Times Were Hard But Good

This week in Quest, I would like to introduce a lady who has dedicated her life to teaching. Mrs. Lelia Hilton Neal has a vivacious personality and a charming wit. She taught school at Maces Springs and Hiltons for 30 years.

Mrs. Neal realized the importance of her job, but she was never too supercilious to laugh with her students or find amusement in their antics.

She has written an account of some of the events that took place during her career as a teacher. I think you will enjoy this nostalgic look at Maces Springs School and some of the students that attended. I am sure some of you will remember Mrs. Neal as your teacher.

The years spent teaching at Maces Springs were the most endearing of all of my teaching career, because we, teacher and pupils seemed devoted to eachother and were really as one big family.

I repeat, the times were hard, but I had so many promising and talented pupils in this two-roomed school (which was once a Junior High School), Fulkerson High was the only high school in the county other than Shoemaker at Gate City-pupils came from far and near to enroll, that I soon forgot the hardships and became involved in training human minds.

I taught grades 1-4 for several years. During the latter two, I was made principal and taught the elementary grades.

These small children would often times walk the long distance of two miles to go home with me for the night. June sometimes took her doll.  (Mother and Father were always happy to help entertain the children when they came) We all, Mother, Father and I, would get the doll and hide it for June to find often times, she'd find it under mother's long hip apron, or my father's over-all jacket. We'd all laugh and have such fun.

At Maces, I believe I learned most every profession: social worker, doctor, nurse, janitor, chauffeur, most everything excepting a dentist-don't believe I ever pulled a tooth.

One day a little boy began screaming in my school room. I said, "What is wrong?" He said, "My belly hurts"; Well, I had the remedy. We went down to the foot of the hill (an old well stood there from which we carried our drinking water in buckets) where Mrs. Elva Dennison lived and got some soda water for the boy. Don't believe his belly hurt any more.

After walking, for seven years I purchased an old Ford car and began driving. The car proved beneficial in many ways. At that time, free books and used clothing were stored in (or near) the school board office. Sometimes after school hours, mostly on Saturdays, I believe, I'd drive to Gate City to select clothing and books for the pupils.

Upon one occasion, we were playing "Antne Over" the tall school building. One team would often meet the other when the ball was caught.  This time two boys ran together and split their heads open.  One of the boy's mothers, who lived nearby, and I put them in my little black Chevrolet (purchased in 1940, and kept it for 16 years) and drove to Gate City to have stitches taken.

While teaching at Maces, we were required to visit a number of homes during the school months. Once I walked home with Fern Carter Salyers and W. L. Carter (these were Junes' first cousins) for a short visit. Their mother Ora said, "Today is W. L's birthday. Let's black him and put him under the bed. It seems that we may have had a little struggle in getting him under the bed, but I actually believe W. L. had as much fun as Ora, Fern and I.

After retiring from Hilton School in 1963. I often wondered. "What did I do for children other than teaching them subject matter?"