Bucket lunches were kept on a shelf behind the stove. At times, by noon, they were still nearly frozen.

Some mornings we would wear our coats while studying. Also, I recall jumping over a broom handle laid across seats for a quick warm up.

In 1920 and 21 our teacher, Gudrid Njaa, introduced hot lunches. They consisted of a cup serving per person of hot milk with canned corn or peas, butter and seasoning.

The oldest girls, grades five and six, would start this heating on a kerosene stove at 11:30. The smell of a kerosene stove long after had a nostalgia for me.

One Friday with a storm in the offing, Alice and I were told to wait at the school for a ride home. The storm never materialized but we waited anyway, but eventually set out straight as a crow flies across the lake bottom. As we neared the north end it was getting dark but we could discern a shadowy form loping down the hill towards us. Must be a coyote. Then we remembered grandma's advice, "If you encounter a coyote, look him straight in the eye," and thus fortified, we pressed on. It turned out to be Lulu who had come home on a Friday evening from Cooperstown High School and had come to meet us.

The spring of 1916 I was in first grade. 11jordis had taken grade 8 exams the first of the year. Lulu was still kept out of school after a winter bout with pneumonia. I was not allowed to go by myself. The neighbors took me in a week at a time. First week with Christine at Johnsons, second week with Elsie Jensen at Stoais, and the third week with Esther at Skjelsets.

Elbjorg Krogsgard

Source: Cooperstown, North Dakota 1882-1982 Centennial page 58