My Valley
Aunt Mary
likely had the most to do with my school life; she meant for me to start in at the Red
School, out of the Valley and up the hill almost two miles. But I couldn't make it- in
fact I became actually ill when the matter was discussed. So, under the alarm of my family
that I would grow up a dreamer and an ignoramus, Aunt Mary organized a school! Margaret
Ferrie, one of the minister's daughters, was the teacher; an upstairs room in the
parsonage was the school. Eight of us, all little girls of the same age, were the
scholars; the Swan girls, Cora and Nelly; Gertie Purdy, the doctor's daughter; Esther
Olmstead, the hotel-keeper's daughter; and Emily Swan, Jenny Cook, and I, Nina Barney.
Each school day from 9:00 o'clock until noon- we learned, mostly by rote, the three R' s,
pausing for one ten-minute recess when we usually went out of bounds through a hole in the
picket fence to play in a big field. Maggie, as we affectionately knew her, had little
natural bent, and no scientific training, for teaching; but she possessed a fine character
that gave spiritual significance to her instruction. Verse upon verse of scripture was to
be memorized, and in fact, whole chapters were often assigned for memory. I am glad to
write that this type of teaching, memorizing, has fallen into disuse but as to the memory
Bible verses and poems, I am in full accord. They were learned at a time when our minds
were plastic enough to see some real beauty, also at a time when such memorizing was not
drudgery. These portions of Scripture now return to me again and again and always
helpfully. Learning the Bible in this way I think helps to produce a simplemindedness
toward religion. It is only when we get into theological controversy that we become
confused and dogmatic. When we were still under ten, and in Maggie Ferrie's school, a
travelling photographer came along with an old horse and wagon. How well I remember that
day! Maggie hustled us all down to the lawn for the great experience of having our picture
taken. This photograph is still in my possession, a constant reminder of those eight
little girls, all living, after more than sixty years, who, tho' scattered from Coast to
Coast still keep in touch with each other through a Round Robin letter.
Maggie was not in good health, so it was proposed, after a few years, that her pupils be put into the public school. The tannery school had a most excellent teacher- in fact she was my Aunt Julia Gillespie. So away we girls went to our first co-educational encounter. The boys games were new: "Duck on the Rock", "Keely Over"- both were fun. We counted out and lined up on each side of the school house- keely over the roof went the ball- and the one who caught it sneaked around to the enemy side and could imprison anyone he might touch.
This was after the tannery closed and the houses were practically emptied of their tenants. There were hardly enough pupils living in the district to warrant a school being kept, and I can recall less than a dozen boys and girls who normally would attend here. They were Francis and Terance Murray, Henry Hickey, Maggie and Mamie Lawson, Clark LaRue, three Swans, Cora, Nelly and Marietta, the Coffey boys, who with the addition of Grace Stanton, Gertie Purdy, Esther Olmstead, Regina and Rob Lamoreaux (new comers) and myself made up the deficiency in numbers and helped to round out a good sized school. It was at this juncture that Billy Jones came into the picture. Here was a man who at a very early age began life in the County Poorhouse where he and his mother had been committed because she was unable to provide her own means of livelihood. When Billy had grown into a sturdy lad and had been offered a home and a job, by a man needing such a boy, he soon became well known in Mongaup Valley where his benefactor lived. Down the cemetery road stood an old abandoned house and here Billy "squatted" having taken his old mother along to keep house. Squatters rights were such that if he could hold this property twenty years, without his claim being contested, he could become the owner. Whether this ever came about I don't know but by means of hard saving, he was able in time to purchase a stout team of horses and a large market wagon which he would fill with produce at Newburg and once a week Billy would drive through the Valley, big wagon loaded with stuff to sell at the summer boarding houses along the way. Business looked good but still had its drawbacks, for Billy felt he was being fleeced by the commission men in the larger cities, and being himself nearly uneducated, he had no means of defense. So he came to Aunt Julia with his problem asking her to take him into the Tannery School where she was teacher that Winter, and instruct him in interest rates and methods.
It must have been a hardship to Billy, a grown man (he was 30) , to begin school among a lot of green kids he had known from childhood, but we were exhorted never to crack a smile at any mistake he might make. Indeed I believe Aunt Julia would have half killed anyone seen slyly poking fun at him.
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