Olden Day Teachers=Part 2

Not too long after the addition of the Vos children, the school came into view, a dingy white beggar sunning by the side of the road.

A number of the children, who lived in the eastern part of the district, had gathered around the door, eager to enter the building. I had walked exactly four miles. I brushed some of the dust from my clothing and asked them to remain out of doors for a few more minutes. I wanted to experience the transforming power, that a group of enthusiastic children would have on the interior of the building.

I walked into the vestibule, against the north wall was a large pile of wood and near the south wall, a pump and dipper. The floor of the schoolroom proper was made of rough wide boards, the wainscoating high with large spikes, driven in at regular intervals, about three feet above the floor, A large rusty box stove, four rows of double seats, a home made recitation bench, a cheap desk and chair for the teacher furnished the room. A small black board hung on the east wall and there were windows on the south and north sides.

After freshing up a bit, at the pump, I opened the door. I have never seen more happiness and enthusiasm in children than this crowd displayed. Hanging their pails on the big spikes, they covered them with their wraps and took their old seats, ready to began at the signal. Very early in the term we began to anticipate the need of entertainment during stormy weather, so I brought from home a strong jumping rope, bean bags and story books. The children furnished small balls, jack-stones, jack knives, marbles and doll clothes, quilt patches and carpet raags for the girls, the furniture was moved and we had quite an indoor play ground.

We had very good times, working, playing, and eating together. The girls and boys did me untold good and my prayer is that I might have helped them to become good citizens. And so another school year rolled along.
Sincerely yours, Anna O'Beck.

The school room was lighted by kerosene wall lamps with reflectors. The stove stood towards the back of the room and had a shield around it. A hand bell was used to call the children in. The school had a wood shed. Some teachers of the school would room and board at a home close to the school and go home on weekends.. In those days the school year was only eight months long. The school had no piano, so the home across the street from the school would let them use theirs for singing.

I hope you used your imagination on this trip back through time and realized how hard it was for some people. Rosy Mound school did burn twice and both times it was rebuilt on the same site, a little better and each time with much needed improvements.

Olden Day Teachers=Part 1

I have always been interested in history, one of my great loves. Anything that keeps me reading about it and digging into the past. This post is about my home town and an old school called "Rosy Mound," started in the late 1800s and is still going strong and still located on Lakeshore Drive over by Lake Michigan.

More than a hundred years ago, sturdy industrious, honest women and men settled in this part of the country, clearing the land, establishing their homes, founding churches and building school houses. Today we have one of the most beautiful and best equipped rural schools in Michigan.

This is a letter written long ago by one of those teachers (Miss Anna O'Beck), who taught at Rosy Mound school from 1893-1894. I am reminded of a day many years ago and would like to know if you would like to go with me, in an invisible form, as I start out to work, (this is how the letter starts).

Early one September morning, wearing a simple cotton dress and heavy shoes, and carrying a small lunch basket in one hand, and a portfolio of supplies in the other, I left my home with a happy heart. I was going to teach, and that was one thing I wanted to do.

The walking was not so bad, until I came to the corner of what is now Sheldon Road at Robbins Road. No more sidewalks or grassy path-nothing but heavy sand and deep ruts in the road. After I turned the second turn in the road, a small girl came running to meet me. She had a small pail in one hand and school supplies in the other. She greeted me with the words, "You are the new teacher aren't you,? My name is Minnie McComb." The gay chatter of her voice and the lilt of her laughter, as we walked along, made me think less of tired feet, heavy sand and distance.

The Vincent trio, each carrying a tin pail and books, joined us as we were passing their gate. The conversation became more animated now and as we entered the deep woods at the base and east side of Rosy Mound (this is the big sand dune the school is named for), they tried their best to show me they were not afraid of any armed bandits or wild beast, that might be in hiding. I for one was glad to get out in the sunlight again.

The Nordhouse girls, each wearing a R.M. badge, met us as we came out of the woods, and together we climbed the corduroy road, which was a hard job, but not nearly as bad as if it were all ruts and sand. Pearl Nordhouse and her brother, properly labeled, were waiting for us at the top of the hill. The walking was easier now, since there were grassy stretches on either side of the road.

Coming up from his home in the valley, we could see black eyed Frank Bradenhof, wearing his badge, running to be in time to meet us at the gate. The last children to join the group , were the Vos trio. This was the assembly pattern we followed for the next one hundred and seventy-nine days of the school year, and on the jaunt home it was followed in the reverse order.

To be continued on part two. The miles from Miss O'Becks home in town to the school was four miles, so even if she is tired from teaching all day, she has to walk the four miles home again, now this is real dedication, and just think they trudged to school even in the rain and snow.

Remember These!

One of the first portable Cassette Recorders from Philips (1968)

I just bought a cassette player off ebay and was thinking of all the different forms over the years I have played music on. So I am listing just a few forms we all have used over the years. All of my young life my music was the record player, I still play records that I have kept over the years and I do pick up the oldies at garage and estate sales

CASSETTE PLAYERS==between the 1970s and 1990s the cassette was one of the two most common formats for prerecorded music , first alongside the LPs and later the Compact Disc. In 1958 RCA Victor introduced the stero, it was big 5" x 7", but offered few pre-recorded tapes despite multiple versions, it failed.
THE WALKMAN==is a Sony brand trademark, Sony began selling them in 1979. The CD based Walkman was launched in 1984, it was officialy called the Discman. Sony still makes the CD Walkman, they have become thinner and more compact with each new version.
THE 8 TRACK==was popular from mid 1960s through the late 1970s..

These are just a few of the old ones we used and loved. There have been many, many new improved items invented over the years. Our TV has become a home entertainment center, and we can enjoy movies with the VHS, and the DVD and please lets not forget the cell phones that do everything that all the above mentions.

Shopping Carts

Fascinating facts about the invention of the Shopping Cart by Sylvan Goldman in 1937. We love to put our groceries in a shopping cart, we like the little ones for light shopping and was glad when it came about. How about those carts for mom to push the kids in and shop at the same time, they come in the form of a car to those cute animals.

One night, in 1936. Goldman sat in his office wondering how customers might move more groceries. He stared idly at a wooden folding chair. Put a basket on the seat, wheels on the legs. Wait a minute, Goldman and a mechanic, Fred Young, began tinkering. Their first shopping cart was a metal frame that held two wire baskets. Since they were inspired by the folding chair, Goldman called his carts, "folding basket carriers."

In 1937 Goldman formed the Folding Carrier Basket Company to make shopping carts.
March 12, 1938 a U.S. Patent was issued to Sylvan Goldman for the shopping cart.1946 Orla E, Watson of Kansas City, MO devised a plan for a telescoping shopping cart.
1947 designers added a child's seat to the cart.

The first shopping carts were put into service by grocery store owner Sylvan Goldman in 1937. Sylvan Goldman was born in 1898, he grew up in the new Oklahoma Territory and went into wholesale produce business with his brother. Goldman's concept was simple, make shopping easier for the customers and they'll visit the store more frequently and buy more.

By 1946 shopping carts found such a firm place in American life as to grace the cover of the Saturday Evening Post. Supermarkets were redesigned to accommodate them, checkout counter design and the layout of aisles changed. Carts have changed over the years, they became larger to hold more merchandise, enabling more sales, and new carts to hold kids and grocery's. What would we do without them, shopping carts hasn't much over the years but the next generation of carts is still evolving with even bigger upper and lower baskets.

Don't you just hate it when you get a cart with a bad wheel that seem to thump , thump, and makes some type of noise or seems to want to go sideways and take out a customer, ha, ha.

SCAMS

There are a lot of scams going around and a lot is through emails. I would like to let my blogger friends know that I would never ask any of you for money or borrow anything. If you ever receive an email from me asking for money or anything else==PLEASE= contact me so I can report it. I have received emails lately that have asked this question of me.

Thank you.

Candles

Candle making was developed independently in many countries throughout history. The earliest known candles were made from whale fat by the Chinese, during the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC). In early China and Japan, tapers were made with wax from insects and seeds wrapped in paper. In India, wax from boiling cinnamon was used for temple candles. During the 1st century AD, indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest fused oil from eulachon or "candlefish", for illumination. In Europe, the Middle-East and Africa, where lamp oil made from olives was readily available, candle making remained unknown until the early middle ages due to the availability of olive oil for burning lamps.

The Anglo-Saxon King Alfred the Great (c.849-899) used graduated candles, also known as candle clocks. He used these candles to divide up the day into equal periods of study, and prayer, royal duties and rest. There were lines around the sides of the candles to show the passing of each hour, later 24-hour candles were invented based on this concept.

The first American colonist discovered that bayberries could be used to make candles, but the yield was poor. Fifteen pounds of boiled bayberries would provide only one pound of wax. Joseph Sampson was granted a United States patent for a new method of candle making in 1790, this was the second patent ever granted by the US.

Despite the advance of candle making, the candle industry was devastated soon after by the distillation of kerosene (a fuel used in lamps) and the 1879 invention of the light bulb. At this point, (20th century) candles became more of a decorative item. Candles were suddenly available in a broad array of sizes, shapes and colors, and consumer interest in scented candles began to escalate. During the 1990s, new types of candle wax was being developed, due to an unusually high demand for candles.

I can never look at a candle without thinking of our pioneer family's. They made their candles mostly of bees wax and animal fat. They lit their homes with these candles and light from the fire place. It must of been very difficult for them to read or do homework from such poor lighting, and mom had to do the mending at the end of the day, after working all day. The need for fire and light is as old as man himself.

The use of candles has always been popular, from a necessity to enjoyment.
Here are just a few ways people do enjoy the use of candles==On birthday cakes==decoration==for their scent==when reading=bath time==weddings==in restaurants==dinner for two==get rid of bugs==memorials==outdoor night parties==telling scary stories==swimming pools and caroling. Candles are fun and always will be, and I am sure you find good use for them especially when our electricity goes out.