The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-06-23
FOUNDED BY
 WHITFIELD
OLDEST oRPHANAaE IN THE
 UNION.
'tBethesda" at Savannah Dates from 1740-Colenel Estill Wha Has
 Succeeded to the Bene-h V"
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 vS@S~S " tS.

Savannah Special to Chicago RecoSaN
 -'o The oldest orphan asxlumjn irs country is at Savannah. and was founded y George White field. the great preacher, in 1740, upon a capital of $750 cash and 500 acres of land. He called it Bethesda" : because" he said, fit would be a. house of mercy to many souls"
 This venerable institution still stands upon its original site on a branch of the Burnside River, ten miles from the city. The title to the land granted by the Trustees of the Georgia colony in 1739 to Rev. George Whitefield for this benevolent purpose, has never passed from the society. nor has the area been increased or diminished. The original building, the first bricks of which were laid by Whitefiefds own hands, were destroyed by lightning a short time after his death. in ITO. They were re- built. but again destroyed when the British army evacuated the State ten years later. In 1905 a hurricane dam. aged them seriously, and they have had other disasters with more or less dam age. The present building was built in 1870. The President of the society and the moving spirit in its mainten- ance is Col. J. H. Estill, who has had CudIS1 OI Llle IHAGTCSIS IHC bSNHCSud orphanage since 1878, longer than any other person except it's founder.
 Whitefield took up John Wesleys Sunday school work in Savannah when the latter left the colony, and added free instruction on weekdays for poor children to the catechism and -. the scriptures on the Sabbath. .ThuSt Ia free school was esta ablished in Savafi- AA aA, tion system was introduced into the United States. "I am settling. little schools in and about Savannah" Whitefield writes in 173S, "that the ris- ing generation may be bred up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord"
 A few years later he made journey North for the, purpose of raising funds for his orphanage, and Benjamin Franklin. in his autobiography, tells of his heart-reaching when the great preacher presented the cause to the people of Philadelphia.
 MT Whitefield preached up this charity the orphan house) and made large collections, for his eloquence has a wonderful power over the hearts and purses of his hearers, of which my self was an instance. I happened to attended on of his sernions in the course of which I perceived he intended to finish with a collection. and l silently resolved that he should get nothing from me. I had in my pocket a handful of copper money, three or four dollars. and Ave pistoles in gold. As he proceeded began to soften, and concluded to give the coppers. Another stroke of his oratOry determined me to give the silver, and he finished so sd- mirably that I emptied my pockets wholly into the collectors dish - gold and all At this sermon there was also one of our club, who, suspecting Q collection might be intended, emptied his pockets before he came from home Toward the conclusion of the discourse, however. he felt a strong inclination to give and applied to a neighbor who stood near him to lend him money for the purpose. The request was forum ately made to perhaps the only one man in the company who had the firm n sss not to be affected by the preacher. His answer was: At any ctheT8 time, Friend Hopkinson. I w0uldJ4end1 thee freely. but not now, for thee seems to me to be out of thy right senSas,pF 6
 In Charleston and Boston, "w'ffite on the same mission, and throughout the colonies from Massachusetts, to Georgia, Whitefield attracted thou sands. who came to hear him preach the love of God and tell of hfsSorphans in Georgia.
 It was thus that the foundation of the Bethesda Orphan House was laid. It was the work of a lifetime. and when Whitefield passed away, in 1770, he bequeathed Bethesda and the care of it's orphans to his co-worker, the gracious and generous Countess of Huntington A~Tr
 Colonel Estill. who in these latter days has taken up the benevolent work of Whitefield. is the editor and proprie- tor of the Daily News, and one of the most public spirited and inhuencial men /in the South. There has scarce lv been an enterprise of merit in Georgia during his generation of which