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When my family moved from new Jersey to Connecticut my twin sister and I enrolled in the Center School in Harwinton, experiencing for the first time what it was like to be taught in one room with one teacher. There were about 20 children in 8 grades and the teacher would take one or two grades to the front of the room and have them recite to her, while she had other children work at their desks. In Center School I was assigned to the 7th and 8th grades. My classmates were Tecla Fredsall and Luella Johnson. Our teacher was Miss Deegan who kept order and impressed on us the fundamentals of the three R's. Center School as we see it today has been restored to its original classic simplicity, but in 1930 it boasted some alterations that the pupils thought special. These included a large arched window on the wall, shingles on the exterior, and a furnace in the cellar which had a register in the floor through which hot air was circulated to provide warmth, unlike most of the other schools which were heated by pot-belly stoves. Charles Kirchofer, who was later killed in World War II, was assigned the task of getting over to the school early in the morning to get the furnace started. I remember the first and second graders on frigid days having to be helped out of their winter garments by the teacher, and then crowding around the register and then bursting into tears because the circulating heat caused chill blains. Among the highlights of the school year were occasions when all the one-room pupils participated in joint activities such as spelling bees and speaking contests and, of course, graduations. I remember Governor Wilbur Cross speaking on a platform at the Harwinton Fair, when a select group of pupils serenaded the Governor. Because the Center School was next to Lead Mine Brook, pupils were strictly forbidden any wadding or contact with the stream, especially any walking on ice; and I seem to remember being sent home with a note to my parents after I had been caught sliding on the frozen surface. As well as punishments such as sessions with the "ruler" or writing a phrase 100 times on the blackboard, there were rewards such as raising the flag or ringing the hand bell to start the school day, tasks which were assigned to deserving pupils. Because of their location, there were two one-room schools with which we often collaborated; Locust Road and Four Corners. I remember Miss Dizinno at Locust Road and Miss Walsh at Four Corners. These three teachers had room and board at the dairy farm of Charles and Harriet Kappel whose picturesque farmhouse was located across the brook from Center School. When I received the invitation to the reunion I remembered that I still had the photograph of my eighth grade graduating class. There we stood looking solemnly at the camera. 15 girls and three boys. I believe they had attended ten one-room schools, and this moment was the last time this eighth grade would be together. My memory is not as accurate as it once was, and I still accept correction, but it is wonderful that so many of the one-room school house scholars are here to enjoy the recollection of those long gone days. John F. Peckham