Newspaper Page Text
Page Six
Bethesda Diary
JANUARY 1920-JULY 31, 1921
Read At Alumni Anniversary Banquet
by O. W. Burroughs, Past Superintendent
March, 1921. The Oelschigs made a
big donation of shrubbery. James Hobbs
and Oscar Sims each win a bible by ex¬
celling in learning verses from that
book.
For the Easter party the entire campus
was colnvebbed with 1800 yards of cord.
It was Pirates’ Hunt for Treasure and
this labyrinth of cord was only part of
the mystery involved in the search.
Earl and Ed McKay were the winners.
Miss Sarah Cunningham hostess.
Frank Deal celebrated the 1st of April
by making a running dive into the con¬
crete swimming pool when it was only
half full. He was completely “out” for
a few hours and then it began to hurt.
At the end of the fiscal year, March
31, 1921, the treasurer reported that
produce raised on the farm consumed in
the dining-room amounted to $4,870.85.
There were a hundred boys in the
home and thirty-five on the waiting list.
Neither in the diary nor the newspaper
reports of that anniversary do I find
any mention of prizes awarded. Are
there any alumni at the annual banquet
1948, who will admit winning a prize
that year? It was a year of loss to
Bethesda in the passing of friends,
among "whom were Dr. T. J. Charlton,
Capt. A. F. Churchill, Thomas N. Den¬
mark, J. Cooper Harris, Joseph Hull,
Wm. F. McCauley, Charles Neville, and
Cornelius V. Snedeker.
For Anniversary, Carey, roasted ten
hams and thirty chickens provided by
the Board of Stewards and there were
many other things to appease the boys’
buzz-saw appetites, including two lemon¬
ade barrels that were drained.
The day after the Anniversary a kit¬
ten, member of a family being raised
in the superintendent’s garage, sudden¬
ly sickened in the evening and next
morning was dead. That day the boy
who had the garage detail heard what
he thought was a locust behind a bar¬
rel in the corner. Peeking behind ti e
barrel his hair rose for there was a rat¬
tler and his tail was going great guns.
He was a little hard to get at behind
the barrel but one boy held him down
with a hoe while another dispatched
him. How fortunate that that only the
kitten suffered a fatal bite.
Lee Jones, later famous for music, was
a choirboy at St. John’s. Mr. W.
Brooks Reeve, their chorister, had be¬
come interested in Bethesda and volun¬
teered to go out twice a week for in¬
struction of the boys. After some weeks
of training he selected some thirty boy ;
for special attention. Going into the
room when this group was doing a clas¬
sical number, the writer suddenly look¬
ed out of the window rather than be¬
tray to the boys how they had sort of
floored him. They were singing like
angels are supposed to sing.
That is a good beginning for a story,
but wait until you hear the sad ending.
Naturally all the boys sang together in
chapel, at school and elsewhere. Then
Mr. Reeve would come out for a lesson
BETH ESI) A NEWS
and find that his songbirds were just
like a lot of croakers like the other
boys with whom they had been singing
and who didn’t have their golden voices
and their musical appreciation. That
was the beginning of the end. Mr. Reeve
said he couldn’t continue unless we kept
his choir separate from the rest. That
we couldn’t do, we felt, for wasn’t Be
thesda a little democracy and who were
we, thus to discriminate and so make
snobs of the favored? All the same, if
we had another chance that is what we
would do and take a chance on their
becoming snobs. That was one of our
mistakes of judgment. 1 can hear you
saying “That’s not the only one you
made, Pop, we know some others.” In
which case your judgment is good and
your opinion correct.
May 24, 1921.the women of Savannah
had their first vote in an election on
school bonds. The vote was adverse
but the ladies were probably not to
blame.
We were getting lessons in commun¬
ity service. Alex Elkins, James Ben¬
nett and Walton North, together with
a staff member, decorated the Pape
School for their commencement. We had
the greens and the flowers for the pur¬
pose.
Miss Jane Hopkins had been teaching
the boys social dancing, in addition tc
Mr. Raibold’s work in folk dancing.
It was a big year for melons, both
watermelons anti canteloupes. During
the season each boy got a melon morn¬
ing and evening. There was a special
way of ringing the bell to indicate
melon time. Otherwise the boys might
have thought it was only a school or
work bell..
On Sunday, June 2d, 1921, Clifford
Roberts, just graduated from high
school, conducted inspection and the or¬
der of the day was in charge of the
high school boys.
Next day Edwin Clements, an alum¬
nus, called. He had been working for
a year in Jacksonville and expressed
a desire to come back to Savannah. He
never did come to stay—our loss, Jack¬
sonville’s gain, shall we say?
On July 1, the boys were entertained
by a group from Calvary Baptist
Church. They gave a play in which
Phillip Carter starred. lie appeared in
the role of a mothe.r of a large family.
For the 4th of July, boys in good
standing in the Judgment Book were al¬
lowed to spend the week-end in town.
Only 44 could meet the specifications.
That doesn’t sound so good and we won¬
der if it tells anything about why prizes
were ceding. not reported on anniversary pre¬
WILLIAMS ELECTRIC CO.
Phone 8000 Sefton Williams
Electrical Contractors
Repairs - Fixtures - Wiring
Hot Water Heaters and Ranges
205 West Waldburg St. Savannah,
Savannah, Ga.
Former Bethesda Boy
February, 1949
On the 4th, Grades 7 and 8 entertain¬
ed on the river. The stop was to have
been at Pigeon Island but they found
it occupied and so went on to Simon’s
point on S'kidaway. Red bugs were
very bad. For this pest use a hot Oc¬
tagon soap bath or a kerosene rub.
All went to Tybee on July 15, The
Savannah Electric Company provided
a free trolley car to town, the Central
of Georgia a special train to the is¬
land, Durden and Powers Pavilion gave
us free sandwiches, drinks and bathing
suits, Mrs. Leffler set up ice cream and
we weren’t able to spend the money our
recreation fund provided. We took 360
sandwiches along and brought none
back. There was a dance in the even¬
ing.
In Mrs. Hackneys piano recital there
appeared Lee Elkins, James Hobbs,
George Vickery, Lee Jones and John
Winchester. Parker Miller rendered
a whistling solo. There was dancing
afterward.
At the Valentine Party sponsored by
Miss Jane Davant of the Advisory Board.
W, T. Bozeman in tight union suit with
white wings and a big red bow and ar¬
row, made a most attractive Cupid. He
forgot himself completely and distribu¬
ted the prizes in the contests from a red
basket with poise and grace. The re¬
freshments were red ice-cream, red
iced cakes and red hard candy. Miss
Mamie Johnson was Miss Davant’s
helpful aid in preparation for the par
ty.
February 17, 1921. We had an oys¬
ter roast for the Builders Exchange
convention in Savannah—a hundred and
fifty guests.
In an essay contest sponsored by
Lachlan McIntosh Chapter, D. A. R. on
American History, Ed McKay won first
prize. Walton North and Floyd Elliott
also won prizes.
A. Mr. Raibold was in Savannah, un¬
der auspices of the Kindergarten Asso¬
ciation, teaching folk dancing. He very
generously came to Bethesda twice a
week and taught the boys a number of
dances but especially a sword dance that
was really a flashy number. At the
end of Mr. Raibolds Savannah visit, he
staged an entertainment on the Bethes¬
da pavilion in which forty people took
part, the eight boys in the sword dance
among them. There were several run
dred visitors. Coffee and sandwiches
were served the dancers in the library.
Those eight boys regaled a number of
gatherings later with the exciting sword
dance.
When You Make Your Will
REMEMBER
BETHESDA
THE HOUSE OF MERCY
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