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Random Thoughts
Ok, back at the ranch. Things are falling into place. Ma can drive now. We have food in the house and a new refrigerator and gas range have been delivered and hooked up. We got a Frigidaire refrigerator and a Monarch gas range. A pair of propane tanks were set up in back of the house and the lines ran through the wall to the back of the stove. REA ( Rural Electrification Association ) turned the power on so we now have electricity and gas. Life is good. Ma drove me down to the elementary school to enroll me in the fourth grade. They weren’t big on records in rural America back in 1948 so I didn’t see any papers of any kind produced. Ma told the teacher I had passed grades 1 through 3 in Chicago so they enrolled me in the 4th grade. When Ma told the teacher where we lived all we got was a confused look. The teacher had no idea where that was. Ma told her it was the old Hans Hanson place and that cleared up everything. She knew right where that was. We found out later that the old Hans Hanson place was where we lived. RR2 Westfield, Wisconsin didn’t mean anything to anybody but the minute you said the old Hans Hanson place everyone knew right where that was. Had we lived there for a full generation I suppose it might have turned into the old Lillie place. In any event the teacher said she would get hold of one of the school board members and check to see how far it was to our house. Wisconsin had a rule or law or regulation back then that any student that lived 2.0 miles or farther from the school had to be transported. The next day the board member clocked it door to door with his car and came up with 1.9 miles. The teacher did the same with her car and also came up with 1.9 miles. They apologized profusely but said nothing could be done. It wasn’t 2.0 miles or more. Such is the story of my life. Back at the ranch Ma was driving me crazy. In the morning the temps were in the 60’s so she wouldn’t let me go outside to play without a jacket on. I promptly took it off as soon as I got outside and hung it on something. Every time I headed for the door I got a list of all the places I shouldn’t go. I shouldn’t go down by the pig shed because there were probably big rats there. I shouldn’t go down by the chicken coop because snakes like chicken eggs and I would get bit by a snake if I went there. I shouldn’t go down by the creek because I might fall in the water and drown. The list went on and on and on. I was told not to go into the surrounding woods because I might get lost and no one would ever find me. I roamed all over a 40 square block of Chicago for years while Ma was working in the defense plant and Pa was in the Army but now all of a sudden she was in full mommycopter mode. On top of that I now had to walk 1.9 miles and back to school every day. That turned out to be not as bad as I at first thought. The road to the school passed over one stream and bordered one lake. I found all kinds of diversions along the road. Sheldon Elementary School was probably one of the last one room schoolhouses in Wisconsin. It set on a sizable plot of ground at the intersection of two rural roads. The road I traveled was all gravel while the other road was black top. The school was one large room appoximately 50 x 50 feet. One corner was dominated by a gigantic wood stove. The teachers desk was in the front of the room placed in the center. Behind her chair a rope hung down to ring the school bell which was mounted in cupola on the roof. She rang the bell to start school and at the end of recess. The room had eight rows of desks which were for grades 1 through 8. Each desk had an inkwell and ink pens and pencils were used for writing. It was the job of the boys to keep the inkwells full. One wall was covered with bookshleves and had a decent selection of books. Back then they had a thing called a bookmobile which came around once a week. The students could check out books and return them to the bookmobile when they were done. Every monday morning we lined up and the teacher gave us what we called a Goiter pill. It was actually an iodine pill which was supposed to prevent Goiters. I guess Goiters were common in the old days. Next to the school was good sized building where the firewood was stored for the winter. The local farmers filled it every fall and it usually lasted all winter. It was the job of the boys to keep the wood box next to the wood stove filled all winter. In front of the wood shed was a concrete pad with a hand pump on it. It was the job of the boys to keep the stoneware water fountain full. The water fountain consisted of a huge stoneware container with a stoneware lid and a faucet on the bottom. It would keep the ice cold well water cold all day. Out back there were two outhouses. One for the boys and one for the girls. On the back wall of the schoolroom there were two discs hanging on strings. One for the boys and one for the girls. One side of the disc said in and one side said out. When you had to go you raised your hand and the teacher would nod okay. You went to the back of the room and turned your disc over to read out and then ventured out to the outhouse. When you were done you came back in and turned the disc over and went back to your seat. This was my new home for the next 4 years.