MEMORIES OF MASCOT SCHOOL

1. Following are reminiscences contributed by Mrs. Doris (Gray) Fenton who
2. taught at Mascot for two years, 1934 to 1936.
3.  
4. A black bull was pawing up a storm in front of the barn. I went back into
5. the school until he went away. It was 1934, my first year of teaching. I
6. had four miles to go to my boarding place as soon as I could get to my
7. horse. Conditions there would now be considered quite primitive. The
8. school, built in 1929, was on an open section where anyone’s horses and
9. cattle could run at large. There was not even a fence around the school
10. yard. In that part of Alberta, there were no gravelled roads, no
11. snowplows, no plumbing and no electricity. I thought I had an interesting
12. two years—there were 20 pupils and at various times I taught grades one
13. to eleven.
14.  
15. I boarded with Mr. & Mrs. Beasely. I had a comfortable room all to
16. myself, and good food. Board was $20 a month for me and $3 for my horse.
17. With a salary of $700 a year, later cut to $650, I was able to save half of
18. it. Most of my expenditures were for craft supplies and books to use at
19. the school, also a good saddle – now a treasured keepsake of some of my
20. grandchildren.
21.  
22. Some families attending Mascot were: Bruce McNerns (when their mother
23. taught there), Dick McNerns, Dahls, Dahlgrens, Wilfred and Philias
24. LaFrance families, Woods, Busheys, Flamands, McCauslands, Elsie Harris
25. and Elsie Murray.
26.  
27. Looking back almost sixty years, I remember with fondness the Beasleys,
28. including Rosa and Charlie, Les and Cecille going in the bob sleigh with the
29. LaFrance young people to dances at Gilt Edge hall and Grangedale, the
30. hospitality of Bert and Melba Kitchen, the Plaxtons, the Nelsons, the
31. Harrises. Marion Watson and I took a combined Mascot-Grangedale ball
32. team to a tournament at Chauvin. I also remember sleepless nights while
33. preparing for Christmas concerts; getting lost in a dust storm when my
34. horse took a wrong turn out of the woods, and three hour rides in sub zero
35. weather going home for weekends. But I loved teaching and never thought
36. of it as a hard life.

Memories of Mascot School
Contributed by Mrs. Doris (Gray) Fenton

142-143