School Days at Carlisle Arkansas

By Charlotte "Raborn" Brown

Charlotte Gos To School

This is the building where my formal Education started,it was built in 1912

It is now September, The day after Labor day in 1948. I am five years old, next month I will be six!
If you have your six birthday before Christmas you are allowed to start school. My daddy had attended school here.

Today, My Mother is with me and I am glad because she will help me find my room. My older Brother also gos to school in the same building, he is starting the 8th grade but he is happy that Mother is staying with me!

All of the grades 1 through 12 go to school here. Elementry DownStairs ,High School upstairs

The 1st Grade class room is in the Back of the building on the East side, down stairs,there are five windows looking North.

Through these windows you can see another small brick building. This was the Janitors building. Alec the Janitors sets in the door way of the building at recess so he can pass out Bouncy Balls and Jump ropes

.But today ever thing is different I am starting a new way of life. Although I am sure I do not completely understand how much change, growing, and learning lay ahead.

I can write my name. I can count to 100,and even read words like at, the, and am. Most of the time I can button the buttons that closed the fly in my pants, and tie my shoes if I do not make a knot instead. I figured I am smartest girl in the class!

Mrs. Ruby Pfeifer is my teacher.

. She is new to me but she knows my mother and mother knows her too. This could be good or bad time will tell

Mrs. Ruby is pretty and Momma says if I am nice to her she will be nice to me.

There are 42 First graders in the class most are happy to be here,
There are two who just do not want to stay

they are ready to go home forget about learning to count and read, Their Moms and Mrs. Ruby are going to make them stay any way.

	The frist grade Class Carlisle Arkansas 1949
	This is my first grade picture my name is Charlotte

November 1948
I have been going to school for about three months now,and its a waste of time!
If it was not for the fact that Mrs. Ruby would miss me, and my class mates need me to show them how to make the swings go real high I would stay home
and play with Jerry my little brother.I think I have already learned more than I will ever need to know, like how to draw a dog and a Cat and about George Washington.
You know his picture hangs on the class room wall but, someone needs to finish coloring the bottom
I think maybe they were having a hard time remembering that you are suppose to color in one direction and stay in the lines.
Mrs Ruby dont like for you to color messy and I bet she made them stop and would not let them finish.
She knows if you are not doing your best!

We also have a picture of a Angel helping two kids across a bridge.The angel has great big wings and I think the kids must be blind because they look scared
like they might fall off the bridge, they must not see the angle with the big wings.

I got to lead the pledge of allegiance this morning and, we said the lords prayer before we started class.
You know, I know I do things that I need to be forgiven for.
When I pray the Lords prayer God hears me and if I forgive those who have treated me bad,
He will forgive me for doing things I know I should not of done , even if I dont remember doing it, he will still forgive me.
So I get to start the day brand new. I guess its kind of like having an angel with big wings to keep you from falling off the bridge!

The class has been coloring pumpkins and talking about Thanksgiving. Momma says we will be having Thanksgiving at Grandpa and Grandma Raborns I dont know if we will have Turkey or Chicken. There wont be any Indians there just Aunts, Uncles and cousins and everyone will be thankful.

I am in the Red reading group and it is time for us to go up front and sit in the chairs so Mrs. Ruby can hear us read.
Everyone who is not reading must practice writing their numbers.

It rained last night so today I got to wear my new red boots to school. They go over my shoes to keep my feet dry
. Mrs. Ruby helped me take them off when I got to school. By recess time it was not raining so Mrs. Ruby helped me put them back on.
Mrs. Ruby said we could all go outside but for us to stay out of the water and do not get our feet wet.

Out side there was big puddles ever where. I had my new boots on to keep my feet dry. Mrs. Ruby would never know if I just tried them out
Momma would want to know if they leaked. They worked my feet did not get wet!
I just wished I had took the time to roll up the legs of my pants because they soaked up the water and I was wet to my knees
Mrs. Ruby was very unhappy with me. She sat me on the floor in front of the radiator and there I sat until time to catch the school bus home.

When school started I choose my desk there was only two other kids I knew in the class both were cousins of mine both were boys but the boys were not related to each other
I choose my seat behind the cousin with the same last name as mine and ask the other boy to take the desk behind me I thought this was a great arrangement since we had often played together.
We shared our colors and tablets and helped each other with our numbers. After about three weeks Dons mother sent a note to school asking that he be moved to a different desk.
It seems that Dons hair was having chunks cut out of the back and he was looking pretty bald in spots.
When a girl has a pair of new scissors she wants to use them. So Billy and Don traded places and I had to let Mrs. Ruby keep the scissors until I had a better use for them

December 1948

WE have been Coloring Santa Clause, Mrs. Ruby will put our names on them and put them around the Wall over the Black Boards I have to try real hard to stay in the lines and remember to color in the same direction .
I have lost my black color crayon I hope I can borrow One
.Someone brought a cedar tree to school and its setting in a corner of the room our room mothers will come after school to day to decorate it Some of the kids have brought some decorations for it We are going to draw names I hope I get a girls name. We can spend 25 cents and you can get some good things for that much.
We also have a box to put something for Alec in ,like Pickles or canned tomatoes or a can of beans anything you might have to give. Some will just give money so they can buy him some clothes like overalls, long handles and socks.
Alec is the school janitor he keeps the trash picked up and keeps the furnace filled with coal and things like that,
He has been working here a long time. He dose not have a wife. He and his sister live together. His mother was a slave a long time ago. Everyone likes Alec .He always tells us good by as we go to get on the bus in the afternoon he just sits in his building waving as we pass.

We are learning Christmas songs to sing. We all line up and go to the music bulding which is across the street from where I catch the school bus home. Mrs. Rhoda Glover

plays the piano and helps us learn the words some time the whole school is going to sing together

There is going to be a parade too! The High School Band is going to lead it and all the school kids will follow the band up town. Santa Cluse will be waiting up on main street. and all the kids will get some candy and an orange and an apple in a sack. We all will get a chance to tell Santa what we want for Christmas.

Douglas a boy in my class says that there is no Santa Clause. It just gos to show boys do not know every thing!
I wont be going to school next week. My brother says I wont have to go back till next year that sounds like a long time! Our teacher says it is just a couple of weeks. I am sure looking forward to Christmas!

January 1949
As I seen things there were two groups in my class. One group lived in town and most of them went home at lunch to eat. If they did not go home for lunch they ate in the lunch room.
When it was time for school to be out those who lived in town got to go home first. If a town kid had a birthday they would get to have a birthday party and all the kids in the class who lived in town got an invitation.
If you rode the bus most times you were not invited.

If you were a country kid you brought your lunch from home or you ate in the lunch room .If you ate in the Lunch Room you brought Mrs. Ruby $1.00 on Monday or you could pay .30 cents a day.
If you brought your lunch you were allowed to sit at your desk and eat, and when you finished you went outside for lunch recess
. If you ate in the Lunch Room or Rode the school bus. you had to line up no talking allowed and rain or shine you were marched to the lunch room. or to the bus
The lunch room was not in the school house but sets a short distance away on the north east corner of the school yard. There were sidewalks but drainage was not always at its best,
At lunch You had to finish eating and wait until Mrs., Ruby said you could go. Then you could play until recess ended.
I was always eager to go play so I ate fast which I always cleaned my plate. It was the milk that gave me the problem. I did not like the milk it was in a carton , The milk I was use to was served cold in a glass and came fresh from the cow and even then I liked plain water with a meal.
Mrs. Ruby said we could go when we finished eating.
I was finished or so I thought . I got up to take my plate to the wash window, Mrs. Ruby picked my milk carton up sit it back down and shook her head no!
I took another small sip of it and started to leave again She picked up the milk carton and shook her head no again. I took another small sip and sit it down.
She was still standing behind me. I smiled ,she smiled and then she walked away to the end of the long table. standing between me and the wash window.
I got up left my empty plate and half carton of milk on the table and went out the door on the other end of the building.
Outside of the lunch room door sit the swings and there was an empty one. I grabbed it and started to swing.
Out the door of the lunch room came Mrs. Ruby, she stopped the swing, took me by the hand led me back to the lunch room. She sit me down in front of my carton of milk and sit beside me until I drank it all .
I sure wished I could go home for lunch like the town kids

Once every School year each class had to perform in an assembly it was a time that the class got to show how well they could sing and recite rhymes and poems for our parents and other elementry school classes.
Mrs. Ruby had us ready for our turn My favorite was the Lock song. We stood on the stage the girls in one group, the boys in another.
The girls sang I am a gold lock
then the boys would sing I am a gold key
the girls sang I am a silver lock.
the Boys sang I am a silver key.
girls sang I am a monk lock
The boys sang I am a Monkey and everyone laugh.
We sang the duck song. Six little ducks all in a row all except one with a feather curled up on his back and he would lead the others with a Quack! Quack! Quack!
Our mothers thought we were great! The kids were just happy to be out of class.

Spring 1949
My first year of school is almost over and a lot has happen this year. my world has widen and I have made new friends, some left during the year others will go with me into Mrs. Goldies second grade. One year down 11 more to go

Barbara Marcotte	Betty Jo Gross	Billie Sue Robbins	Billy Perecifull	Bobby Joe Rockenball
Bobby McCallie	Bobby Steve Fultcher	Bryan Morey	Carl Morrison	Charles Best
Charlotte Raborn	Dick Fowler	Donald Raborn	Douglas Malner	Eddie Moss
Eugene Harvey	Evelyn McPeak	Faye Lynn Clayton	Frances Carpenter	Greta Sue Edes
Jenny Scull	Jimmy Daniel	Larry Munnerlyn	Linda West	Margaret Liman
Mary Tanner	Martha King	Mary Nell Moody	Otha Lee Evans	Pat Clyburn
Patricia Miles	Paul Clothran	Peggy Bolls	Ralph Screeton	Richard Mason
Robert Sumner	Sandra Branch	Sarah Childress	Sharon Tanner	Shirly Mitchel
Steve Harvey	Thelma Ross	Vera Sue Stuart	Wayne Snider

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