Welshpool and district
Victorian school days
  Fish, insects - and dragons !  
 

Some entries in official school Log Books seem quite funny when you read them today, although they were not meant to be !
This first one refers to the regular 'Object Lessons'given in most Victorian schools. Teachers had a list of animals and other 'objects' to talk about in class, and they often used pictures to show what they looked like. This teacher had hoped to catch a real fish for this lesson - but the pike got away ! ...

Pike
You can't catch me !
18th October
1901
School diary entry "I tried to finish the lesson on the "pike" but quite failed to catch one although the water and weather were favourable".
  This entry from the official records of Buttington School in 1888 proves that Welsh dragons were well educated...  
13th April
1888
School diary entry Dragon (possibly)
(Welsh dragons are supposed to be red, but we only had a green one in stock !)
"The Dragon children have returned to school this week".
(Some little fire-breathing dragons would have been quite useful in a Victorian schoolroom, because the children often had to light the fire when they arrived !)
Wasp
The Log Book entry shown below would not have been thought very funny by the poor little girl concerned, but it shows that boys have always been the cause of a lot of trouble at school ...  
27th June
1884
School diary entry "Kept M.Morris in on Friday for putting a wasp down a little girl's back".  
 

And some of them still are, so they say !

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