Photo by Jenny Kirk Arlene and Dave Lueders pose inside the Yellow Medicine County District 41 (Hammer Township) schoolhouse, which was eventually preserved and moved to its permanent home at the county fairgrounds in Canby.

Editor’s note: This is the latest in a series of stories about one-room country school experiences in the southwest Minnesota area.

CANBY — Dave Lueders didn’t get off to a very good start at country school many years ago, but fortunately, that quickly turned around. Today, the Canby resident cherishes those memories.

Lueders suffered the loss of his father even before he started school as a 7-year-old. He also felt the wrath of a male teacher early on at rural School District No. 41 in Hammer Township.

“I had a man teacher the first year and he gave me my first red F in the first six weeks,” Lueders said. “I thought it was terrible at that time, but I’m kind of proud of it now.”

As he recalls, Lueders was supposed to have cleared everything off of his desktop in order to take a spelling test. But he didn’t.

“We had a test run for spelling on Wednesday and if you missed any words, you could study for Friday,” he said. “I had rolled my paper up and stuck it in the inkwell in my desk on Wednesday. This was Friday and I didn’t realize it was there.”

Lueders assumed he got in trouble because he didn’t follow the rules — something that was extremely important back then.

“The teacher was a redhead and he was pretty temperamental, but I’m sure I deserved it,” Lueders said. “I ended up having to write each word 500 times. Of course I was bawling because I didn’t even know how to count much over a hundred. My brother had to list all the numbers out for me.”

Lueders remembers getting into trouble one more time because of the inkwell.

“I had a girl sitting in front of me and she had pigtails,” he said. “I kind of dipped the tip of it in the inkwell. I got more heck from my mother because when the girl felt me pulling on her pigtail, she switched her head and got ink all over my clothes.”

Only one other negative memory at country school comes to mind for Lueders.

“All the kids got along except for one little boy we picked on,” Lueders said. “It would be called bullying now. We chased him home half a mile. We thought that was great pleasure.”

School life improved after that, Lueders said. Looking back, he’s extremely appreciative for the country school experience.

“We had better experiences than town school, I can tell you that,” he said. “I think the early life in country school brings out the character in everybody.”

Lueders said the schoolhouse was about three miles away from his home.

“All uphill — both ways,” he said jokingly.

Lueders said he rode horse to country school his last three years.

“I patted my horse on the butt and he went back home,” Lueders said. “But he would never come get me.”

In fifth grade, Lueders got a new bicycle to ride to school, though the experience wasn’t what he had hoped for.

“It was a bright red one,” he said. “I got partway home and there was the neighbor’s bull in the ditch. I got scared stiff and I wouldn’t ride my red bike because I’d been told that they’ll attack anything red.”

Lueders said he quickly rode back to the school, where his teacher called his mother to let her know she better come and get him.

Playing games with the other kids was a highlight for Lueders.

“There were games like Kick the Can, but the boys usually played softball,” Lueders said. “Jumping rope was big with the girls. They spent a lot of time doing that. In the wintertime, we played Fox and Goose outside. Inside, we’d play I Spy, Fruit Basket Upset and Musical Chairs. It was a lot of fun. I’d say they were the best experiences of my life.”

Dave added that Parcheesi and other board games were also popular.

“Some kids would bring their own games, too,” he said. “We also had flash card contests.”

Dave and his wife, Arlene, were married in 1958. Arlene Lueders, who attended rural district No. 34 (1884-1960) near Porter, was also fond of playing games, including Annie I Over and Pump Pump Pull Away, at school.

“You never hear about those games anymore,” she said.

“But in Pump Pump Pull Away, you’d line up on one end and then somebody was in the middle. The person that was ‘it’ said, ‘Pump pump pull away. Come or else I’ll pull you away.’ Then the kids would run across and you’d try to catch them before they got to the line on the other side. If they caught you, then you’d help catch people, too.”

Arlene also recalls playing 23 Skidoo.

“When you were captured, you were put on this base,” she said. “As you were caught, you got strung out and the other people would come up and touch your hand and count, ‘One, two, three, four, five’ — maybe you’d only get up to 10 and you’d have to quit. Then the next person would come along. As soon as they got up to 23, then you were free to go. Then you’d start on the next one.”

Arlene Lueders said the Pledge of Allegiance was recited every morning. Dave recalled that the older students got to ring the bell.

“When school started in the morning, we all said the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag and somebody would ring the bell during it, kind of like we do in church with The Lord’s Prayer,” he said. “I don’t remember how many times, but there were certain places during the Pledge of Allegiance when the bell would sound.”

Arlene remembers that duties were assigned to different students.

“Someone was assigned to bring the drinking water in, ring the bell and clean the chalk erasers every day,” she said. “I think we all had our own duties.”

There was also a health inspection.

“We had to put our hands out there and be sure our fingernails were clean and that we brushed our teeth,” Arlene said. “I think the teacher assigned somebody to help do that.”

Dave said they had a health chart on the wall.

“Whoever could get the most X’s in there got an award at the end of the month,” he said.

During the Yellow Medicine County Fair in July, Dave Lueders visited the District 41 schoolhouse, which was moved to the fairgrounds many years ago, while Arlene supervised schoolhouse visits in the afternoon.

“We had a bookcase where that blackboard was — that was our library,” Lueders said. “There were three of four blackboards on each side and I think there was one in the back, too. I see here they got the big dictionary. Ours sat on a podium by itself and it was big and fat.”

The library was where Lueders’ favorite book — “‘Ringtail” — was kept.

“It was about a raccoon,” Dave said. “I gave that for a report. I just about knew it by heart.”

Lueders said he learned a lot at country school, including day-to-day tasks such as the proper way to get the chalk out of the erasers.

“We found out you don’t just pound them on the step,” he said. “You take them out and pound them on the fencepost or something.”

Thinking back, Lueders remembers that Friday was industrial arts day.

“We made bird houses, bread boards, knick knacks and a lot of cut-outs,” he said. “We used a coping saw (a saw with a very narrow blade stretched across a U-shaped frame). We’d use power tools now.”

Lueders said he doesn’t recall when they got electricity, but they did have kerosene lamps.

“The lamps had a glass reflector to put more light out in the room,” Lueders said.

There certainly wasn’t any air conditioning and unfortunately, there was no indoor plumbing either — just two outhouses.

“I won’t mention any names, but the superintendent of the schools for the county was using the girls’ bathroom and they tipped it over on her,” He said. “I never heard if they got in trouble.”

Arlene Lueders said she felt fortunate because, unlike most other country schoolhouses, they had indoor plumbing.

“It had to be pumped out — it wasn’t a flush toilet,” she said. “But there were two separate ones. One for boys and one for girls. And we had a cloak hall where you could put your winter garb. But you really wonder how we got by.”

The Christmas program was one of Lueders favorite memories.

“I remember bringing in the planks and we’d have a stage,” she said. “We’d have a curtain made from bedsheets and of course, Santa Claus always had to come.”

There were also a few springtime events that Arlene was fond of.

“They took a spring picture of the whole class and we had play days, where country schools got together and played games.”

Dave said students were very patriotic back then.

“Someone always had the chore of putting the flag up (outside) every day,” he said. “We’d sing the national anthem sometimes, too. Not every day, though.”

Like other country schoolhouses, there were maps that pulled down.

“We used to watch the older kids study,” Dave said. “They’d pull down the maps and identify the states and countries.”

Arlene said students learned a lot because grades 1-8 were all together.

“I went through eight grades there,” she said. “You learn, when you’re younger, from listening to the other ones being taught. Then sometimes the older ones would come help you because the teacher was busy.”

Dave Lueders recalls being good at spelling — until he attended town school.

“I had an A in spelling all the time,” he said. “But once I went to town school — no phonics — it was downhill from there. Now I can’t spell that well. But I can still spell Mississippi — I remember it’s got four i’s in it.”

Lueders attended District 41 through sixth grade.

“The school closed after that,” he said. “The seventh year, I started Canby High School.”

Lueders said he immediately missed the food at his country school.

“After I got in town school, the food wasn’t as good,” Dave said. “I remember the hot dishes (at country school). Somebody would bring them in big roasters or double hot plates. It was every day for sure in the winter. I can remember macaroni and scalloped potatoes.”

Lueders recalls eating fruits and sandwiches a lot.

“Apples and oranges were very common,” he said. “There were also sandwiches — peanut butter and jelly or honey. Some had tomatoes and lettuce on their sandwiches, but not me. It would get yucky by the time you ate it.”

Oftentimes, students would thaw out their food by the stove. Otherwise, lunch pails were put on a shelf.

“You had your name on it because everyone had black lunch buckets with a thermos,” Lueders said. “At Christmastime, we’d do a bucket exchange.”

Thermos bottles often held warm liquids.

“You had a thermos bottle with hot chocolate in the winter — either that or soup and stuff like that,” Lueders said. “As far as I know, the dishes just stayed there. We didn’t use paper plates, that I know. We had our own silverware, though. I had a spoon and usually a fork. And I always had a jar with some sauce in it.”

Arlene Lueders said older students often used a syrup pail.

“We packed our own lunches usually,” she said. “I still remember that one guy liked tomato and pepper sandwiches.”

While the days of learning, socializing and getting into mischief at country school are basically in the past, schoolhouses that have been preserved — like District 41 has — offer younger generations the opportunity to learn about the rich history.

A lot of old photographs and relics from the rural school days can be found inside the preserved schoolhouse.

“We’re hoping we get people to identify all the people in the photos,” Arlene Lueders said.

Along with a large map identifying all the country schools in Yellow Medicine County, there’s also history on the city superintendent Clara Thorpe.

“(The late) Alda Lueders helped preserve history by organizing all the country schools on the map,” Arlene said. “Yellow Medicine County is a long stretch of land. She did a fantastic job.”

Canby resident Bernadine “Bernie” Miller has also been a key contributor, serving as the main schoolhouse organizer for at least 20 years.

“The school is only open during fair time,” Miller said. “So I line up people (like Arlene) to come in and sit during the afternoons. I’ve been doing that for quite a few years. But it’s time for someone else to take over.”

District 41 was formed in 1877 and is believed to have closed in 1950. Later, the rural school was among five or six others to be relocated to a block-wide area in Canby.

“They closed the country schools, but they didn’t have the new elementary building built yet,” Miller said. “They moved the old country schools in — they took up a whole block — and taught the students in there. So even the town kids got to go to country school.”