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Books About Life on a Farm Written Especially for People Who Like to Read! "Highly recommended reading." The Midwest Book Review Reviews & Readers' Comments |
LeAnn R. Ralph Rural Route 2 Author E6689 970th Ave. Colfax, WI 54730 (715) 308-6336 |
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by LeAnn R. Ralph (Note: The Norton School, about a mile from our farm, educated students in the area from first through eighth grade from the late 1800's until the early 1960's. My mother, brother and sister all went to school there. I was supposed to start school there, too, but the school district built a new elementary school in town. I started kindergarten at Colfax Elementary in 1963. The Norton school building still exists, but it has been renovated and turned into a private residence.) Several years before my mother died, someone from the county historical society called and asked her to write an article about the Norton School burning down for a book about the county's history. My mother never was sure how they got her name or why they wanted her to write about the school. However, my mother was absolutely sure that she did NOT want to write an article. So - I convinced her to tell me about the day school burned down, and I wrote the article for her. Several years passed. The first time I saw the article published in Dunn County History was at the funeral home while we were planning my mother's funeral. She never did see the article. Here is the story of the day the school burned to the ground - On a spring day in 1926, a Friday in May - only a week before summer vacation - little 10-year-old Norma Halvorson (my mother) and all the other students were helping their teacher rake leaves. It was a mild spring day, slightly on the breezy side. Perhaps it was too windy to burn leaves, but they went ahead and burned them anyway. A particularly sharp gust of wind blew some of the burning leaves under a woodshed next to the little white clapboard country school. The woodshed caught fire, and the fire spread to the school. All the younger students, my mother included, were told to stay out of the way. The teacher, Miss Wegan, realized the fire department would probably never make it all the way from town in time to save to the school. So she went into the burning building herself to save as many books and desks as possible. The older students helped her. Through their joint efforts, the teacher and her students removed all the desks and books before the school burned to the ground. During the next week, the last week of school for the year, classes were held in the Norton Lutheran Church (about a half mile east of the school). That summer, a new school building was erected on the site to replace the little white clapboard school. The new school, larger than the original structure, was built of brick. Mom claimed the school board wanted a building more resistant to fire, and they decided the more expensive brick was worth the cost. As Mom told me the story of the school burning down, I thought she seemed rather nonchalant about the incident - as if school buildings burned down every day - as if it were a commonplace occurrence for a teacher and her students to rescue books and desks from a burning building. Perhaps my mother's attitude was due to the fact she only ten years old at the time. Or maybe it was because she was looking back at the incident from a distance of almost 60 years. As a certified teacher myself, I am quite certain I most definitely would not go into a burning school building to retrieve books and desks. Isn't that why school districts carry insurance? But I suppose in 1926 there probably wasn't any fire insurance on the school. If the books and desks burned, school district residents would have to raise the money themselves to replace destroyed materials. Without books and desks, there could be no school. Because of Miss Wegan's courage, the students were able to finish the last week of school with all of the necessary materials at hand. And the next fall in a new school building, students and teacher were able to continue working with the same materials. I have one more theory about my mother's curiously calm attitude toward the teacher risking her personal safety to go into a burning building to save books and desks - Perhaps my mother didn't think her teacher's actions were unusual because in those days - quite simply - it seemed like the right thing to do. *************************** This article may be freely distributed as long as the following information is included: LeAnn R. Ralph is the author of the farm books, "Christmas in Dairyland (True Stories from a Wisconsin Farm" and "Give Me a Home Where the Dairy Cows Roam" as well as "Preserve Your Family History (A Step-by-Step Guide for Interviewing Family Members and Writing Oral Histories)" (e-book); http://ruralroute2.com |
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