Again credit must be given to Marion Poole for her history - “Early Days in Lincklaen” in which she gave a marvelous documentation of the school districts in the township. The photograph with this article is a post card from the County Historian’s collection and upon examination the flag, which pictured on the post card, is backwards, the time frame is somewhere between 1890-96. This post card was addressed to Mr. O.R. Sutliff, Cincinnatus, New York and was written by Blanche to her brother and sister. We will quote the first sentence of her writing: “How do you like the looks of this crowd.” The postmark is unreadable and this writer will assume it was a photo of her classmates attending the above school. If anyone can shed light as to the identity of the students, please advise either the County Historian’s office, 607-337-1845 or e-mail this writer at; pfscott@frontier.com. All information will be duly be recorded and acknowledged!
Continuing the history of the Pond #1 - that just outside of the school was a small room “the cloak room,” used for the many hooks for wraps and shelves for lunch pails! The students were fortunate to have an old mirror which was seldom used. Vanity relevant to appearance was not, at that time, as today, a high priority.
Like all schools, past, present and future, recess was the best time of day. In warm weather it was always outside, with in the early days the teacher joining in at times, however, usually she was too busy. Winter brought the sleds and as the school was located on a hill, sliding down hill in the nearby pasture was a most enjoyable time. During the course of the year, once in the spring and once in the fall there would be a 1 1/2 hour lunch at noon where the children would take their lunches and climb to the top of the hill across the road. This would be their Nature Study Field Trip! Mrs. Poole recalled each spring was the “Boys Leek Picnic,” eating them raw on the way to school. As soon as school started they would be dismissed which meant an automatic day off as the smell of those stinkers was more than could be endured. These boys would not be popular for a few days, but come next April, they did it again!
Lunches at this period of time usually consisted of peanut butter, pickles, cheese, etc. with at times the lunch pail would be filled with pancakes put together with shaved maple syrup. At times, also, there might be syrup or cheese.
Marion Poole was attending school during the World War I days, at which time there was a scarcity of tablet paper and the cost of it when it was found. The use of ingenuity had to be invented with the students using grocery bags, envelopes cut open and at time the back of letters for paper. Books were usually sold to a student in the lower grades for a few cents.
As she attended school in the year of 1918, when the Armistice was signed on Nov. 11, 1918, it was a big day for the students at the Pond school. The teacher was so excited that the children were allowed to ring the school bell as long as they wanted to, excitement then subsided and the scholars were dismissed for the rest of the day. However, with the Armistice being signed, the Treaty of Versailles would not be signed until June 28, 1919.
With the documentation of her attending the Pond District, this writer will close this the second in the chapters of the Lincklaen one-room schools, to return again with another district.