S.S. No. 1 Pakenham – Lower Cedar Hill School270 Cedar Hill Side Rd., PakenhamThe Cedar Hill Community Centre, formerly S.S. No. 1 Pakenham, was the third schoolhouse on lot 6W Concession 8 Pakenham Township. In 1842, James O’Connor taught in the first log schoolhouse, but it wasn’t big enough, so a second one was built to accommodate 120 students. From 1874-1968 children in Mississippi Mills attended the third schoolhouse shown here. In all, there were 56 teachers over 126 years. George Berlinquette was the first in the third school, and Isobel Sample was the last. The schoolhouse was given heritage status in 1999, and is preserved by The Friends of Cedar Hill School. It is now used as a community hall.
I took all these photos in 2018 at the Cedar Hill School. All the photos were on the wall.
Cedar Hill School–Each morning students walked to school swinging their lunch baskets and tin pails. Their lunches often included homemade bread smothered with jam. Donuts were a tasty treat – if they didn’t get mushed in the lunchpail! Some children brought pie for dessert. Most pies were like turnovers with thick crusts and juicy fruit filling.At some schools, children took turns bringing a pail of milk to school each day. At lunchtime they placed the bucket of milk on the stove. Students looked forward to having hot cocoa with their lunch. Sometimes they forgot to loosen the lid of the pail, which caused an explosion that sent scalding milk flying to the ceiling. Fortunately, these accidents rarely occurred.In the wintertime many students carried half-baked potatoes to school. The potatoes, which had been heated before the children left for school, kept little hands warm during the long, cold walk. Students finished cooking the potatoes on the wood stove at school.
The ringing of the teacher’s bell signalled the beginning of the school day. As the children entered the school, they ‘made their manners’, bowing and curtsying to the teacher. Opening exercises began with the Lord’s Prayer, Bible readings, and roll call. Anyone who was not present during roll call waited outside until recess—even on bitterly cold winter days!
Cedar Hill School-Students had a short recess break in the morning and afternoon. They rushed outdoors to play games, talk, or explore the nearby woods.Settler children made many of their recess toys from items they found at home or in town. Yarn that came from old unravelled sweaters was rolled into balls for playing catch. Thick twigs were carved into whistles. Barrel staves became the runners of speedy sleds called SKIPJACKS. Younger children enjoyed singing games such as “Ring Around the Rosy” and “Farmer in the Dell.”“Bad” behavior led to any one of a number of punishments. Sometimes children were ordered to memorize long passages or write lines over and over. Teachers also shamed their students by making them wear a “dunce cap” or a sign around their neck. Some students were forced to balance on a block of wood in a corner of the classroom. One of the most common punishments was getting a whipping with a hickory switch or a birch rod. Sometimes the strapping was so severe that students went home with red marks across their legs.
Cedar Hill School–Equipment as we know it today was almost non-existent. The old coal shovel was perhaps the most versatile too!…it not only scooped coat into the scuttle..it also dragged ashes and clinkers from under the furnace grates..bulldozed paths to the little houses out back..and chopped snakes that were bold enough to sun themselves by the door. The grading also was different..a child either KNEW his facts..he partially knew them..or he DIDN’T know them…it was as simple as that. Many educators deride the mastering of factual knowledge as being dictatorial or even useless, since things keep changing. But all facts do not change, and many basic facts serve as posts from which to hang lines of imagination and from which to evolve one’s own personal philosophy
The teacher assigned chores to the students. Most children enjoyed helping. When a fresh supply of drinking water was needed, it was a chance to take a stroll outside. The wonders of nature often distracted the water fetcher! Not all children were willing workers, however. Sometimes the teacher assigned chores as a punishment!
Cedar Hill School –Settler students did not have pens as we have today. Instead, they dipped sharpened goose feathers, called QUILLS, in ink. Keeping quill pens sharp was one of the duties of the teacher, but sometimes this job was done by responsible, older students. Writing with a quill pen left a lot of wet ink on a page. To prevent smudging, students covered the page with blotting paper after they finished writing. They pressed the paper down on the page to absorb the extra ink.Slates and pencils were made of hard rock. Students wrote by scratching the slate with their pencils. After several years, a slate was covered with hundreds of scratches. Modern chalk is much gentler on blackboards.
Cedar Hill School The most popular readers of the nineteenth century were the Eclectic Readers by William Holmes McGuffey. This set of six readers began with a primer. Each volume increased in difficulty. Children in the one-room school advanced through the readers at their own pace. Not only did the McGuffey Readers teach children how to read, they also taught values such as honesty, courage, charity, and good manners.The McGuffey Readers were first published in 1836, and more than 122 million copies of the readers were sold by the 1920s. In some areas only the Bible was more popular than the McGuffey Reader.
Near the end of the school year the students were given an oral examination by the teacher. Students had to spell, solve arithmetic problems, and answer questions on a variety of subjects.
The last day of school was a happy occasion for feasting, games, and dancing.
Shirley DeugoYup there’s George… these oral exams made for great students!
George could do math & spelling like a pro!
The Piano at Cedar Hill School–The teacher did more than teach the children. He or she also had to keep order in the school. With children of all ages learning different things at the same time, good behavior was important. It was the responsibility of the teacher to punish children who misbehaved.After the students went home, the teacher made sure the classroom was tidy for the next day. Teachers rarely had enough time to teach more than three subjects. The three subjects, or the “three Rs,” of early education were reading, writing, and arithmetic – or “reading, ‘riting, and ‘rithmetic.”
Cedar Hill School–Proper desks were purchased to replace the shelves and benches of an earlier era. The girls sat on one side of the room, and the boys on the other. The youngest children sat at the front of the classroom, close to the teacher. Behind the teacher was a blackboard. A wood stove heated the classroom.Early teachers did not have the special training that teachers have today. Many male teachers were retired soldiers who knew how to read and write and needed a job after leaving the army.
related reading
Maples of the Cedar Hill School House
The Lonely Grave of Barney Shiels of Cedar Hill
Read more here..
Congratulations to 
lindaseccaspina 
The elder Harvey Boal was the brother of Stanley Boal who was the father of the younger’s Harvey Boal. The elder Boal died in Vancouver in 1967 :
https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/KLL5-YVN/harvey-boal-1892-1967
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/206671199/stanley-boal