The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1907-03-07


play, while the larger boys devote
the time to work. In summer and
fall they do field work, such as plow-
ing and narrowing, sowing and corn
husking, while in winter this period
is devoted to sewing. Boys sewingg
Surely, and how grandly they do II.
too! Under the charge of an ex-
perienced teacher, both the boys and
girls learn to sew. They enter the
sewing room at the age of seven
years, when they begin work at darn.
ing stockings, which they are able
to do within few weeks. After they
have been in the sewing-room for at
least a year they are able to mend
all their own clothes, and by the time
they leave the home, at the age of
eighteen, they are expert little tail.
ors, able to do all kinds of sewing.
The girls are also started on darnins
stockings, but before they leave the
institution they are able to do any
Kind and all kinds of needlework.
They make their own bedclothes
their own garments and do lots OF
fancy work, which they dispose of at
special sales held on their annivers.
airy day, which generally comes in
August. The money they derive from
this work goes to the treasury, and
it all will be used for their own wei.
fare.
The boys have their own carpenter
shop on the farm, and when little
accident happens to any farming ma.
chinery they are able to flt it correct.
ly without incurring any expense.
The girls not only do the milking
on this farm, but they do a great
deal of outdoor work. During the
vegetable season in summer time they
also work in the gardens and in the
fields. One little band of girls is
known as the bean pickers," and
every other morning, when beans are
in season, they go off to the fields
with their baskets and pick the beans.
They come back merrily singing
church songs and empty the beans sc
gathered in the kitchen, where two
or three dozen other girls sit around
the bean pile and pull off the strings
They are also trained in the vari.
GUS household duties that would come
to the lot of farmers wife. They
are taught to keep their rooms and
buildings in perfect cleanliness. One
little group of workers is known as
the house cleaning party, consisting
OF about fourteen girls, who are
equipped with buckets, brushes, soap
paint, rags and scrub rags, and then
they march forth to their respective
rooms with stepladders and go tc
work. They clean the walls, floors
and ceilings thoroughly. and clear
the furniture. Their work is in.
spected by an overseer, and if she
finds the work satisfactory the clean.
ers can go on their way rejoicing; il
not they have TO do the work over
again. In this way they learn lessons
of good housekeeping and become
trained in the household duties that
are indispensable on the well-planned
farm OF to-day. In the same way
those girls clean the carpets, which
they take from the rooms and spread
upon the lawn and beat with sticks
until they are perfectly clean.
Before the average girl leaves the
Bethany Farm she has learned to be
a tirst-class cook, and knows how tc
bake besides. Every girl has to be.
come before she is eighteen years OF
age an expert in the line of cooking,
which she learns from woman at.
tendant who rs constantly in charge
OF the cooking-room, and teaches
them how to do the work right In
this same manner they are taught to
bake good bread and pastry, all es.
sential things not to be despised or
the average American farm.
There is no laZiness at this farm,
where boys and girls work together
so willingly. They begin their days
work at . o'clock in the morning.
when they rise, wash themselves, and
so to the chapel to say their prayers,
After breakfast, which soon follows,
they go to their respective work,
and If it is vacation they work until
11.30 o'clock. The afternoon period
lasts until p. IN. If the work is all
finished that they were expected to
do the evening hours are free to
themselves. Should the jobs have
not been completed, they are usually
finished after the supper hour. In
the winter a couple OF hours are de-
voted to preparing their lessons.
Their schooling is of the very best,
and when those practical young farm
ers so away from Bethany they not
only know how to cultivate the soil,
but they have become proficient in
all the branches required for them
to be able to enter normal or trade
schools, while others are able to pass
successfully examinations which en-
title them to teach in the public
schools of the State.
When they are eighteen years of
age they are free to go out into the
world and make their own living.
The good character they have OBJ
tanned while In the institution, their
manual training and the honesty of
purpose they have acquired have
fitted them SO well for the duties of
life that the cases are few and far
between where Bethany boys and
girls make no success of life.
One other thing before closing this
article about the orphan farmers is
that they are able to leave with a
good moral training. Their religious
life has uot heen neglected while