There were 26 students at this Richmond-area quarried limestone school back in 1907 at 7511 Trail Road. It eventually closed in the 1960s. Like so many one-room school houses, this one was sold and became a family home. Author of the One Room Schoolhouse, Joy Forbes drew up a list of rules for “Bytown” teachers that dates back to 1872. The list notes that each the teacher is responsible for filling lamps with oil, cleaning chimneys and each day bringing a scuttle of coal. “Women teachers who marry or engage in unseemly conduct will be dismissed”
On the other hand, “Men teachers may take one evening each week for courting purposes, or two evenings a week if they go to church regularly.”
This was not exactly a means to amass great wealth. “Any teacher who performs his labour faithfully and without fault for five years will be given an increase of 25 cents per week in his pay.”
(Goulbourn Historical Society photo and excerpts from Joy Forbes’ The One-Room Schoolhouse.)
