A Moment in Time"'Pom Pom Pull Away'" and Other Games From Our Past"December 1995 A monthly series from the Kansas Historical Society "Annie, Annie Over" yells a fourth-grade student as she hurls the rubber ball over the roof of the wooden outhouse. A group of children on the other side scramble to catch it. This scene was repeated daily at country schools in the early part of this century. Today it can be witnessed again as part of the Rural School Days program offered by the Kansas Historical Society. Rural School Days provides fourth- and fifth-grade students an opportunity to experience a typical day from 1920 in a one-room school. Activities include reading, writing (with ink pens), arithmetic, and the ever-popular recess period. The four-hour program is led by a museum docent "schoolteacher" dressed in period clothes. The program is held at the historic Stach School on the grounds of the Kansas History Center in Topeka. Constructed in the late 1870s, the Stach School was moved from its original location in Jackson County to its new home in 1983. Named for John Stach, an immigrant from Czechoslovakia who donated one acre of land for the school, it operated as a school for more than seventy years. Thousands of country schools met the same fate as school districts consolidated in the mid-twentieth century. Most rural schools were never financially well-off but they were rich in community pride. Parents served on the school board and were responsible for such unenviable tasks as the annual cleaning of the cistern. Teachers received between $40 to $75 a month, and $5 per student was set aside each year for books. This left little money for playground equipment. Children had to rely on their imaginations and simple toys to amuse themselves during their two recesses and one lunch period a day. The following is a sampling of games played at one-room schools in Kansas in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The variations of these games is infinite yet the essential features remain the same. Over the holiday break, young and old might again delight in playing these games with friends and family. "Annie Over" requires that students, or pupils as they were called at that time, divide into two groups. A student with the ball yells "Annie, Annie Over" and throws the ball over the school's roof. Whoever catches it must run around the side of the school and try and hit a player from the opposing team with the ball. This student is then out and the game begins again. Pupils at rural schools ranged in age from four to nineteen thus providing a fair number of older children who were capable of hefting the ball over the schoolhouse. One of the two wooden outhouses associated with the Stach School best accommodates the younger students who participate in Rural School Days. "Pom Pom Pull Away" was another favorite for groups of pupils. Two lines of students form on either side of one student who is "It." "It" can call any player by name and declare, "Jane Smith, Pom Pom Pull Away! Come away, or I'll fetch you away!" Then the student must run across the line and not be tagged by the one who is "It." A fun game after a fresh snowfall is "Fox and Geese." First, a large circle is tramped down with spokes in it like a wheel. A "fox" is picked from one of the students who then tries to tag one of the "geese" as they run in groups of three and four down the trail with their hands on each other's shoulders. The goose who is tagged becomes the fox and the game starts all over again. Fresh air and exercise were encouraged for both genders through these games. To learn more about historic games and rural school education, contact the Education/Outreach Division at the Kansas History Center, 6425 SW Sixth Avenue, Topeka, KS 66615, 785-272-8681, ext. 414; TTY 785-272-8683. |
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