The pioneer children did not have the advantage of going to a public school, nor did they have a bus to pick them up at home and return them to their homes that evening. School terms were short, Children often went a long distance through the woods to school. Subject matter taught was not so varied as to-day. 'Readin', 'writing', and 'rithmetic', and spelling seemed to be the common subjects taught, though some subscription schools had other subjects. Certainly they did not teach science, nor did they teach music and art. There was no busy work to keep the small children employed; they often had to busy themselves while the teacher was teaching some of the older pupils; often there were as many as fifty in one school. The grades, when so divided,   consisted of four. A pupil was said to be in the first reader, or the second reader. When he read well enough, the teacher suggested he read in the next book, The division of eight grades in this county came in the autumn of 1903.  If a pupil had a second reader of the old type, he could trade it for a second but not a third reader. Since the old way had been good enough for a long time, a few parents (lid not see the need of paying the whole price for an advanced reader, and so the old reader was turned in on another of the same grade, keeping the child in the same grade.

The pioneers realized the need for an education, however, and front the very first someone was energetic enough to organize a subscription school. In such schools, a person announced he would conduct a school
a certain time. He either made the announcement in the paper, or he visited the parents and solicited pupils. He set his own price, a small sum.

Two who had taught such schools in eastern Leech discussed the effort they had made. Neither had a written or printed form of their school announcement.

Here is one that was presented in Albion. Since the ones in eastern Leech were much the same. this one is copied.   The capitals and wording are kept the same as the announcement. "Miss. Craig respectfully  informs the Inhabitants of Albion that she intends opening a School for children on Wednesday next. September 25, 1839.  The girls will be taught Reading and needlework.

"Terms: 2 dollars for the quarter. Writing, arithmetic, English Grammar and Geography $2.50 per quarter.  To defray the expense of fuel, 2 cents for each pupil for the season."  ** Carro Craig Long furnished this copy of the subscription school-paper notice kept in her family.

Many pupils of to-day would like to choose subjects as suggested in that notice. Sometimes such schools were held in a church building for six weeks in summer.  As the distance, bad winter roads, and the cold weather were such that long trips through woods in winter weather were not thought best for a small child, those few weeks were often the length of these first schools.  But there were winter schools a little later, six months.  Country schools in Leech did not have longer terms until about 1913 or 1914.  Then they had seven months.  But that is not so short as it may seem.    There were not a certain number of school days required as now. The school began on a certain day, as September 2,.  It ended October 1.  These months were twenty-two and twenty-three days long.  There was no long Christmas vacation just one day.  There was one day off for Thanksgiving, and sometimes two days off for teachers' institute.  So there was more crowded into a shorter time than may seem at first.  There were far more school days in those six and seven months than the average in those six and seven months. **  Wayne County History.

John Jones, first white child horn in Wayne County, wrote that the first school  house stood about 300 yards from his father's cabin.  That was likely Edwards County. There is no proof of that school now.  It is possible that it was in Leech. He stated that it was in 1823 and that George McCown was the first teacher. The teacher came here from Kentucky but he was of Scotch-Irish descent. Since the McCoin family did live near here at that time and were friends of the Samuel Allison family, the question has arisen whether it could be the same family.

John Jones was born in 1816, and so he was likely sent to that first school lie mentions. There was a large  family that lived within one-half mile of the Jones home, the Aquilla McCrakin family. As five children of that family died here in 1814, it is not known whether there were more children in that family here in 1823. They moved to Arkansas later.

In western Leech the same type subscription schools were in operation. In the L. H. Harris papers is an account of "schooling for daughters"’, dated 6-13-1859. There was the same tendency to have schools in summer because the winter weather made it impossible for the little ladies to go to school. The boys were evidently kept too busy to have time for school. That paper was signed by William Staton. There is another paper in same files that gives the price as three dollars, Thomas E. Files, teacher, and signed by C. A. Reeves. Education was surely inexpensive in those days.

In western Leech there is a story of the lost school child, a boy, Daniel Johnson Gray. At that time all around the school was woods; the children were used to playing in time woods. At noon when the teacher called the children into the house the boy was missing; He had wandered in the wrong direction and lost himself. School was dismissed and all told to search for the boy. The people of the neighborhood were aroused to search. A woman on horseback (Legend says it was Betsy Goodwin.) found him several miles away from the school. The woman took the boy on the horse and returned him to his home.

As soon as the Brushy Church was built in 1849 subscription schools were held there until the Allison School was built in the lower edge of section 23, in the now Delbert Snowdall field,  north of the Allison home. There was no other school close enough in 1850 for Sophronia Allison McKibben to attend, and so it is likely that the first school mentioned by Jones had ceased in function. Likely the log building was serving as a home for someone. She attended a subscription school a Brushy a. few weeks in the summer and walked the mile and three quarters to school, likely farther at that time for the road was not a straight one as now but went via  Scottsville, which would mean almost a mile more. Other children who attended that school at the church were Michels children, Melrose children,  Monroes, Scots, Joneses, and Robinsons. Perhaps there were others.  Mahalia Michels Piercy said they taught them to read, spell, write, and figure. Sometimes they had Scripture  read to them. Christine Knodell taught there. Sophronia Allison went to that school and later taught there.

The last of the 1850 or in 1860 a regular log school  was built in the south edge of section 25 as already mentioned. It faced the south, had puncheon seats (split log the round side down), and was called the Allison School.  It was in this first log school that John Jones taught, the first native teacher in the county.  Since it has already been written in the records of the Jones family that he was the first teacher, it is assumed the first school he mentioned was across the line in Edwards. It is possible, though, that he taught that school he mentioned James Harrison was the second teacher in this school and Rheuben Ewing was the third.

Samuel Allison wanted a better school for all children in the region. He donated two acres to be used for school purposes in the southeast corner of section 3 T2S, R9E. He helped build a frame building there in the 1870’s. The siding was hand made boards; many he donated. it had changed position,. but it kept the name of Allison School. Later an addition was added because the enrollment was too large for the first building. The first building had boards painted black to write on.  When the addition was built, good slate boards were added. James McCoin Allison Sr,  taught there several terms. Other early teachers were: Rev. Jones in 1895.  Charlie Miller  had taught there before that, also Ethel McLin, and Flora Chandler.   Mary Hooper taught there in 1898 and 1899.

She was followed by Sim Sidwell, then Cainey Schurtleff, then Edith Dwyer. She is the teacher who told the pupils that someday planes would fly through the air. As she had come from town and did not know many things about country life, the parents smiled knowingly when told what she had said.

If a teacher  taught two years, that was a long time. There was usually a cry for a "house cleaning."  Especially if a woman taught, someone got the idea that a man was needed to ‘"settle them down."  It is possible thought that the same teacher might return after a year or so. That is the way Ed Ellis did, taught two years, gone a year arid then back for two. Earl Allison taught the year between the Ellis sessions.

About the time of the first World War a new school house was built with windows on the north to keep out direct sunlight, and a floor furnace was added, an improvement on the old wood stove that never kept the long room warm. In fact a child sat near the stove, warm on one side and cold on the other.    **  During the depression I taught this school after I had received my degree, before I went on to high school teaching and college teaching.

There has never been a regular road to this school, just a lane. It was never on gravel. In its later days that it functioned the teacher often parked the car on the gravel and walked the short distance to the school. That quiet had one advantage; there were no outside distractions to attract the attention of the pupils.

The Scottsville School was built about the time the Allison School was moved. It was built in Scottsville. Before that the Scottsville children had attended the Allison School. it was built on the same corner in Scottsville as it now stands. Another building was built there later, farther back from the road.

As numbers of pupils grew less at Allison, those children were hauled to Scottsville several years. Then the Chandler School building was moved to Wabash and these three schools were joined with that school in the Unit system.

A bus takes the children each day, not only to Wabash but also to Albion to high school. Now a music teacher comes to the school once each week, She makes the rounds of the school centers. Also an art teacher comes once a week. More athletic games are taught. Games are arranged with other schools, and the school bus takes the players to the other school.
 

In the earlier days when spelling time came, the children often lined up against the wall to spell for head marks. The one who stood at the head when the class was dismissed won the head mark for that day. Next day he had to go to the foot of the class and work his way forward again. Those who missed a day lost their place in line. They went next to the foot to begin their way forward again. A word was given to the one at the head. He had three trials to spell the word. If he missed, the next one had three chances, and so on down the line until the word was spelled correctly. The one who did spell the word correctly moved ahead of the one or ones he had "turned down." Even the "chart" class had spelling lessons. During those momentous minutes,  the older pupils were watching that spelling bee to see who won the head mark.  **  I was awarded a story book my first school year for having the most head marks, likely because I did not miss any school.

Edith Dwyer was the first teacher in the Allison School who taught elementary music. It was the first time some of the pupils had heard of scales. She also had the idea of seating the classes in groups and having them remain in their seats for recitation period instead of having them move to the front of the room.
The old Harper's  Readers were used before the eIght grades were organized. Besides readIng out loud, (no questions asked about the lesson) there were classes in arithmetic, grammar, history, American history, physiology, geography, and spelling; there was an occasional lesson in writing. If the teacher had a drawing lesson, he was wasting the pupils’ time and taking his money for nothing. The small children did draw and amuse themselves. There was no idea of seat work for them. If a teacher read stories to the children, he was fooling away his time.

The Chandler School was first near the old Iron Bridge, as has been mentioned, south of the bridge on the old Anderson place. The second school was built on the corner of the Chandler farm, the southwest corner of the crossroads west of Scottsville. It was moved to the Wabash School and so there is nothing left but the foundation.

It is interesting to note the names of teachers in some of these schools, the enrollment, and the years taught. Here they are for district number 99, the Chandler.  **  Trula Scott secured the Chandler teacher list.
Note, unknown was written I used uk
 

Year	Enrollment	Teacher		Year	Enrollment	Teacher
1903-1904	48	Hugh Q. Allison		1926-1927	uk
1904-1905	--	Vernette Scheffer		1927-1928	--	Charles Inskeep
1905-1906	--			1928-1929	--	Danity Mason
1906-1907	uk			1929-1930	--
1907-1908	45	W. C. Matthews		1930-1931	21	Marion Nann
1908-1909	30	J. S. Sidwell		1931-1932	22	Ethel Patterson
1909-1910	36	George T. Haegele		1932-1933	25
1910-1911	37			1933-1934	36	Lura Balding
1911-1912		no information		1934-1935	22	Buren Moore
1912-1913	34	Forrest Scott		1935-1936	25
1913-1914	43	W. C. Merriott		1936-1937	21	Harry Pottorff
1914-1915	46	Forrest Scott		1937-1938	16	Ethel Patterson
1915-1916	55			1938-1939	15	Mildred Walsh
1916-1917	41	W. H. Edwars		1939-1940	16	A. Roy Burkitt
1917-1918	48	C. T. Peters		1940-1941	18	Forrest Scott
1918-1919	28	Forrest Scott		1941-1942	17	Seal Bradford
1919-1920	37	Jennie Stewart		1942-1943	9
1920-1921	uk	Forrest Scott		1943-1944	15	Jennie Miller
1921-1922	24	A. Roy Burkitt		1944-1945	14	Grace Childress
1922-1923	uk			1945-1946	19	Harold J. Clark
1923-1924	24	Hazel Canull		1946-1947	16	Esther H. Kieser
1924-1925	27			1947-1948	16
1925-1926	26	Percy Borah

That list reveals several things about country schools of the township in glanc:ng at the teacher list, the reader sees that a teacher taught just one or two years and moved on.  It was possible  that he came back later, hut he did not teach long at one time.  Forrest Scott began teaching there in 1912.  He taught one year and then returned three different times by 1919.  He skipped a long period and then returned in 1940.  That was his home school.  People often think of teaching as being done mostly by women.   This list shows that in this country school covering a period of forty-four years that for twenty-nine of those years a man taught the school. That is a big average; for only fifteen years did a woman teach. The enrollment may be surprising also. It is larger than some seem to think is found in the country school. This school was not taken into a unit system because it did not have enough pupils in its own district to hold a school. The last five years it had an average of sixteen pupils.

In the woods southwest of Ellery, with only a lane leading to it, was the Woods School, near the Torn Woods home.   It was erected in the late 1870’s or the first of the 1880’s.  Because there were many pupils in that district, there were two schools. Because road conditions were bad in winter, it was not easy for pupils to go far. Wabash was the other school. They were a little more than one-half mile apart. Flora Parks Chandler, who was mentioned as being a teacher at the Allison School, taught that school. in the early 1880’s. The first of this century the two schools were combined, the school then being at the Wabash School. There has always been two rooms there ever since the two combined, until the Unit System added another room.

In the Wabash School, just west of Ellery, the two rooms were referred to as the big room and the little room, not because of size, hut because the small pupils were in one room, the olders one in the other. Sam Crews taught the upper grade room there several years. The one who holds the record though is Della Seifert Sawyer.  She taught that school twenty years. There was a period of several years after her marriage that she did not teach, hut she returned to teaching a few years ago and retired two years ago. She taught only one other school, the Johnson School in southern Leech; she taught there just one year. In several cases she taught two generations, but in one case she taught three generations. She taught Rena Carlton, then taught Rena's children, and before she retired she taught Rena's grandchildren.

The past three years the Wabash School has be a unit school. It is now a part of the Edwards County School system. When the pupils in these districts named finish the eighth grade, they go to the high school at Albion. This territory is now a part of the Albion High School district. Before that. however, this territory was in a non high school  district.  In the earlier days, those who were energetic enough to go to high school had to pay their own tuitions.

To the west side of the township there were three more schools: Windle to the north end and west side of section seventeen, T2S, R9E. It was named after James Windle on whose farm it was built. It is one of the older schools in that region. The Wagner School stands in section 30. T2S, R9E. it is at the very north edge of the section. It was named after James Wagner.  For two years the Wagner School has not been used.
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There have been three school houses at Moffit one was a log building north of the present building.  Then one built about 1920.  In 1884 the subjects recorded there for a small child, 8 or 9, were reading spelling, arithmetic.  They used Sander's Union Readers.  Samuel Meeks was the teacher. In some of the early
pictures of Moffit School there are several men with mustaches;  they went to school when the photographer   was coming. just to have their pictures made. That ‘:n the latter part of the 1880’s. One time the teacher was Irvine; another was J. N.  Reeves.  Later C. A. Ewing taught several terms there. He had gone to school there
earlier. He now lives at Eldorado.

Now Green Briar and Moffit are combined. The school is conducted in the Moffit School building.

The old Windle school stood a short distance south-west of the last building. It was a small frame building with boards painted black for blackboards. There were many pupils; the pupils outgrew the size of the school and about sixty years ago another frame building was built on the present site. It was a warmer building; but the old wood stove in the middle of the room was more satisfactory to heat a big room than was experienced in other schools. In fact it was a cold place in cold weather, except beside the stove. It did have an improvement of slate boards. There were nails in the back of the room on which the pupils hung their wraps. The water was carried uphill from the spring, or from the branch of running water when it was clear.

The pupils played the usual games of the period:  blackman, long ball, town ball, dare base, deer and shinny.  When snow was on the ground the boys brought home made sleds to slide down the steep hill at the north side. When the slide was once made in the snow a rail served just as well as a sled. An older boy sat in front and guided it; five or six sat behind him and rode.

Some of the teachers at Windle fifty or sixty years ago were: a Mr. Currie, R. D. Murphy, Dora Michels, Charlie Miller, F. Winters, S. D. Burst, and Mack Harris.

In the south part of the township is a district that had three schools, Mars Hill, Johnson, and Wild Rose.   ** Loren Campbell and Emery Messerole gave the information on three southern schools, Raymond Hallam gave information On other three.

Wild Rose stood back in the field north of where it now stands in section 10, T3S, R9E. About forty-five years ago it was moved to the road where it now stands. It has been unused the past twelve years.

Johnson School on Campbell Hill was named after Melvin Johnson, who was instrumental in having the school built. It is in section four, T3S, R9E. That is the school where Della Seifert taught one year, all her other teaching being done at Wabash. Raymond Hallam was the last teacher at that school. It has not functioned as a school for nine or ten years. Ross West bought the school house and now lives there.

The third school, Mars Hill. is in section 17, T3S, R9E. It stands on a high hill on the west side of the road, beside the Antioch Church. It functioned longer than the other two. This is the first year there has been no school there. The district is now a part of Burnt Prairie district.

Raymond Hallam taught school thirty-three years.  All his teaching was done in that ore district. He taught two or three more years at one school and then taught at another one of the three. Then he moved back to the first school again.

Soon after the settlement of Golden Gate, a school was built, a white frame building that stood near the railroad in the west part of town.

Just before World War I the new stone school building’ was erected on the hill at the south edge of town.  It has two rooms downstaIrs and a large room upstairs.  In 1.934 a high school was held in the upper part of the building;  the grades met on the first floor.  In the big school, John Wagner was the teacher; he taught until 1940.  Then John H. Kieser taught the high school; it was a two year high school.  The ten years that it functioned there were 63 graduates from that school

The grade school has now been combined with Conway, Some of the teachers that have taught there are Charlie Stewart, Forrest Scott, Alvie Mead. Will Stallings, Etta Black, Mrs. Owens, Grace Childress. The Golden Gate School is now one of the unit centers of Wayne County.

Farther north at the north end of the township was a log school, the Oakwood School;  it stood where the  Oakwood Church now stands.   It was the typical pioneer school, crude seats, few books, and a stove in the center.

Then a frame building was erected on the Moore place.  About sixty years ago the third building erected at the present site, a white frame building functioned until six years ago. That district is part of the Wabash Unit. Some of the teachers taught there are Charlie Childrress Orange, Mrs. William Daubs, Mabel Allison, Sim Sidwell, Kate McDowell, Ed Sidwell, and Grace Childress.