Evening star., 1940-10-06

A Children's Village, the name
substituted for the legal title Of
Washington City Orphans Asylum.
Like the domestic team in any
home. the men on the board of
trustees manage the business affairs
of Hillcrest and the board of lady
managers takes care of the house.
hold. Some of the first directresses
who watched the maintenance of
the early establishments served as
long as l8 years. Now the first
dlrectreSs Of the II women who
control the policies of Hillcrest serves
only two years.
Mrs. Calvin Coolidge turned the
first spade of earth for the three
cottages, hospital. laundry, staff
cottage, superintendent quarters
and janitors house A garden,
roller skating ellipse. two play
grounds and woody land, sloping
down to an outdoor fireplace, COM
plete Hillcrest's Is acres.
For Is years, one cottage, with
a capacity of a. served as a nursery
and two other cottages, accom-
modating "a each. were used as
older girls dormitories. A few
private rooms gave combination
of dormitory life and privacy.
Two years ago, Miss Dorothy
Swisshelm became superintendent
of Hil!crest, following the retire
ment, because of i'll health. of Miss
Estelle w. Meese, who had been
superintendent for Is years
Miss Swisshelm. at the beginning
of September, turned one girls
cottage over tc boys of 8 and over.
and increased the nursery limit of
boys to 8 years.
Five Boys in New Quarters.
Families had to be separated
under the cottage system when we
could not keep boys over years"
she explained Five boys have al
ready been placed in their new
quarters and the quota of "a will
be filled by Christmas from the
many applicants received, Miss
Swisshelm said
Thorough investigation of the
family and need of an applicant to
Hillcrest is made before admittance,
Miss Swisshelm explained.
I'VE try to take the individual
child only where We feel we can flll
the need" she said. If the child
won't adjust to group, We try to
make another arrangement" A
home atmosphere. rather than an
institution, is the aim.
1T is unnecessary now to keep
children so long" Miss Swisshelm
said. Poorly trained children with
irregular habits can be built up in
| health, habits and character as the
contribution of the cottage system.
she pointed out. but no child is
kept over four years.
Few Full Orphans.
"A child used to be kept from a
baby till the age of 81 she said,
and when he got out of the Or
phanage he didn't know the world.
We return them to their own fam
flies Although Hillcrest is still
officially an asylum for unprotected
orphans, there have been few full
orphans there for many years. De-
pendent and destitute children now
make up its quota.
The asylum no longer attempts to
instruct its own children. All but
six under-age Hillcrest children are
enrolled at the Phoebe Hearst School
or the Alice Deal Junior High School.
They are encouraged to join the
Scouts and other school activities.
and often bring their schoolmates
home for lunch.
Art, music and dancing classes
are provided for the children They
have their own Little Museum in
the basement of the nursery cot
tage. A washstand from the orig
inal asylum, crude wooden cradle
and dolls from many lands are
among the items in the museum.
The Little Museum started as
place for the Hillcrest children to
keep their butterflies and choice
stones like other youngsters.
Through contributions of items by
friends and board members, it grew
to an authentic collection.
Still Clean Rooms.
The children still do their own
bedmaking and cleaning. The older
girls do all their own cooking and
repair their own clothes. They are
trained in child care by helping the
smaller children in the nursery.
Rows of doll carriages. roller
skates and tricycles crowd the stor-
age rooms of the cottages. A new
recreation room is being installed in
the girls cottage, and new library
has been opened upstairs.
First evidence of the addition OF
older boys to the scene at Hillcrest
is the stone outdoor fireplace at the
foot of the estate. 1t was started
by the girls, but the boys took over
the finishing touches.
Among the 1000 children who
have been cared for by the Wash
ington City Orphan Asylum in its
seven homes over 125 years is DR..
James Edward West. executive Sec
retary of the Boy Scouts of America.