J. A. Jordan's Account of Booty School
Near Beckville, TexasWritten in 1936, this was submitted by Jane Jordan, the granddaughter of Joseph A. Jordan.
J.A. Jordan was the grandson of John Locke Booty who established the school described in this account.
"The History of Panola County, Texas"
The first school that I remember was located near C.A. Barron's widow's home, half mile east of the town of Beckville, which we all know these days.
The house was made of pine logs, hewn by hand with a broad axe. The cracks were sealed with planks six inches wide and the floor was made of six inch width planks. The windows closed with shutters made of six inch planks which hung on one side, no glass windows. There were two doors in one end with shutters made of six inch plank. The chimney was in the end of the house opposite the front doors. The fire place was eight feet wide.
The boys brought in the wood which was mostly rich pine knots picked up in the woods nearby. Pine knots were plentiful then. They made a quick fire. When a boy or girl felt cold, he stood in front of the fire to get warm, then would to his seat until he got cold, then go back to the fire to warm. A good deal of his time he was standing before the big fire with book in hand, studying his lesson.
The boys brought the water from a spring nearby. Now, the water from the spring has been made into the lake near the C.A. Barron home. It can be seen from the road. The girls swept the floor at the noon recess each day with brooms made of safe straw which grew in the uncultivated fields.
"Webster's Blue Back Spelling Book", "Smith's Grammar" and "Davies Arithmetic" were our books in use. Most of us quit when we learned the three "R's" - reading, 'riting and 'rithmetic.
My grandfather, John L. Booth, built the school house called Booty School House. It was a community center. All denominations worshipped there. It was a meeting place for all secret societies, such as the Masons, the Odd Fellows and the Grange (a farmer's meeting). It was the place for all public speaking or political rallies.
My grandfather was the first teacher. His sons, A.J. Booth and "Dock" (James H.) Booty taught in this school house. When the grandchildren were grown, they were also teachers there. I and my brother, A.A. Jordan, were teachers there. Three generations of the Booty family were teachers there.
There were few saw mills in those days, so he could only get enough planks for sealing cracks, making doors and window shutters. All the dwellings were made of logs. All covers were made of boards riven out of pine limbs. The benches for school were made of pine slats with pegs for legs - no backs to lean against when tired of sitting.
There were three in our family to go to school. Our home was three miles away. My sister rode horseback and my brother and I walked. On the way to school and back was the time to get our lessons. We opened our books when we left home and on going home we studied our lessons. At home we sometimes studied lessons around the fireplace. Our light to study by was made of rich pine knots, thrown on as often as the light got too dim to see to study.
I cannot recall the time when I could not read and do not remember learning my "ABC's", which were the first lessons. We learned letters first, then learned to spell short words like cat, bat, dog, pig, cow, horse, mule, colt, calf, sheep, hog. When words of two syllables were taken, we thought we were making progress when we got to baker, shady and cedar. When we had learned to spell most of the words in the "Blue Back Speller", we got "McGuffy's First Reader", then the second, third and fourth reader.
Then we studied geography, U.S. History and as far as syntax in "Smith's Grammer". We studied arithmetic as far as the rule of three proportion.
To go further in studies we had to go to town boarding school. Only a few boys and girls ever entered boarding school. Most of them quit school when they learned the three "R's".