Roadmarks

“Set up for yourself roadmarks, place for yourself guideposts; direct your mind to the highway, the way by which you went.” Jer. 31:21a

The first illustration in The Schoolhouse is this painting of my grandmother’s Bible. The artist cleverly added the tin cup of brown-eyed Susans to help create the Appalachian Mountain setting for her story.

       I keep that treasured little Bible on a bookshelf in our library. Inside the tattered old cover held together by yellowed strips of Scotch tape is the handwritten inscription:

       Gertie Thomas, Dec. 25, 1902

       From  Albert R. Rawtin, for good attendance in Sunday School.

Grandmother would have been six years old that Christmas. I’ve searched, to no avail, the stained, fragile pages for underlined verses or notes recording her thoughts or feelings. The only markings I’ve found, however, are checks and numbers scribbles in the top corners of pages in Genesis, Matthew, Luke, and John - indicators that Grandmother spent time in the Word of God.

What story will your roadmarks tell? 

About The Schoolhouse:

In 1955, my grandmother wrote a detailed letter to her daughter (my mother) describing her adventures as a young teacher in the backwoods of the Appalachians. In her letter, Grandmother encouraged Mother to turn those adventures into a short story and submit it for publication. While my mother never attempted that assignment, she passed on to me the handwritten record of this beautiful, true tale of faith, determination, danger, servitude, and love.

From a heart-dream conceived years ago, comes The Schoolhouse, a story/work book birthed through that courageous teacher’s granddaughter. It is my hope that my grandmother’s story will encourage you to depend more deeply on God, inspire you to persevere through difficult circumstances, and motivate you to finish life strong.

No teacher had completed a full term at that one-room, eight-grade schoolhouse in over four years. Neither the warnings of unruly students and an “unbalanced” boy’s attacks on the school nor reports of a dangerous “bewitched” woman deterred young Elsie from accepting the challenge to teach at Shady Grove School tucked deep in the woods on Whitwell Mountain.

       The shrill blast of the engine whistle sounded within moments of her settling into the first available window seat on the train destined for a coal mining community near her school. The click-clack-click of the wheels along the rails and rhythmic sway of the coach helped to calm her nervousness. Imaginations of the adventures to come played across Elsie’s mind as she looked out on the fertile valley.

       No imaginations, however, could have prepared her for the fierce trials the new teacher soon faced. When her determination grew weak, Elsie turned to God again and again for the courage, wisdom, and resolve needed to finish her term at The Schoolhouse.

(To purchase, go to amazon.com or email misjill413@aol.com)