Nine miles southwest of Hickory a colony of Seventh Day Adventists settled quite a number of years ago, established their school and founded an orphanage. Ma and Pa Johnson are at the head of this little institution, over which the state of North Carolina has cast its inquisitorial eye.
Mr. M.H. Johnson, the manager of this institution, is a native of Canada, has worked in his denominational institutions in several states of the union and has been a wheat farmer in the northwest. He came to Catawba county several years ago after a sanatorium he and the other Adventists built at Asheville had burned down the day before it was to be occupied.
Left guardian for a niece, Mr. Johnson loaded $300 on 65 acres of Catawba county land just west of Bakers mountain. Unable to pay the money back, the farmer had Mr. Johnson accept the land in lieu of payment. He settled on it and the orphanage evolved.
A private school, free to all children in the community, is conducted by college graduates, men who can write Ph.D. after their names. This school is financed by the society of Adventists, who observe religiously Saturday as the seventh day, and set out Sunday morning with their regular work.
Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, both well educated and cultured, welcome visitors and many Hickory people go out from time to time. It is a beautiful section of country and from a hill, where Mr. Johnson hopes some day to build a real children’s home, one can see with the naked eye for a distance of 120 miles. Grandfather mountain is visible to the northwest, and the outline of it and other peaks far beyond can e seen on a clear day.
The little orphanage receives children from many states in the union, and some of its graduates have become famous in the mission fields. The capacity of the home is limited, but Ma and Pa Johnson never turn children away.
Three years ago fire destroyed the main building and two days later the 30-odd children were housed in a temporary building 30 by 120 feet. Friends rallied to the assistance of the little institution, but caring for a score or more of children is a large task and requires considerable outlay.
Then for three successive years the peach crop was killed by cold and frosts, and between $1,000 and $2,000 in revenue was lost. This year the peach yield is fairly good but it will not add much to the treasury. Incidentally Mr. Johnson introduced commercial fruit raising in this section and his orchards are models. He has added to his holdings until he has an acreage of 250; all about are groves of fruit trees, principally peach.
Half a dozen good Jersey grade cows provide plenty of milk for the family, whose members put up peaches, strawberries and raspberries for winter use. The bill of fare he would please anybody. It is the building that does not fill the requirements. Mrs. Johnson maintains a clean house and serves wholesome food, but the owners have been unable to find the money to rebuild, and such aid as they receive goes for little conveniences about the place.
In the last few years Hickory people have sown an interest in the institution and occasionally a check comes from a distance, but the amounts always are small. Mr. Johnson, who is 61 years old, has been engaged in this sort of work for years and he and his good wife find their happiness in providing a home for others.
Both are well known and highly respected in Hickory and the community in which they live. They are performing a public service in a section of the county which adjoins Burke and which is not far from the famous South mountains. By example and precept, this good couple probably are doing as much good in their own neighborhood as they are in taking in homeless children from many states.
From the front page of The Hickory Daily Record, July 15, 1922
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