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(.Seventh in a serirs of 10) jThat in writing of the school days of the eighteen eighties a brief description of the old Seminary building should be given. It is a far cry from then to now The old building erected in 1836 was 3 j stories high of brick, the centersurmounted with a classic cupola or tower which housed the school, bell A long rope dangled from the wheel of the twll to the first floor by way of the stairs. The; school janitor, a Mr. Lretz. was what can 1)0 truthfully said, the “Swiss Bell Ringer.“ He had come1 to America from Switzerland. He rang the first bell a half hour before the second bell at all school sessions. He had many other duties among them bringing in enoughcord wood each day to keep nilthe stoves in all rooms going. Thelower grades occupied the first floor with the higher grades and the High school on the second floor, on which was also located the office of the superintend) nt, Mr C. W. Oakes. Mr. Oakes was a tall, raw-boned. red-ahired man. We younger ones stood in awe of him and to bo se nt up to his office for any mis-misdemeanor was a terrible ordeal. It has been imparted to usthroug underground” that Oakeskept a short piece of garden hose in his office instead of a hickory stick for disciplinary reasons and that was all we needed to know!All of the classrooms wen* heated jwth large iron stoves rectangular and sufficiently large to take a stick of wood at least three feet in length. It was part of the janitor's duties to make the rounds of all the rooms at least once an hour.) As I remember it. he was always “wooding up.” On cold winter days;the stoves were kept at cherry I red. so red in fact that one had tokeep at a distance. The rear ofrooms, however, was always cold. Huge wooden blackboards lined all the walls. Each blackboard had a sort of shelf on which the chalk was placed and the dusty erasers. Once or twice each day Mr. Loretz or someone delegated to the job, would clap them together to disperse the chalk dust and make us all sneeze from the inhalation. Each double desk (two pupils to a desk) had beddedin one corner an ink bottle, only for us younger ones there was no ink. We used “slates” bound round the edges with cord. To each slate was attached a soapstone pencil or a wooden pencil wrapped in red. white and blue paper. A sponge attached to a string hung from every desk and“monitors.” otherwise teachers pets, were selected to go down the aisles each morning to wet the sponges so that slates might be cleaned without the aid ot spit and coat sleeves To be a “monitorwas regarded as a great privilege. I do not recall that I w?as ever a monitor and until I reached th? High School I was never a teacher's pet, but that is another story.(Continued,)
Newspaper Details
Norwalk Reflector Herald
Norwalk, Ohio, US
Tue, Aug 06, 1957
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Bursley M.
NA, 09 Dec 2022
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