Remolding human lives is a God-given privilege. Human frailties can be rectified and strengthened through kindly influence, shown in spirit and manner. The broken threads of a life started on the downward grade can be tied together and the progress on the run to ruin can be halted through the proper influences and environment. If the race of the car of iniquity and wrong living, carrying with it in its mad rush the lives of many young boys and girls, is halted by the traffic cop of conscience and the unthinking boy or girl is given an opportunity to think of what they are doing and the consequences should they continue in their mad gamboling of iniquitous living, many of them will attempt to turn away from the wrong living and begin anew the struggle of right against wrong. The regeneration of life and soul to a career of right living and usefulness is rendered difficult by the many pitfalls placed in the pathway of the fallen one who is striving to begin life anew. This is especially true in the case of girls. Danger in the form of moral lepers, men who prey upon the young and innocent girls to the satisfying of their evil lust and the consequent ruin of their victim, confronts her at every turn of the road and unless she possesses a strong will, power and the determination to evade them, she is unable to again attain that position of self respect.
Samarcand Manor offers a refuge to the tired soul who has been buffeted about on the sea of wrong living and within its sanctuary is offered comfort and absolution from their past shortcomings through their application to the principles of right living and also affords protection against the storms of temptation that would confront them were they out in the world. Through the Christian influence of the manor, the girl who enters it from a life of sin is brought face to face with the realization of her past life and the consequences she must have suffered had she not entered the sheltering home’s doors; she is made to realize through the teachings of Christian women that there is something in life for all of us who will apply ourselves to right living; through the kindly treatment given her she awakens to the understanding of a sympathetic hear and understanding; she is taught that although her past life may have been what it should not have been that all is not lost, but that she can still hold her head up to the discerning world as a human being, who, though erring, has at last struck the right trail and that by renouncing her past sins and the agencies of the devil that after her short period of probation she may again take her place in the world with a heart expunged of sin and an opportunity to make good.
Samarcand Manor offers its inmates the quiet and Christian influences of a home. Nestling in the sand hills of North Carolina, surrounded by beautiful forests, the school is performing a great mission. Three hundred and eight girls are striving to overcome their weaknesses and to become useful citizens of the world. These girls represent practically every county in the state. They range in age from 8 and 9 years to 17 and 18 years. Many of them are from homes of refinement but through evil influences were lead astray. Here the girls are taught home economics; they are taught etiquette; they are taught to be self reliant. The girls are received into the home for a period not exceeding three years where they are given a chance to make good.
The school was formerly a boy’s institution but in 1918 it was taken over by the federal and state governments and converted into an industrial school for girls. During the period of the recent war wayward girls and women from all sections were sent there by the federal authorities; girls who were known as camp followers, securing their livelihood through immoral relations with the soldiers and others. They were sent there from other sections. Many of the women were hardened to the life they were living and were, therefore, incurable as far as their moral natures were concerned. Later the institution became a state one and only girls from this state were admitted. Since that time it has been operated with state funds and has been performing a great work. The age limit for entrance into the school is 21 years, but girls up to 18 years of age are declared to be more preferable to those older.
The institution has seven buildings and every dormitory is crowded to double capacity. The school should accommodate only 180 girls with the present equipment and buildings, it was stated by one of the faculty during a recent visit of a number of Durham people to the institution, whereas there are 306. Three girls use a room for purposes of dressing, etc., but only one girl sleeps to a room. The remaining two assigned to each room sleeps on wide sleeping porches at each end of the building. Every room is equipped with a cot on which is kept bed linens of spotless white, a dresser, a chair and pictures. They present a very home-like appearance. Each dormitory has its own kitchen, dining room and recreation rooms and the inmates of each building live separate and apart from those in other buildings in domestic life.
The school is operated much under the plan that the Southgate Memorial building of Trinity college is done. The affairs of the school with its discipline is conducted by the student council, elected at a regular meeting of the inmates of the manor. The student government or honor system works admirably, it was declared, and very little trouble is experienced from any of the girls. The girls who do violate the rules are carried before the student council, presided over by its president and conducted solely by them, where she is tried and punishment meted out to them. The tendency among the girls is to refrain from doing those things that make it necessary for them to go before the tribunal to answer for their infractions of the rules. Many unique forms of punishment are given by the council in themselves are not bad but the humiliation of being held up before the other girls as examples is conducive to good behavior.
All but one of the cottages are operated upon the honor system. The one exception is the cottage where all incorrigibles and unruly girls are kept until they learn to abide by the rules of the school and to conduct themselves properly for good deportment is one of the most important requisites to freedom of movement at the school. In the honor cottages the doors are never locked and the girls have more freedom than do those in the probation cottage. Each cottage, of course, is in charge of a matron who is responsible for the conduct of and the well being of the girls in her respective cottage.
Manners of the most refined people are acquired through the training given the girls. Respect for their teachers is one of the first things taught, and the reverence and respect in which they are held by the girls is very noticeable. Through the refinement of the faculty members the girls are given first hand examples of deportment on all occasions. They learn the proper manner of speech; they learn the art of serving a meal through serving at the tables; they learn the things that all women should know relative to household duties and the place that the women must take in the world.
The girls do all of the work done at the institution, except the very heavy work. Only two white men and one negro man stay on the premises; everybody else is a female. The girls do their own washing of clothes; they learn gardening through the presence of a garden spot at every building; they learn cooking through actual experience in the kitchens; the cows are looked after and milked by them; the chickens, swine and turkeys are fed and cared for by them; the house work, such as cleaning up, is performed solely by them. A fire department manned by girls is a proud feature of the school. In short, everything is done by the girls. Their lives are not made up of work only. Their educational and their recreational sides are well looked after. Every girl is required to attend school three hours in every day. Due to the absence of a badly needed school building, the work of educating the inmates is made hard, requiring the rearranging of schedules to that each girl may spend her part of the time in the class room. A school is conducted in each building and in many cases the girls teach the classes. Their recreation takes many forms. Hikes are taken at various times and the girls take much interest in them. They are allowed to roam about on these hikes as they will, provided they do so in crowds of over two. An excellent athletic field affords ample opportunity for play while a lake, nestled in the basin surrounded by hills gives them the pleasures of aquatic sports. All of the girls are taught to swim. The lake is a very pretty one, well equipped and is very popular among the girls, it was stated. Already they have enjoyed a dip into the cool waters this spring.
Five new cottages are planned for the near future, to cost approximately $235,000. This will relieve the congested condition existing there. The first buildings planned are the administration and the school buildings. Later more cottages will be erected. The buildings now occupying the grounds are of pretty architecture. The school is maintained by the state and an appropriation of $100,000 for its maintenance was voted by the last session of the general assembly. Miss Agnes B. McNaughton is head of the school and has surrounded herself with a faculty of 30 women who understand their business and through them much good work is being performed.
During the past week a party of Durham men, including a Herald reporter, visited Samarcand Manor for the purpose of inspecting the institution. Every courtesy was shown to them by members of the faculty. A round of inspection was made carrying them into the dormitories where they were allowed to see the manner in which the cottages were kept. They were impressed with the neat appearance of the building. Everything was kept in military order, that is spic and span and according to the approved style. The laundry building, the stock yard, the lake and grounds were visited.
The demeanor of the girls was one of the biggest surprises to some of those taking the trip. Their conduct was above reproach and there was a look of contentment in most all of the faces. Even the tiniest tots showed that they were getting good and kindly treatment and that they loved the school and those running it. It was the privilege of the visitors to be in one of the buildings when the occupants sat down to their mid-day meal. Every girl stood at her place until all were in place when they took their seats at the tables. Before they tasted of the food placed before them, every head was bowed and a song of praise sung. The reverence displayed by them during this part of their meal was striking. Not a face looked up, not an eye was lifted to gape about the room until after amen had been sung. The meal itself was consumed in a quiet and orderly manner.
The Durham visitors were guests of the school at lunch and allowed to taste the sample of food prepared by the girls. The meal was well prepared and served in an excellent and proper manner. The girls serving the meal showed the effects of their teaching in that they know the proper manner in which to serve a meal and they served it that way. All of the food served was grown or raised on the school premises.
A military drill was staged for the benefit of the visitors by practically the entire school and the manner in which they executed the commands of the physical instructor was good to behold. They snapped into the drills in much the same manner that the soldiers in the various army camps do. After the drill, the girls of each dormitory sang their dormitory songs.
Durham county is credited with sending 31 girls to Samarcand having the largest number there of any other county in the state. All of these girls, however, are not Durham girls, for many of them were girls who came to this city from other places. All of the local girls seen during the visit declared themselves to be contented with the life at the school and all of them showed the effects of the Christian influence of the teachers and the school.
From the front page of the local section of the Durham Morning Herald, Sunday, April 15, 1923. While the Durham men visiting Samarcand were quite impressed with the facility, much negative information has come out about the treatment of the inmates. Don't stop your research with this article!
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