Schwab City, Texas 1931

This picture is of the school in Schwab City, Texas 1931

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A Big Chief tablet and a number 2 pencil

A pair of scissors and a box of Crayons

Was all that you needed to start school

A biscuit sandwich in a used syrup bucket

Sometimes a home made cookie for a treat

On rare occasions a half of an apple or orange

Pack a hole in a biscuit and fill it full of syrup

Or maybe a cold, left over, baked sweet potato

Whatever we could find for an after school snack

There are a few chores to do out in the country

Feed the chickens, gather the eggs, slop the hogs

Milk the cow, work in the garden, bring in firewood

A fireplace in one room and kitchen stove in another

On a cold winter’s night you ran to get in bed

You woke up quickly when bare feet hit cold floor

Summer times were not any better for sleeping

Raise all the windows and hope for a good breeze

Misquito netting would add to the misery of the heat

Abraham Lincoln studied by the light of a fire

We did a little better with light from a coal oil lamp

No wonder that home work was so hard to get done

Poem by Hollis Walters - 06 Sep 2002