Keokuk County Iowa IAGenWeb - 1904 School Essay Contest

There is an old, old song our parents say they used to sing in their school days, which I think could be applied with truth to our school in district No. 5: “If at first you don’t succeed, try try again.” Our schoolhouse was so far to one side of the district that several of the pupils had quite a distance to go. Perhaps some of you have heard of the Honey Grove school. This is the name of the school of which I am speaking. It was named from the grove and wood surrounding it in which there were many bees to make honey. Now I have told you the name of the school of which I was a pupil. And as I have told you a number of scholars had quite a distance to go and there were quite a number of children who were just becoming the age to go to school but could not start on account of living so far away. Well, the question of moving the schoolhouse to the center of the district came up two or three years ago, but this the majority of the people objected to for it would throw some of them still farther from school. After three years of such talk or perhaps at the beginning of the third year they became more in earnest than ever before for some of these small children were getting so old that they must start soon. Last spring soon after the election they called a special meeting of the people of the district which was well attended because the question of the education of only a part of the little folks or more money out of people’s pockets for taxes to make better schools was to be decided. This was voted on and the votes were seemingly divided half and half but no one knew. As it happened there was one man who did not attend the meeting because he had no children to send, but finally he was sent for and voted for the schoolhouse and when the time came for the voting to stop, the votes were counted and we [if you please] had just gained our schoolhouse by this one vote. Think of this will you? Some of them were too much afraid of a little tax money, a saving of money for them but loss of education for some child or children.

But now a place to put our new schoolhouse came next. As we had already had much trouble in gaining the building that some of the men gave one half acre of ground which was neither a very large place nor a very nice one as one person said,” Not fit to be farmed.” But it is a very, very bad thing that has not a little good in it and I hope to prove this you.

Please let me go back to those people who did not want the schoolhouse. When they saw that was going on, they called another meeting to vote for money to fix up their schoolhouse in which our parents had gone to school and which had not been repaired
much since that time. This was carried unanimously and their schoolhouse is at the present as good as new. Also, a new well was dug. We and our parents before us had carried water all our school days. Now don’t you think this was a good thing all around?

Mr. Miller did not want our district divided but after they did divide it, he planned our new schoolhouse. The room is 20 by 28 feet. The work was done by Mr. Milt Taylor of Delta. And on Sept. 7, 1903, we began our first day of school with several new scholars, a new teacher, one who had never taught, and in a nice clean room in which children had never been taught. Having everything new or something new in every line we began school and had school until Oct. 30, 1903. Then before we went home, they asked the teacher to have a Christmas tree at Christmas time and she said she would. So, at the first of the winter term, we began getting our pieces and learning them. And when Christmas came, we had our program ready and two of the boys got the tree and we had our Christmas tree on Wednesday night before Christmas. We all had a good time and had plenty of popcorn and candy.

In our schoolhouse we have no maps, globe, window curtains, or anything like that and only six library books. We have a nice blackboard and good desks and we think that the schoolboard has done so much for us that we will try to raise money and purchase some maps and curtains and try to make our schoolroom as bright and pretty as possible.

Our schoolhouse is built on a hill and we want to try to make it a beautiful hill. Perhaps some of those who were opposed to it will say, “Well that is a good place for a schoolhouse after all for it no one else could make anything of it they could.”

Now does not that go to show that the little poor spots in the world can be made brighter and better and ought to be given to the boys and girls to work on? Of course, they need help, not much through. Encouragement and advice are about all they need.

Now I have told you all I know of the past and present of our school and what we hope for in the future. Thanking you for your kind attention, I also invite you to come and see us in our schoolhouse on the hill. The hill whose soil was so poor that it would not raise corn, wheat, oats, or potatoes, but which we intend to make bloom and blossom like a garden. Come and see us and tell us if we have helped the looks of it any.