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Snake Invades One-Room Schoolhouse

By Capper's Staff
Published on November 1, 2012

I was a 19-year-old green-horn, who didn’t even know much about the state of Iowa. One day while was teaching class in a one-room schoolhouse (I had seven pupils in seven different grades), and a little boy shouted, “Miss Cloud! Look behind you!”

Much to my horror, I turned to see a huge bull snake trying to come up through the cold air register. It was waving around in the air almost as high as me. It was stuck and couldn’t get through, its middle was too thick. The boys pulled up the register, and took it, with the snake, outside where they removed the snake and measured it. Six feet long! Everyone told me that they usually came in pairs and where there was one the other one would be around looking for its mate. I had nightmares for several nights, and was afraid to put my feet under the teacher’s desk, or go into the cloakroom for days, but we didn’t see any more snakes.

Alice R. Mason
Toledo, Iowa


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.