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     EDUCATION 
     
    
   
   
    
     A practice prevalent in the early days of our educational 
     
     growth was the custom of the teacher receiving his board by going 
     
     from house to house, in which case, he was regarded both by 
     
     parents and children as little better than a common menial. The 
     
    
   
   
    
     teacher was very handy to rock the cradle, make pap for the baby 
     
     and saw fire—wood. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Many curious anecdotes are told of the old—time teachers, 
     
     their methods and their characteristics. John Slattery, a teacher 
     
     at East Point School, the only school on the Island at that time, 
     
     1837, in which Latin was taught, in calling the roll would substi— 
     
     tute Latin, thus; Beaton Primus, Beaton Secondus, Beaton Tertius, 
     
    
   
   
    
     etc. until he finished with the Beatons, and then came Morrow 
     
     Primus, and so on down the line. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Education was not stressed during these years as it is at 
     
     present and the story has been told of a teacher that came here 
     
     from Ireland and who had received a letter from home but as he 
     
     could not read it intelligently he had a neighbour read it for him. 
     
    
   
   
    
     A little pot—bellied stove, at the back of the school, pro~ 
     
     vided heat. A janitor was hired to look after the fire but the 
     
     pupils quite often arrived in the morning before he had it lit. 
     
    
   
   
    
     The pupils walked to and from school through deep snow and 
     
     quite often in very low temperatures during the winter months. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Soon, more interest was taken in the schools. In the early 
     
    
   
   
    
     l930's the Women's Institute members combined with the District 
     
     to provide the needs and supplies. 
     
    
   
   
    
     School grounds were enlarged, improved and fenced; flowers 
     
     and trees were planted; school signs and flagpoles were erected. 
     
    
   
   
    
     School interiors were painted; the cup or tin dipper and 
     
    
   
   
    
     uncovered water bucket were replaced with fountains and individual 
     
     drinking cups. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Other improvements included; new desks, maps, globes, 
     
     libraries, pencil Sharpeners, cupboards, kettles, window shades, 
     
     and in more recent years indoor septic toilets, electricity, oil 
     
    
   
   
    
     heaters, and oil furnaces have been installed and the floors have 
     
     been tiled in several schools. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Grades one to ten were taught in each school at this time 
     
     by one teacher, and as many as forty or fifty pupils in some cases.