Keokuk County Iowa IAGenWeb - 1904 School Essay Contest

Center district No. 3 derives its name from its location as it occupies the central part of Steady Run Township.

A site thirteen rods square was donated by Philip Heninger in 1851 for school and religious proposes. It was located in a high, dry, and healthy place. The first schoolhouse was a small log structure, facing the south, having but one door, and one long window in the west. The furniture and apparatus consisted on two long desks used for writing and storing of books and slab benches for seats. Imagine yourself sitting all day on one of these seats with no way to ease your position.

The teacher in those days wielded the rod without mercy and we are told had other modes of punishment such as wearing the dunce caps, holding rag dolls, and split sticks on the nose.

Upon our schoolground are twenty very beautiful maple trees whose dense foliage during the warm sunny days forms a grand arena in which the scholars of the past have played and those of the future will play the merry games which make their hearts light and gay, thus preparing them for their school tasks.

There is also a little elm planted in honor of George Washington. Though it is small in size now, may the happy children that play around it and may we as pupils now take it for an example and try to rise to such a height that we may not be ashamed in the future to stand beneath its foliage.

Our school yard is enclosed with a substantial fence, constructed of heavy cedar posts, connected with cabled wire, sufficiently strong that we boys need not be afraid to swing our whole weight upon it.

Though our school yard is beautiful and a spot we all hold dear, we must not forget the schoolhouse in which we pursue the work outlined by our teacher, who is ever kind, attentive, and willing to help us in time of need. At times we boys and often the girls, too, forget and cause disturbances, yet when our teacher speaks to us in her kind and affectionate way, I tell you it makes us feel ashamed. But I guess all this must be included in the makeup of a successful school.

The present schoolhouse, which was built in 1869, is a plain frame building, its dimensions being twenty-five by thirty feet, painted white on the outside, plastered and ceiled on the inside. There is one front door which opens into a hallway from which there are two doors leading into the main room. This room is furnished with light and ventilation by three windows on either side.

The large coal burner, situated near the center of the room, gives out a beautiful store of heat during the cold days of winter, driving away Jack Frost, soothing the pain in the fingers and toes of the smaller children.

It is well supplied with double seats, a very beautiful teacher’s desk and chairs. A large slate blackboard 3 ½ by 19 ft. occupies the front of the room and pictures decorate the wall. As to maps, globes, and charts we have none. A small library has been started during the past two years, in which may be found: Webster’s Dictionary, Black Beauty, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Letters to the Farm Boy, A Young Man’s Problem, Franklin’s Autobiography. Four True Stories of Life and Adventure. Short Stories from English History. And many others.

Our schoolhouse has also been used for religious meetings, singing schools, grange meetings, and literary work.

During the part term there were twenty-nine pupils attended our school and the attendance and punctuality was good, there being as high as 13 pupils neither absent nor tardy. We also had thirty visitors; six calls being made by the directors.

Among those who have attended our school and are now climbing the ladder of success are the Ogden Bros., mercantile dealers of Martinsburg; Will Fuller, a noted electrician; James Smith, Supt. of the diamond mines in South Africa; Roland Martin, a minister; Emma Love, Anna and Lucy Jones, Teachers; Charley Heninger, an Attorney at law; Salor Heninger, former teacher in Elliot’s Business College and many others have possibly been equally successful.

As to the future we expect to accomplish more than we have in the past. Miss Harlan, our present teacher, has partially graded the school, and if re-elected for the ensuing term, hopes to make a decided improvement in our school work. We expect to have flower gardens, secure maps, globes, and charts and adopt the button system into our school and hope to have Parents’ Day at least once during the term.

We trust that our school may continue to develop and that it may always remain free and independent. Our earnest desire is that in the future happy children may continue to shout on the old schoolground as in days of yore, though for us these days will be gone forever.

Our motto: “Energy and pluck win.”