Teaching school in Graham County in 1924
This article describes the experiences of ECTC alumni Mabel Orr in her first teaching job. This and other articles may be found in the University Archives.
Citation for this article is: Orr, Mabel C. "Teaching School in Graham County in 1924" The Graham Star, March 4, 2004.
When I was a student at East Carolina Teachers' College, which is now East Carolina University, I wrote to Mr. Harve Moody to apply for a teaching job in Graham County.He wired back for me to come. I was nineteen years old when I took the two-day train trip across the state.The mail car met the train at Topton and took me to Robbinsville. Mr. Moody had someone drive me to Stump Ford where I met John and Lillie Orr, with whom I boared.
From the Orr home to Santeetlah School was six more miles down a wagon road. I was sure it was twenty miles, and I thought I had to cross a long swinging bridge over the Cheoah River, walk about half a mile and cross another very high swinging bridge over Santeelah Creek.
There were about twenty-four children of all ages, from second to seventh grades.We had to use whatever books we had.Some had been handed down until they were almost worn out. The school building was nice, with a large playground. I ordered a softball and taught them several other games.
We had a large cast-iron stove for heat. Wood awas furnished, but we gathered twigs and pine cones for kindling. One cold, wet morning we had no kindling, the stove smoked and the fire wouldn't catch. We were all huddled around the stove, trying to keep warm. One boy said,"If you cuss it, it'll burn." Fred Waldroup said, "I've already cussed it." I thought, "I have, too, but I won't say it."
When school was out for the summer, I went home, never dreaming that I would be bcak. I did however, return the next year to teach at the Highlands School.
The Highlands School was a large, one-room building located about four miles from Robbinsville on a little knoll between the Bud Deyton Gap and Ground Squirrel Branch.After the Santeetlah Dam was built, the road was changed and the site was covered by the lake.
I taught more than forty pupils the year, first grade through the sixth. That was too many for one teacher.Some were very smart, but I couldn't do them justice because I didn't have enough time with each child.
There was one unforgettable incident.One of the mothers kept telling me that there were three boys who were mean and needed to be whipped. Finally she told me that the three boys were fighting her boy. The next day I lether son and his sister start home before I dismissed the other children.
The little boy and girl hid behind some bushes and waited on the three boys to come along and they fought again.
I gave all four boys three licks across the shoulders. The woman who had complained really blew her top.
Back then we carried our drinking water from the spring, in a bucket.The children all used the same dipper, which wasn't very sanitary. I think surely we didn't have as many germs as we have now!
I taught for three years then substituted lots in later years. I married Tillman Orr, who became a Baptist minister. I think my most important endeavors in life were homemaking, mothering my children and being a help-mate to my husband.
