Oral History Interview with Drannan Pratt

CASSIE MULLINS: So, I can make sure it is working right. Okay, if you don't care, just go ahead and say your name.

DRANNAN PRATT: Drannan Pratt.

C.M.: And the year that you graduated from high school.

PRATT: Nineteen forty.

C.M.: And today's date is May twenty-eight, nineteen hundred and ninety-eight, just so we’ll have it on there.

PRATT: I didn't know that part. [Laughter] C.M.: No, it's the, May the twenty-ninth, it's not the twenty-eighth. I don't even know what day it is. Okay, so you didn't live at the settlement.

PRATT: No.

C.M.: Okay, where did you grow up?

PRATT: Right here.

C.M.: Right here?

PRATT: Right across the creek over there.

C.M.: So, I guess you'd call this Leburn.

PRATT: Yeah, Leburn.

C.M.: Now how' d you .... I guess how many years did you go to school up there?

PRATT: Well, I went some in grade school. And then I went to four years of high school.

C.M.: And how did you hear about the settlement school?

PRATT: Well, everybody here knew about it. It was part of the .... kind of the middle of the neighborhood then.

C.M.: Did other people in your family go to school up there?

PRATT: Yeah, all my brothers and sisters graduated from there.

C.M.: How many people is that?

PRATT: I've got one brother and two sisters.

C.M.: And I guess when you were up there, and this would probably be high school. ... trying to remember the best. What sorts of classes did you take? Ones you remember.

PRATT: I took the basics, Math, English. 1:00I took Manual Training, Typing, Vocational Agriculture, General Science, just all the basics.

C.M.: What sorts of things did you all do in Manual Training?

PRATT: We had a project and we built it and we used it. You may get just one or two projects, according to the size of the project. You'd have so much class, and then so much .... maybe half an hour of class and half an hour of work.

C.M.: What sorts of things did you all, like learn in there? Maybe to make or build.

PRATT: I built a desk one year. And 2:00then I took Mechanical Drawing one year. And that was about all, I guess. Oh, I made an end table one year. You didn't make a whole lot of stuff. You just mostly in class working and how to use the tools. They were just starting to get some electric tools in. And they wouldn't let anyone hardly fool with them. We had a lot of instruction on them.

C.M.: What classes were your favorites when you were in high school?

PRATT: Well, Vocational Agriculture, and I liked English pretty well, and Math pretty well. I 3:00usually picked the classes I liked. I like practically all of them that I took. They didn't have your schedule made out when school started. It took about two weeks to schedule it. You'd make your schedule out and maybe there is a conflict with this or that and you'd have to change it and work it around. It would take about two weeks to get your classes worked out.

C.M.: And that other one you were talking about, that other vocational class. What sort of things did you all do in there?

PRATT: Mechanical Drawing?

C.M.: Yeah.

PRATT: Oh, you mean Vocational Agriculture.

C.M.: Yeah, the agriculture one.

PRATT: Well, that was probably 4:00the favorite one, because we got to go out and visit farms and stuff, practically all the time. We went to Berea to judging contests.

C.M.: So that was a pretty involved class.

PRATT: Yeah.

C.M.: They don't have a class like that.

PRATT: I don't know whether they do or not.

C.M: I don't know, me neither. There might be. There wasn't when I was in high school. Who were some of the teachers that you had, maybe, like? Because we're trying .... of course, a lot of the teachers that taught then, most of them aren't around now.

PRATT: Well, most of the teachers were people who came in here from Massachusetts and the east. Pearl Combs, 5:00he was a native of Knott County. Eda Kay Smith, she was from Perry County. Why I can't think of the names.

C.M.: Oh, is that your ....

PRATT: My diploma C.M.: That's your diploma.

PRATT: Yeah.

C.M.: Well, you've got all that on there. Here, let me see that. So, this has all the teachers on here.

PRATT: Yeah, that is all the teachers. They were practically all there the four years that I went.

C.M.: Which ones do you remember being your favorites?

PRATT: Well, Pearl Combs was a favorite. [Laughing] C.M.: Why is that?

PRATT: Well, his wife was a favorite. And she taught English. Pearl was a basketball coach. Well, he had just come there the year before I went. 6:00He came there in thirty-nine. He was beginning to build a good team. He was a favorite for everybody. Well, Miss Cobb, she was a favorite. [Laughing] Miss Standish, everybody liked her. Practically all the teachers, everybody liked.

C.M.: What was Pearl Combs like? What kind of personality did he have?

PRATT: Well, he could mix with anybody. He was just one of the gang, you could say. He could mix with anybody.

C.M.: Yeah, because that's what other people have said, that I've talked to. They always mention his name. They really liked him. What 7:00did you like about Miss Cobbs?

PRATT: Well, I don't know. It's hard to say. But she was just a good, old woman. [Laughing] She taught History, French and Latin. And she was just a good, old woman.

C.M.: What did you all think? Or maybe what did people say, if you remember, about all these women that just came from far away, Massachusetts and places? What did people think of them?

PRATT: Well, they thought.. .. everybody liked them. There wasn't hardly anybody in the county qualified to teach high school and courses that they taught.

C.M.: Because I know sometimes when people come in and do stuff like that, sometimes people aren't too keen 8:00on that. I didn't know what people thought.

PRATT: Well, everybody liked them. There was a water mill right up here where Combs furniture is today. Back then the creek would freeze over. We had cold winds. They would bring children from the settlement up there and they would skate on that until after dark. Through the winter's eve and then walk them back to town.

C.M.: They'd bring the ones that stayed up there?

PRATT: Most of all those teachers were from up there in the northeast. They were skaters and so forth. And they liked the ice.

C.M.: That's good. Now did you ever do any work over at the settlement school? 9:00I know that the people that stayed there on campus worked there. But some students worked there.

PRATT: No, I never did work in there.

C.M.: What were some of the things you did during school, like activities or clubs, you all had? Did you do anything like that?

PRATT: We, I believe we called it recreation hall. It was up on the left in the back of where the dining hall used to be. Where the new one is, they built a big building. I believe they called it a recreation hall, recreation hall. We had parties and dances and stuff up there quite often. The sponsor of the senior class would take us up there. It wasn't just the senior class. It was any class wanted to go, could 10:00 go.

C.M.: So, you all had dances and things like that? Did you play any sports or anything? When you were in high school?

PRATT: No. They didn’t... .. back then they practiced basketball at night. I would have had to walk. Well, fool around in Hindman until it was time for practice and then practice. And then have to walk home at night. I just didn't see that.

C.M.: Did you go to the basketball games?

PRATT: Yeah.

C.M.: What were those like?

PRATT: There was more enthusiasm then, than there is now. [Laughter] The gymnasium was in the old high school building there. It would be packed, just 11:00standing room only every time we'd have a ball game. Back then see, Pearl was getting a good team there. In thirty-nine they were runners-up in State. Everybody was hyper on basketball then.

C.M.: I'd say so. Were you ever around Miss Watts much?

PRATT: Not too much, no. I'd met her. I knew her.

C.M.: What did you think about her?

PRATT: Well, I never did have much to do with her. I just.. .. what she's done is about the only thing I know about. That was a lot.

C.M.: What about... .. were you around Mr. Still much? James 12:00 Still?

PRATT: Oh yeah. I've known him ever since he came here. He came here one summer as a missionary and he stayed right after one of my aunts. Him and two, three more, no two more fellows, I guess, Jack Adams and Jim Fletcher. And they took us camping and organized some games and stuff for us all summer. And then he came back to the settlement school. About the time I went to high school, he came. And he was there the whole time during, when I was in school. 13:00C.M.: So, you went with him on those camping trips and things like that?

PRATT: Yeah.

C.M.: Yeah, I heard, somebody was telling me .... Lorraine Tomko was telling me about that. How he used to take people on that. What was that like? Going on those?

PRATT: Oh, we'd just go out and we'd cook our supper. [Laughing] It was something like the Boy Scouts. Something like that.

C.M.: Do you think that was a good thing for you all to have?

PRATT: Well, that was about the only thing we had going, to do. There wasn't anything much. They were here all summer. And they organized ball teams, baseball and softball and volleyball, stuff like that. And we played that.

C.M.: Had you, did you all play 14:00that stuff before they came?

PRATT: No. Some in grade school, but nothing to amount to anything.

C.M.: Were there any other people I didn't ask you about? Maybe that were ... .I guess people that kind of stand out in your mind, that were at the settlement school or that you met through it? You know, people like Mr. Still and Miss Watts, people like that. Because there are so many different ones. I don't know if there was anybody else.

PRATT: Eda Kay Smith, she was there, every since I can remember. I don't know.

C.M.: What was she like?

PRATT: She was a strict teacher. She made you do your work. [Laughter] Back then school was different from what it was. We had .... classes were forty-five minutes and then fifteen minutes study hall to get to class. Next day. They 15:00would assign you a lesson, give you fifteen minutes to work on it for the next day. And then you had two study halls. You had no homework. You got your work all in school. And they all were willing to help you, if you had any questions. You didn't have to hesitate to ask them, and they would answer.

C.M.: So, your school, what was kind of the structure? I mean, was it strict?

PRATT: Oh boy, it was strict. You're darn right. [Laughter] There was no talking in study hall and there was .... We went to town every day at dinner. They 16:00didn't have any lunchroom then or nothing. Most of, practically all the students went to Hindman. We didn't eat at a restaurant. We ate at a grocery store. You could get a big baloney half inch thick for a nickel and a bottle of Coca Cola or some kind of drink for a nickel. They'd furnish the crackers and the mustard or whatever you wanted.

C.M.: So, you went to town for lunch.

PRATT: Yeah.

C.M.: That was pretty good. Now, how did you get to school every day?

PRATT: We had a school bus. They ran a school bus. I think they started the bus the year I started high school in thirty-six. But they had a school bus, and they ran it down to Clear Creek, for two years, before 17:00they ran it back this way. And up until then all the students walked. You didn't miss any days. There weren't any snow days or anything else. If there wasn't anybody there, but two or three, they still had school. And you didn't think about missing, unless the water was up. That was about the only time you ever missed, because the water was up. Because snow or anything, you just waded through it and you got to school.

C.M.: Now these ladies, like Miss Watts and people like that, and the teachers that came in, because I know some of them would just come and stay for a year or two and teach and then leave. Did they do things in the community that you know of, or was 18:00the community involved in the school?

PRATT: Yeah, they had weaving, where some of the people out at the school, worked there and wove stuff and sold it. They sold it as crafts or something like that. People worked there and made baskets for them. And they shipped off. And all the year, people would gather holly with berries on it and they would ship it and sell it for them.

C.M.: Yeah, I'm just trying to get an idea like of other things that they did besides just teach classes and things.

PRATT: Yeah, anything that was good 19:00or to help the community they did. They did a lot of stuff.

C.M.: What kind of. .. this is kind of just a general question. How do you feel about the Hindman Settlement School? Just from your standpoint of having gone to school there, gone to Hindman Settlement School. What has that meant to you, being able to get that kind of education?

PRATT: Well, I wouldn't have got it, if it hadn't been there. There wasn't any high school in the county. Carr Creek had one, it was similar. It was started when the other did. But before the county and stuff, there was no high school. That was the only school above 20:00the grade school that there was in the county.

C.M.: How do you feel about your quality of education you got there?

PRATT: Well, they gave you education. It was too bad they don't have education like they give now. Because they taught us citizenship. They taught us government. They taught us how to act. They just taught us how to be a good citizen. Everybody that got there .... get to class ... .it was just like .... your class members .... well, some were just like your family, to most of them. You knew everybody in school. I think there was three 21:00hundred and fifty some students the year I graduated. There was thirty-five of them in my class, the senior class.

C.M.: I guess you would know everybody then.

PRATT: Yeah. And you stayed together. It's not like school here. They have children together this year, and next year it will be another set of them together. When you started school, you stayed with the same bunch until you got through the eighth grade. And when you got in high school you stayed with the same bunch until you got though high school. You had the rules. There was no smoking, 22:00no fool playing and no dancing. [Laughter] C.M.: Uh oh. Not at all?

PRATT: No. After school there could be. But there was no dancing at noon. If they caught them dancing, they would expel them for a week. [Laughing] C.M.: You mean dancing there at school?

PRATT: Yeah, at noon there. Most everybody went to town at noon, and they had these restaurants there with these piccolos in them and music boxes. And if they danced and got caught, they would be expelled for a week.

C.M.: Did people ever get caught dancing during the lunch hour?

PRATT: Yes, sir. They expelled about fifty-one time, down there, for playing pool and dancing.

C.M.: Who caught them?

PRATT: The principal [Laughing] 23:00It was just like one of those drug hits. [Laughter] C.M.: It was a dancing hit though.

PRATT: Yeah.

C.M.: Lord have mercy. They probably wish that was all the kids did now to get into trouble. [Laughter] PRATT: Yeah.

C.M.: Well, what do you think .... This is just another opinion question for you. What do you think that the settlement school has meant just to the area in general, overall? The things that it's done. The fact that so many kids got to go to school there.

PRATT: Well, it's .... People were advanced on up to higher degrees and so forth. You take lawyers and stuff like that, there's 24:00so many of them would never have got their education to be, if it hadn't been for the school. And teachers, teachers who wouldn't have been. No teachers for no telling how long if it hadn't been for the school. Back then you could take a test. And if you didn't have any schooling at all, if you passed the test, you were qualified to teach school. They brought the qualifications up.

C.M.: What 25:00about other things, that maybe these ladies brought in? Like when I was talking ... . talked to Ursula Davidson the other day.

PRATT: She graduated the same time as me.

C.M.: Yeah. As she was talking about how when she went to school there, she learned so much more, like you were saying, then just things you get out of a book. Like she learned how to write a correct thank you note and things like that. How important do you think all that was? The extra things you got?

PRATT: Well, you learned more about the country, the world out of these mountains here.

In school, Miss Standish had a Travel Club. And we'd sell candy and stuff to get the money. We didn't have any spring vacation or anything then. There was KEA, came 26:00in April sometime. We'd get, I believe it was three days off. And she would get a bus and take the Travel Club, and we'd go to like Frankfort, Harrodsburg, Mammoth Cave and spend three or four days on a travel trip. And most of us had never been out of the county.

C.M.: Really?

PRATT: Yeah.

C.M.: What teacher did that?

PRATT: Miss Standish.

C.M.: And so, you think most kids probably never would have gotten the opportunity?

PRATT: No. Well, you take that Vocational Agriculture. We 27:00went to Berea and the University of Kentucky and all different places to livestock shows and judging contests.

C.M.: Those were just questions I had written down, but I'm sure there's other things you remember about being in school there. Maybe something that stands out in your mind, that I've not asked you about. Or something that when you think about being in school there, that pops into your mind. Or maybe just something I've left out, that you think might be important that somebody might want to know about that place.

PRATT: I don't know about many things. 28:00C.M.: Well, that might just be it then.

PRATT: Yeah, it isn't much.

C.M.: No, that's good.