Chapter LXX

The cottage mothers had various ways of interesting their children, different ideas in each home; some liked to cultivate flowers, others crocheted lovely pieces and bits of hand work. At 3-G we were always sure of a surprise. Chicken raising was their hobby. Miss Faison proved a model farmerette.

Girls who cared for no other work formed a company and financed a hundred or two chicks a day old and raised them for broilers under her tuition. The venture was successful financially and the girls pleased with their profits. They paid all bills for feed, grains, etc. That chicken farm is a story in itself,

Mr. Brown was so interested that he built them a chicken house the second year as they prepared to continue their business. The boys raised chickens, rabbits and hares, but these were all kept at the lot; however, the girls remarked that their chickens looked better, weighed more and brought better prices than those the boys had.

Lillian Klass' share of profits was $20.00, besides knowledge gained in the chicken raising business.

Chapter LXXI

Many improvements were being added in all departments. It is difficult to give each one its proper place in respect to time. Masons and friends were bestowing so many needed benefits on the institution. Golden opportunities were opening up constantly for all the children; everything for comfort, convenience and pleasure being provided for their progress. They were rich in friends who were always thinking in terms of their welfare.

Eighteen students in 1923 completed four years of high school and thirteen of them from as many counties entered college.

Twenty-seven students were studying in different schools and colleges, ten were training for nurses. We had one hundred students in our high school and fifty in the seventh grade. The children's reading room was used as an extra classroom because of crowded conditions. Not a single child was kept from college for lack of funds to pay his way.

A course in Practical Electricity was added with Mr. Robert Ward, one of our former pupils, in charge. Mr. Ward came highly recommended. The course was popular with the boys.

Enlargement of four cottages to about double their size was a change we- had looked forward to some time. No one can imagine the relief afforded by such luxurious surroundings; room for single beds, bath rooms moved from basements to first floor with convenient clothing rooms adjoining, and, oh joy, three large study rooms where only one had been available.

"We shall have room to breathe freely," and the look of quiet contentment on faces at study hour was enough to pay all the trouble and expense.

"Now we can spread out our papers and magazines given us by the York Rite Educational committee."

At first the children walked and walked from room to room as if thinking, "Does this all belong to us?"

Students returning said, "Oh, why couldn't we have had this?" and added, "but I am glad you have it."

Shrubs of Abelia, Euonymus and Arbor Vitae planted around each cottage obliterated the sharp angles of the walls and added to the beauty of the grounds. The cement steps and wide paved drives around the circle given largely through the kindness of Mr. R. G. Lassiter, afforded comfort as well, and said, "No more muddy walks," although we did find boys pouring water over the steps to freeze for sliding skating they called it.

The kindness of the Oxford citizens was shown in many ways; children were given outings with frequent trips to Durham and Henderson. They were always ready to furnish cars for unusual events. If showers occurred at close of Sunday services, cars would roll in filled with children going back and forth until all were safe at the institution. Such kindnesses are not forgotten. In truth the courtesies shown were numberless.

When the building to receive children under six years of age was completed, Miss Maggie Morton was placed in charge, a better selection could not have been made as the years proved. She was a mother to every child and they all loved her. This was a small orphanage in our midst, where the children ate and slept in their lovely new home with its wide front porch and playground at the back with swings and merry-go-rounds, to say nothing of numerous sand piles which Mr. Brown kept filled and supplied with tiny pails and shovels. This house came to be the "Show place of the nations."  Everyone wanted to see the babies.

As they neared the age of six, when they would have to be transferred to cottages to enter the first grade, a kindergarten was held on the second floor, entirely too small a place, but the only available one.

I must tell one little incident that happened in this class. A little girl began to cry:

Woodrow: "Miss Branch, I was standing night here (swallowing hard and fast, hands in pockets, shuffling first on one foot and then on the other and speaking slowly) and all at once my foot went right out so," suiting the action to word.

A portion of the basement was excavated later, giving more room. A piano moved in, making a pleasant kindergarten and an indoor play-room near at hand gave much needed room for the entire cottage.

The first six-year-old group removed gave room for more young children and places were quickly filled. But the six-year-old travelers soon began to feel free from restraint, especially the boys, who quickly recognized the freedom which they saw the older ones had, and forgetting the caution of their cottage mothers to stay near the house, wandered off. The woods appealed to their active minds so to the woods they went scurrying in all directions. Numerous scouts searched daily for the young stragglers. No amount of caution seemed to be heeded.

We soon saw that these youthful growing-ups needed a home where they could live by themselves a few more years and learn to use their freedom. The Walker Building with its large lawn and playground was remodeled and equipped for them and a motherly woman in charge gave her entire time to their care and training. The girls were quartered in main building with Miss Annie Morton in charge.

Chapter LXXII

The first donation of 1200 yards of suit material from the Baltimore Industries at Asheville, generously sent by Mr. F. L. Seely, received a royal welcome and when each year thereafter the gift was  repeated our enthusiasm was unbounded. I am sure Mr. Brown's letters of thanks must have echoed our sentiments. The girls had choice of the lighter weaves for their suits; the darker bolts were reserved for the boys, their first uniform suits being made from this material.

All children leaving the institution for college, hospitals or positions were also fitted out with a suit of this beautiful soft material.

Chapter LXXIII

An Alumni Association of former children was organized on St. John's Day, 1924, with sixty five present and letters and messages received from others. The officers elected were: J. Frank Neill (1912) President, R. W.. Smith

(1880) Ayden, Vice-President, and Robert E. Ward (1912) Oxford, Secretary and Treasurer. At the next meeting St. John's Day, 1925, held in chapel of Main Building, one hundred and sixty former children were present "with representatives from 1874 to 1925." The executive committee suggested the construction of an arch at the main entrance to the grounds in memory of John H. Mills, who was really the father of orphanages in the South and the first superintendent at Oxford. Amounts were pledged and plans have been carried out so that a beautiful gateway is now completed and when the chapel doors are open the portrait of John H. Mills hanging on the front wall looks down the long avenue to the arch constructed in his honor by the children.

Chapter LXXIV

The new school building! What joy when told we would see the ground broken for it very soon!

We knew it would be a beautiful building, perfect in every respect, as I had learned from experience that anything undertaken by the Masons was always all that could be desired in the way of perfection.

They let me lay the first brick as we all stood around at the ceremonies while the children applauded.

When completed how we enjoyed the commodious classrooms with the window spacing, the lighting, heating and equipment after the long narrow classrooms and windows giving poor light and the tiny stoves. How we blessed the Grand Lodge for the gift!

Very eagerly and earnestly Mrs. Allen and I filled out the required papers for admission to the Association of Secondary Schools and Colleges of the Southern States. We were accepted without recommendations at the meeting in Charleston, South Carolina, of that year and continued membership every year after. Before this the rooming space and lighting had not been sufficient,

Girls who wished for a college course could now enter freshman, go two years and earn a teachers' certificate, then in summer schools add to their credits and in time have a college certificate. Many girls who did this are now teaching in Winston-Salem, Raleigh and other cities and towns. Recently one of the girls sent me a "Year Book" of the work in her school of which she is principal. I am so proud to know many of the girls who came and went during my thirty years still remember pleasantly our lives there. They lived there while I was principal of the school as well as lady supervisor.

Visions of good things were constantly opening to us. As the lessons in Expression and Public Speaking grew in interest the pupils developed an ease and poise that was shown in their frequent chapel talks, exercises and plays staged.

In 1926 the class presented three one-act plays as part of the commencement program. To feel at ease in the classroom or when speaking before an audience is an experience that will be valuable to students entering college or taking part in social or community life.

A commercial course was added and a room  equipped for the work. This useful course appealed to pupils who were not working for college-and was elective, two units in history and science taken instead of more academic studies.

As 80% of the children were not of Masonic descent at this time, it seemed a wonderful tribute to the great work being done by the Masons, and that so few children of the Order needed assistance. .

Every child entering received a welcome. No poor, needy child was turned away. Entering at any time of the year, often between eight

and ten years of age, having had poor advantages and oftimes inheriting a distaste for school, were necessarily placed in grades below the normal age, their minds developing slowly along with their inclination to learn. A grade for retarded pupils pulled up some to normal but for many it was slow work.

Children entering from the baby cottage at six years of age usually advanced through the grades in regular order.

Chapter LXXV

The new deep well four hundred and fifty feet deep and eight inches in diameter was now furnishing all the water required. The amount needed was evident from the increase in numbers requiring amounts for laundry, pool and all buildings. No fear of an overflow as in former years, the big steel tank on its frame was located outside at right of kitchen nearly in line with the girls' cottages.

Mr. Brown gave a few of the older boys entire charge of the fruit orchard, which was some distance from the orphanage grounds on land recently acquired. The pears, peaches and apples would be quite tempting to little boys. Confidence was not misplaced. The boys looked after the fruit, had it brought to the kitchen when ripe to be distributed. All children shared alike. Nothing was disturbed in the entire plot.

A plot of ground between the industrial building and new baby cottage had been given to the girls for an athletic field. It was rough ground and would require a year or more of effort on the part of the girls to make it usable. A continual round of play during recreation hours; basketball, volley and long ball and folk games following in quick succession gave little time for work on the athletic field. Boys were employed elsewhere and could give no aid. Rocks, briers and weeds were at last disposed of and the girls took possession of their field, with interesting exercises, Here was sufficient rooms for marches, drills and games. Nearby they stored their balls, bats and tennis rackets ready to use at any time. After supper groups of girls would be seen seated on the grass talking, singing and enjoying the twilight hours.

Air. Brown assembled the equipment on the girls' athletic field and placed a few more pieces on the school and Walker grounds. Swings, ocean waves and jungle gyms sprang up quickly for the little ones. The roller-coaster had been in use by the younger girls from the cottages for several years, the boys did not have one. "Oh, we have nothing to equal that rollercoaster," said the boys, but they were satisfied with their new equipment.

And what shall I say of all these things-only that I have enjoyed seeing them develop; of the library with its ever-increasing usefulness from a tiny case of shelves to three thousand and more volumes and by gifts of the York Rite fund with a wonderful supply of cottage literature; of the reading rooms doubled several times as required from the first small one years ago filled with children eagerly seeking infor mation; of the moving picture machine given by Widows' Sons Lodge, Roanoke Rapids, and operated by the boys; of the new John Nichols School Building so beautifully equipped and its Science Department in the basement moved from the old one we had used in Main Building for so long, and a playroom near for use in bad weather; of the Manual Arts room also in basement with its work room and permanent exhibit; of the baseball field below the wonderful new hospital; of basketball games in Masonic hall for boys and girls with their cheer leaders; of the boys in the printing department who learned to be printers and linotype operators and who could take good positions on leaving; and always the swimming pool with its dives, its tests, its badge:; and buttons won in contests; the telephones placed in cottages saving time and strength as all cottages, especially the older ones, had an innumerable number of steps to climb from ground to basement and to second floor; often called at night to a sick child who had to be taken to hospital down the long dark walk; of the boys who learned to be shoe repairmen who always were in demand often having shops of their own soon after leaving; of the setting-tip exercises for fifteen minutes every morning just before chapel  in charge of physical directors; of boys calling on the girls as part of the social life-always such interesting events; of the rooms in the old school building made over into sections for teachers' rooms who needed quiet and rest after a day in classrooms; the handsome new front entrance to chapel with the double glass doors most attractive replacing the old, old sliding double doors which Mr. Brown said had been there for three-quarters of  a century or more.

All these events and many more just as important are as fresh in my mind as when they occurred during the thirty-odd years when I was in the midst of them seeing, helping, teaching and planning with Colonel Hicks and Mr. Brown as superintendents.

After two or three years at the new school building supervising the work as well as cottages, sewing rooms, laundry, dining rooms and care of the children in cottages, I saw some one was needed to give entire time there, therefore the directors elected a principal for the school while I was to attend to the rest of my work in a "supervisory and advisory" capacity, Mr. Brown said.

Our school had gone ahead from very small beginnings until it stood at this time with the highest rating of high schools in the South and  had been a member of the Southern Association of Secondary Schools and Colleges of the South for several years.

General B. S. Royster, living in town, had practically grown up with the orphanage and had many interesting stories to relate of its earlier years. He had been identified with the institution before Colonel Hicks' time. He was a wonderful friend to us all, ready at any moment to render assistance or to give advice. The children all loved him. He often presented diplomas and Bibles to the graduates at commencements. His frequent talks to the children in chapel were always interesting and interspersed with stories that convulsed his hearers. Long will he be remembered by the boys and girls.

Chapter LXXVI

Copied from the Orphans' Friend and Masonic Journal published at Oxford Orphanage of March 15, 1928.

CLOSE OF A USEFUL LIFE

Mr. Brown is dead. It is very difficult to say it. It is very difficult for all of us at the Or phanage to realize it. He was always so vigorous, so much alive, so much interested in every thing in the remotest degree related to the Orphanage - in anything that made or tended to mar the welfare and highest interest of the children.
Brother Brown loved the Orphanage. He was proud of his connection with it, proud that the Masons of North Carolina reposed such confi dence in him. The clock meant nothing to him; night or day he was ready to respond to everyneed that might exist or develop, and he had a mighty small opinion of the person whose thoughts and actions followed too closely the time-clock or the periodicity of the payroll. He gave of himself unstintingly, and if he ever exploited his position selfishly, there is no witness to prove it by. But there is a cloud of witnesses to prove his integrity and zeal.

The Oxford Orphanage is a million dollar proposition. In the purely business aspect it requires a high type of ability in its head. But it is much more than a business problem, for all the ramifications and intricate organization. It is a problem that touches the most vital and the most far-reaching things that life has to offer. Brother Brown knew all that. Indeed he never forgot it. He wasn't willing to let any one under him forget and get away with it. On any point that the real welfare, the highest interest, of one of his charges hinged, he was inflexible. Like a bee martin's flight to his box flew Brother Brown's interest to the Orphanage.

Had he lived to see the first of the coming July Brother Brown would have completed 19 years of executive connection with the Orphanage. On the first day of that year he was elected Assistant Superintendent and for 18 months was associated with Colonel W m. J. Hicks, being elected Superintendent at the December meeting of the Board of Directors in 1910, the election taking effect January 1, 1911.

In these passing years the Orphanage has grown; and so has Brother Brown. He has witnessed many changes; many beneficial innovations; many expansions and widenings in the scope of service of the Orphanage. He has seen and helped to mold the sentiment that visions in the Orphanage a greater something than a mere asylum where are fed and clothed, where are supplied the creature comforts, of indigent children. He has seen public sentiment lift itself from creature comfort to the higher conception that reaches up to the soul. He has seen a growing will to make the orphan boy and the orphan girl competent, efficient, useful. He has seen a weeping commiseration that was willing to dole out pennies develop into a determination to expend dollars to guarantee that the orphan shall come into its own; to see that it shall have a chance to bring out and flower those finer qualities it has in common with other children whose entry into the world is more fortunate.

The late Superintendent liked to be out among the brethren. He enjoyed the fellowship of the Grand Lodge and other gatherings of the craft. He was good company. An apt specimen of witticism pleased him, even when he got the wrong end of it, and he got a good kick out of "getting something" on an associate.

Brother Brown did a great work for the orphan. This work will stand. Time will efface any mistakes that he might have made, but it will write him down as a builder, a builder of physical things and a molder of characters and souls. He loved the work and it was crowned with success.

As the remains lay in the chapel under the strong, quiet faces of John H. Mills and John Nichols adorning the wall, one is struck with the thought that another of the chosen has gone into the Great Beyond who is worthy of inclusion in the company of those who have worked most unselfishly for humanity.

Numa F. Reid Lodge, No. 344, of High Point, instead of sending flowers for the funeral of Mr. Brown, voted to send a check for fifty dollars to the Orphanage as a memorial to him. That is something that is pleasing to him. He appreciates the flowers, but. sees in the permanence and practicality of the it a good that outlives the fragrance and beauty of flowers.

At this sad time Mrs. Brown said to me, "You may have many friends in the future but you will never have any one to give you the appreciation and consideration for your work that he gave you."

How soon I found her words fulfilled!

The day after Mr. Brown's sudden "passing" students of the tenth and eleventh grades came to my office and said, "Miss Bemis, we want to say that we will help you in every way possible and we will see that the younger children are kept in order. Call on us for anything you want done." For seven months before the new Superintendent came they were wonderful helpers.

We were asked to carry on the work as usual, "Past Grand Masters Owen and Royster," directors in charge, to give assistance.

A memorial service was held at the Tri-State Conference meeting at Macon, Georgia, in April. Members and friends of Mr. Brown testified of his work. My voice failed - so near tears, the few sentences which Miss Tuttle was able to speak remain with me, "He began the day with us. We all loved him." Afterwards she said, "I felt I must say a few words, that I could never meet him in the `Great Beyond' if I did not speak."

Chapter LXXVII

The scenes and stories related in this book are all true from life, just as I saw them and lived through them from 1898 to 1929. Many of the children will recall the incidents and could probably relate many, many more of a like kind. Some names I have mentioned, others not. I have tried to remember that we worked together. If they learned anything from me, I also learned from them every day. In the end we were virtually children together.

To tell all the details of a day on the campus would astonish one unless one had worked in an orphanage.

Chapter LXXVIII

A booklet containing "The Story of the Oxford Orphanage" as told by Mr. F. M. Pinnix, in a January number of Master Mason, 1925, is interesting reading.

The many letters received from former boys and girls during the years expressing so much appreciation have been a world of comfort to me.

A boy wrote to my cousin thanking her for a bronze tablet saying, "Miss Bemis taught us character. She was severe sometimes but we all loved her."

And the children, now grown, with homes of their own, write so feelingly of our days at the orphanage.

"I will always love you," writes Odie. Invitations to visit their homes are many and repeated each year. From South Carolina: "Aren't you well enough now to come down and visit with us? It would do you so much good."

To one weeping as she left home to go to Oxford, her husband said,

"Well," Mary said, "It's just like going home and not finding your mother there."

"We who have gone out from Oxford Orphanage," said a boy, "can see that the training received there has made us what we are today. None of us that I know of have much of this world's goods, but most of us have something which no one can take away from us - character. For this we carry in our hearts a living tribute to you. The Charlotte Alumni, in session here now, send their best wishes and kindest regards with love from all," Walter M-.

On St. John's Day each year the Alumni sent love and greetings from their meetings.

Teachers, matrons and friends alike from my earliest years there until the last; from the mountains to the sea; from Delaware to Florida frequently send loving messages. These are treasured among my most precious memories of the past.

"There is nothing I can say to express my love for you. It has been a joy to have known you."

All these are my rewards, I bless you all.

NETTLE NICHOLS BEMIS

Finis

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