Dear editor,
The Gaslight, a newsletter put out by Jeff Kluever of the Allen County Historical Society, had some interesting information on teachers who applied to teach at Horville.
One of the teachers who applied was Miss Bonnie Jefferis in 1933, the year I was born. She was my first teacher at Rock Creek, District 8 Country School, around 1939.
She was considered well-qualified, and had to be to teach someone like me anything.
She had all eight grades to teach in a one-room schoolhouse. Besides that, she had to keep the large stove going with coal in the winter, and usually hired the older boys to do janitor work, like sweeping floors, etc. Organized, she was.
A couple older boys pushed me into a mud puddle, and got punished in front of the students with a rubber hose. She put my wet clothes to dry on the outer tin cover of the stove, while I hid in an off-room.
About all the students walked to school daily. A mile was considered a short distance!
We all saluted the flag every morning. Especially when World War II started.
Jim Brownrigg,
Iola, Kan.
