Fond memories of Hammond School

Years ago before Hap Howard died, we were e-mail buddies and wrote back and forth on a regular basis. I wrote him an e-mail letter one day and I mentioned going to Eugene Ware School in Fort Scott. Following is an e-mail letter that he wrote in response.

Marilyn Miller has jogged my head bone.

I went to Hammond school. We had outdoor activities as follows:

At recess or noon we played baseball, but not your ordinary baseball. It was cross out. Instead of throwing to a baseman, you had to throw the ball across the runners' path, in front of him. There were no strikes or balls. A caught fly ball was an out.

We played a kind of soccer, but it was with a basketball, so no kicking it. You hit it with your hand or fist. The area in front of the school had ashes from the two stoves for a surface. If you used your fist and aimed too low, you had skinned knuckles.

Then there was Annie over. There was a shed for coal and wood. That was what we played over. If you caught the ball you could run around and hit someone on the other side. I don't remember what happened to the one who got hit. You yelled, "Annie over!" and threw the ball over the roof. Not everyone got the ball over the roof every time.

There was a dirt croquet area. I think there were three courts set out. It was difficult to keep weeds down and the area smooth. It gave out in a few years.

Clarence Johnston taught the upper four grades and his wife Genevieve, taught the lower. Clarence was always teaching us things of the outdoors. One time we made a figure four trap and tried to catch a rabbit. No rabbit.

He showed how to make a deadfall or a snare with it. He showed how to make balls of clay and dry them in the sun for a sling shot. He was a dead eye with a sling shot, and showed us how to make one of those, too. Then there were kites. He also would take the upper grades on a hike. It was a four-mile hike around a section of ground. There were games to play on the way.

The Johnstons left after I finished the fourth grade, so I never got to have Clarence for a teacher. Do you suppose he saw me coming and retreated?

Those were the days/daze.

-- Hap