A Day in the Life of a Third Grade Boy

A Day In The Life Of A Third Grade Boy

In 1913, I was in the third grade at Meridian School in Bostonia. It seemed to me the main business of the morning was getting me off to school. I was dressed in knickers, a neat white shirt, long black stockings and laced shoes. Before rushing off to school I had to feed the chickens. They were at the barn, about a hundred yards down the hill from our house. I also had to see that the woodbox by our fireplace was full. The fireplace was the main source of heat for our house. I was small for my age, and other chores on my father's citrus ranch were too heavy for me to do.

The Meridian School was about a mile and a half from our ranch, which was on Dehesa Road. School began at 9:00 A.M. I left home about eight o'clock and walked to school. Often I met one or two kids on the way.

When the last school bell rang, we all lined up by the flag pole. After we said the Pledge of Allegiance, we marched into the school by grades.

The Meridian School had two stories. The first four grades were downstairs, the rest of the four were upstairs. There was one teacher for each four grades. The seats were fastened to the floor in rows. Our books and papers were kept in a shelf underneath the desk tops. In front of the desks was a row of benches which were faced by the teacher's desk. The kids in a grade, say the third, would be called to these benches to "recite" their lessons.

The playground around the school was dirt. The boys and girls toilets and washroom facilities were about fifty yards to the rear of the school building. There was a row of cypress trees around the playground.

The school did not provide athletic equipment. At recess we played tag and other simple games. Sometimes a boy would bring a ball to school and we'd play catch. Girls would often mark places to play Hopscotch in the dirt of the playground. In "jack" season they might bring jacks and balls and play on the school porch. The boys would sometimes bring tops. We made up games like "Shinny." This is something like Ice Hockey, but played on dirt. A small empty tin can was hit with wooden sticks. The goal was marked by lines in the dirt. The game was a little dangerous because the can would have sharp corners or edges when it had been hit a few times. The teachers tried to keep us from playing it on the school grounds. Kids in the upper grades often had their own baseball bats and mitts, and would bring them to school.

School let out at three o'clock. I started walking home with ten or twelve kids. They would turn up side roads to their homes. I was almost at the end of the line, and often arrived alone at the foot of our hill.

Down in the flat of the valley there were vineyards, and we often took short cuts through them. In early fall, when the grapes were ripe, we had great fun having grape fights. Our parents had many complaints from the vineyard owners.

Written by Roger Beatty