School
by Malinda Nielsen Derga
‘School days. school days.
‘Dear old golden rule days.
‘Reading. and writing and arithmetic,
‘Taught to the tune of the hickory stick.
‘You were my queen in calico.
‘I was your bashful. barefoot. beau.
‘I wrote on your slate. I love you so.
‘When we were a couple of kids.‘
My name is Malinda Nielsen Derga. I was born on a
farm five miles east of Anamosa. the first farm east of
the Antioch Church. Feb. 23. 1912. I attended Antioch
School for nine years. and my first teacher was Beulah
Byerly Miller. Other teachers that I recall. were Ann
Tracy. Florence Postel and Ruby Shoop. In those days
we had from 10-35 pupils in a one-room schoolhouse.
The grades were primary through eighth. The length of
each class recitation was about ten minutes. We
learned from each other by listening to the recitations.
We were like a family.
Reading. Writing and Arithmetic were the subjects
that were stressed the most; however. we had English,
History. Civics. Physiology and Spelling. Music was
taught by the children singing along with a record on a
phonograph. Writing was taught by the Palmer
Method. Children's writing. as a whole. was all very
legible.
There was no well on the school grounds. Each
morning. two of the older pupils went to the neighbors
to get a pail of water. A dipper was placed in the pail
and each one drank out of the same dipper. We brought
sack-lunches from home and ate them at recess. and
noon. Some used empty molasses cans for dinner pails.
The bathroom facilities were the same at all rural
schools. There were two wooden shacks. One was used
by the boys. and the other one by the girls. Each shack
had two holes to sit on. We had no toilet tissue in those
days and. as was the custom. we used sheets of paper
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Country school scene. (Submitted by Berniece
Shover)
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