The Orphans' Herald (Itasca, Tex.), Vol. 16, No. 1, Ed. 1 Tuesday, April 1, 1924 Page: 2 of 4
four pages : ill. ; page 17 x 13 in.View a full description of this newspaper.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
THE ORPHANS' HERALD
The Orphans' Herald
Itasca, Hill County, Texas
(R. F. D. Route No. 1, Box 20)
Entered as second-class matter
July 3, 1922, at the postoffice at
Itasca, Tevas, under the Act of
March 3, 1879.
Subscription, 25c lJer Year.
Southwestern Presbyterian Home
and School for Orphans
(Under care of the Synods of
Texas and Oklahoma and support
ed wholly by voluntary offerings.)
This Home receives under its
care "all needy white orphan chil-
dren of sound body and mind, irre-
spective of the religious belief of
parents or guardians."
Directory:
J. E. Watts, B. A President
Pat E. Hooks Treasurer
Rev. J. D. Stormont Steward
Mrs. J. D. Stormont Matron
Demaree Cottage for Boys
Mrs. Kathleen Watson Matron
Fred Morrison Memorial Building
Miss Hettie M. Miller Matron
Miller Memorial Building
Mrs. L. E. Kinser. Matron
Grace Knox Home for Girls
Miss Maggie Tadlock Matron
Files Cottage for Girls
Miss Bonnie Belle Mitchell
Industrial Matron
School
Miss Katherine McLean, Principal.
Miss Kathleen Kelso.
• Miss Myrtle Johnston.
Miss Grace Carter.
Miss Ida M. Carothers.
Miss Donna Murray, Music.
Board of Trustees
Rev. D. F. McConnell, D. D.,
President; Judge Cooper Sansom,
Vice President,-.Judge C. F. Gibson,
F. M. Files, Mrs. S. Ii. Ludlow, Mrs.
P. E. Bock, Mis. Luther Fountain,
Mrs. J. L. Brock, Rev. S. L. Hogan,
John E. Morrison, J. H. Sturgis,
Rev. David , Sheppurson, W. N.
Wiggins.
Executive Committee
Rev. D. F. McConnell, D. D.,
Chairman; Judge C. F. Gibson, Mr.
F. M. Files, Mrs. J. L. Brock, Mrs.
P. E. Bock, Mrs. S. R. Ludlow, Mr.
J. H. Sturgis.
A Modern Matron
She is a Christian.
She is a Christian—With a vital
experience, and whose religion is a
practical and natural part of her
life. How can she teach or com-
mend the religion of Jesus Christ
to children unless she herself be
really Christian ? This is a
Christian Institution.
She is a Chritsian—With a nat-
ural and highly developed love for
children. Nothing less than love
qualifies and sustains a mother
for her great but blessed task. If
a woman has not this love she is
at once and forever disqualified
from being a matron.
She is a Christian—Whose love
expresses itself first of all bw giv-
ing her presence to the chfldren.
The pity of our day is that so
many unnatural mothers dbove
their children off on irresponsible
servants, to the "movies," or on
the streets. The matron at Thorn-
well orphanage does not have to
do the general sewing. This is
done in the sewing room. She
does not supervise the laundry.
Her first and foremost duty and
the thing for which she is em-
ployed and for which the salary
is paid is to give her presence to
the children. This means pro-
tection to the children and is es-
sential to their training. One
boy said: "We like this home. Our
matron is always here when we
come in." It would be cheaper
to buy a dummy and set it in a
rocking chair in the matron's
room than to pay the monthly sal-
ary of a matron who keeps her-
self shut in her room.
She is a Christian—Whose love
is not centered upon one child,
whose attention is not given to
one, whose little kindnesses are
not shown to one. Favoritism in
a home is fatal to the best inter-
ests of the home. It injures the
favored one as much as the one
who is overlooked and neglected.
The orphan child's supreme need
is to know that he is loved. If he
knows or thinks he is not, his
chances for proper development
are very poor. ,
She is a Christian—Who real-
izes that she is in the Institution
to serve. That means special
thought and attention must be
given to the less favored, less at-
tractive and backward children.
It is conceivable that a matron
might want only bright, attractive,
pleasing, promising children in
her home. She is to take them
as they come and put her best
into what may seem the worst
children.
She is a Christian—Whose un-
derstanding of child nature
teaches her not to try to buy her
way into the good graces of par-
ticular children. If the matron
is not attractive enough in per-
sonality, not strong and firm
enough in character to command
the respect of the children, she
may rest assured that she can not
secure it by calling a child or a
group of children to her room for
special brands of fruit, cream, or
such like. This does not mean
that a matron may not with
propriety and helpfulness, "set
up" her children occasionally to
something that will delight them.
By this the children may learn
that the matron has a real inter-
est in them and appreciation of
their pleasure.
She is a Christian—With a
Christian recognition of the rights
and responsibilities of the other
officers and workers of the Insti-
tution, especially a sister matron.
In the routine of the Orphanage
life children move from one place
to another. Of course a matron's
interest rests still upon some
obedient and lovable child who
goes out of her home. But the
new matron is now the child's ma-
tron. As we said a matron is not
to select a "pet" so we may say
with especial emphasis that no
matron should select as a "pet" a
child from another home. It will
not be conducive to good order.
She is a Christian—Who is will-
ing to make a study of the child
nature as it is found in the child
and in the individual child and in
books on the subject of child train-
ing. Helpful books have been
written and the matron should be
deeply enough interested in the
sacred task in which she is en-
gaged to devote some time to a
study of her subject with a view
to increasing her efficiency and
rendering a larger service.
She is a Christian—With a pe-
culiar concern for new children,
with a special sympathy for them,'
with a loving determination to
make them soon feel at home. How
strange they1 must feel. How
frightened they often are. How
homesick they often become. How
untrained many are! They need
kindly instruction. They often do
wrong, not because they are bad,
but because they have not been in-
structed right. The matron's duty
is to strive to adjust the new child
to his new environment.
She is a Christian—Who knows
that, if she is to have good chil-
J dren, "she must be one." She must,
in her own life, illustrate the qual-
ities and traits required of the
child. She must live up to and be-
yond the Standard set for the
child.
She is a Christian—Who is en-
gaged in a work of discovery. She
must seek to discern the good that
is in a child, call it forth and de-
velop it. We don't get far simply
by a process of repression. Atten-
tion is to be directed to the ex-
pansion of the good. The evU will
truly be choked out. Education
has been defined as the elimina-
tion of the bad and the develop-
ment of the good. That lias been
the work of Burbank in the plant
world. In it his thought is upon
the good that is to be raised to the
best- He is educating his plants.
Gne is a Christian—Who knows
thai firmness is comparable with
lo"0. A weak, thin, sickly senii-
i:.f4v tcdism under the guite oT In n
accomplishes nothing. There must
be a firm hand. Even that which
might be allowed to pass in a fam-
ily, may not be permitted to pass
with a large home group in an or-
phanage. A standard of respect
for the rules of the home and res-
pect for the matron must be main-
tained.
She is a Christian—Who deals
fairly and squarely and justly with
all children. Children are quick to
detect unequal treatment. There
is nothing that hurts the child any
more and transforms him into a
real problem than to feel that he
has not had a "square deal." A
mighty fine matron said: "my
daily prayer is that I shall not al-
low myself to show favoritism and
that I may be able to deal fairly
and evenly with all."
She is a Christian—Who can
control her temper, of course. A
matron was once too severe in her
treatment of a child. The excuse
she gave was that she lost her
temper. Oh!
She is a Christian—Full of pa-
tience. Did you ever see the mo-
ther trying to teach her first child
to walk? She did not snatch the
child up the first time it fell, say-
ing: "It's no use, you will never
walk." But she was patient and
gentle and encouraging. The de-
velopment and unfolding of the
child nature and child life is a
more delicate process than teach-
ing the child to walk calls for
more patience. Patience! Pa-
tience!
She is a Christian—With a mas-
tery over her tongue. Many^i
heart has been made to aJK,
many a tear made to flow, mjmy
an embarassment and confusion
has been caused by an uncontrol-
led tonnue that lias wagged about
an Orphanage campus. With an
emphasis that is thrice under-
scored would we say that one
worker should never speak in a
disparaging or critical manner of
any other worker to or in the
presence of the children. Never,
no, never.
She is a Christian—With educa-
tion, culture, refinement, and art-
istic taste. The business in which
the orphanage is engaged is cul-
tivating and refining boys and
girls for taking their places in life.
One's refinement is to reveal itself
in the order and attractiveness of
the home. It will soon be shad-
owed forth in the polish and
charm of the children under such
a matron.
She is a Christian—Not only
with refinement and personal
charm but one who is physically
well and strong. No invalid has
any business attaching herself to
an Orphanage. A semi-invalid
should not apply for she will not
meet the demands made upon one.
It is no place to go to convalesce.
A half sick person is not prepared
for dealing with twenty or more
children.
She is a Christian—Ready to
adjust herself and help with the
load in an emergency. Her duty
is clearly defined, but as emer-
gencies arise in a family, so in an
Orphanage. One who gives her-
self to this work should be willing
to step out of her beaten track and
help in a stress.
She is a Christian—With that
understanding of her position and
responsibility that enables her to
know that it is the duty of the of-
fice to install new matrons and
give them the information and in-
struction thought necessary. Old
matrons have not been "called" to
tell new ones what they should or
should not do. They have not been
employed to pour into the ears of
a new worker—already weighted
with a sense of the bigness and res-
ponsibility of the job—all the un-
pleasant things that have ever
happened in the Institution and
that are "sure to happen to her."
The heaviest burdens of the new
matron are often the ones that
never come to her.
She is a Christian—Free to give
her thought and heart's interest to
the orphan children, without hav-
ing to bestow most of it upon her
own child or chidlren. Her own
child will, nine times out of ten,
fill so large a place in her heart,
there is not enough room left for
the orphan children whom she has
been employed to serve and love.
Many institutions refuse to em-
ploy workers who would have their
own children with them. ,
She is a Christian—Whose mot-
to is loyalty. If a matron can not
be loyal to the administration
there is but one thing to do. That
is to resign. The very ground out
of which true and efficient service
must spring is loyalty. If it is
not present the service is defec-
tive and the salary paid for a ser-
vice that is defective can not be
rendered.—Our Monthly.
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Newspaper.
The Orphans' Herald (Itasca, Tex.), Vol. 16, No. 1, Ed. 1 Tuesday, April 1, 1924, newspaper, April 1, 1924; Itasca, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth292746/m1/2/: accessed May 31, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.