In September of 1914, Abbie Stokes was appointed teacher for Shiloh for the 1914-1915 school year. It was pretty much the same group of students that attended the previous school year including Rosalie and her brother Andrew. In November and December, the School Board allocated an additional $10 to Abbie Stokes for teaching at Shiloh.
The first week of December there was a special presentation at the Shilo school.
SCHOOL ENTERTAIMENT AT SHILOH
Special Cor. Ocala Banner:
Our school is progressing spring splendidly under the excellent management
of Miss Abby Stokes. Miss Stokes is laboring earnestly with the school. She
has 35 pupils, and they all attend very. Regularly, and have the kindest of
thoughts for their teacher.
On Wednesday afternoon before Thanksgiving, the school had a very
interesting entertainment.
Promptly at 1:30, the patrons and friends who gathered. The pupils marched
to their respective places, all. Being present at all, acting well their
parts.
The following program was rendered:
Song, Thanksgiving Day, school.
Recitation, Thanksgiving fun -Lois Feaster.
Recitation, What I do? Two children.
Acrostic Thanksgiving dinner.
Recitation, In Confidence - Cecil Pardee.
Recitation, My Names – Ollie Smith.
Recitation, Leaving the Homestead – Bessie May Wyche.
Dialogue, Doctor’s Busy Day.
Recitation, An appetite – Albert Pardee
Recitation, Just Before Thanksgiving – Eula Zetrouer
Song, Jolly Boys – School.
Recitation, How Our Pies Begun – Clarence Pardee.
Recitation, Baby’s Part – Queen Hunter
Recitation, The Frost is on the Pumpkin – Lynn Feaster
Thanksgiving Dinner – Albert Zetrouer
Song, Thanksgiving Visit – School
Mr. D.R. Zetrouer and Mr. A.J. Wyche gave interesting talks after the program.
Miss Abbie Stokes left on the afternoon train for Ocala, where she attended
the Marion-Sumpter country fair. Miss Stokes returned and begin her school
work here Monday.
The school grade book for the 1913-1914 year isn’t available but I know that Rosalie and her brother Andrew were there, and I would imagine pretty much the same set of students attended. Miss Abbie Stokes made a great impression on my grandmother as Miss Abbie and Rosalie communicated by postcards over the summer. I can imagine little Rosalie running to the mailbox each day as the mail man approached in his wagon. Rosalie wrote in her memoirs, “A large rose arbor was beside the house with a Marci Neil rose growing over it, also the yard was full of all kinds of roses. One was special because it was so sweet you could smell the odor far down the road. Our mail carrier said he could smell it before he got to our house.”
I could imagine Rosalie asking her mother for three or four cents of mother’s egg money to buy a stamp and postcard when they went into town for their monthly shopping trip. There used to be a post office in nearby Flemington but it closed in 1910 so they would mostly go to Micanopy or sometimes McIntosh for shopping. Rosalie’s mother, Fannie as she was called, always raised quite a few chickens for laying eggs which she would sell making a few cents each month which she kept in the little brown teapot on the shelf above the stove.
May 9, 1915
Hello! Girlie:
What are you doing sinch school closed? I have been to two picnics since I
been home. Sure had a fine time. Hope you are enjoying vacation.
Write to me.
Your loving teacher
Miss Abbie
May 11, 1915
Palmetto, Fla.
Dear Rosalie:
I often think of you dear children, if I have been a long time writing,
and want to see all of you.
Write me all the news .
Your loving teacher.
Abbie Stokes
Another girl her
named Abbie.
In April of 1915 Mr. D.R. Zetrouer, one of the trustees of Shiloh school met with the school board about have a new school building erected. Some details were discussed but action was deferred to the next board meeting. At the May meeting, Mr. Zetrouer, Wyche and Harell, trusties of the Shiloh district put forth a form requesting a new school building and the reasons why it was necessary. The board decided not to undertake new building projects for the present, but it would be considered as soon as the board could, “make appropriations for building operations.”
In June it was reported that that, “Everybody is busy eating luscious watermelon now and it seems more like the good old summer time.” Also reported was that Abbie Stokes and her sister Alta had returned to their community of Gaiter where their father was a very successfully watermelon farmer. In July the school board paid D.R. Zetrouer forty-six cents for freight on school desks for Shiloh. In August Miss Abbie Stokes was again appointed teacher for Shiloh. In looking to improve the school’s water system, in September Mr. D.R. Zetrouer suggested that a metal tank for storing water and blackboard paint be supplied to Shiloh. The board ordered that if it was acceptable to the entire board then the items could be secured.
Miss Abbie Stokes was again appointed teacher at Shiloh for the 1915-1916 school year.
Just before Thanksgiving Mr. George Whitington treated Abbie Stokes and several other young folks to, “a grand ride thru the beautiful McIntosh, Evinston and Micanopy section.” It was amazing at the time how far one could travel in one day with an automobile. Tobias Anderson would not take his first ride in an automobile until the day that his daughter Rosalie got married in December of 1920.
