From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for March 28, 1912:

“It’s an easy matter to get to school regularly when you live in town and have paved streets over which to travel or even if you do live far it’s no task to catch a street car that takes you almost ‘to the door’ of the school. It’s a far different matter when you live more than two miles from school and when the roads are so covered with snow that for an eighth of a mile or more you have to walk on your hands and knees. This is just what a little Douglas county girl did on Monday. Hazel Orr is one of the pupils at Miss Emma Dews’ school district fifteen in Kanwaka, and she lives two miles from the school. She is determined not to miss a day at school, however, so Monday, it did not mar her determination that the roads were so deep with snow that they were impassable for travel. Sometimes she rides but how can one ride when the horses can not get through the snow? Monday she started early, but the snow was so bad that for an eighth of a mile or more she had to walk on her hands and knees; when she stood up she would go through and in some places the snow would have been over her head. She got there all right, however. She was not marked absent…. One pupil [at Miss Dews’ school], a boy of twelve years, has never missed a day or been tardy for five years. Five others have been perfect in attendance for two years and ten have not missed a day or been late this year. Miss Dews is one of the Douglas county teachers who is doing what may be called a ‘wonderful work.’ She puts enthusiasm and the keenest interest into all school events.”