Recollections from generations past (Flossie Douglas- 1)

 

Mrs. Flossie B. Douglas (1897-1990)

From interview recorded January, 1972.

(obituary excerpt)

I came to Worcester County in 1926, from Kansas City, Missouri and was assigned to the one room school at Box Iron, which was about 4 miles from Snow Hill on the old Girdletree- Stockton Road. The school was a small one room framed building located on the county road leading to Box Iron to Truitt’s Landing by Girdletree. The building had no lights and only a small wood burning heater for cold weather. The fire had to be taken care of everyday and sometimes the larger boys and other people in the community, who lived near the school, would help with the fire. 

The enrollment from November to March was 68-70 people with people sitting two in a seat. The enrollment from September- November was an average of 34-38 pupils. The larger pupils had to help with the farm crops in the fall and spring, while the smaller ones were able to attend school. 

There were no cabinets of any kind in the building, their lunches had to be kept in their desks. The desks were very old and some of the textbooks were ragged. We had seven grades in this small room and one teacher. Some of the pupils were 10 and 11 years of age in the first grade. The larger boys had to carry our drinking water from a farm across the road in a large galvanized bucket and a dipper with a long handle was used for drinking. I had the pupils to bring their own small cups later and they were kept in their desks with their lunches. 

Some of the pupils had to walk 3, 4, and even 5 miles to school each day. I walked about one fourth mile from my boarding place to the school. The school was located near the county road leading to Box Iron and there was very little space for a playground. There was nothing but woodland in the back of the building. There were no screens in the windows, and we were annoyed with flies and mosquitoes in the fall and spring. 

At that time there was only one store in the community and two churches. One church still remains, the Saint Matthew’s United Methodist Church. The store was later used for our tenant house. The only industry in the community at that time was farming and the seafood industry. There were several large farms with corn and tomatoes as two of the leading crops. The men had their own boats for the seafood industry, which they used for oystering, crabbing, and clamming. They worked from Scott’s Landing and Truitt’s Landing. Their day’s work started at 5 AM or 6 AM and they had finished by 11 AM. The trucks came from Crisfield, MD to buy their seafood in barrels. 

We tried to have parent teacher meetings often, as often as we could. The only light we had was lamps and lanterns hanging on the inside of the building. When I visited the parents I had to walk 2,3, and sometimes 4 miles and the parents would bring me home in a horse and buggy. There were very few automobiles at that time. The parents were always willing to help. I enjoyed the 5 years at Box Iron and did not give up. I am sure I helped someone. The Board of Education then decided to move me to Snow Hill. 

My first experience in Snow Hill was at Snow Hill B in 1931. We had a very small four room building again with no light and very small blackboard space. During my very first experience two of the rooms upstairs were used for the high school and the other two elementary classrooms were moved across town to the old Odd Fellows Hall. We had a pot belly stove in each classroom and coal was used and the fires were kept overnight. There was a janitor for cleaning and for taking care of the fires. The desks were old and broken. The textbooks again were ragged and torn. The floor was made of rough heavy boards.

We had to climb 18 steps to get upstairs each day. The building had no playground, only ashes and cinders. Part of the playground was a hillside. There was only one water fountain in the small back hall for 150 pupils. The larger people had to hold or lift up the smaller ones so they could get a drink of water. One outside toilet for boys and one for girls. The only light we had for a number of years was the sunlight. In later years the building was wired. We were expected to follow or carry on the same schedule as the modern building and we really tried. 

All pupils that came to high school from Stockton, Girdletree, or Berlin or any other areas had to ride in covered trucks. The covering was used to protect them from the rain and snow. Some people found it difficult to ride such a long distance in a truck every day, so they found boarding places in Snow Hill until the weekend. Later there were a few buses to bring the people from Hutt’s and Friendship areas because they were closing those schools. Some had to be transferred to the Mount Wesley area.

We were able, with all of these problems to be eligible for the school lunch program. The meals were planned, and the lady next door prepared the food in her home. And the larger pupils and the teachers helped with the serving of the lunches. It helped so many pupils. 

Often, we had to wait days and sometimes weeks for any repair work that was needed to be done on the building. After 18 years of service I remember Snow Hill B slightly leaning on its foundation from a strong wind from a hurricane that came up the Atlantic Coast. It really was leaning...  we would be so nervous and when any of the supervisors any of them would come up we would say, do you think it’s safe for all of us?  Yes, I think it’s alright I don’t think there’s anything. It was slightly leaning on that foundation. We were scared to death to stay but we kept going.

INTERVIEWER: Now where in Snow Hill was that?

FLOSSIE: Up on Collins Street right there above where, well now it was burned down you know. It was right there across from our cemetery I would say in that space above Moore’s.

(Continues next Saturday here at The Pocomoke Public Eye.)