South Dakota Mary

Days in the old school house

At school, we sat at little desks. To get into the desks, we had to flip the tops over. Then we had to flip them back to write on top of them.

There was an average of eight or ten students in school—maybe fifteen at times—and one teacher. The classes were sometimes combined. For example, the seventh and eighth grade arithmetic might be together. You did all the subjects in one week.

At the old school house, we all had duties. We cleaned the chalkboards and erasers and got the desks in order. I helped out by getting drinking water. I took a pail and walked over to the neighbor's house to get water. Then we all drank out of a dipper.

The most fun at school, though, was playing baseball during recess at the noon hour.

Photo: Stormy Peters
View of the old schoolhouse today

The men played rollie bollie

I remember those trips to Iowa. The men there had a game they liked to play. It was a kind of outdoor bowling a little like horseshoes; my dad had played it in Holland.

I think it was called rollie bollie. There was a stake in the ground, and you rolled a wooden ball to get points. I never played it because only the men did. The women weren't in on it.

Games we played

Indoors we liked to play cards. We played checkers, too. Outside, it was always ball. Sometimes we played horse shoes. And then we played a game where you dug a hole and laid a stick across it. Then we took another stick and boosted it up in the air out in the field and tried to catch it.

Hide and seek was one of our favorites...and a running game called "Pom Pom." In Pom Pom, you'd be on a base. Then you ran off and someone tried to catch you.

In the winter we played in the snow. We had a round circle, and there was a circle in the middle of it. Somebody was it and tried to catch us.

Playing ball with Reece

 

I remember the most fun part of our days at the old school was playing baseball during recess at the noon hour. I used to join in the kids' games once in a while, just for a few moments when we lived on the farm.

This is me in town in 1999 with Reece, my great grandson. He's Laurie's boy. He's a really good player.