The Teacher Was Supreme - Mildred (Somero) Henault
New Ipswich Historical Society
FINNS: An Oral History of Finnish-Americans in New Hampshire’s Monadnock Region
Excerpted from FINNS: An Oral History... by Patricia Kangas Ktistes, 1997, all rights reserved.
Mildred (Somero) Henault
I went to the Number One school in New Ipswich. It was funny because our neighbors, the children of Matti and Fiina Kangas, went to the Highbridge grammar school. And Mr. Thayer said to my mother, “If your children go out through the back door of the house, then they attend the Highbridge School. If they go out through the front door, then they can go to the Number One School.”
I think there were a total of about 12 students in the primary grades and about the same number in the higher grades at Number One. They had 12 schools in New Ipswich at that time, many of them one-room. We were very serious about school and wanted to learn. I think the mothers, especially among the Finns, were awed by teachers and felt very much beneath them; they felt the teachers were much smarter than they were. Mrs. Mae Corthell taught grades one through three and Miss Pearl Steele taught grades four through six. And in those days, Miss Steele made corn chowder in the winter. Children who had cows at home would bring a pint of milk to school every day and she’d put it all into this one pot First, she’d fry the bacon and then make the chowder. You brought your own sandwiches to go with it. Pearl was a serious teacher. I remember her reading passages of the Bible each morning. She had us listen to Walter Damrosch’s orchestra on the radio and sometimes that’s all the culture we got; he played classical music once a week. Outside on the side of the school building, we used to put on plays. Mrs. Corthell was perhaps one of the first married teachers in the whole state; I liked her. Mr. Ames was the superintendent: he had glasses and he put them up here, on his head. I slid under my desk because I didn’t want to see his glasses up; I don’t know why that scared me.
The Kangases had this dog named Cedie that followed them every day to school. I don’t know what breed he was, black with longer fur, but he was a cute little dog. And he would just stay for the entire day in the classroom. Then when it was time for recess, Cedie would get up and maybe bark a little bit. He never barked at other times. At the end of the day, he knew what time it was and would follow the boys home. And he did that for years. He was a very well-behaved dog and didn’t bother the kids. Miss Steele kept his ‘attendance’ record.
At high school in Appleton Academy, the teachers also were very serious about their jobs. You could always talk to them. ‘Course, Mr. Maki was tops as far as being a principal was concerned because he knew all the kids. He thought he knew all of my brothers, but once my youngest brother Earl was running in the hallway and Mr. Maki called to him, “IrvinBillRay!” (Earl’s older brothers.) In seventh, eighth, and high-school grades we played softball and basketball and, of course, that was my sport. And I remember having Provenzani come from Fitchburg to coach the boys. Mr. Maki was the girls’ coach and the girls’ and boys’ games were held on the same night because they didn’t have Jayvees. All I cared about was school and basketball. I didn’t even think about dating.
Basketball was still the biggest game in town; if your team was winning. Also perhaps because you only had to have one ball and it was inexpensive to play. You didn’t need a lot of equipment. We could play basketball all year. It certainly was the biggest game during the winter; it was something to do. With softball you don’t get the audience. My folks encouraged our participation in sports. I know other kids had parents that didn’t let them play. My parents didn’t come to the games because I think my mother had the younger children in our family to take care of and my father was working forTricnit Hosiery Mill at night.
I took algebra, geometry, chemistry, and physics from Mr. Maki, who was always ready to give you help, even after school, and he would listen to your problems or answer any questions. The school burned in 1941. When they rebuilt it, it looked almost the same except the old building had had four chimneys and the new one did not. A brief history I have on the rebuilding says the original Appleton building was erected in 1853 at the cost of $7,000 with a fund that numbered among its donors Jonas Chickering, of the famous piano manufacturing family, who lived in New Ipswich.
I am a generation younger than Mildred but had similar school experiences, starting when we moved to New Ipswich in 1958 and I enrolled at the Central School where Grades 1 through 6 were taught, replacing the old schoolhouses scattered around town. Pearl (Steele) Thompson was the principal and I remember her boasting that she was teaching the grandchildren of kids she taught in her early years. At Appleton Mr. Maki was headmaster, an unquestioned authority figure until he died when I was in the 8th grade. And our dog, Chris, developed the habit of accompanying me to school each morning and, remarkably, showing up on his own in the afternoon to walk home with me. I thought little of it at the time but get a little teary-eyed recalling his loyalty now. We took the Manley Rd route from our house on Main Street, sometimes cutting through the overgrown field across from our house. Chris was the pick of the litter, the only puppy not drowned in a stream by his mother's owner.
My family settled in Highbridge, my grandfather Lenne Ypya married the girl next door Roseanna Vincent Ypya Rousseau. They settled in Highbridge bought our family homestead for $400. that house stayed in our family from 1939 to 2021. I remember my dad telling me stories of Central and Appleton schools when he was a kid.
I just wonder were school house #1 was located?