School Days on a Nebraska Prairie

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First Picture:
Back row: Paul Kitt, Rita Miller,Verla Kitt, Teacher, Mrs. Clemmens, Darlene Kitt, Edna Pearl Tieman. Front Row: Franky Tieman, Eddie Miller, Ila Miller, Elaine Kitt

Second Picture: Edna Pearl Tieman, Verla Kitt, Dixie Denton, Virginia DeHart?, Rita Miller, Darlene Kitt. Front Row: Paul Kitt, Eddie Miller



To my grandkids with love.

My experiences in Elementary Grades (then called Grade School) could easily be compared to those of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Her writings in “Little House on the Prairie” cause me to relate well to some incidences she writes about. They were typical of life on the prairies in the Midwest. She received her schooling and later became a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse a couple of generations earlier.

However, things hadn’t changed a lot when I started my educational journey. Laura’s parents homesteaded in South Dakota and it was my great grandfather, Cyrus Arthur Nesmith, who homesteaded similarly on the plains of Nebraska. Our family lived on some of that land owned then by my grandfather. His name was also Cyrus Arthur Nesmith.

Obviously father and son were both pretty prosperous and ambitious men. They not only developed good farmland but also a nice house. They were community minded having the vision to see that there was a schoolhouse in close range for their future families. They also set up a the Calvert Post Office in the house where we lived and I think my grandparents and parents helped in building the Mt. Zion Methodist Church on the year that I was born-1927.

The outside buildings around Calvert School were very crude. There was a barn that could house two or three animals as some of the students rode horses for transportation. Two of the students, Clarence and Dixie Denton, had a stubborn old mule they rode to school. I am ashamed to say some of our recesses were spent teasing the poor thing. That is, when the teacher wasn‘t looking. Sorry to say, we didn’t have much supervision during recesses. Understandably, it was his/her only time to get ready for the next lessons.

Our family never really owned a very good riding horse, so I usually walked the mile and one-half to and from school. Some of the students went the same direction toward their homes so we would walk together. I especially liked it when my friend Paul Kitt walked with me. We went through all twelve grades together, grade school and high school, but after that never saw much of each other. .

The other outside building was quite wide and narrow and housed the boys’ outhouse on one side. Next to that was a storage area for coal, and on the other side was the girls’ outhouse. The area for coal was kept well supplied to be sure we kept warm during the cold Nebraska winters.

Inside the school was an entryway where we hung our coats and left our overshoes. There was also a table for the bucket used for drinking water. A wall separated the cloakroom from the main room. A door in the middle then took you into the main room.

Going through that door you would see a pump organ as you looked to the left and looking to the right you would see a small cupboard that kept textbooks and supplies. Before you would be several rows of the old style desks. We always hoped for a seat close to the pot bellied heating stove that stood in the middle of the schoolroom. I guess you could call it central heating!

The teacher’s desk was at the front and the wall behind her was a huge blackboard that went from one side of the room to the other. This was used for homework assignments, math problems, spelling words, and other uses for teaching. Since there was no copying machine the teacher used the blackboard a lot.

There was only one textbook per student for each subject and that was the sole source of information. There was a very small and inadequate library in Wauneta, eight miles away, but I don’t recall ever going there. I don’t remember ever being encouraged to read other books. I read a few of “The Bobbsy Twins” series. The teacher sometimes would read from a storybook after noon recess.


You must realize that the teacher was working with possibly nine to twelve or more students through the day that were in several different grades. She was to teach them all the required curriculum for each subject

Add to that the responsibility for all the custodial care of the room including starting up the fire in the stove in the morning, getting the water bucket filled with drinking water and all the other things that this many students might require.
The teacher usually boarded at Vearl and Eva Kitt's home as it was close by.

While a first grader was being taught reading, the other students were expected to work on their own or wait until the teacher got ready to teach their class of Math or History. How he or she did all this without going crazy is beyond me and how we learned anything at all is also beyond me.

If the teacher was able to play the organ we would stand around the organ in the morning before we started classes and sing. One of the songbooks was “The Little Golden Songbook”. We belted out all of the patriotic songs as well as many hymns and folksongs. There was “Home on the Range”, Workin’ on the Railroad”, “Bill Grogans Goat” and. many more. This time and recess times were the highlights of my day.

We always did the pledge of allegiance under the observation of George Washington, a picture that hung on the back wall.

Everyone brought his or her lunch. My favorite sandwich was peanut butter with sweet pickles in between. My mom baked most of our bread but I envied kids that had “town bread” in their lunch. Sometimes we would have some fruit or a cookie.

Our favorite activity for recesses was baseball. I was a good player especially at bat. We played “Pump, Pump Pull Away“, “Mother May I“, and “Red Rover“. We did all kinds of races. There were sack races, three legged races, and many kinds of relay races. We jumped rope and used the same rope to have Tug of War contests. Oh, what fun we had. This was our main reason for coming to school. You could endure most anything if you knew that in a couple of hours you were going to have games.

One of my most embarrassing moments was when my socks fell down when I was running in “Pump, Pump, Pull Away". I had to wear these long stockings that were held up by garters above the knee. They were heavy texture about as thick as the regular kind of socks that you wear. Girls never wore pants or jeans-only dresses. In order to keep warm in the winter we wore these socks.

Well, when this disaster occurred I was running. They fell down to my ankles. I was right in front of everyone in the school as they were lined up at this game. All their eyes were on me. The game stopped while I was pulling my socks back up. Everyone laughed hilariously. I don’t think I cried but I can still feel the pain of how mortified and embarrassed I was. I don’t think they meant it viciously but it still hurt! Do you suppose it might have done some permanent damage to my psyche? (Websters definition of the word psyche: “To make psychologically uneasy: INTIMIDATE, SCARE”)
Now you know why I am the way I am!

For play equipment we had a teeter-totter and a merry-go-round. Here is a picture of it with all the students that were in school

in that particular year. I think I was in about fourth grade.

Periodically through the winter there would be what was called Box Suppers at the school. Other one-room schools would be invited to come too. Parents and children participated. All the ladies and young girls would prepare a nice lunch and wrap it as beautiful as she could. You never allowed anyone to see your box before it was auctioned off if possible.

Whatever man or boy bought your box you would eat lunch with. If a young single guy was interested in a certain lady he would try hard to find out which was her box. Then if the word got out that he was bidding for that box, others would deviously bid the price up real high. It was a great fundraiser for the school.

They usually had some kind of local entertainment. One time I remember being at a box supper in a school near us. My dad played the guitar and my brother Ed sang. He was very young, maybe five years old. They were asked to play and sing and Ed was singing “Home on the Range”. He got to the phrase "discouragin’ word". He simply couldn’t get it out and started to cry. I felt so sorry for him and still like to remind him of that incident.

Eighth grade graduation took place at our county seat which was Benkelman, NE All eighth graders from rural schools in the whole county were in attendance at this event. The County Superintendent would give out the diplomas. I doubt if there were ever more than twenty graduates. I still remember the dress I wore as I think it was my first “store bought” dress. It was a shiny blue taffeta.

Are the schools of today better? Of course they are. On second thought my response might be “yes” and “no”. When we get together for the next episode I’ll tell you why I say that. For it will be called Part II of “School Days on a Nebraska Prairie”.

Until then, God bless and keep you,
Grandma Rita