School Days—I went to Gravel Hill School (Oddfellows Hall). I began at the age of seven, and we had only one room for about 80 children. We would get water from a spring—I’m sure it was about two or three miles away—just bring it and put it on the steps. Everybody drank out of the same dipper—80 children—and I don’t see where it hurt’em at all. Some of ‘em are still living, ‘cause I’m one. (Ha, Ha!) The children used to push and spill water terrible trying to get a drink of water. The boys mostly would go two at a time to get the buckets of water. They would beg the teachers to let them go, because they wanted to be out. The boys would also go out and cut wood from in the woods and bring in a big armful of wood and put it in a big tin heater.
I remember my mother used to fry an egg and put it in my lunch between a biscuit and a slice or two of whatever kind of meat we would have for breakfast… and maybe a preserve biscuit. My son (Henry H.) doesn’t like pear preserve today. I gave him so much, he doesn’t like it. (Ha, Ha!)
Miss Susie Tibbs was a very good teacher. One day in a spelling class, I missed two words and she paddled me in my hand; but I still liked her. She was a very, very good teacher, and she had a lot of bearing on my learning. I had spelling, reading, arithmetic, Virginia History, and language, but my favorite subjects were spelling and English. I loved spelling. I love it up until today. Sometimes my children will ask me how to spell something. I say “aren’t you ashamed of yourself? Much more as you have gone to school than I have, asking me how to spell something!” (Ha, Ha!) The teacher couldn’t get around to every class everyday—it was too many children. We used to have a spelling match, we called it, at school; and I remember I stayed up longer than any of the children, one day, just once. And I remember what I had to sit down on. It was “circumference.” I’ll never forget to spell “circumference” because when I went back to my seat, I just studied that word and studied it, and now I can spell it the darkest hour of the night. I hated to sit down so bad, but wasn’t anybody standing but me, so …after I made it that far, look like it just dwelled on m how much I appreciated standing in that class until the last one sat down. I’ll never forget the word. That’s been a many a year ago.
I remember having Virginia History. I think I probably must’ve been in the fifth grade. I can remember some of Lafayette and Cornwallis. They had these high collars with ruffles around them, and they would have on blouse-like pants.
In school, the girls used to play ball then—baseball, I never could hit a ball like some of my classmates. They didn’t ever want me on their side. They would tell me, “Naw, you wait a while longer,” and I remember one day, my cousin hit the ball so far and it worried me so bad because I could not hit a ball that far. And I kind of envied her because they wouldn’t take me on their side because I couldn’t hit the ball.
The book Many Voices was published in 1986 as part of a project of the Interview Committee appointed in 1984 for the Isle of Wight County 350th Sesquitricentennial Celebration. The Oral History project taped the recollections of our older citizens and developed their stories from the transcriptions. Many Voices gave a permanent record of the previously unrecorded family life and history in Isle of Wight County. These excerpts take only the discussions dealing with the education memories of some of those citizens.