In 1840 it was stated in the Visitor’s Report that a new school had been recently erected in a more central location. The school was closed from 1843 until 1849. The Report stated the parents were careless and stingy in refusing to pay adequate wages to the teachers, therefore causing the schools to remain vacant. The school was then closed the last half of 1849 because of smallpox and reopened in January 1850. However, the Report stated in 1851 that the new school in Little Pond was in an unfinished state and was unfit for occupation. In 1855, the Report noted that the school had much improved but in 1857 it was still noted that there was much required in the way of furniture. The first female teacher in Little Pond was reported in 1867. Her name was Mary MacDonald.

The last two schools built in Little Pond were in approximately the same location. Some of the people recalled going to both the “old” and the “new” schools. The closing of the old school and opening of the new was quite an occasion in Little Pond. It took place on October 24, 1934, and many local re- sidents remember the new school was crowded to the utmost capacity and many had to listen to the program through the open windows. The program was in two parts, the first was the closing of the old school and most of the program was put on by the former pupils. The second part was the formal opening of the new school. The carpenter foreman of the building, Nelson Stewart, after a brief explanation of his work, presented the key to the first teacher in the new school,

Miss Bernice Dingwell, now Bernice McFarlane. She replied fittingly on behalf of the students.

Among those present were Hon. W.J.P. MacMiIlan, Minister of Education; Supervisors Murphy and Hynes; J. Howard MacDonald, M.L.A.; Rev. Father Callaghan; Rev. Mr. Firth; H.R. Stewart; and many of the old pupils from near and far. Chairman was John A. Steele.

After the program a delicious chicken supper was served in the old school, while dancing was enjoyed in the new one, music being furnished by Webster‘s Orchestra. Proceeds were $120.00. It was and is still remembered by many as quite an evening and someone is quoted as saying, “never before in the history of Little Pond had such an event occurred and the lives of many who were present there will be well spent before such an occasion presents itself again”.

The first teacher mentioned in Little Pond was Edmund Shea and the last teacher to teach in Little Pond School was Wallace MacDonald.

A former pupil of Little Pond School recalled the day a little girl came to school wearing glasses. This was the first pair of glasses to be seen by a lot of students and was quite a novelty. One of the older lads, Gerard MacDonald, set them on the bridge of his nose and marched up the road to Allan J. MacDonald’s and back with all the other pupils marching behind.

John Tassell remembered one day at dinnertime a bunch of the boys got a toad and put it in the teacher’s desk. The teacher used to go home at dinnertime and leave the older pupils in charge. She came back and put the school in and a noise begun to emit from the desk drawer. The teacher opened the drawer and no doubt got one of the biggest frights of her life. The chair fell backwards,

51