I spent eight years at Clearview
School, on what is now known as Whetstone Road.
For teachers I had: Helen Flynn (from Massachusetts)
in grades 1-4. and Florence Butler Smith (from Danbury,
Ct.) in grades 5-8.
Most of the eight years I was the only one in my grade.
Some years there were only twelve in the eight grades!
I remember at Easter time walking down Swimming Hole
Road looking for the Easter bunny. When we returned
to the schoolhouse we'd find Easter goodies on our desks!
We had no electricity, so any evening programs (Halloween,
Christmas) we had to use lanterns. Sheets were hung
in the classroom to separate the stage from the audience.
Boards were placed across the students' desks for seating
for the audience. (Family and friends)
We had a large wood stove for heat within the classroom.
Each year one of the older students would be janitor.
This included building a fire in the stove each cold
morning and shoveling snow when necessary. In the eighth
grade I was janitor. I really didn’t enjoy it.
I had trouble starting the fire, but at the end of the
year (1941) I received a $25.00 war bond!
During one of my last few years in the one room school,
a petition was sent around requesting electric lights
for Clearview School. When we finally received lighting
what a joy!--especially on dark rainy days.
In the winter, we had half hour lunchtimes. I brought
a cold lunch, which I tired of soon. I envied Edna Ives
who had a hot thermos of something good, probably OVALTINE..
The rest of the year, we had an hour for lunch so I
walked home for a good meal. Noontime was "dinner"
at our house, the main meal of the day.
At Clearview we had a small orchestra: violin, guitar,
drums and two ukuleles. Our supervisor, Lewis S. Mills,
must have been impressed with our music. He drove us
to other schools in his district to play for the students.
(New Hartford, Barkhamsted, etc.) I played the ukulele
and my brother, Henry, played the guitar. Lewis S. Mills
visited each school regularly. We never knew when he
would be coming, but we were always glad to see him.
One day he asked us "What did you learn today?"
I'm sure we did learn something, but we couldn't come
up with an answer immediately.
It was
great when Florence Butler Smith introduced us to leatherwork,
a craft new to us. We entered some of our work in the
Harwinton Fair.
I remember selling poppies for the American Legion in
May each year. The school that sold the most was rewarded
with an ice cream party. Clearview never won, mainly
because we had such a low enrollment.
My second teacher, Florence Butler Smith, was able to
ski to school once from Litchfield Road (The roads weren't
plowed as early after a storm as they are now).I don't
remember having any school cancellation because of snow
or ice. I remember walking to school in waist-high snow,
though.
For drinking water, two students would go to a neighbor's
brook and get a pail of water from the brook. (daily).
Games played at school were: Fox and Geese, softball,
dodge ball, etc. on our tiny yard.
Imagine--no telephone, no electricity(until later years),
an outhouse (really drafty on a cold winter day) and
no running water!
I remember sweeping the oiled wood floors, washing the
backboards and clapping the dirty erasers outside. We
all helped with the housekeeping.
In the classroom, I remember a large picture of George
Washington, and a huge gray paper hornet's nest. (empty)
There was an opening in the ceiling that allowed us
to store seasonal things.
These are some of my memories of CLEARVIEW SCHOOL.
Cherie Delay Shanley
