Miss Mary Timmons was a favorite teacher in the 1880's at the Big Springs School in Siskiyou County, Calif. Since housing was scarce, it was customary for unmarried female teachers to board with a family during the school year. Mary and her sister both boarded with the Buckner family at the White Mountain Ranch.
The Buckner girls said Miss Timmons often played games with her students, and this shocked several of the parents, especially when she kicked higher than any of her pupils could.
The Buckner girls covered for their older brothers, by telling Miss Timmons their father had kept them home to work when they had actually headed for a neighbor’s orchard, where they sat in the sun eating apples.
One day, as Miss Timmons was driving her buggy home she spotted the boys trying to hide. Looking straight ahead, she drove on, although it was obvious she had spied them playing hooky.
Another time, when Miss Timmons complained of a bad toothache several of her pupils offered her a chew of tobacco. She got so sick school was dismissed for the day.
Source: “Perils of School Marms in Big Springs.” Siskiyou Pioneer and Yearbook. No. 4 ed. Vol. 3. Yreka: Siskiyou County Historical Society, 1968. 52-53. Print.
