This is number twenty-three of our new series, "The Old Schoolhouses of Decatur County." Our inspiration for this series came from an old book picked up at an antique shop about the history of schools in Decatur County from 1820 - 1978. It was an incredible project by the Rural Couples Club to celebrate the Bicentennial Year of the U.S.A. (1776-1976) Added inspiration for our geocaching series comes from one of the Hoosierdogs being a teacher in the Greensburg Schools. The inspiration for the series name comes from the poem, "The Old Schoolhouse" by John Greenleaf Whittier.
Still sits the schoolhouse by the road,
A ragged beggar sunning;
Around it still the sumacs grow,
And blackberry vines are running.
Within, the master's desk is seen,
Deep scarred by raps official;
The warping floor, the battered seats.
The jack-knife's carved initial;
The charcoal frescoes on its wall;
It's door's worn sill, betraying
The feet that creeping slow to school
Went storming out to playing!
We are pretty sure that this schoolhouse is the old Pleak School. If anyone knows for sure, please let me know. The old schoolhouse is being used for storage. (Which is the way with many old schoolhouses in the county.) If this is Pleak School, some early teachers were Ethel Crume, Jessie Donnell, Nona Eich, Flora Gaines, Ed Lanham, Mary Stewart, Kittie Thomson, and Gertrude Walker.
A tradition or unwritten rule in one-room schoolhouses was that the teachers should treat the children at Christmas time. If he did not promise to do so, he was "barred out" or "locked out" of the school the last day before Christmas. The teachers were usually prepared but sometimes wanted not to be outdone by the pupils, especially if they demanded a written agreement as to what and how much of apples, cider, candy, sugar, whiskey, or other things were to be provided. The pupils would try to beat the teacher to school that day and greet him by saying, "Teacher, have you got any treat?" You will have to continue reading on schoolhouse #25 to find out what happened to teachers that did not have a treat on that special day...