Name/Title
"I'll Miss Children's Voices," says Teacher Who Retires to Farm After 45 Years LaborEntry/Object ID
2000.FIC.02.325Scope and Content
"I'LL MISS CHILDREN'S VOICES," SAYS TEACHER WHO RETIRES TO FARM AFTER 45 YEARS LABOR
Newspaper article
Miss Cahoons resignation as a first-grade teacher in Detroit schools was accepted this week by school board...she was interviewed at her country home...
House Full of Treasures
The white colonial house is 97 years old. Within is mahogany furniture of a past generation, portraits in oil, and pier glasses - accumulated treasures.
"But I wish you could have seen my schoolroom when I was a teacher." said Miss Cahoon.
"I always had a flag of our country above the door and every morning my pupils used to salute it and promise allegiance to it.
"Many of them were foreign-born and I thought there earliest lesson aught to be in patriotism."
...The American traditions I have tried to give to the children who came to me" said Miss Cahoon. "Such things make a child proud in the right way."
"I always taught a first grade except once when I thought I would like a second grade, but I went back to the smaller children as soon as possible."
Taught Pupils Prayer
"Every morning I said a prayer with my children, every child could understand it."
Miss Cahoon folded her hands and said the little prayer:
Now, before we work today,
We will not forget to pray
To God, who kept us through the night
And waked us with the morning light.
"A teacher has to be a mother quite often as she has to be a teacher," went on Miss Cahoon.
"There are many other things to teach besides reading and writing and arithmetic."
Miss Cahoon taught four years in a country school at Avon, then she taught in Charter Oak school, later in Union school then in Barkless, and last at Detroit school.
"If I could advise young teachers" Miss Cahoon concluded, "I would say this: never go into the work of preparing a child for life simply as a means of making a living. Unless you love children, and love to work with children your place isn't with them. A little girl or boy is the most precious thing in the world."Collection
Early Family Papers: CahoonRelationships
Related Person or Organization
Person or Organization
Cahoon, LauraPerson or Organization
Cahoon, LydiaPerson or Organization
Cahoon, Ida