Sundays often meant long drives in the country so Grandma Patrick could see her old stomping ground. Whenever we’d get to a certain intersection my dad would remark that the schoolhouse that he burned down once stood on that corner. For years I thought he did it maliciously, but he finally admitted it was an accident.
Cedar Waxwing's 365 
Did he tend to be malicious? Or did he just want to sound like a tough guy dad?
Malicious might be too strong of a word. Probably tough guy dad is more like it. What really happened was that he had to get up early to start the furnace at the small (one- or two-room) schoolhouse and was resentful so shoveled too much coal into the furnace and the fire got too big and sparks landed on the roof which set the school on fire. I don’t know why he was in charge of the fire — perhaps the school paid him?
Interesting. Sounds like a chimney fire. Can you imagine kids today shoveling in the coal while trying to text on their phones?
I can completely see that happening at the two-room school I attended.
Was Charles Ingalls your dad?
No but he lived very near where my dad burned down the schoolhouse when he was a child.
Cool
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