This one-room school accommodated 45 pupils from Grade 1 to Grade 8. There was a pot-bellied wood stove which Ronnie Post kept fired, and all around the stove were metal screens on which we hung our winter hats, mittens and scarves. A large crock with a spout held our drinking water, and one tin dipper served everyone until the arrival of a dispenser with paper cups.

Pathways behind the school led to opposite sides of the back playing field where there was an outhouse on one side for the boys, and another on the opposite side for the girls. A large back shed was attached to the school, and in it we skipped and played games. A favourite was "The Grand Old Duke of York".

Windows lined one entire wall of the school. During lunch hours we would sit in the window sills playing "Jacks" and "Pick-up Sticks". On warm September days we often sat on the logs behind the school to eat our lunch. Sometimes we traded what we had for something in another's lunch. From Wilma Redner's lunch I often enjoyed her mother's cake with delicious 7-minute icing and scrumptious taffy tarts.

Outdoor activities were marbles, playing on the swings and teeter-totters, and a number of pick-up games, the most common being "Scrub" (really Softball). As we arrived at school each morning, we would check to see how many people were already involved in the ball game, and then call out our position, which was usually an outfielder. If there was enough time we might get to bat before the bell rang.

During the winter, recesses and noonhours were often spent sliding on Roblin's Hill just behind the school. Our family lived too far away to bring our sleds to school, so we would jump on the back of someone who was starting to go down. Large patches of ice in the schoolyard provided good sliding. If one got bumped or fell hard on the ice, he (or she) simply got up, went inside and played at something else. That was standard behaviour for most of us at Rednersville School. We were given great freedom to accept both the upside and the downside of our decisions.

One year the entire school got lice. The cure was to soak our hair in coal oil before washing it. Another year, impetigo spread rapidly. Children had to stay home until it was cured. This was done by soaking the infected parts in a watery disinfectant.

Class instruction was given by Grades, but much interaction took place between Grades as one group would help or instruct another group. Most written work had to be copied from the blackboard. It was before the era of copy machines. We did have a few ready made sheets to work from, which came from a 'hectograph'. A heavily inked master sheet would be placed on a rectangular container which held a thick clear jelled substance. The master copy (inkside down ) would be thoroughly pressed on the jelled substance and then removed. Its imprint was left and then one. b¥ one blank sheets would be pressed onto the jell, picking up the print. Obviously, large numbers of copies were not made from each master copy. Grades One and Two were dismissed at 2:30 and the other classes at 4:00 each day. I walked home with Norman Post and Billy Post and Donnie Farley. Norman and Donnie were my classmates as also was Lyle Wannamaker. We had to pair up and sit together for Arithmetic as there were only two textbooks.

Miss Wren was our Grade One teacher. She understood little ones so well, and as a consequence we loved her. When the inspector came, she had me read to him from a few books and then she started having me do both Grade One and Grade Two Arithmetic. Apparently she had told my parents that I would be skipping Grade Two and going directly to Grade Three the following year. (This 'skipping' of grades was a common practice, rather than enriching the programme and keeping children with their own age group).

The last day of school, as we all walked home, some people were showing others their report cards. I panicked because I had no report card, turned around, ran back to school and rushed up to the teacher's desk. When I told Miss Wren why I had come, she didn't tell me that Grade One wasn't issued report cards, but immediately took a blank one and wrote on the back, - This is to certify that Irene Boomhour has been promoted to Grade Three. (I still have that report card ). She may have been amused by my panic, but never let on and instinctively knew how I felt. Miss Wren would never hurt children's feelings.

She left Rednersville school a year later to move away and get married. A summer or two afterwards, I was bouncing a ball against the brick wall near the pumpstand when Daddy came to the back door and told me Miss Wren had died. My world seemed suddenly to stop! She had died in childbirth, - Miss Wren, Who so dearly loved children.

Mr. Bowerman followed Miss Wren. He lived in a nearby community, Albury. He brought some innovative ideas into our rural school. A mini Home Economics programme came into force by having some older pupils prepare and cook hot meals for lunches. He also implemented something unique among young children. That was to stand at attention, with our hats removed, by the side of the road whenever a funeral passed by. We did this faithfully, and seemed to realize it was a mark of respect for the dead. After a heavy snow had fallen, he would have the whole school divide into teams, then announce an extended recess, so that everyone had time to build snowforts, make snowballs and have a wonderful snowball fight.

The following year Miss Howe became our teacher. She had so many good qualities. She was kind, fair, and consistent in what she expected from us. We made good academic progress, while also being given the opportunity for extras. She carefully prepared us for skits, drills, etc. for the Christmas concert. These concerts were an annual event. During the month of November we would start to prepare. As December approached the preparations intensified. The programme usually cocsisted of recitations, songs, skits, short plays, pantomines and drills ( a type of maze marching) . The morning of the concert, the entire school would walk a mile to the Church Hall for a dress rehearsal. Then, in the afternoon we went to the Roblin home where MUriel Roblin and her mother applied what make-up was needed. The evening was wonderful! The brightly lit Church Hall was bursting at the seams with parents, friends, and both older and younger siblings. As the performances came to and end, the jingling of Santa's bells could be heard and excitement was at a feverish pitch. Then the presents were distributed. There was one gift for each child, and oranges and candies for everyone. The entire community was now imbued with the Christmas spirit.

Once a week the music teacher, Miss Vandewater, came to our school. She only stayed a couple of hours, but they were hours of pure joy! We were exposed to the basic rudiments of reading music, but more importantly, we learned to sing. Many of the songs learned under her direction have stayed with me for a lifetime. She prepared us to enter a music festival in Picton.

In July, 1941, our family moved to Manilla, Ont. We said good-bye to our friends and to a place that had been 'home' for five wonderful years.

Irene Lathe ( Boomhour )