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CITY OF DUBOIS Page 61
ing was heated by a wood burning stove placed in the center of the
room, and the fuel was obtained from the forest adjoining. Likewise,
the hickory rod the teacher used in controlling the school was a
product of the adjoining forest. At that time they did not believe
in "sparing the rod", and one is lead to believe that a little
"hickory oil", well laid on in the present age, might have a good
effect on the rising generation.
This school house served two purposes. The school term
did not exceed three months, In the spring, after sheep shearing,
some kindhearted person would open the door of the school house and
the sheep soon discovered a nice shady place in which to rest,
either day or night. From this use this school house came to be
known as the "Sheep Pen".
Some time in the early 1860's the school board of Brady
Township, erected a new frame school house, located along South Main
Street just, outside the city limits. The location of this building
did not seem to coincide with the better thought (?) of the
community, and after the carpenter had removed his tools, the school
building, in some mysterious way, caught fire and was completely
destroyed. The school board of Brady Township was rather hard
headed, and concluded that education was not appreciated in that
locality, and they did not erect a new building until the following
year. The "Sheep Pen" had previously been sold to Julius Terpe for
match wood, and had been removed and cut into match sticks, and
there was no other building to be used. The following year a new
school house was erected on the same foundation, and this building
is still standing. It was used for school purposes until the Borough
of DuBois was organized. A number of citizens still living in DuBois
attended school in this building.
Of course, this building was not large enough to
accommodate all of the pupils in DuBois after 1876, and a two room
building was erected where the Central School building now stands. A
hall on North Main. Street, over Glasgow and Ellis's store, was used
for school purposes as well as a public hall for other meetings.
It was related that a teacher's institute was held in
this building one night during the school term. An enthusiastic
citizen, who had imbibed in something stronger than grape juice,
considered himself insulted by some person on the street. The first
opening he found was the door leading to this hall, where the
teachers institute was in session. During the speech of some
educator, the insulted gentleman stepped into the hall and made the
announcement that he was ready to lick anybody in the town, and
especially any one in that building, and he commenced to disrobe,
first removing his coat and vest, then commencing to take off his
trousers. At this point several men concluded that the disrobing had
gone far enough, and they took the man out and started him on his
way to hunt some other person to thrash.
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