15
MOOSEHEART MAGAZINE
Childhood’s Greatest Opportunity
A Series of Impressions of Moosedom’s Philanthropy by Ada Patterson, of the New York Journal Staff
THE BIRTH OF, and BATTLE FOR an IDEA
(CONTINUED FROM LAST MONTH)
because I know MOOSEHEART is a good place. My mother and three sisters came with me.
“We have different assignments in the prevocational classes every three months and I have worked at eight different trades or professions since I first came here. First, greenhouses; second, poultry farm; third, dairy barn; fourth, swine husbandry; fifth, nursery; sixth, gardening; seventh, kitchen; eighth, farming. When you have worked at several of the different trades at MOOSEHEART, you are assigned to that particular trade for which you are best fitted. During the last few years of your stay at MOOSEHEART you receive intensive training along that line, and under the care of the most capable instructors.
“In the winter, when the ice is safe, we go skating on Moose Lake, and go trapping. Some of the boys have shacks on the shore of the lake. We catch fish and take tnem to our shack and cook and eat them. Everything tastes better if we cook ana eat it ourselves.”
A boy from Indiana bears this testimony:
“When I came to MOOSEHEART I did not know the meaning of self-control nor self-government. All this I have learned.
“Since coming to MOOSEHEART I have learned to spend more time in the open air, living in tents and well ventilated rooms, and being taught the value of open air in general has taught me the value of athletic sports.
“I have taken a practical florists’ course under a competent instructor. I have a general knowledge of horses. I have taken a preliminary course in electricity, and I am now taking a course in garage work.”
Follows part of the story of a boy who came back to MOOSEHEART:
He was imbued with the spirit of the school-home-town, but his mother yearned for her son and insisted upon taking him back to their home in Pittsburgh. The boy went to the public school, and sold newspapers after school hours. Every evening he sold a paper to Mr. Davis and every evening he followed him home begging that an arrangement be made to take him back to MOOSEHEART.
“Mother understands better now. She’s willing to let me go,” he pleaded.
“But there are children waiting for places. At MOOSEHEART we want boys who stick,” answered Mr. Davis.
For seven months the boy pursued him. Like the just judge, because of many importunities, Mr. Davis finally yielded. The boy is back. He lives at Governors’ Hall. He hopes to become a physician. He says: “On June 8 I started back to MOOSEHEART. It was the happiest day of my life. I arrived about midnight. Dr. Patterson had met me in Chicago and brought me out to MOOSEHEART. All the boys I knew knew about my return and they told all the boys I didn’t know. When I arrived at MOOSEHEART about twelve o’clock the boys were all waiting for me. Some were asleep on the benches but they all woke up.
“In July, 1915, the school band, of which I was a member, started on a tour of the western states to the Moose convention in San Diego, Cal.
“MOOSEHEART has done for me what I could never have gotten in the city.
“I learned more on that tofir than I could have ever read out of a book. If I had staid in the city I could not have made such a tour nor learned to play instruments.
“I have learned to get the idea of different trades by watching the buildings go up, and working on my different vocational assignments. But the greatest thing MOOSEHEART has done for me is that it has taught me (Continued on page 18)
When I join the Army or Navy and still remember the military work I had here, I will advance or be a higher officer than a man would who has never had a chance to drill.
“There are many other things that MOOSEHEART has done for me. But if I could remember all the things that MOOSEHEART has done for me it would fill a book.”
A Texas girl of fifteen thus tells her story:
“I came to MOOSEHEART to get an education and also to learn some trade that would fit me in after life to make my own living.
“At first it seemed very strange to be with so many boys and girls. But soon I got used to it. Also I expected it to be different from our way of living in the South. Of course, I have found it different in many things and I am more broad minded about things in the North than I was before.
“I was only in the fifth grade when I came here but I was anxious to get farther along in my studies so now I am in the second year of the High School and expect to graduate in a few years. I had no special vocation when I came here so that I thought it would be best to learn sewing and make my own clothes, and also to learn cooking and everything ,about housekeeping.
“And as we have to do our own work in the hall I have learned quite a lot of things I wanted to learn, but I haven’t finished learning yet. When a shorthand and typewriting class was started for the girls, I joined it as I thought I would like to be a stenographer. It would help me in the work of a librarian, which I think I should like very much.
“Altogether I feel sure that when I leave MOOSEHEART I shall have what I came for, an education and a vocational training.”
Four years ago a little stranger came from Mobile, Ala. She is thirteen now, and this is what she thinks about the children’s city:
“I came to MOOSEHEART September 11, 1916. I staid at Aid Hall for a month. Then Wisdom Hall was finished and I was transferred there and have lived there ever since.
“I started to school not long afterwards. I was promptly put into my vocational class, which was sewing.
“When I came to MOOSEHEART I did not know how to sew. I soon began to practice different kinds of stitches. I progressed little by little and soon was able to make my own dresses. Now I am able to make my owil clothes. I have also been taught millinery.
“MOOSEHEART has not only taught me to sew but to do housework well.
“My present assignment is with the. little girls. I have been taught to take care of them and be good to them.
“MOOSEHEART has taught me how to patch, darn, knit, crochet, and most of all has given me an opportunity to be good, helpful, obedient, and to have a good education.
“I have also been taught to play the piano, play a clarinet in the orchestra, and to sing and dance.
“I hope that other Moose children will have the same opportunities that I have had.”
A Pennsylvania boy contributes to the chorus of praise:
“I came to MOOSEHEART June 1, 1916, and was very glad to get here
fall. I expect to be in both teams again this year.
“During the next eighteen months I expect to complete my preparations for entrance into college and to have finished my trade.”
A thirteen-year-old girl from Denver bears this testimony:
“After the death of my father _ I came to MOOSEHEART. I was in detention for two weeks. Then I was taken to Wisdom Hall. I have been in Wisdom Hall for a year and two months. I started to school and am trying to have a good education. I want to learn a good trade and I know that MOOSEHEART can help ms to do it.
“Since I have been here I have learned more about taking care of my little sisters and have learned more about sewing and housekeeping.
“When I came here I did not know much about sewing. I was put in a sewing class and I learned the stitches. Now I am learning to make all my own clothes, and am taught millinery. My present assignment is cleaning the sleeping apartment in our hall. I am learning to play the piano.
“MOOSEHEART has given me clothing and a nice warm place to sleep in, and lots of good nourishing food to keep me strong and in good health. I came on a long journey from Colorado to MOOSEHEART. When I arrived I was happy. Ever since I have been here I have been contented and happy. MOOSEHEART is giving me the opportunity to grow up educated, honest and obedient. I am sure that if I stay at MOOSEHEART any longer when my time comes to go home, I won’t want to leave.”
The little girl was a prophetess true. Last year her widowed mother remarried. The mother sent for the children. It was arranged that the little girl should stay and complete her course. She wanted to become a librarian. True to its idea of helping a student to find his vocation MOOSEHEART has placed the book loving-child in charge of the school library.
A boy of eleven years from Indiana tells this story of what MOOSEHEART has done for him:
“I came to MOOSEHEART July 14, 1915. I got about a week’s time to learn the rules so that I wouldn’t be getting demerit marks all the time.
“Then one morning my brother and I went up to Mrs. Spencer, the principal’s office, and we were put in our classes. I was assigned to the garden and that afternoon I went to work. Mr. Dyckstra, the gardener, gave me a hoe and I went to hoe some cabbage plants.
“Then it was getting cold and the snow had begun falling. I thought I would get assigned some place else. I was assigned to the nursery. After I had been there awhile they put me to weeding some plants that were to be set out in the spring.
“Spring was coming again and I got ready for the garden because I liked it very well.
“In the afternoons in warm weather we go swimming in Moose Lake, which is right in the grounds and is a beautiful lake. Of course everybody likes to go swimming. It is fun and good for them.
“Every Wednesday afternoon we drilled, and now I have been taught a whole lot about drilling, so that when I get older I can join the Army or Navy. I will help in this way.
What the Children Say
Said a rosy, sturdy twelve-year-old from Pennsylvania:
“I have been at MOOSEHEART one year and eight months.
“Since I. have been here MOOSEHEART has given me all the clothes and shoes I need.
“MOOSEHEART has taught me all sorts of good things.
“I have been all over MOOSEHEART. It is a nice place to see.
“I am now working in the garden.
I am learning about farm work. MOOSEHEART is teaching me to plant seed.
“MOOSEHEART has given me good books to i־ead.
“I am in school now. At eleven o’clock I go to work at the garden and stay until a quarter of twelve. Then I go to the baseball field and practice.
‘ I go to bed at nine o’clock and in the morning I get up and dress myself, wash and comb my hair, and I go down to breakfast.
“After breakfast I do housecleaning. After that it is about nine o’clock and then I go back to school again.
“MOOSEHEART is a fine place for boys and girls.
“I was in the fifth grade when I came. Now I am in the sixth grade.
“For Christmas MOOSEHEART lets you ask for anything you want.”
׳This from a South Dakota boy:
“When I was first told that I was to go to MOOSEHEART to live I did not want to go. I thought that it was just a little old place for small children and with a lot of cranky old teachers.
“About three weeks before I came to MOOSEHEART I became sick and the doctors told me that a change of climate was necessary for me to regain my health. That partially changed my ill-feeling toward MOOSEHEART.
“When I arrived at my future home I was tired and had a terrific headache. But after taking a bath and a walk that were advised, my headache left me and with it went the ill feeling I had conceived for MOOSEHEART. And when I was told that MOOSEHEART had baseball and football teams my heart held nothing but praise for it. I was ready then and there to pledge my loyalty to the school-home-town.
“The first two or three days I spent in visiting the different halls and other buildings and in getting acquainted with the boys and proctors. I was also given a football suit and practiced two nights, but I practiced too strenuously and again I was taken sick. After being confined to my bed for two weeks I recovered from my illness and started to school. I selected drafting as my vocation.
“Some tents were put up for several of the boys and we slept out doors all winter. With the splendid food I received and the pure, fresh air of a winter at MOOSEHEART, I was in excellent health by spring.
“The school work which I am taking is preparing me for college. I expect to be graduated in a year and a half.
“The drafting instructor is very good and under his teaching I have become one of the most advanced of the students in drafting. I am also taking some work in the machine shops.
“I am also a member of the Mooseheart Boys’ Band and own my instrument. I secured it by working for cash during my spare time and vacation.
“As I was in the best of health by last spring I knew that I was strong enough to go out and try for the football team. By hard work I made the first team in baseball, also the first team in football the following