To: My WV Friends From: Stan Browning Although these reports apply specifically to my school, I am counting on there being similarities with some of your schools that you will enjoy recalling. School Days Part 2 The old Matheny Grade School where I first attended school was sandwiched in between State Route 10 and the Laural Fork River at the present site of the Matheny Methodist Church. Looking at the schoolhouse from the road, there were two outhouses set side by side on the right of the schoolhouse and a coalhouse on the left. The old Methodist church, which has long since been replaced by a modern brick structure, sat farther to the left between the schoolhouse and the school playground. The playground was scarcely larger than the abbreviated basketball court, which was the only hint of a sports facility at the school. The court had a bare earth surface and was used for many interesting games that I had never heard of before, such as, base, tag, bearhoo and fox-and-geese. It was perfect for marbles, which was OK except when the older boys tried to slip in a few games of “keeps.” Some of the girls jumped rope and played hop- scotch. Only the older students who came early in the morning to catch the school bus to the junior high and high schools at Oceana played basketball. My primary pals and I were usually satisfied to simply play along the riverbank or climb in nearby water birch trees that lined the banks. Matheny Grade School had two-rooms separated by a hall. There was a small porch facing the road. Patriotism was emphasized, although WWII had not yet started. Our daily routine began with all students in the school lining up in front of the schoolhouse to say the pledge of allegiance to the flag. Ralph Stewart was my teacher and he taught primer through the third grade. Carroll Brooks was Principal and taught grades four through six. Grades seven and above were bussed to Oceana. In our room, pupils in two of the three grades worked on assignments from the teacher while the other class was being taught. I could read before I started school and had it not been for multiple classes in the same room, I would have been extremely bored. As it was, I was learning multiplication tables while in the first grade. Like almost all small Wyoming County schools in those days, there was no indoor plumbing or electricity. Two outdoor toilets, one for the boys and one for the girls, were located side-by-side behind the school. They were favorite targets for the teenage pranksters of the community on Halloween. The only provisions for hand washing after a visit to the toilet was a large pan of water and a cake of soap placed on a table in the hall between class rooms. Ordinarily, several students would use the same water before someone decided to change it. A single bulb hung by a cord from the ceiling in the center of the room provided supplemental light on cloudy days. Each schoolroom was heated by a large Burnside stove situated in the center of the room. The stove was constructed of iron and had no jacket to guard against accidental burns or to prevent the school from accidentally catching fire and burning down. The only safety precaution was an insulated mat placed under the stove to catch embers that escaped occasionally through an opening in the lower bowl of the stove. The stove was fueled with coal and often glowed red during operation. Students near the stove roasted while others continued to wear their winter coats inside the building. Sometimes in the early morning the windows were coated with ice due to the normally large amounts of moisture created by several young bodies in a confined space. The chairs (“seats” in those days), are noteworthy. The basic component of this old-time furniture consisted of a seat in front with a desktop fastened on back. A pupil’s desktop, with a small storage space below the work surface, was an integral part of the back of the chair occupied by the student in front of them. Each assembly was screwed to the floor, one in front of the other in rows, with each person having a seat from one assembly and a desktop from another. This resulted in an unused row of desktops in the back and a row of empty seats in the front. Some of the assemblies were made for more than one person. Since we were not yet old enough to be interested in the opposite sex, we tried to pair up with a buddy in one of the “double-wides.” Each student’s attendance record was noted and displayed on a card that was posted on the wall for all to see. We received a star for each day and a reward for excellent attendance. We were further motivated by ongoing spelling contests, which culminated at the end of a preset period with a “candy-breaking party.” My primary and first-grade teacher was Ralph Stewart, who was from a family of educators, who were also noted for their musical talents and teaching abilities. Ralph and two brothers, Hershel and Height, formed a country music band of considerable fame that was often invited to play at events throughout the region. Ralph was also widely recognized for his penmanship. It was no accident that music and penmanship were strongly emphasized in our classes. Each day in the classroom began with music and all three grades joined in. Many of the songs we sang, such as “Dixie,” “Little Brown Church in the Wildwood” and “Away in a Manger,” are still favorites. We got to show off our talents at Christmas when the entire school was involved in presentations of songs and plays. At that time, Mr. Stewart gave each of us a small brown bag that contained a stick of peppermint candy, gum, orange-slice candy and a few other goodies that I don’t recall. As noted before, my mother taught me to read before I started school. But I was bewildered when I tried to read from a songbook and the words were different from those Mr. Stewart was singing. It was then that I discovered that I was not to sing all the words line after line in the first group bordered by those funny-looking symbols, but that I should skip from group to group, singing only corresponding lines from each group. There were various health problems unique to the times. I grew up deathly afraid that I would get “Infantile Paralysis” (Polio). We were vaccinated for diphtheria and inoculated for smallpox by the County Health Nurse, who visited the school early in the school year. There was no voting on it, everyone had to receive the shots. It was the first time most of us had ever seen a hypodermic needle so it was an experience only a little short of traumatic. Inspections for head lice were held frequently. Any evidence of the little critters resulted in the carrier being dismissed from school until the problem was eliminated. Fall sores, likely caused from having to walk through wet weeds, were common. They were very painful and could last for several weeks. To emphasize hygiene, the Lifebuoy Soap Company, through the schools, distributed samples of their product and cards on which to keep a record of when we washed, brushed our teeth, combed our hair and so on. We classified our paper as either “tablet” paper or “notebook” paper, and most of us wrote with a “penny pencil.” A tablet cost a nickel and a pack of notebook paper cost the same. The penny pencils, as suggested by the name, cost a penny apiece. They were always a tan color and had white pointed erasers. Each desktop had a hole for a bottle of ink, and we were taught to write with an ink pen that was replenished with ink by dipping it into the bottle. Two of the older students were hired as janitors. They came to school early and started the fires in the morning. They prepared the kindling and carried in the coal before they left in the evening. They aligned the furniture and swept up after classes. Dusting the erasers, carrying water and cleaning the outhouses were favored chores for students in order to be excused from the classrooms. (More about attending school in Wyoming County later on)