by D. L. Dennis
Before every meal, all the children would hold hands around the table and say a short, simple prayer of thanks. Mrs. Miller, or one of the other staff members, would lead the prayer, but the children were expected to say it out loud also. It did not take the “Littles” long to learn the prayer. Mrs. Miller always asked the children if there was someone who wanted to lead the prayer. Sometimes there was a volunteer, and sometimes there was not, but that was OK. She encouraged even the littlest one to lead a prayer, even if he or she did not say it perfectly.
After being employed at the orphanage a short time, it did not take Mrs. Miller very long to believe that being the director of the orphanage was her calling in life. There was not a day that went by that she did not say a prayer of thanks for being given the opportunity to be able to spend, what she hoped would be, the rest of her days with the children at the orphanage. She was like Jake in that she had no children and was widowed. She loved all the children that came to the orphanage. When one was adopted out of the orphanage, it was a difficult time for her.
After the supper meal and plates were checked, the children were allowed to go to the large living room to read or to the playroom. If it was summer, and the days were still bright with sunlight, they would be given the opportunity to go outside to play. It was always their choice as to where they wanted to spend their evenings – inside or outside. Jenny almost always headed for the front door. She knew she could not run and jump like the other children, but she did not care. Sometimes she would grab her crutch and take off thumping across the wooden floor, and sometimes she skittered with her leather shoe slapping the floor. Everyone could tell by the sound how Jenny was making her way to the door.
One of the favorite games that the children played outside was dodge ball, but that was a difficult game for Jenny to play. She just could not maneuver her foot, or the crutch, quickly enough to get out of the way of the ball. But that did not bother Jenny. When they were playing that game, she would find another group to play with, or play by herself. Jenny never seemed to let much of anything put her in a bad mood.
When the days were filled with sunlight, the younger children, 5th grade and younger, were rounded up to go back inside at 7:00 p.m., while the older children were allowed to stay outside until 8:00 p.m. Jenny was thrilled when she made it to 6th grade and was able to stay outside with the “Bigs,” as she called them. The staff members would take the “Littles” in and get them cleaned up and ready for bed. At 8:00, the “Bigs” would be called in for the same routine. By 9:00 p.m., all the children had to be in their rooms, and all lights were to be out by 10:00 p.m. Wake up time was 7:00 a.m. every morning except on Saturday and Sunday when they were allowed to sleep until 8:00 a.m. Mrs. Miller was quite strict about the schedule for the children.
Chapter 18
THE FOOTBRIDGE AND THE FOREST
Most of the children enjoyed their trek outside to work in the garden, but they always had the option of staying in their classroom and reading, except for certain days when it was used as part of their classroom learning. When it was time for Jenny’s class to work in the garden, she was usually at the beginning of the line. She loved the sunshine and was fascinated by the way blooms would be on the vines and produce a vegetable. She would watch as the green growth broke through the top of the soil and get taller and taller. She would be delighted when the onion tops would break through the soil or a corn stalk would produce an ear of corn. No one ever wanted to stifle the curiosity of the children. She even liked to hoe out the weeds. Jake had made some tools with short handles so the children could walk along with one of the staff members and do the same task. Sometimes when the children came back into the house after being outside in the garden, they would have to go straight in and take a bath. No one minded how dirty the children got. It was all a learning experience.
Another one of the children’s favorite activities was to go across the footbridge and play in the sand and on the playground equipment. They had playground equipment on the grounds of the orphanage, but for some reason, crossing the river on the footbridge was exciting. During the spring, summer and fall months when the weather was nice, the children were allowed to cross the footbridge quite often, but only when they were accompanied by their teacher, or one of the other staff members. They all shouted with joy when they were told that it would be part of their day......if they did all their school work and behaved!
Mrs. Miller left it up to the discretion of the teachers how often they took their classes to the playground, as long as they did not abuse the privilege. She cautioned all the teachers to impress upon the children that they were not to go into the forest of trees. No one other than Jake had ever ventured into the forest, and she certainly did not want a child to go exploring and become lost.
The older boys made up stories about the strange creatures and witches that lived in the forest and teased the younger children with these stories. They would tell the “Littles” that if they got too close to the forest, one of the creatures, or one of the witches, would grab them, and they would never be seen again. Mrs. Miller discouraged this behavior, but found it difficult to stop the stories from being circulated. The teachers tried to dispel any fears about the forest of trees that some of the smaller children had, but it sometimes was difficult to convince them that there were no strange creatures or witches in the forest. Not all of the “Littles” were convinced, and when they walked over the footbridge to the playground, they stayed as far away from the forest as they could. At least the teacher did not have to worry about them wandering into the forest and getting lost.
Jenny never listened to the stories and never thought the forest was a scary place. She thought making the trip across the footbridge to the playground was great fun and believed that the forest was a magical place. Even though Jenny was old enough to not believe in fairies or mystical beings, she loved to let her imagination roam and write or tell stories about the “enchanted forest.” Her teacher, Miss Cartwright, wondered how she dreamed up some of these stories. Jenny had a very big imagination! If she could get some of the “Littles” to sit down and listen, she would read her stories to them, or make one up as they sat there.
All winter long, Jenny would look out the window toward the footbridge and forest and wish that spring would come so they could go across the footbridge to play. She would stand at the window and watch the snow flakes hit the window and turn into a drizzle down the window. As soon as the weather turned warm in the spring, she would beg Miss Cartwright to take them across the footbridge to the playground. Of course, the answer was always the same. They had to do their schoolwork first, and everyone had to behave, if they were to be allowed the privilege of going across the footbridge to the playground. Miss Cartwright was one of the youngest teachers, and everyone suspected that she enjoyed going to the playground across the footbridge as much as the children did.
Whenever Miss Cartwright took a class to the playground, she ran around with the children and played with them on the playground equipment. Those who watched the happy band of children and Miss Cartwright running around, with laughter filling the air, could not tell who was having the most fun. Miss Cartwright would often volunteer to take one of the other teacher’s class across the footbridge while the teacher took care of Miss Cartwright’s class. Most of the time, the other teachers were more than willing to take her up on her offer.
The teachers at the orphanage were also employed at the orphanage during the summer months when the children were not in school. During June, July and August, the children did not have formal classes so the teachers involved them in activities that they never found time to do during the school year. They would do special art projects, get involved in building projects with Jake, enlist the cooks to give cooking lessons, do sewing projects, get involved in taking care of the yard and flowers, and these were the months that they spent the most time in the garden. The children were allowed to participate in the activities of their choice rather than a t
eacher choosing for them. The only requirement was that they had to be involved in the special project for at least two hours at a time. Sometimes a child would get so involved in a project that he or she did not want to quit for days or even weeks. It was amazing how the teachers were able to organize all of the projects and keep everyone happy, but they did it. Mrs. Miller would circulate and watch the children. She was so proud of her staff and pleased at how much fun the children had while learning as well as how they all cooperated with one another. Oh, yes, there were squabbles, and sometimes a few tears were shed, but after all, they were children.
Chapter 19
THE CORNER CAFÉ
Several times during the summer months, the children who were at least four years old would be allowed to participate in a field trip. Getting to go on a field trip was the best activity of all! Jake would get the car ready and a small group of the children would be taken into Calvary along with a staff member. Most days Jake would take more than one car load in a day. Mrs. Miller wanted all of the children to have this opportunity.
The children would walk up and down Main Street and look in the store windows. Their eyes would get wide at the vast array of items. Each trip they would be allowed to go into a couple of the stores to look at the merchandise. On the way home, they would talk excitedly about the merchandise they saw, what it cost and how it was bought to stock the shelves and then sold. This was another learning experience for the children although they thought it was great fun. Mrs. Miller wanted the children to get acclimated to being in the public and away from the orphanage. They would not always live in the orphanage, and she knew they had to learn about the outside world. She did not want them to be afraid to leave the orphanage. For several days after a field trip was taken, some of the younger children could be seen playing “store” and spending their play money.
The highlight of a field trip was a visit to the Corner Cafe in the middle of the afternoon when it was not busy. If Miss Callie had gone home for her afternoon nap, someone would hurry to her house and tell her the children were there. She never wanted to miss them and was as thrilled to see the children come into her restaurant as they were to be there. She fussed over them as if she was their grandma, and they all loved it. The children would take a seat at the tables, and Miss Callie would serve each of them a scoop of ice cream and one of her famous cookies. The next day, having the children come to the restaurant was all that she could talk about.
Other than going into Calvary, Jenny’s most favorite activities were those that involved doing something outside – crossing the footbridge, working in the garden, helping with the flowers – anything to be outside. Her little arms and legs turned a golden tan and a few freckles popped out across her nose. Whenever she was outside and saw Mr. Jake, she would scamper though the grass and run up to his side. She would pull on his sleeve and give him one of her biggest smiles and, of course, he never failed to lovingly pull on her pony tail and give her a hug.
If you asked Jenny what her very favorite activity was, she never wavered in her answer. It was to cross the footbridge, play on the playground, in the sand and be near the forest. No one could figure out why Jenny loved that dense forest so much. Of course, she was never allowed to venture into it, but she never tired of looking into the trees and making up stories about the forest.
One sunny Saturday in May, Miss Cartwright told the children that she would take a group over in the morning and another group over in the afternoon. She made the announcement in the dining room just as the children were finishing their breakfast. When she asked who would like to go that morning, Jenny’s hand was the first one that shot up. She would go both times if Miss Cartwright would let her, but she knew that was not going to happen.
After Miss Cartwright had the children divided into the morning and afternoon groups, she told the morning group to put their play clothes on and gather on the front porch. Jenny was going to be in the morning group so she shot out of her chair and headed toward her room just as soon as she was excused from the table. She had plenty of old clothes to put on to go to the playground. Every year at Christmas time and at Easter, each child was given two new outfits of clothes that was chosen especially for them. The rest of their clothes were hand-me-downs that had been outgrown by the other children. Mrs. Miller was never quite sure where the money was going to come from each year for the new clothes, but her faith was strong. And, she never had to disappoint any of the children.
Chapter 20
THE OLD MAN
Jenny rummaged through her drawer looking for some play clothes. When she was dressed, she hurriedly made it to the porch. She did not want to be late and miss out on the trip over the footbridge. It did not take very long for all the children to gather on the porch, so off they went singing a song as they marched along.
The teachers and staff members always cautioned the children to walk, and not run, when they crossed the footbridge and to stay in the center. They were not to hang onto the wooden rail that was on each side of the bridge, but were supposed to hold the hand of one other person. If the boards were wet, they could be rather slippery.
Once the children made it across the footbridge, it did not take long for them to scatter throughout the playground and up and down the little beach area by the river or in the sandbox. Rarely did the river have enough water in it to be concerned about anyone drowning in it. If there was only one staff member or teacher, no more than eight or ten children were taken over at a time, so that it would not be difficult to keep track of them.
Jenny headed for the swing set and suddenly stopped. An old wooden bench had always been sitting not too far from the forest of trees. The children knew that the bench was as far as they were to venture since the forest was behind it. Once in a while, the teacher would sit on it for a few minutes and watch the children.
Jenny stood and stared at the bench. She was mesmerized by what she saw. No one else seemed to notice. There on the bench was an old man wearing a raggedy looking coat. Even though he was sitting down, to Jenny he looked like he was a very big man. One of his large gnarled hands was wrapped around a long piece of wood that looked like a staff. He was sitting very quietly. His hair was white and a little bit scraggly. As Jenny stood staring at the old man, he looked directly at her and smiled. Jenny smiled back and turned to see where Miss Cartwright was.
She saw Miss Cartwright at the other end of the playground. Evidently Jenny was the only one that was paying any attention to the old man sitting on the bench. Jenny scampered over to Miss Cartwright as quickly as her little crippled foot would allow. She tugged on Miss Cartwright’s sleeve and said, “Look at the bench. There is an old man sitting on it. He smiled at me.” Miss Cartwright’s first thought was that Jenny was teasing her, or letting her imagination roam again.
Miss Cartwright followed Jenny’s gaze to the park bench, and sure enough, there was an old man in a raggedy coat sitting on the park bench. Miss Cartwright was baffled. Where did he come from? Who was he? No one had ever been seen on this side of the footbridge. Was there a house somewhere beyond the forest? Or, in the forest?
At first, Miss Cartwright did not know what to do. He looked rather old, so surely he would not harm the children. None of them even seemed to take notice of the old man except Jenny. She did not want to scare the children so she whispered to Jenny, “Just go and play. Do not pay any attention to the old man, and do not go over to the bench. Pretend like he is not there.”
Jenny followed Miss Cartwright’s instructions, but she had a hard time not looking at the old man. She tried her hardest not to look in his direction, but she just did not seem to be able to stop. She was spellbound by him. Every time she looked at the old man, he would look right into her eyes and smile at her. His eyes would crinkle up on the corners when he smiled. Jenny thought he looked like a kindly, old gentlemen and wondered if he was lonely sitting all by himself, but Miss Cartwright had given her strict instructions not to pay an attention to him. She d
id not want to get into trouble and not be able to make trips across the footbridge.
When it was time to go back across the footbridge, Miss Cartwright gathered up the children and headed back for lunch. She tried not to pay any attention to the old man, but it was rather difficult, knowing he was sitting there. She wondered if the old man would be there in the afternoon when she brought the other group of children over. She was anxious to get back to tell Mrs. Miller about the old man. As Jenny lined up with the other children, she took one last look at the old man and raised her hand in a little wave. The old man raised his hand and waved back at Jenny. Oh, she wanted so badly to go over and talk to him. She hoped he would be there the next time she came back to play.
When Miss Cartwright told Mrs. Miller about the old man, Mrs. Miller was just as baffled and somewhat concerned. She did not know where the old man could have come from. She thought that the forest of trees was very large, so if anyone had come from the other side, they would have had to walk for a very long way. After mulling this over for a while, she decided she would send Jake into town to make some inquiries of the town folk to see if they knew who the old man was or where he came from. Her primary responsibility at all times was to keep the children safe.
The teachers and staff members continued taking small groups of the children across the bridge to the playground several times during the week once school was out. They were all totally baffled by the fact that when Jenny was in the group, the old man was always sitting on the bench in the same position, and when she was not in the group, he was not there. When Jenny would look at the old man, he would smile, and of course, Jenny always flashed her big dimpled smile at him. The old man always had his raggedy coat on and had the staff in his gnarled hand. He never got up off the bench, nor did he try to talk to them.