The school bell rang and Roy Christman of the Friends of Kibler School welcomed everyone to the first Thursday of the Three Thursdays in July series, which is in its seventh year.

Carolyn Andrews, Constance Andrews' daughter-in-law, said when Christman was looking for speakers, she said, "Why not Constance?" She had been a teacher in several of the one-room schools. Christman thought it was a wonderful idea and she was invited."Good evening boys and girls."I began teaching in 1936. I graduated from school in Palmerton and then went to East Stroudsburg State Teachers' College. You could teach after two years of college."She began teaching and continued for 47 years. After that she worked as a substitute and then was asked to tutor over summer, but she set restrictions on that. She would have to work at least three days a week: Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The normal time was one day a week, but that was not enough because she wanted to follow up with what she did the day before. She enjoyed the train trip to Palmerton each day."I taught at the Correll School, then Gowers and then Smith Gap, where I remained for 12 years."She did not like the way school boards pushed the teachers from one school to another.Before the year started the teacher had to go to the school to see what supplies were available such as crayons, tablets and books. The water cooler had to be taken home and washed.Before cold weather set in a year's supply of coal had to be available to feed the pot-bellied stove in the middle of the room. Twice a year, before the year began and at Christmas, the teacher oiled the floor to keep dust down.After roll was taken 10 verses of the Bible were read followed by songs such as "Johnny Comes Marching Home," "America," "America the Beautiful" and "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot."Carols were popular at Christmas, as were some of the Stephen Foster songs that are no longer sung (for political correctness).We were not always in tune but we had a lot of fun, Andrews said.Each school had eight grades. Sometimes there would be no one or only one person in a grade, and that person could be combined in another class.A class with four or five pupils would go to the front seats for their class work with the teacher. A single pupil might be heard in their own seat.Andrews had pictures of past classes, one with her in it. The Kleintop School had 40 pupils; Smith Gap had 31. There was a picture of a renovated schoolhouse now owned by a former teacher from New York.We taught arithmetic, grammar, history, health, and a little bit of science. There were no music classes, but the eighth graders were tested on it anyway for graduation.Andrews said she stressed oral reading but there was value in silent reading also. Second grade learned adding and subtracting. Fourth grade had fractions. Seventh and eighth grade learned decimals and there were reading problems. She said she occasionally had to study the night before to be ready to teach in the morning. She and a boy worked two to three days on a single problem, and the boy found the correct answer first. Answers were in the back of math books. For spelling pupils might have to stay in to study.Pupils loved geography and made booklets with construction paper covers. There was a map of the chosen country and then things like animals that lived there.There were morning and afternoon recesses with an hour for lunch. Pupils who lived nearby could go home for lunch.Children ate quickly so they had time to play games such as tag, hide and seek, hopscotch, alley-over and Long Tom, a form of baseball.Marjorie Berger wrote her a letter on her birthday and recalled that they sat around the stove when it was cold, went to neighbors for water, played softball, had Maypole dances, slid down hills in winter on a piece of wood or cardboard, and on the last day of school had a picnic in a wooded spot near a stream.One day a boy brought a hatchet to school and Andrews had to take it away.At Christmas they were given Santa lollipops from Wycoffs store in Stroudsburg. One year Andrews' son Billy had Marjorie's name for Christmas exchange and bought her a powder box that she still has. A second-grader said she could recite "The Night Before Christmas," and she did.The Monroe County Public Library started visiting the schools every six weeks and the pupils could get books. Friday afternoon was art class. They wanted more than crayons so Andrews taught them to make stencils, Easter baskets and papier mache hats.Andrews was asked about discipline. Pupils stood in the corner. The day was 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.She told about a little boy, Norman, who ran outside when Dr. Schaffer came to check the children. He was afraid of the doctor. He moved to another school the following year and she did not know what became of him until she got a birthday card. He said he had been raised by grandparents who only spoke Pennsylvania Dutch. His name was Norman Griffith and he was 81 at the time. She found him and they had a time for remembrances.George Ashman asked if she was married. She said she married in 1939 and has three children who her mother-in-law took care of. She had to attend school board meetings because that was where they got paid.The 98-year-old said, "I wouldn't mind working in a country school again."