Library of Congress Subject Headings, 21st edition, 1998

Languages Used:

• English

LC Subject Headings:

• African American children -- Institutional care -- North Carolina.
  
• Colored Orphan Asylum (Oxford, N.C.)
  
• Orphanages -- North Carolina -- Oxford.
  
• Orphans -- Institutional care -- North Carolina.
  

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ANNUAL REPORT
OF THE
COLORED ORPHAN ASYLUM
DECEMBER 1, 1910
TO
DECEMBER 1, 1911

OXFORD, NORTH CAROLINA

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

• H. P. CHEATHAM, SUPERINTENDENT . . . . . Oxford
• REV. M. C. RANSOM, SECRETARY TO BOARD . . . . . Oxford
• REV. ISAAC ALSTON . . . . . Warrenton
• REV. J. W. LEVY . . . . . Kittrell
• REV. G. C. SHAW . . . . . Oxford
• MR. I. C. JEFFREYS . . . . . Rolesville
• MR. M. F. THORNTON . . . . . Warrenton
• PROF. H. E. LONG . . . . . Franklinton
• DR. A. M. MOORE . . . . . Durham
• MR. G. D. GRIFFIN . . . . . Hertford

ON PART OF THE STATE

• MR. R. W. LASSITER, PRESIDENT FIRST NATIONAL BANK . . . . . Oxford
• PROF. LUTHER BUCHANAN . . . . . Oxford
• MR. M. L. COLEY . . . . . Northside

AUDITING BOARD

• MR. T. C. HARRIS, OF FIRST NATIONAL BANK . . . . . Oxford
• MR. C. S. EASTON, OF BANK OF GRANVILLE . . . . . Oxford

TREASURER

• MR. HENRY G. COOPER, VICE-PRES. BANK OF GRANVILLE . . . . . Oxford

REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT

To the Board of Directors of the Colored Orphan Asylum, Oxford, North Carolina:

        We have again been safely and successfully led and piloted through another year by the kind and unerring Ruler of the universe. Despite the fact of the large number of helpless children and the many demands for the actual necessities essential to the comforts of life, the income from the several sources from which the Institution receives its main support, through the strictest economy, has reasonably met every requirement without complaint. In the mean time chipping off every dollar from every source possible to assist in carrying on the building and improvement idea which has absorbed our mind and time for the last two years.

        

	Boys	Girls	Total
Number of children in the Institution, Dec. 1 1910	86	115	201
Number admitted during the year	17	13	30
Whole number in charge Dec. 1, 1911	103	121	231

        On account of the continual increasing number of inmates to feed, clothe, and shelter, as well as the increasing responsibilities and the many demands and necessities growing out of and incident to the extending and developing condition of such an institution, we were compelled in the beginning of the year to lay our plans, in the several departments of industry, upon a broader basis, observing the rules of economy in expenses.

        The working forces were reorganized: On the farm the force was made up principally of small boys with a few of the large boys to do the plowing and heavy work.

THE BRICK-YARD FORCE

        On account of the great demand and ready sale for brick in Oxford and the adjoining neighborhoods, and for the purpose of meeting successfully the indebtedness entailed by reason of building and improvements we found it necessary

to enlarge our brick-yard force as well as the plant. The expense of enlarging the plant was ($2,500) twenty-five hundred dollars, which gives us a large and valuable outfit of modern machinery, separating the rock from the clay, cutting ten brick all every revolution, a seventy-five horse power engine, an eighty five horse power boiler, which draws its own water from a branch a quarter of a mile away. The labor in this department of work is funished solely by the boys of the Home, save the manager, Mr. J. S. Dixon, Durham, N. C., who is an experienced and competent workman. The brick-yard force is made up of the large size boys. This force also operates the saw mill plant. It is well to state here that these boys have heretofore been trained on our farm and some of them in the shops.

        Since completing the new brick dormitory in the month of July, we have made and sold two medium size kilns of brick. The revenue from which proved a most timely blessing to the Institution in the payment of some of the bills remaining due and carried over on account of the new building.

        We believe with this modern plant, our well-organized, orce, and the superior quality of our clay we shall be enabled to not only make the bricks for the construction of the new building, mapped out for our next year's task, which necessity compels us to erect, but that we shall be able to continue to supply the market in Oxford also. Our chances are made better and our work materially facilitated by the great interest and confidence the S. A. L. Railway Co. has shown in our enterprise, to the extent of granting us the right and putting in a side track and a coal chute at the brick-yard, which is indeed an important step gained towards the success of the business. Not only are we benefited and convenienced by having our coal, wood, and all other freight traffic for the Institution to stop at its door, but, the privilege of loading and shipping bricks and other products at the place of manufacture is a great convenience to us. It takes us out of the uncertain and expensive position in which a dependence upon buying wood places us and enables

us to run the engines and burn the brick with coal by having it placed by the Railroad Co. at the mouth of the kilns.

        The sale of our bricks aided us very materially in the erection of our building which cost very much more than we at first anticipated.

        I would like to say that with unexperienced labor, such as we have, it will be impossible for us to look to the farm for any aid in a financial way to assist in building or liquidating debts, but our time and energies on the farm can be best spent in improving our lands and raising provisions for man and beast which we have in considerable quantities. But great stress should be put upon our machinery for from this we shall be able to get financial aid.

        Our farm was pitched upon a larger scale also this year, believing that the improvements of the lands for the last year or so, together with the training heretofore given the boys and girls would warrent the undertaking. Our acreage was increased in every department of the farm, the crop was well cultivated according to modern methods and the yield splendid in every particular, reaching nearer the mark of self supporting than in any previous year. Encouraging us to hope that some day we may reach that point.

        The following is about what the Home realized on the farm: Corn, 175 barrels; cotton, 6 bales; sweet potatoes, 800 bushels; white potatoes, 100 bushels, field peas, 300 bushels; beans, 30 bushels; splendid crop of peanuts; a large crop of clover, oats, fodder, and other forage. The crop of vegetables of all varieties was unusually good, enabling us not only to feed the children of the Home plentifully but to supply a number outside of the Home. The green, healthy, and thrifty state in which all of our crops grew from beginning to harvesting and the satisfactory results there from, proved to us beyond any doubt the wonderful advantage and gain there is in the modern and scientific methods of farming.

        The subject of food supplies is of vast importance to us, as you will readily see, having to furnish more than six hundred meals per day every day in the year, that we have been forced to give considerable attention to hog raising and, therefore, to the selection of better stock. The result of our efforts this year has been more than satisfactory. The hogs were kept in floored pens, under shade trees, well watered, properly, but not bountifully fed. They were healthy and thrifty through the entire year. So far we have killed twenty-four of them, weighing 4,200 pounds, at an average of 1175 pounds, all of which has been salted and packed down in a new brick smoke house, recently built and added to the Institution. This house meets a very important demand and fills a long standing want, as we had no place of safety to store and preserve the large quantity of table and kitchen supplies. The building is 14x16 ft. thick walls, well built, not at all expensive as the brick and lumber were all made and furnished, by the mills of the Institution.

        In addition to the favorable achievements of this year along industrial lines, we know it will be interesting to you to learn that at the grand and brilliant Agricultural and Industrial Fair, at Oxford, for the Colored Race of Granville County, this Institution was awarded, at the hands of fair and impartial judges, several of the most valuable and important prizes offered in the splendid premium list of the Fair Association.

        These are some of the prizes awarded us:

• One new buggy made by the Oxford Buggy Co. for the best display of farm products.
• A beautiful, large rocking chair given by Mess. Upchurch Bros. for the best collection of plain and fancy sewing.
• One double harrow given by Mess. Long-Winston Co, for best display of corn, potatoes, beans and peas.
• Money premiums on chickens, turkeys, hogs, all first prizes, and second best blooded milch cow.

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  Page 7

• Also premiums on the best half dozen rolls of egg bread.

        Upon receiving the verdict of the judges on the Fair Grounds, where a large number of good farmers of the county were contesting, and upon receiving the prizes at the hands of the large Committee constituting the Executive Department of the Fair, we were enabled to observe with great pleasure, the wonderful advancement the race has made and is making along the lines of unselfishness and genuine interest in the merit and worth of each other. The Committee and the whole company seemed to have been delighted that this Institution was able to successfully compete and to make such a positive and creditable showing in the rank and file along with such well-to-do and experienced farmers as Granville County affords. Every colored person in the county was grateful and delighted at the interest our white friends took in the colored peoples' fair. They extended to them their beautiful fair grounds and buildings and every other accommodation in their power.

        At the close of last year the girls' new dormitory was not quite completed and work had been suspended on account of winter weather. On the 8th of March, this year, the work was resumed. Through the faithful and friendly efforts of our good Governor, Hon. W. W. Kitchin, Senator A. A. Hicks, Representative W. A. Devin, of Granville County, backed up by the untiring assistance of judge A. W. Graham, the Representatives of both Houses of the last Legislature, manifested their interest by giving us an additional appropriation of $2,000 to assist in the completion of the said building.

        The following are some of the amounts received for new furniture and beddings for the new building:

Dr. A. M. Moore, JULY 26th	$ 10 00
Dr. A. Shepard from Mt. Vernon Baptist Church	5 00
Mrs. H. J. Green	5 00
Mrs. Howell	50
J. C. Jeffreys	8 00
Dr. A. M. Moore, May 8th	10 00

Northern Friend	25 00
Miss Bessie Hocken	75 00
Prof. Luther Buchanan, Member of our Board	5 00
J. W. Buchanan	5 00
Rev. Isaac Alston	5 00
Dr. A. M. Moore	6 12
Rev. J. W. Levy	4 20
Rev. J. T. Peace, From Sisters' Union of his Church	5 00
Dr. G. C. Shaw	12 00
Dr. A. M. Moore, Insurance	43 80

One nice bedstead, mattress, four sheets, two comforts sent by the Sisters' Union of Rev. J. T. Peace's Church.

        

DONATIONS

Grand Lodge of Masons of North Carolina	400 00
Woman's Home and Foreign Mission Convention	50 00
State Baptist Sunday School Convention (Weldon, N. C.)	25 00
Shiloh Association, No. 1	10 00
Shiloh Association, No. 1--Rev. J. A. Hawkins	7 00
Cedar Grove Association--Rev J. T. Peace	5 00
Taylor's Baptist Church--Miss West	6 00
E. E. Cartright, High Point, N. C	6 00
Mrs. M. Bond, Quitsna, N. C	2 00
Sisters' Union--R. S. Jacobs, Rich Square, N. C.	1 75
Mt. Mariah Society--Viola M. Hargrove	1 21
Rev. D. D. Jones, Berea, N. C	1 63
Rev. Lyons, Oxford, N. C.	1 00
Rev. J. T. Peace, West End Sunday School, Durham, N. C.	2 50
Dr. J. A. Savage, Franklinton, N. C.	5 00
Mrs. C. D. Hawkins--Woman's Union S. St. Church and Oak Grove Church	5 87
I. C. Jeffreys--Wake Baptist Mission Union	5 00
Rev. J. A. Savage, Pendleton, N. C.	1 00
Rev. J. A. Savage--Presbyterian S. S. Convention	2 50
I. C. Jeffreys--Wake Baptist S.S. Convention	13 00
R. A Wych--Vance County S. S. Convention	3 00
G. Smith, Leasburg, N. C.--Cedar Grove Association	5 00
North Carolina Mutual Prov. Association	40 00
G. W. Claborn from Masonic Lodge, Henderson, N. C.	5 00
Rev. Lyons--E. Cadar Grove Union	5 00
By Joseph Harris from Church	4 60
Rev. M. C. Ransom, Pastor, Wakefield	1 00
Mrs. Sarah B. Evans	1 00
Rev. A. W. Ivey from his Church	12 00
Mrs. J. A. Alston--Woman's North Bound Association	5 00
E. Bembry, Hertford, N. C.	2 00

        

Collected by Rev. D. G. Griffin from the following friends.

Dr. G. W. Cardwell, Elizabete City, N.C	$10 00
Rev. J. H. Johnson, Elizabeth City, N. C	1 00
Rev. W. M. Reed, Wilson, N. C.	1 00
Rev. B. D. Harrell, Corepeake, N. C.	25
Rev. James Jenkins, Galesville, N. C.	50
First Baptist Church, Hertford, N. C.	4 25

        Thanksgiving Day was observed with interesting and appropriate exercises in the chapel and a special and bountiful dinner was prepared which the children enjoyed to the delight of many friends and visitors present. We appreciate and are indeed thankful to Hon. D. Y. Cooper, of Henderson, N. C., for the gift of $10.00 which assisted in making merry and happy 230 hearts on that day. Mr. Cooper is the orphans' friend. He helps the Home every year Mr. C. S. Easton, of Oxford, N. C., is another friend to the Home. He sent $3.00 for Thanksgiving Day which assisted much in making this large family of small but appreciative children happy.

        

CONDENSED STATEMENT OF RECEIPTS FROM DEC. 1ST 1010, TO
DEC. 1st 1911.

State Appropriation	$6,000 00
Singing Class	711 15
Anniversary Day collection	30 00
Rent from grounds	45 00
Churches, Sunday Schools, Masonic Lodges, Unions, Conventions, Associations, Insurance Companies, Individuals, and Agents	535 75
Farm, garden products and dairy	235 00
Hire for children	45 00
Sale of bricks	1100 00
Grand Lodge of Masons of N. C.	400 00
Total		$9088 75
Less 1st quarter of $1000.00 additional appropriation by the State which did not go into effect until 2nd quarter		250 00
Total		8738 75

        

DISBUREMENTS FROM DEC. 1st, 1910 TO DEC. 1st, 1911

Salaries and wages	$ 3250 00
Clothing and bedding	1550 00
Subsistance	3030 75
Wood and coal	575 00
Repairs, etc[.]	50 10
Repair to pumps, and digging well	95 00
Office expenses, express, freight	75 25
Expenses and R. R. fares or children and agents to and from different points in State	150 15
Total		$ 9,376 25

        We, the Committee of Audit for the Colored Orphan Asylum, cheerfully testify to the correctness of Supt. H. P. Cheatham's accounts which we have carefully examined and audited every quarter.

T.C. HARRIS,
C. S. EASTON,
Auditors.

        The school of the Home is managed by three active and thoroughly qualified teachers. The day school is taught by Misses M. A. Henderson and Oliva West. The night school for the working boys is taught by Miss Ida McGhee.

        We want to express our delight and gratitude to Dr. and Mrs. G. C. Shaw, President of Mary Potter School, Oxford, N. C., for a scholarship for one of our girls. Also we are greatly encouraged and appreciate beyond expression the two scholarships given the Home by Dr. C. F. Meserve, President of Shaw University, Raleigh, N. C.

        We cannot help pressing onward with eager determination to provide for the many sore wants and needs of the Institution, when we take into consideration the willingness of the white people of Oxford, Henderson, and other places as well as our own people to aid in an effective way to carry the arduous burdens of the Home in the attempt to feed, clothe, train and comfortably shelter the large number of helpless and untrained human beings committed to its care, who otherwise could not help becoming a hinderance to themselves as well as a burden to the State.

        The merchants and all business firms in Oxford are always ready to indulge and help us.

        We are delighted to make special mention of our door neighbors who are exceedingly friendly and kind to the Home: Mr. Tom Taylor, Mr. Sam Knott, Mr. R. W. Lassiter, Judge Graham, Mess. J. F. White Co., Horner Bros. Co., Long Co., Landis&Easton, Frist National Bank, National Bank of Granville, Gen. B. S. Royster, Senator A. A. Hicks, Representative W. A. Devin, Mayor D. G. Brummitt, Mr. L. Thomas, Mr. J. J. Medford, Mess. Baird&Chamblee, L. J. Hicks, Dr. J. G. Hall, Mess. C. D. Ray and L. B. Turner, Acme Hardware Co., Oxford Hardware Co., Long Winston Co., Prof. Buchanan, Mr. Jno. Kittrell, Mr. Davy McGhee and Dr. and Mrs. Shaw. Dr. Shaw made the Home a timely present of a valuable work horse. These and others have backed and befriended us in our efforts to succeed here.

        We wish to make special reference to the liberality and kindness of Dr. C. H. D. Forte, one of the most capable and cultured gentlemen of the State of North Carolina, and one of the leading dentists in Oxford, who pulls the teeth and relieves the aching gums of the little boys and girls of this Institution every year free of charge. When one is relieved he carries the news to the others and it is wonderful how they revere Dr. Forte's name. Dr. Forte deserves his popularity and the success he is making in his great profession.

        We know the friends to the Orphanage do most heartily join us in thanksgiving and praise to all the railroad companies in the State for their great assistance in giving reduced rates on their roads for the transportation of the orphans from place to place in North Carolina.

        Mrs. Henry Yarborough, of Louisburg, was here a few weeks ago to visit the Home. She was very much impressed with the new Dormitory and upon her return home sent 46 beautiful window shades for the front windows in the new building for which we are grateful. Sister Yarboro is indeed loved by the children here.

        Mess. W. C. Geraty and Co., of Young's Island, S. C., sent to the Home again this year the cabbage plants, free of charge, which made our large and successful cabbage crop.

        We wish these good friends could realize how sincerely we appreciate their wonderful benevolence and how often the children, the beneficiaries, are reminded of the sources from which these blessings come.

        We are especially indebted to Mess. C. T. Harris and C. S. Easton, our Board of Audit, for their great interest, not only in our accounts, but in the general work and success of the Institution. They are bank experts, one of the First National Bank, and the other of The National Bank of Granville. No skein of accounts can become so tangled but that they cannot unravel it. They are competent and untiring and we thank the Governor for appointing such friends to our work.

        We are delighted to report an almost perfect condition of health in the Home this year among the children except a little sickness in the early part of the year. Dr. Coggeshall, the learned and untiring doctor, is in charge of the health department of the Institution. He looks close and well after the sanitary conditions and we feel safe in his hands.

        Miss Bessie Hocken, our door neighbor and a faithful friend to the widows and orphans everywhere, does not want her name mentioned in such matters, but her gift is so timely and of so much importance to the Home, we cannot help making public in this report her benevolence of a most beautiful and costly bath tub placed in the bath room, and ten nice iron beds--all for the little children.

        The friends from different sections of the state have been exceedingly kind in sending to the Home for the children select and valuable barrels and boxes--especially for Thanksgiving Day and Christmas and we desire to again thank them through this report.

        Our order of religious exercises is as follows:

• Chapel exercises every morning.

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• Sunday School at 11 o'clock every Sunday morning.
• Prayer meeting every Sunday and Wednesday evenings.

        A standing invitation is extended to the ministers of the different churches to preach to the Home an hour on the Sabbath, convenient to them.

        On September 19,1911, we received two small children from Durham through Dr. Moore, one a baby and along with them Dr. Moore brought $100.00 sent by his Insurance Company (The Mutual Provident) on the life of their deceased mother. This is an unusual coincidence as orphans rarely bring anything but their pitiful little selves.

OXFORD, N. C., Dec. 19,1911.

        We, the Board of Directors of the Colored Orphan Asylum, met December 19th with bowed heads and heavy hearts. The seat of our beloved brother and co-worker and chairman, Rev. Augustus Sheppard was vacant. God in His divine Providence took our leader Nov.       . Though we bow reverentially to His Omnipotent Will, we feel keenly our loss, and with heavy hearts and beteared eyes performed our duty the best we could.

        The report of our Superintendent was encouraging. The account of his receipts and his expenditures satisfactory, and the general prosperity of the work most gratifying. We were especially pleased with the growth and success of the farm which is beginning to attract no little attention; having won the first prize at the Colored Fair of Granville County offered for the best exhibits of farm products.

        The new building offers an ideal home for the girls of the Institution and we congratulate our most worthy and faithful Superintendent on his success in erecting such a magnificant structure which is a credit not only to the Asylum but to the State.

        The brick plant has already proven to be quite an asset to the Asylum and bids fair to become one of its supporting arms.

        The Superintendent was unusually successful in raising hogs during the year. We congratulate him and suggest that he continue to push the work along the lines that he has so wisely marked out and thus far so successfully followed.

        We appeal to the public to help in this great work. It has passed its experimental stage and has become and Institution of which every citizen of North Carolina and especially the colored people should feel proud. The Legislature is inclined more and more to help us if they see we are trying to help ourselves. We need and must have a boys' building. With the brick plant and a generous support from our people we will soon have it.

        We thank the Masonic Order and the various churches and individuals for their generous support during the past year and recommend to all our Superintendent and his dear wife, Mrs. Cheatham, who have proven themselves from year to year to be faithful and wise workers. Under their care and that of their faithful co-workers and with the proper moral and financial support from the people we feel sure our Institution will some day reach our ideal, and the cause of suffering humanity greatly served.

        There are hundreds of our orphan boys and girls going astray, becoming criminals. Give us more room at the Asylum and we will take them in and save them for Christ and the State.

Respectfully,

I. ALSTON
I. C. JEFFREYS
M. F. THORNTON
H. P. CHEATHAM
H. E. LONG
M. C. RANSOM
J. W. LEVY
G. D. GRIFFIN
A. M. MOORE
G. C. SHAW
On the part of the State: R. W. LASSITER
LUTHER BUCHANAN
M. L. COLEY Board of Directors.

REPORT OF BUILDING COMMITTEE

Oxford, N. C., May 27, 1912.

To His Excellency, William W. Kitchin, Governor of North Carolina:

        Under the laws of 1909 chapter 747, entitled "An Act to provide for the erection of a dormitory at the Colored Orphan Asylum at Oxford, North Carolina," it was provided that, whenever the Superintendent and Board of Trustees of said Asylum should raise the sum of $5000 in cash, the Treasurer of the State should be authorized and directed to pay out of any money in the Treasury, not otherwise appropriated, the sum of five thousand dollars to be used together with the sum raised by the Superintendent and Board of Trustees, for the erection and equipment of a brick building to be used as a dormitory for said orphan children.

        Section 2 of said act provided that the Governor should appoint a building committee "who shall have control of the erection of said building and the disbursement of the money and all vouchers for money expended in the erection of said building shall be first approved by said Building Committee, together with the Superintendent of said Colored Orphan Asylum."

        On the 12th day of October, 1910 your Excellency appointed on said Building Committee W. A. Devin, R. W. Lassiter, A. W. Graham, John Webb, and V. T. Cheatham, who, each, accepted the position and met on the. . . . . day of October 1910 and elected A. W. Graham Chairman of said Building Committeee.

        The Committee having ascertained that the work on the new building had been begun some time in the early summer of 1910 made an investigation and found that H. P. Cheatham, the Superintendent of said Colored Orphan Asylum had raised a part of the money required, and wishing

to take advantage of the good weather for building in the summer and fall, had employed Frank H. Thompson, Esq., an architect of fine reputation and standing, of the city of Raleigh, to draw plans and specifications for a building of the character needed, and began work on the same in the middle of the summer and had all excavations made and about 155,000 brick laid in the foundation, bringing it up to the height of four or five feet above the surface of the ground. And he had also bought a saw-mill and had cut a large portion of the lumber required in said building from timber growing on the lands of the Asylum. He had also bought a brick-making machine and established it on the land of the Asylum and by employing an experienced brick-maker, J. L. Dixon, to superintend the work of the inmates of the Asylum, whom he utilized in the making of the brick; thus together with the saw-mill, saving more than $2000 in the cost of construction of said building.

        Your Committee caused an examination and estimation of the value of the work, labor and material in said building up to the date of their appointment to be made by Mr. Frank H. Thompson the aforesaid architect, who made his report (a copy of which we file herewith) estimating cost of said building up to October 12, 1909 at [long blank in text] . Your Committee, after consideration of said report and an examination of said building, and making allowances for the difference in the cost of labor, when it was contributed by the inmates of the Asylum, wishing to be on the safe side, reduced said estimate of the value of the work to $3000, and notified the Superintendent of the Asylum that he must raise $2000 in cash additional before they would feel authorized to proceed with the work.

        Said Superintendent thereupon did raise the money and on the 7th day of November filed with your Committee the following certificate from the First National Bank, of Oxford.

Oxford, N. C., Nov. 7, 1910. H. P. Cheatham Supt., Colored Orphan Asylum, 0xford N. C,

Dear Sir:

        This is to certify that there is two thousand ($2,000) standing to the credit of the Building Fund account of the Colored Orphan Asylum in this bank.

Yours truly,

W. H. HUNT, Cashier.

        We therefore notified the State Treasurer, Hon. B. R. Lacy, who forwarded to the National Bank of Granville the warrant of the State for $5000 which was deposited to the credit of the Building Fund of the Colored Orphan Asylum.

        You will notice that it was then late in the fall, the time when brick working is usually suspended until spring, but the demand for the building was so urgent, owing to the Overcrowding of the inmates and the delapidated and dangerous condition of the old wooden buildings that, at the earnest solicitation of the Superintendent, we allowed the work on the building to proceed though the cost of such work is considerably greater in the winter, than in the summer and fall of the year. Owing to circumstances he could not control, and the lack of funds, the building could not be completed during the winter.

        In the spring of 1909 the main building for girls was destroyed by fire which greatly hampered and embarassed the Superintendent, who at one time thought he would have to send a great number of the orphans back to the respective counties from which they came. But by economizing space and by good management he succeeded in sheltering them all, and lost none.

        We append hereto a statement, showing our administration and expenditure of the $5,000 entrusted to our care under chapter 757, of the Laws of 1909.

        The General Assembly of 1911, recognizing the dire necessity of the Institution, after the destruction by fire of the dormitory heretofore referred to, passed an act, found in chapter 191, Laws of 1911, directing the Treasurer of the

State to pay to the said institution on the first day of November, 1912. The sum of $2, 000 to be used in completing said building. The absolute need of the building was so great that the State Treasurer, Hon. B. R. Lacy, upon the appeal of the Superintendent, exercised his discretion and issued the Treasury warrant for $2,000 payable on the first day of November, 1912; and the Superintendent, by tact and good management, induced parties to cash said warrant so that the fund might become available immediately for building purposes. He also provided for the interest so that no discount should be taken out of the building fund.

        With said $2,000, and some contributions procured by the Superintendent, the said building was completed about the first day of November, 1911, but upon the advice of the physicians as to the possible consequences from the dampness of the new walls, was not occupied by the orphans until the spring of 1912. Your Committee was not charged with the responsibility of the expenditure of the $2,000, under Chapter 191, Laws of 1911. But they continued from time to time to inspect the building while the work was going on, and examined the vouchers for all expenditures made out of said fund and herewith submit a copy of same.

        The building constructed was designed by Mr. Frank H. Thompson, architect, and is 183 feet long by 46 feet wide, with an elevation of three stories for the center and two stories for the wings. Is is commodious and well arranged, but owing to the great demand upon the Institution for admittance, it is much overcrowded.

        The amount expended by the State upon said building was five thousand dollars from the appropriation of 1909 and two thousand dollars from the appropriation of 1911, while the money raised and expended on the building by the Superintendent prior to 1911 exceeded the sum of five thousand dollars and since that date would amount to at least $1,500. Representing a total expenditure of more than $13,500.

        We cannot close this report without commending to your consideration Hon. Henry Plummer Cheatham, the

Superintendent of the Colored Orphan Asylum, through whose zeal and tact the erection of the building, with the aid of the State, has been rendered possible. Almost alone and unaided, he raised more than $6000 by presenting the cause of the helpless of his race to benevolent parties of both races who, by their confidence in him and the eloquence of his appeals, were induced to contribute largely to this cause. By the use of reasources he had at hand, the labor of the children, the timber upon the premises, hauling with his own teams, he saved several thousand dollars and to show his own faith in the work, he contributed liberally out of his private funds. And we should not fail to mention that several of the colored carpenters and brick-layers worked at reduced wages through his influence, to aid in the cause for the benefit of their race. His exhibition of energy, tact, good methods and his interest in and devotion to the helpless orphans has shown that he is the right man in the right place, and we commend the Board of Trustees upon their selection.

        The building erected is much larger and cost much more than was contemplated, but experience has demonstrated that it is none too large for the purpose intended, and even now is overcrowded.

        We sincerely hope that the next General Assembly may see its way clear to erect such buildings upon the grounds as the urgent necessities of the Institution demands. There are now 231 inmates of the institution, gathered from 51 counties of the State, while more than fifty are applying for admittance, but cannot be received for lack of room.

        It is hardly necessary to mention that no member of the Building Committee made any charge for any service rendered in connection with the work.

A. W. GRAHAM, Chairman.
V. T. CHEATHAM
W. A. DEVIN
R. W. LASSITER
JOHN WEBB
Committee.