Three fourth grade classes from East Marshall [Marshall County, Iowa] went back in time and experienced a day in the life of rural Marshalltown children at the Taylor No. 4 Country School.
A $60,000 renovation more than a year in the making transformed the one-room schoolhouse to its former glory. In 1955, 43 years after the building was built, it was bought at an auction and donated to the Central Iowa Fairgrounds. It found its current site in 1964 when the Historical Society of Marshall County took possession of it.
They fetched a pail of water for hand-washing. They used quills dipped in ink and used every part of what little paper they had. They learned how red rover used to be played, and how to play button, button. They ate only cheese or jelly sandwiches, cornbread wrapped in wax paper, hard-boiled eggs and native fruits and vegetables like carrots and apples. And they helped those pretending to be younger. No children got the whip and none of the teachers vowed never to marry, but at least one class returned to Laurel still using the old hand signals — one finger to ask for a drink of water, two fingers to get permission to use the outhouse.
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