#4 Yellow River

Tales from north of the YELLOW River.
I was one of the lucky one’s to be born during the Great Depression, lucky you say, what is so lucky about being born during extreme times? For starters, it made you appreciate the little you had. Parents of honesty and integrity, parents that loved you and only wanted the best for you.
Neighbors that where just like your parents. I learned the value of life, the importance of being responsible in doing my chores, and I had the great privilege of attending a one room school with eight grades and one teacher.
Those days we had no head start, didn’t need any, no kindergarten either. Since we had no cartoon’s on T V and not even a radio, we where taught all the beginning basics at home before we became old enough for the first grade.
We had no school bus to pick us up, it was walk, walk, walk.
Those eight years were good years, you knew all the others and even if we didn’t know it at the time, we were alike (poor). We didn’t wear uniforms to school but all the boys dressed the same,
In bib overalls.
How does this all connect to the Yellow River? Our family lived on a farm that joined the river on the north side. From our home about one-half mile to the north when we walked to school we crossed Eagle Creek and we were walking over water which flowed into Yellow river to the west of us. (seems we are always connected to the river) Now just a couple hundred feet on to the north was the school, your right the Eagle Creek school.

Red brick, wooden floor that got a coat of oil at the beginning of each school year, a pot belly coal burning stove right in the middle, a little room at the back for coats and a shelf to put your lunch on.
The average number of students was about 27 to 30 children each year. The teachers desk was at the front in the middle, with a black board that went almost all the way across the room.Rows of desk began with first and second grades on the west side and by the time you were in the eight grade you had made it to the east side by the windows, however you could not see out unless you would stand up, and in those days very few automobiles went by on the gravel rood, but when they did the dust would fly.
Oh yes the rest rooms, Ha! I mean the toilets were two hole out house’s and the water came from a pump outside, one with a handle that you had to work up and down. In the winter it was mostly froze up, made no difference who washed there hands anyway!.

My favorite teacher was Mrs. Glant my first teacher ever. Her husband was a preacher.
When I was in seventh or eight grade we had a hippy for a teacher, she wore a gold ring in her nose. We also had a nice young teacher right out of school, Willie and Marion Walkal who were twins just a grade behind me gave Miss Wonderlick (I think that was her name) a hard time, we found out one day that it was her birthday and we where going to give her a birthday spanking, we chased her around the outside of school house until we caught her. To day we would have been expelled.
The very best part of the day was recess and lunch time. I don’t think kids play the way we did, mostly made up our own games, like when it snowed we would play fox and goose.
The only paddling I got in school was for giving a boy a bloody nose for messing up our pattern for the game. IT WAS WORTH IT.
Well there is more but I’m wore out.
Later, My mamma named me Harold but then called me “Dean.”