Designed to preserve the rich heritage of the rural school system which passed from the education scene in the 1930's and 1940's, this narrative, part history and part nostalgia, describes the author's own elementary education and the secure community life centered in the one room Spring Valley School in Hamilton County, Iowa, in the early decades of the century. Remembered are the octagonal clock hung over wainscoting; the dry sandwich in the lunch pail in the pre-waxpaper era; the dark recesses of the cloakroom where you searched for a lost mitten; the recitation bench to which you were called for class sessions; the double desks shared with a seat mate; the quotation or maxim given in response to roll call; the water bucket in lieu of plumbing and streamlined faucets; the"open" classroom in which older pupils were always available to help beginners; the annual visit of the county superintendent; the long noon hours of robust play on the schoolground and lengthy walks to and from school contributing to physical fitness; the bone tired weariness at day's end during a two-week cornhusking "vacation"; and the school buses and improved roads allowing all weather travel and marking the demise of the one room school. The passing of the one room school includes the passing of an age whose educational philosophy emphasized book learning, goals for personal achievement, and family and community traditions. (NEC)