Minerd.com Memoir: Keep Sweet! How the Lives of Philadelphia Orphan Boys and Their Teacher Were Forever Changed, Part 11

Keep Sweet!

A Memoir by the Late Dr. Roy Sheppard Minerd - Part 11 of 12

Last month: On Visitors Day at the Northern Home, appreciative parents provide mentor Roy S. Minerd with positive affirmation for all that he is doing for their children. Various boys are released into private homes in the greater Philadelphia area. Roy is devastated when one of his pupils dies after a serious illness, yet rejoices that the boy had committed his life to the Lord. Price, another pupil, makes his own spiritual commitment after hearing a talk on "Turning Points in Life."

I see that I have not given a full list of the Christian boys, only a partial list being given earlier. They are as follows:

Adams - Barkman - Wm. Bernard - Bishop - Isaac Burkhead - Dawson - Dean - DeGuenther - Bill Edwards - Gardner - Murl Hockenberry - Kent - Kichlein - Langley - Minton - McKee - McKinney - Patterson - Pedrick - Roy Saylor - Chas. Saylor - Odell Schofield - Clayton Schofield - Simpkins - Chas. Valco - Weir - Wenner - Williams.

On the morning of Nov. 26th, I slipped in to Chapel and Mrs. Warne was conducting the service. They were singing most heartily, when all at once she took my breath away.

"Now Ellis Pedrick will sing the next stanza as a solo and we'll all join in on the chorus."

Ellis Pedrick sing a solo! Ellis Pedrick of the nasty disposition and the nobody-cares-so-I-don't-either attitude described earlier. But the real shock came when without a second's hesitation he straightened to his tall awkward height and sang beautifully and without a tremor. Someone has at last found the spot -- the avenue of approach to his own self.

The lesson was the Great Stone Face, reproduced as only Mrs. Warne could reproduce it, till the rugged boulders on the mountainside stood right out before us, and we could fairly see the life and animation in the famous men returning after decades of absence to the scenes of their boyhood days. And then to clinch it more firmly than ever, a friend of hers painted in oil before our very eyes the "Great Stone Face" on the overhanging cliff, with the beautiful valley stretching away into the distance lying beneath.

The children have of their own accord been reproducing in story form, these various lessons of hers and presenting them to her at her next meeting. Some of them are models of neatness, composition, English and thought. As an encouragement she has been giving them little souvenirs. This particular morning there were about 30 books and quite a number of small brooches distributed among the boys and girls for their stories.

A week or more since I asked Dawson why he did not join the church, he said he would think it over and tell me later. Yesterday (Dec. 3) he told me that he and his mother and sister were to join church last evening. Another good step in the right direction for Bill.

Here is a postal sent me by Schofield shortly after he left the Home to go to his mother.

10/31/16

Dear Mr. Minerd,

I am felling well and hope you are the same. I am still sticking to it and feel better and stronger in mind. I looked at the verses you gave me last Sunday. They are very god. I don't know how to thank you for the advice and things you have done for me. I will now say good bye. "What would Jesus do?" "Keep sweet."

Your Friend,

Odell Schofield

It is a little thing but such things I prize very highly. Another of these cards is from one of the two brothers -- the elder -- mentioned earlier.

Newtown, Pa.

February - 1917

Dear Mr. Minner,

I am having a nice time. How are you getting along. I was going to write to you sooner but I didn't know you address so I am mailing this to the Northern Home. I was going to send you a Washington's Birthday to you but this is all I have. I am remembering everything you told me when I was in the home. I got a postal from my brother to-day. How is Mr. Newcumber and Mr. Sanborn getting along. I haven't much to say. Good-by from

Roy Saylor.

Keep Sweet.
Write Soon.

May 5, 1917
Well, Dawson joined the church and has since become a very active member of the local chapter of the Y.P.S.C.E. [Young Peoples Society of Christian Endeavor] and just a week since he asked me to speak to Simpkins and Valco about becoming members of the church. We had been talking to them and thought it would be easy to persuade them.

During the last few months so many of the older boys have found homes that there are but few of the scouts left, but they have gone out to various parts of the country where they can be influential in bringing the spirit of helpfulness into as many little spheres of activity. And with but one exception, they have been fitted right into the family circles as though they belonged there. The very best reports come from them.

A few months ago on making rounds in the children's ward in the hospital, I espied Langley lying in one of the beds. On inquiry I found he was waiting for an operation for acute appendicitis which was done the following day. He made a fine recovery.

On Mar. 25, I reviewed Passion Week in Chapel. It was visitors' day and at the close a strange woman approached me and after introducing herself began a terrific tirade because I had stopped with the death of our Lord at the ninth hour of Friday, and had not stated further that "most important point in the whole week's events" -- the fact that the body was taken down immediately "in preparation of the Sabbath" which of course would be Saturday. Then I realized that she was a Seventh Day Adventist. While I was patiently waiting for her to pause for breath, so I might escape gracefully, I was trying from her manner and the shape of her head and her features, to decide what type of dementia she illustrated. I refused to argue with her and got away after she had expressed her sympathy for my ignorance, bigotry and narrow mindedness and her disappointment that I refused to pen my eyes and see the light she was holding before me!!!

A little later she began another assault which I countered and did it in a very plain, emphatic manner. Her son, 12 years old, unable to read, and reputed to be a half negro, endeavored to assist his mother to bring me into the light for which he repeatedly received the maternal blessing. That afternoon I found him as a new member of my Sabbath School class, and after three week's attendance missed him. On inquiry I found he had run away and was refused readmission to the Home. Now he is in the House of Correction.

Next month: The memoir jumps to June 1917 and then to August 1918, chronicling the lives of several boys who are discharged from the Home and who begin the next phase of their voyage through life as members of society.