Orson Clark - Apr '72 - Pg 12

Interviewer: Did your mother help out on the farm?

Orson Clark: No. Mother did the housework and cooked for hired men.

Interviewer: How many men did your father have to hire to help keep the farm going?

Orson Clark: Well it varied according to the season of the year and the crop they were in. When it came to harvesting hay and grain, it took several men. But on the slow times, in the winter, it was done by the family.

Interviewer: Some of the farm workers that came by, what kind of occupation do you think they were in?

Orson Clark: About the only migrant workers we had were what called "hobos" coming in on the railroads. They were hungry. They would come to the house and want something to eat. So we always kept the axe handy and a pile of wood to be chopped. We let them earn their meal by chopping wood for the stove.

Interviewer: When you finished at the University, what did you do?

Orson Clark: I taught school.

Interviewer: What grades did you teach?

Orson Clark: I started out with the ninth grade in Sunnyside, Utah. Then I moved to Montpelier, Idaho and was in charge of the senior class in the high school. Then I moved to Davis County and I taught all the way from fourth to twelfth grades.

Interviewer: What were the different types of schools that you taught in? What were the buildings like?

Orson Clark: Elementary and junior high school mainly.

Interviewer: Were the buildings multi-classroom, or just one or two classrooms per building?

Orson Clark: No, they were one room per class, similar to the schools that we have today. Elementary, junior high school, and high school. Teachers today think that they have a big load when they have as many as twenty-five to thirty pupils in the class. I taught as many as fifty in a class at one time. Never did I have less than forty in a class. In those days the students worked and studied hard. They were able to get through. I used to spend extra time with those that had trouble with their classes or with their subjects. Often at noontime and after school, they would come in for help which I would give them.