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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 HOME FOR ORPHAN BOYS