1

The Winter Rodeo - Bentley School

Rodeo? Now who ever heard of a winter rodeo! Well, it came about in 1951.Both the Junior High School and the Senior High School were represented in this competition. This new winter sport is chuck wagon racing on ice. Bentley Schools felt they had the wildest, strongest and fastest chuck wagon in the west. The chuck wagons were bobsleds suitably changed for the race. Four students were the horses. Two students were the out riders and another student was the daring driver. A Bentley business sponsored each sled in the competition.

2

The Lacombe Sports Days

The school division ran an annual "Sports Day" in Lacombe, in June, at which the divisional schools could compete. Softball and basketball were two of the competions, but there were many more. Transportation was supplied courtesy of Dave Schumaker’s cattle liner. 20 to 30 pupils piled into the truck box and they were off. On one rainy day a canvas was attached to the outside of the truck box for the students protection.

The Outlet School students and teacher traveled to other schools with a load of pupils in the box of a 1/2 ton truck. Sure, wouldn’t be able to get away with this mode of travel now days.

3

The Runaway - Outlet School

In 1942 only Herbert and Glen were attending school. By this time the mode of transportation had progressed to a team of Clydesdale horses powering a bob sleigh complete with grain box. On a spring afternoon they were heading home with three passengers, Eileen Skeels, Reg Snow and Jim Simon. Ruth Simon and Edna Skeels rode on their horses along-side. Suddenly the tongue on the sleigh dropped from the horses neck yoke - the crew had been negligent in hooking the traces on the horses harness too long. The horses spooked and bolted, heading westward on the dead run. Fortunately the sleigh was guided in the same general direction by the tongue banging between the two horses feet. The width of the route was limited by the banks of plowed snow courtesy of Montalbetti Bros. The wild ride continued for three quarters of a mile for Glen, the driver, who pulled back on the reins while verbally imploring the horses to whoa!
Finally in a special act of bravado reserved for times such as these, Ruth Simon galloped her horse alongside the team, grabbed hold of a bridle and succeeded in arresting the runaway team. The non paying passengers who deserted the sleigh along the route finally caught up, the horses were properly re-hitched and the ride home continued.

Glen Baumbach

4

Riley

The Baumbach family went to Outlet school for 15 years in a cutter, in winter or a four wheel buggy, in summer, powered always by a faithful bay horse " Riley".

Riley was loved by all. He pulled the buggy or cutter six miles per day, loaded with 4 or 5 members of the Baumbach family, plus a few others accumulated en route. He was a real steady trooper who performed his daily task for some oats or green feed. However we finally retired Riley when there were only 3 family members going to school. These school horses were pretty clever, they could shy at nothing, dethrone the rider and run home to the comforts of the barn.

5

Riley Takes Students to School
1900's
Rural areas around Bentley, Alberta

Credits:
Bentley Museum Society

6

The Ride into the School

Dean Suggett of Outlet School wrote this amusing story for the Outlet Memoirs:

I’d often left my lunch pail on the school steps while heading to the barn for my saddle horse. When returning it was handy to just lean down, pick up the pail and go home. On one of these trips past the porch the teacher was standing on the porch watching students head for home. Well of course it wasn’t my intention, however by her saying that, it gave me the idea. I turned my horse and up we went. The teacher went in the main door, through the boys' cloak room, across the back of the main room, out through the girls' side and finally back outside and down off the porch. During this trip through the school, my horse was for the most part, breathing down her neck. My penalty was staying in every noon and recess for a week.

7

The Strap

One former student of Outlet School remembers the sting of the strap. A group of students were sliding off the roof of the barn into the snow drifts. Someone of course tattled to the teacher. The teacher wrote out a very long sentence and they were required to write it out 500 times. The one student, possibly wanting to show off for his buddies went out later and decided to slide off the barn roof again. He got caught again, and the teacher, being quite angry, told him this time he could write the long sentence 5000 times. He began the task, but the teacher soon realized she would be looking at him sitting in his desk writing lines for a very long time. After thinking for a moment, she offered him the strap as an alternative to writing lines. The boy, being quite grateful, took his strapping and was soon back out on the playground. He did learn his lesson though and stayed off the roof of the barn.

At another school a little girl was telling her parents and siblings about her day at school. She told them how many of the school pupils were sliding down the roof of the barn, landing in the deep snow banks. She told how her and her class mates thought it was such great fun. It was so much fun they slid down the barn roof all noon hour.
Her parents informed her that at another school there had been a law suit over the same kind of practice. "Oh, well," the beaming little girl cried out, "if they had come out to our school today we would all be wearing law suits".

8

Sliding off the Roof of the School Barn
1900's
Rural areas around Bentley, Alberta

Credits:
Bentley Museum Society
When the School Horse was King by John C. Charyk

9

Teacher Berniece Suggett (Witherell)

In 1950-51, I was the teacher at the Durham School. I had 16 pupils that year, in grades one to six and one boy in grade nine. During the winter he would go in early and start the fire to warm up the school.
I stayed with Mr. & Mrs. Archie Carlyle and had to walk to school a little over a mile away.That fall they moved in a teacherage and I stayed in it for the rest of the year.

In the spring, just before Easter, we had a snow storm. It closed the school and all the roads. I decided to walk home to Bentley, because Easter holidays were coming and I knew there would be no school for 10 days. I had six miles to walk and left in the morning. I walked as far as Josh Wilkins and they asked me in for dinner. The snow was so deep that I stepped over the telephone wires. I then continued into town. It was a nice day, not too cold. They didn’t get the roads plowed out until just before school started again.

That fall the school was closed and the kids were bused into Bentley.

10

Stuck in the Mud

In 1950 it had been raining and I went to the Durham School to get Berniece Witherell to bring her to Bentley and between the school and Bentley there was some gumbo mud. The tires on the truck would build up with gumbo so wide that the wheels wouldn’t turn so we would have to back up until some of the mud fell off, then we could go ahead again.

Irvin Suggett

11

The Student’s Psalm

The monster is my teacher,
I shall not pass,
He throweth my candy in the garbage,
He waketh me from my sleep,
He leadeth me to the office for conduct sake,
Yea, thou I walk through the hall of knowledge,
I feel great evil,
For I have forgotten my homework,
His face hardens before me,
He maketh me write six hundred words,
My notebook runneth over,
Future happenings passeth through my mind,
Surely mischief and misfortune will follow me all the days of my life.
As I dwell in this school forever.

Bentley High School Newsletter

12

Homework in the Mail Box

During the war years, 1939 to 1945, students were required to work at home during the spring and fall. Teachers accepted this time away from school but they had a way of getting their homework to them. They left it in the mail box on their way home from school and picked up the finished lesson the next morning or when the student had the work finished.

13

Students Missed School During Harvest
1900's
Rural areas around Bentley, Alberta

Credits:
Bentley Museum Society

14

Tobacco

Many boys attending rural schools started smoking at quite an early age. They would sometimes find a place to smoke at school. Some of the favorite smoking places were behind the barn, in the outhouse, in the woodshed or in some surrounding bushes. Of course they often got caught.(usually because someone tattled to the teacher). Many a boy had his first taste of smoking at these rural schools.