Schoolhouse Wood

The winter wood for the schoolhouse was stored under the west porch and on under the 'big room'. The storage space was protected by a locked hasp all the time until the contract wood supplier dumped the whole load of wood next to the access door where it remained for a week or so.

One day it was announced that the boys big enough to work were to stack all the wood in under the porch and thereby be excused from classes. The work proceeded swiftly until the boys discovered how wide the cracks were in the porch decking.

Of particular interest were the sights to behold when the older girls were let out to watch the boys working, as seen from their vantage point of the porch. Strangely, it required more boys to stack the wood under the porch than were required to haul it in. For a while the wood pile became an unofficial 'study hall' for boys only until one of the boys got a splinter in his eye while studying there.

It was decreed that that particular 'study hall' was hazardous, to be kept locked all the time.