Bethlen Naptár, 1949 (Ligonier)
To our second generation
60 BETHLEN NAPTÁR there is quiet till 4 o’clock, when the children start coming home from school. They make a bee-line for the kitchen where a snack of bread with jam or butter and a glass of milk awaits them daily. The have free play on the Home playgrounds till 5:30. Older girls and boys help in home chores, some children will be found practicing their music lessons, twice a week will find the children in Hungarian classes in the boys’ study room. We can find still others in the Home library. At 5:50 the first bell for supper rings. Children wash up, comb their hair, get ready for the evening meal. After dishes, at least four times a week, all children gather around the piano in the dining hall, where we have group singing of Hungarian and English hymns and folk tunes. They are tught folk dances, they play games, listen to phonograph records. This is where the large family gets together for fellowship and spiritual warmth. Orphans forget that they have no parents, dependent children forget that they have no immediate relative near ... all become one in the great bond of Christian friendship ... all are happy, all enjoy laughter and fun. After the evening’s fun, evening prayers, and after the little ones have been put to bed, quiet hour begins. At this time home work is prepared in the study rooms for the next day. All lights are out by ten o’clock. Quiet again reigns. We are proud of our children. Citizens of Ligonier like and respect them. They are polite, courteous, God-fearing. They take part in the Girl and Boy Scout movements, community affairs, school social programs. Two of our boys are in the local high school band. The children lead a well-rounded life in every respect. On Saturdays and Sundays and during the summer months, the children are given an extra half hour of sleep, when they STUDY HOUR
