PIONEER SCHOOLS OF CALHOUN COUNTY

1. THE FAMILY SCHOOLS

THESE WERE ESTABLISHED BY RESOURCEFUL, EARLY SETTLERS WHOSE LAND GRANTS PLACED THEM IN ISOLATED AREAS. SOME OF THESE GRANTS WERE GIVEN BEFORE THE HOMESTEAD ACT OF 1862 BROUGHT IN THE HOMESTEADERS. THESE SCHOOLS WERE BORN OF NECESSITY, HOME FOUNDED, HOME TAUGHT AND SURVIVAL ORIENTED. THE THREE Rs COULD HAVE BEEN TAUGHT, AND PROBABLY WERE, BY EITHER PARENT, BUT THE FATHER TAUGHT THE WORK SKILL CLASSES FOR THE SONS, AND THE MOTHER TAUGHT THESE CLASSES FOR THE DAUGHTERS.

INSTRUCTION WAS MERGED INTO THE DAILY WORK SCHEDULE, WITH LECTURES OFTEN FITTED INTO REST PERIODS, IN THE SHADE AT THE END OF THE ROW WHEN THE CORN WAS BEING HOED. NO DOUBT A CLASS FOR MAKING AND MOUNTING A HORSESHOE COULD BE RESCHEDULED FOR ANOTHER DAY AND REPLACED WITH ONE ON THE PROPER TECHNIQUE FOR STALKING THE WHITE TAILED DEER, IF THE MEAT LARDER WAS LOW AND IT WAS A GOOD DAY FOR A HUNT.

EVERY BOY WAS A PROSPECTIVE HEAD OF ANOTHER PIONEER FAMILY AND WOULD NEED SENSIBLE LESSONS ON SUCH SURVIVAL SKILLS AS THESE ANDOTHERS THAT MIGHT VARY SLIGHTLY FROM FARM TO FARM:

1. HOW TO SPAY GUILTS AND CASTRATE MALE PIGS AND CALVES.

2. HOW AND WHEN TO BUTCHER HOGS, CUT AND CURE THE MEAT AND SAVE THE LARD.

3. WHEN TO KILL AND BUTCHER THE HOGS WAS A VITAL LESSON BECAUSE AT LEAST THREE DAYS OF TEMPERATURE, BELOW FREEZING, WAS NECESSARY UNLESS ONE LIKED THE ODOR OF SLIGHTLY TAINTED MEAT COMING FROM THE SMOKEHOUSE WHILE YOU WERE SMOKING YOUR HAM AND BACON.

4. THEY ALSO NEEDED TO KNOW HOW TO MAKE AND USE THE VARIOUS KIND OF TOOLS.

5. HOW TO PREPARE THE LAND, PLANT AND HARVEST THE CROPS, AND SAVE THE SEED FOR THE NEXT SEASON.

6. THE GIRLS SKILL CLASSES WOULD INCLUDE INSTRUCTION IN CARDING WOOL AND COTTON, MAKING YARN, KNITTING SOCKS AND SWEATERS, WEAVING CLOTIH AND CUTTING IT PROPERLY FOR MAKING SHIRTS AND TROUSERS FOR MEN, AND DRESSES FOR WOMEN. THEY ALSO NEEDED CAREFUL INSTRUCTION IN COOKING AND TREATING THE SICK FOR FEVERS AND COLDS.

2. THE LINE SHACK OR EMPTY CABIN SCHOOLS

THESE SOMETIMES AND SOMEWHAT SCHOOLS OCCURED WHEN AND IF BOTH A TEACHER AND A BUILDING COULD BE FOUND IN ASPARSELY SETTLED AREA DURING A GIVEN YEAR. IN THE VERY THINLY SETTLED AREAS, CATTLE OWNERS RAN LARGE HERDS OF LONG HORNED, SPINDLE LEGGED CATTLE, ON THE FREE RANGE OF WIRE GRASS. THESE MEN BUILT LINE SHACKS AND CORRALS TO LIVE IN DURING SPRING AND FALL ROUND UPS TO MARK , BRAND AND CASTRATE THE CALVES. THESE SHACKS COULD BE AND WERE SOMETIMES USED FOR CHURCHES AND SHORT SUMMERTIME SCHOOL TERMS, BUT STUDENTS AND TEACHERS WERE SCARCE. THERE WAS NOT ENOUGH MONEY TO PAY A TEACHER WITH A FAMILY, AND YOUNG LADY TEACHERS TENDEDTO GET MARRIED QUICKLY AND JOIN SOME LONESOME MAN IN HIS EFFORT TO PROVE UP HIS HOMESTEAD.

3. THE EARLY SMALL COMMUNITY SCHOOL

THESE SCH0OLS OCCURED IN COMMUNITIES WITH A DOZEN OR SO FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN AND A FEW PROGRESSIVE PARENTS. USUALLY SOME PUBLIC MINDED PIONEER HAD ALREADY GIVEN A SMALL PARCEL OF HIS HOMESTEAD FOR A CHURCH AND GRAVEYARD. THE CHURCH HAD ALREADY BEEN BUILT FROM LOGS HEWN BY BROAD AXES AND POLES, WITH THE BARK STRIPPED OFF BY SHOVELS, AND THE ROOF MADE OF BOARDS RIVED FROM HEART CYPRESS LOGS. BEFORE NAILS WERE EASILY AVAILABLE WOODEN PEGS WERE USED TO HOLD THE STRUCTURE TOGETHER. THE LABOR WAS SUPPLIED BY LOCAL MEN AND THE BUILDING WAS FINISHED AT NO COST IN MONEY.

AFTER HEARING A FEW SERMONS IN THE CHURCH THAT THEY HAD BUILT AND EXPERIENCING PRIDE IN THEIR WORKMANSHIP THE SAME MEN WHO HAD BUILT THE CHURCH NEEDED ONLY THE SUGGESTION OF THE NEED FOR A SCHOOL TO GET THEM READY TO START CHOPPING THE NECESSARY TREES. THIS SCHOOL WAS USUALLY A ONE ROOM ONE TEACHER OPERATION THAT CONTAINED FROM ONE TO THREE STUDENTS IN EACH OF THE FIRST EIGHT GRADES. THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE TEACHER WAS OFTEN DEPENDENT ON HIS ABILITY TO KEEP ORDER. MANY OF THE PARENTS CONSIDERED HIM GOOD WITH THE BOOK IF HE WAS QUICK TO USE THE SWITCH.

IF THE TEACHER WAS AN ATTRACTIVE YOUNG UNMARRIED LADY THERE MIGHT BE A FEW YOUNG MEN IN THEIR TEENS OR EVEN EARLY TWENTIES IN THE EIGHTH GRADE BUT SOME OF THESE SEEMED MORE INTERESTED IN MARRYING THE TEACHER THAN MAKING AN A INMATH. IF THE TEACHER WAS AN ATTRACTIVE YOUNG MAN, THERE MIGHT BE A HALF DOZEN GIRLS IN THAT GRADE WITH SIMILAR MOTIVES.

H.L. CHASON