The Orphans' Herald (Itasca, Tex.), Vol. 16, No. 1, Ed. 1 Tuesday, April 1, 1924 Page: 3 of 4
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THE ORPHANS' HERALD
THE FOURFOLD LIFE AT THE HOME
The J Following Four-Minute
Speeches Were Made by Our
Seniors in Presenting the
Life at the Home to
Ft. Worth and Dallas
Presbyterials
Our Home Life
(Opal Dodson)
I shall tell you something about
how we live anil what we do at the
Home.
There are five children's cot-
tages, three for the girls and two
for boys. There are usually from
eighteen to twenty children in each
cottage; but at the little boys'
home, F. M., there are thirty-one
or -two. The reason for this is
that the little boys are collected
into one cottage, while the little
girls are scattered in the three
girls' cottages. The Steward has
the big boys at Demaree Cottage
to do the farm and barn work.
Each cottage has a house-
mother who is, you may be sure,
a very busy mother, with all those
children to 'tend to. She has their
clothes to look after, to see that
they get off to school with clean
clothes on, with faces and hands
clean, and she must keep things
going. But she loves every one
of her children and they love her.
At each cottage there are the
older girls to do the cooking. These
are supervised by the matrons.
None of us are expert cooks by
any means, but we do the best
we can and profit by our mistakes,
which are very sad ones sometimes,
especially in cakcs. But they never
are wasted, especially those made
at F. M., where I live. I be'ieve
those boys would eat anythin;
Every one has certain household
dujties to perform. Some wash
dishes, some make beds, some
sweep, and some do other things.
The boys have this to do also,
. and they don't like it. They con-
sider it a girl's job. They'd much
rather work at the barn.
The children are clothed by the
different Auxiliaries and Bible
classes of Oklahoma, Arkansas
and Texas. And my, what fun it
is to get a whole box of nice
clothes all at once! It seems like
Christmas.
The worship of God is not neg-
lected in our home life. Every
morning before school opens, we
all gather in the chapel for the
morning prayers. Here we sing
songs and Mr. Stormont reads a
Scripture lesson and asks God to
help us through the day. Then at
evening each cottage has its own
prayers separately, and we recite
verses of Scripture and have sen-
tence prayers, when each child
asks for forgiveness, or thanks
God for something lovely they
have had that day. And we never
forget to thank Him for our homo
and our friends. For we love our
. Home and are looking forward to
the time when we can show that
we do by being or doing something
that shall be a credit to our
Home.
Religious Privileges and
Training
(liuby McDurmon)
I shall attempt to tell you about
the religious privileges we get at
the Home. I think the training
we are receiving is just as good as
any mother or father could give
their own children.
First, I shall tell you about our
Sundays and how we spend them.
We have Sunday school every
Sunday morning from 9:30 to 10:30
o'clock. After Sunday school we
go to church in the Valley. We
have a radio, given to us by some
of our good friends, and when
there is no preaching in the Val-
ley we usually stay and listen to
a sermon from Fort Worth over
the radio. Sometimes we go to
town to hear Mr. Sedgwick preach.
In the afternoon on Sunday we
have Quiet Hour, from three to
four o'clock. This does not mean
necessarily that we have to go to
sleep. During this time most of
us are studying the Bible and
Catechism. Nearly all of the older
girls and boys have already re-
cited the Child's and Shorter Cate-
chism, but those who have not re-
cited them study and recite one
question every Sunday afternoon.
Of course, the older children learn
more than one question a Sunday,
but they only have to recite one.
Those of us who do not study the
Catechism are studying the Bible.
In our Christian Endeavor work
we have learned the Sermon on the
Mount, and started the 119th
Psalm, but we dropped it and are
now studying the 1200 Bible Ques-
tions, by J. J. Hill. We expect to
take up the 119th Psalm again
when we have finished the Bible
questions. So from two to four
o'clock every Sunday afternoon we
are studing the Bible questions
and Catechism.
All of our Intermediate Chris-
tian Endeavorers are members of
Dr. Anderson's Radio Bible Class,
and every Sunday evening from
six to seven o'clock we have the
privilege of hearing Dr. Anderson
teach his Bible class and the mu-
sical program given by the class
over the radio. The juniors have
their Christian Endeavor meeting
in the school building at six o'clock
every Sunday evening. The Ju-
niors are divided into two sides,
the red and the blue, and every
week each side tries to see if their
side can read the most verses in
the Bible. The Intermediates have
their meeting from seven to eight-
thirty. We are divided into two
sides, and we get points for read-
ing articles in the "Missionary
Survey" and other church papers.
After our meeting every Sunday
evening, we take our places, the
sides opposite each other, and the
Bible questions are asked us. We
try to answer every question and
see which side can answer the
most questions.
Then we have religious training
during the week as well as on
Sunday. We have chapel exer-
cises every morning, and each eve-
ning we have our evening prayer
in our own cottages.
So you can easily see that wa
are getting a wonderful religious
training in all respects.
The School Life
(Anna Meidle)
Our school house is a one story
building, built so that another
story can be added when there is
need of it. This building is a sift
from Messrs. Pat and Will Hooks
of Itasca. It has five large rooms.
There is a folding door between
two rooms, making jt possible to
have one large auditorium, in
which we have chapel. Then after
chapel the doors are closed and
form two good-sized school rooms.
Mr. Watts bought forty new single
desks, which were greatly needed.
There is also a laboratory with
equipment for the science class.
We have a sewing room with a
large closet for clothes, etc. Lead-
ing from the hall to the High
School is a library with a book
closet, which has school books in
it. The library is furnished with
encyclopedias, classics and other
good reading books. We have a
splendid set of books, called the
"Book of Knowledge," which is a
gift from Mr. Will Hooks. From
the hall opposite the library is the
principal's office, which is used
as a dental room. This room was
fixed up by people of Ennis, Tex-
as, and in the room is a real den-
tist's chair. Dr; Ritchey, the den-
tist of Itasca, who is not even a
Presbyterian, but a Baptist, has
offered to come out once every
month without charge to the
Home.
Most of the grammar grades go
to school in the morning, as some
of the High School children have
to do the cooking, laundry work,
hauling, etc. in the morning. We
have nine babies who do not go to
school at all, and we have fifteen
pupils in the High School. We
have a splendid set of teachers,
with Miss Katherine McLean as
principal. They have a deep in-
terest in all the children and help
them all they can.
The principal teaches most of
the High School subjects. Our
High School course is completed
with fifteen units, which will al-
low us to enter college. This year
is the first term for a full High
School. By Miss Katherine's giv-
ing us a summer course last year
we have a full High School this
year.
The Honor Roll is for all grades.
To get on the Honor Roll we have
to make an average of 90 on our
lessons and also do good home
work. Sometimes two or three
children have individual races to
see who can get on the Honor
Roll.
Another thing of interest to the
school 'sis the business course,
which is the first one .we have had.
The course was put in this year so
that we might have a chance to
earn our living after we leave the
Home. In this course we have
shorthand and typewriting. We
love the work and have a great
interest in it. To keep up our in-
terest we have frequent speed
tests, and how the machines do
fly! We are all in a wrirl when
test day comes. Miss Ida M.
Carothers teaches this class. She
is a competent teacher and is de-
lighted with her work.
Besides the regular lessons, mu-
sic is taught by Miss Donna Mur-
ray. The Progressive Series Is
taught and helps the pupils won-
derfully. After each series is com-
pleted the pupils have an examina-
tion on it. Besides piano, the
mandolin and violin are taught.
Sometimes we have just a musical
program for our literary society,
which varies the usual programs.
Provisions For the Future
(Koma Larson)
The age limit of the Home is
eighteen years. When the child
has reached this age, he has had
a good home training, a good re-
ligious training, and has generally
finished his school training. The
question is often asked, what is to
become of this child? Are there
any provisions made for his fu-
ture?
Yes, there are provisions made
for this girl or boy. If he has
finished his High School course,
and wishes to further his educa-
tion, college advantages are offer-
ed him. We have had examples
of this in the past. Truman Oak-
ley finished High School in the
T. P. C. Academy, and she is now
a Junior in the T. P. College,
where she is working her way
through. Orville Roland, after
finishing in Itasca High School,
was given a year in Grubbs Vo-
cational College. This boy now
has a good position in the Texas
Power & Light Company in Dal-
las. Cleo Carley is finishing his
last year in High School in
Schreiner Institute in Kerrviile.
He is using the scholarship offer-
ed to a boy in the Home. Similar
■ provisions have been made for
those of us who graduate this
year. Two of us are going to T.
P. C. and to O. P. C. at Durant.
We thank the Home for making
a happy future possible for us.
"The thing you need most," said
one of the ladies visiting the
Home this month, "seems to be a
new sewerage system." That is
one of the pressing needs. When
all are well we think it is the most
pressing—that is, when the lights
are burning. But soon the new
power and light facilities from the
Texas Power & Light Co. will be
installed and then for the next two
great needs, a hospital and an ad-
equate sanitary system. Where is
the money coming from? From
our share of the Educational Move-
ment, of course. Hadn't you heard
that it was going over the top?
Yes, it is going over the top, and
we wonder if you have done your
part. The fight is on. There Is
nothing blue about the whole thing
except the Blue Hue dinner.
Customer in a lunch room:
"Waiter, give me milk and shred-
ded wheat biscuits."
Waiter, shouting to kitchen:
"Cow juice and two straw pillows."
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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/m1/3/: accessed June 11, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting The Dolph Briscoe Center for American History.