RECORDED: Lac la Hache (B.C.), 1979-07-09 SUMMARY: Mrs. Hamilton talks about her life teaching in the Cariboo. She later married an outfitter and big game guide. Feels that children respected adults more in the early days. Describes school in the Kootenays. "Enormous" timetable. Meagre fare boarding. Cold trips to school on horseback -- 3.5 miles at sub-zero temperatures; lighting school stove; equipment in school; out-of-date maps and old volumes; the only literature. Merits of McLean's Muscular Movement in handwriting. Register balancing. Close watch kept on teachers' morals and behaviour. Touchy affair of Christmas tree with tiny liquor bottles. Fear of inspector's visit. Discusses discipline; unstable families now produce disturbed children. Buster Hamilton (a well-known guide and outfitter) tells of attending a one-room school and how much difference the individual teacher can make. Recalls his own disinterest in school until a good grade 4 teacher helped him. Another good teacher would not let him quit in grade 8.