Fil had been taught that it was important to not overwork the horses. This was a small cutter so he used only one horse. At the top of Elbow Hill he called out “Whoa” to stop the animal and allow it to rest.

Often in cold weather sleigh drivers would protect their feet with a burlap bag filled with several heated pressing irons which were normally stored atop the wood-burning range. They also used blankets or robes.

Farmer French, or perhaps “Québeçoise” was the language the King family spoke at home at that time, and they were quite fluent with it. On this occasion, being a young gentleman, Uncle Fil asked the lady, “Veux-tu le FER”? meaning “Do you want the iron”? She misunderstood thinking that he said, “Veux-tu le FAIRE”? meaning “Do you want to do it”? Then she answered, “Maudit, non. Il fait trop froid”? “Damn it no! It is too cold.”

I wonder what would have happened if it had been warmer out?

So we don’t know exactly when the school was completed, but we are pretty close. Uncle Sully once told me that he had started in the older stonel school, and that Aunt Gladys was his teacher. Since he was born in 1908, this doesn’t quite jibe since a first grader would normally be six when he or she starts.

According to my dad, the Chazy Lake Schoolhouse was built to state specifications for one-room rural schools. He was the school Trustee, and, before him, his father was. My best guess is that it was completed about 1914. Years later after the school closed and the students were transferred to the Ellenburg district, the building was purchased and converted to a home or cabin.
The construction seemed to be very sturdy. Inside, the classroom ceiling walls were quite tall, ten feet or more. The walls and the ceiling were covered with wainscoting or slate blackboard. Outside, the site was on a slope heading east. If one were to enter the room, he would first go up a flight of wooden stairs and then would enter a small unheated entry area. This led through a hallway into the classroom. First, however, there were doors heading left and right that led into the cloakrooms. One for boys and one for girls. Here one would store winter coats, boot, mittens, hats, scarves, and lunchboxes.
If one were to continue left or right it would lead into a little room with a chemical toilet. Early in the season this was not too malodorous, and there was plenty of space down the cylindrical sanitation shaft. When necessary the janitor or teacher would add more chemicals to the contents of the shaft.
All too soon, however, the toilets would become quite full. This necessitated switching to the double-roomed outhouse, one for boys and one for girls. This was attached to the woodshed behind the school. And, imagine, there was real toilet paper. In June after school was out someone would come and empty the contents of the chemical toilets and carry the it away. One time, however, the person in charge of emptying deposited the material just over the rear fence. If someone hit a home run during a baseball game, no-one was anxious to retrieve the ball.
During both recess and lunch break, baseball was the game of choice for the older boys. The littler kids played tag or horsey. The local farmers still used horses, and, so, the kids were used to being around them. They wanted to be like their dad or older brother and use horses. There was often a number of small metal condensed milk cans lying around. The little boys invented a way to step on a can a certain way so that it would curve around their shoe and be locked in place. This, they imagined, was a horseshoe. They would then take a short piece of clothesline and curve it around one boy’s shoulders while the other boy, directly behind him, held onto the reins, and the two of them would trot gleefully around the yard. The girls played tag and Captain May I. If the weather was really inclement, kids would stay inside and color or visit with one another.
When recess or lunch break was over the teacher would step outside and ring the bell. One time just as the bell rang I fell out of the apple tree and hit my head on the concrete slab of the well. I’m not sure how long I lay there conked out. No one had missed me, and when I did wake up I felt woozy. When I reentered the room and told the teacher what happened, she sent me home alone. I suppose having a telephone at school for emergencies was considered too extravagant. It wouldn’t have made any difference anyway because we didn’t have a phone at home until later.
Occasionally when all of the lessons had been finished, one of the girls would ask the teacher if they could play “Teakettle”. This was a word game involving homonyms, words that sounded the same. Someone would be chosen to be it. He or she would go into the entry room, and the door would be closed. Together the students would choose two and sometimes three words that sounded the same such as “to, too, two”. For instance, if the selected words were “wood and would”, the one who was it would come in and be subjected to questioning. A person might say, “I hammered the nail into a piece of “teakettle”. Then the person would try to guess. Finally he or she would realize what the word was.

To be continued……..