I’m writing about my one-room schoolhouse, Hickory Grove School. My school had desks that seated two pupils, but only one pupil was assigned to each while I attended. The girls were seated on one side of the room and the boys on the other. If a boy was caught throwing spit balls teacher made him sit with a girl of her choice. If caught whispering and it was a girl, she had to sit with a boy. Most embarrassing! It didn’t happen often.
Another punishment was to have to stand at the blackboard with your nose in a chalk ring on the blackboard.
Marguerite Schneider
Lenzburg, Illinois
Back in 1955 a call went out from the editors of the then Capper’s Weekly asking for readers to send in articles on true pioneers. Hundreds of letters came pouring in from early settlers and their children, many now in their 80s and 90s, and from grandchildren of settlers, all with tales to tell. So many articles were received that a decision was made to create a book, and in 1956, the first My Folks title – My Folks Came in a Covered Wagon – hit the shelves. Nine other books have since been published in the My Folks series, all filled to the brim with true tales from Capper’s readers, and we are proud to make those stories available to our growing online community.
