Mountainsides,
New Jersey, was a borough of Westfield, New Jersey.
Our family lived there for ten years. When it came to
going to school, my mother discovered that the mountainside
elementary school had a periodic de-lousing of the students,
so my mother decided that she could teach us at home,
by means of the Calvert School System. We loved being
taught this method but my mother discovered that she
didn’t have time to teach the new course, so she
transferred us to a Westfield private school when my
twin brother, John, and I were 8 years old. There, my
mother taught music to help pay the tuition. There was
also a skilled French teacher and the radio music man
Frank Damrosch.
Our Westfield days came to an end when our mothers sister,
Aunt Caroline Ball, found some beautiful property in
Harwinton. It included a gardener’s cottage and
a five-story barn. Aunt Caroline, who was a sculptor,
converted a former cow barn into a house and studio.
Meantime, all the Peckhams settled in Harwinton, and
my parents contracted to build a stone house in the
summer of 1930.
In September, on the first day of school, we went down
a short cut with the Johnson’s behind where Miss
Lane lived. As we came to the yard of the school, we
saw some buildings at the back of the yard with signs
that read “BOYS” and “GIRLS”.
The Johnson’s told us these were outhouses. There
must have been some kind of greeting from Miss Deagan,
who was a graduate of the two-year normal school, but
I was more interested in the school structure. As we
came in the entrance, there was a large pail with water
in it and a ladle. It seems to me that even though the
ladle was used, there was very little illness in the
school. The room off the entry on the left was used
for projects such as encyclopedia work. =Up on the shelves
were student lunch boxes. Some of us went home for lunch.
The First day of school
When we entered the classroom, there was a very strong
odor of the floor being oiled. There were rows of desks
and underclass boys were fitting the desks to each person.
When we got to our desks, we were given books, which
were put inside the desks. The older classmen with two
big bottles were pouring ink into inkwells. There was
one pencil and one stick pen, which had a point. All
the children lined up to go to the pencil sharpener.
They were advised that they would have a certain amount
of time to use the pencil and they would not get another
one if they used it up too soon. The pens were supposed
to last longer. For me, that was almost impossible because
I was tense and I was pressing hard to write the Palmer
Method. So the prongs of the pen were spread apart and
I had two lines whenever I wrote with it. I think the
rule was broken, because I had more pens then I was
supposed to. When I looked up at the blackboard, I saw
the poem “Polly Put The Kettle On” and other
words around the margin of the blackboard.
Other Classroom Experiences
How did they run the school with 23 students and one
teacher? I was extremely interested to see the 8th graders
come down to the front to teach the 1st graders. It
was difficult for me not to watch the proceedings, so
there were many days when I had to stay after school
because I hadn’t got my morning work done. The
classes themselves were run on two levels except for
English. Older students sometimes helped to teach younger
students. I wish schools today could learn that way.
The teacher, who had to manage some very difficult children,
had a 15-inch ruler, and I don’t remember any
girls being disciplined this way. The boys who did a
minor infraction of the rules had their open hands exposed
to the ruler. If there were a more severe infraction,
the knuckles got hit. It was interesting to see that
the boys did not want anyone to know that they felt
the ruler.
The Harwinton Fair
Every school in various districts competed to win prizes.
Most of them had sand tables, which depicted a subject,
such as Indians or some historical event. Some schools
had programs especially prepared for the Governor’s
entertainment, such as songs they had composed. But
the big contests for adults and children were all sorts
of produce they had put up, food they had cooked. The
4-H Clubs were very much a part of it all. There was
livestock of all sorts. I must mention, however, that
there was a family in Harwinton who trained oxen and
brought them to the fair. In the oxen pulling, some
yokes were not hit, and it was amazing how much better
they performed then the teams, which were beaten. All
things change. If brutality were employed today, the
spectators would object. The most wonderful parts of
the 4-H exhibits were the sheering the sheep and getting
them ready to show. I wish I had more time to write
about the schools, but this must tell you how much I
appreciated being in the Center School.
