The School House
The school houses of the earlier pioneer days presented as much variety in style, both of exterior and interior, as was presented by the physical conditions of the different localities…
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“The School House” from Recollections of the Log School House Period: and Sketches of Life and Customs in Pioneer Days by John Minard, 1905.
The school houses of the earlier pioneer days presented as much variety in style, both of exterior and interior, as was presented by the physical conditions of the different localities chosen for their sites. No two were alike, for the tastes of the settlers differed as much in matters of school house construction as in other things. After awhile, however, there came to be a sort of fashion which was generally observed in their construction, and which made their exteriors resemble each other much more than their interiors. In some localities schools were organized and conducted before the erection of the school house, even shingle shanties and barns being made to answer the purpose.
Image by R. J. Tucker, from book.
Some of the very first were of the rudest kind imaginable, and were covered with a single roof like a shed. The walls of all of them were alike in that they were laid up in the form of a square pen, in ground size from 18 to 20 by 26 to 30 feet, locked together with more or less skill, according to the ability and care of the builders. The openings for the doors and windows were sawed out, the walls being carried to a height of about ten feet. The interstices between the logs were "chinked up" with sticks split or hewed in proper shape, and held in place by wooden pins or nails, over which would be spread a coating of mud plaster. In limestone sections, real lime mortar was sometimes used. In some the openings for the windows were made for the sash to be shoved sideways like shop windows, while in others they were made for the windows to be raised and lowered. In some instances the school houses were built before sash and glass came to the settlement; in which cases the openings for windows would be filled with oiled paper or cheap factory cloth. The doors were made of thick boards or planks and hung on wooden hinges, and wooden latches were used to fasten them. A leather string was fastened to the latch which was inside, and passed through a hole at a convenient height to insure its always "hanging out". By pulling the string the latch would be raised and then the door was free to open.
Occasionally some mischievous urchin, purposely the first one there in the morning, would untie the knot and push the string back through the door before the teacher came. Then, seeking some safe hiding place where he could easily observe the situation, he would quietly await results. Resort would then be had to the windows, and if they were found fastened, it made considerable trouble to get in.
If perchance, some "Smart Aleck" had been watching and informed the teacher, the mischieveous young culprit might get his "jacket tanned". But any way and however it might be, it was considered a good joke on the teacher. When the school 'preceded the saw-mill, as it sometimes did, the floor was made by splitting basswood logs in halves, straightening the edges, bedding the round parts in the earth, and laying them close together. In some cases however, hewed plank were used for the floors, and a floor made in this fashion certainly had the merit of being; solid and substantial, to say the least, and answered the purpose tolerably well.
The sides and one end of the log school house were devoted to seats and desks. If the sawmill was reasonably near, the seats were made by laying good pine boards upon hardwood sticks driven into holes bored in the logs. In front of these seats were the desks, and in front of the desks, which served as backs for them, were other seats upon which the "small boy" of the period usually sat. Sometimes the desks were made next to, and fronting the walls, and the seats were rude benches without backs, ranged along in front. In the first mentioned way of construction, a pupil sitting near the middle of the seat could not leave it without disturbing several others, and the pupils faced the teacher. In the other, their backs were presented to the teacher, and one could leave without disturbing others. Each way had its merits, and to each there were some objections.
It may be remarked right here that those "clear stuff" pine desk tops were a great temptation to such of the boys who could boast the possession of a jack-knife, and afforded an excellent opportunity for the gratification of a propensity which so distinguishes the American school boy:—result, in spite of all rules to the contrary, and a sharp lookout on the part of the teacher, those desks, after only a brief term of service, presented an incomprehensible maze of hieroglyphics, and the edges would discount by considerable, the business part of any up to date cross cut saw.
Were it possible for a modern observer to scan one of those old log school houses the fire place would strike him as the most impressive feature of the whole establishment. It appropriated the larger part of one end, usually the one nearest the door. A broad hearth of flat stones was laid and the chimney stack was built upon it; in some cases only a huge wall of earth and stones, which served as a back for the fires, was carried up as high as the ceiling, when from there on up through the roof and to a height which was considered sufficient to secure good draft to fire and smoke, it was made of sticks which might be edgings from the saw-mill, laid up in cob-house style and covered with a thick plaster of mud. When those chimneys became thoroughly seasoned, the mud would fall off in patches, which made quite an undesirable condition, for a single spark might start a fire which would soon destroy the house. When such a condition was found, and extreme cold weather came on, big fires were quite necessary to insure comfort, but occassioned considerable solicitude.
It was the custom during such seasons to detail some of the boys by turns to watch the fire. So, seated upon a stool near the fire, with a bucket of water by his side, and a huge squirt gun made especially for the purpose in hand, he would direct a steam upon any little blaze which might be started, and quickly put it out. It was the practice in some of those early schools, to have the wood prepared by the "big boys" during recess, and at noon time, the patrons having previously at a bee held for the purpose, drawn a quantity of tree-trunks, and poles and smaller trees cut in "sled lengths," into the school yard.
As already intimated, the fire place was of no mean or even ordinary proportions. It would, if required, take an average sized modern saw-log for a back-log or forestick, and with well seasoned wood, what a rousing fire could be made, and how cheerful and comfortable it would look, and feel too, on those cold winter mornings! If however, for want of dry wood or from any other cause, the fire went down, the remote parts of the room would soon cool off, and the scholars would be asking to go to the fire, and if the fire persisted in not "going," as they used to say, in a short time the whole school would stand shivering in front of the fireplace, while the master and some of the "big boys" would ply their best efforts to make it burn.
It sometimes became neccessary to repair the old fireplace, when, in case of failure to get the proper kind of stones for the purpose, exciting incidents were liable to follow: for, when standing in classes "toeing the mark" and spelling, or reading in Hole's History, or Cobb's Reader, the heated stones would explode, creating more excitement, dismay and consternation among the terrified pupils than would a bomb shell exploding in the midst of a squad of disciplined soldiers. Some, though not all of these fireplaces were provided with heavy large and- irons.
For one thing at least, other than dispensing heat in cold weather, is that dear old fireplace to be kindly remembered. It was just the place for cooking links of sausage and slices of ham, which would, presented to the coals on the pointed end of a long stick, and skilfully turned, take a roast which would tempt the most exacting member of that most famous New York Beef Steak Club of these first years of the twentieth century. Even now, wafted back over the lapse of more than half a century which has intervened, comes the sweet incense, the delectable fragrance of the roasting ham, and sausage of the old log school house memory, at once delicious, exhilirating; ambrosial even! an odor, to speak it plainly, to which the kitchen of The Waldorf—Astoria is a stranger, and which would excite the envy of the best of New York's noted chefs.
The furniture of "Ye Old Tyme" log school house consisted of a cross legged table, a splint bottomed, high back chair, a splint broom, a water pail and dipper, and in exceptional instances a fire shovel and tongs.
In case the stove was introduced before the log school house had filled out its time, the fireplace would be boarded up, and if the house was large enough, a small room, including the abandoned fireplace, would be partitioned off, making a convenient storehouse for wood, and places for hanging hats, caps, shawls and dinner pails. This was esteemed a great improvement, and the districts which first had the stoves, looked down upon those which still made use of the fireplace, as decidedly "Old Fogyish" and lamentably behind the times, while they were quite "up to date."
Log school houses are still in use in some sections, but compared with the whole number of school houses, they are few. In 1865 there were still in the state of New York 202: in 1875, 90: in 1885, 70: in 1895, 33: in 1896, 25: in 1901, 21.
In the state of Michigan in about 1890, there were 309.
Minard, John Stearns. Recollections of the Log School House Period: and Sketches of Life and Customs in Pioneer Days. Free Press Print, 1905.
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