SOLDIERS' ORPHAN SCHOOLS/HOMES
TRESSLER ORPHANS' HOME
(aka- Loysville Academy; Loysville Orphans' Home)
NEWSPAPER ARTICLES
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The Newport News; 08 November 1894
News About Tressler Orphan Home.
Orphan Home Echoes.
Total number on roll 131. This is the largest number on roll since the
soldiers' orphans have been withdrawn.
A great many visitors were shown through the Home lately. They all speak
in the highest terms of praise.
The unavoidable delay in the arriving of the boilers for our steam plant made it
necessary to set up all the stoves in the institution. The boilers have
now arrived and are being put in place.
Work is being pushed rapidly on our new building. The roof is on and the
floors are being laid. The new iron water tank is in place and full of the
necessary article.
Our farm work is nearly all done. We raised 25 bushels of wheat, 80
bushels of oats, 306 bushels of corn ears and 300 bushels of potatoes.
Corn and potatoes will have to be bought, as the above is not equal to our
needs.
The shelves of our store room are well filled with canned fruits and vegetables
from our Home orchards and gardens.
Having no employe in our washing department, one of our older girls has carried
on the work for a month very satisfactorily.
The sewing department has just recently completed an order of 144 shirts for our
boys.
The followign is quoted from school-room gossip: "Almost two months
of the school year is over, and so pleasant have they been that the time has not
seemed half so long. In nearly all cases the enthusiasm of the first week
continues; and although there is yet much room for improvement, the work has
been very satisfactory."
"Upon coming to take the position as one of the teachers, I found that the
favorable reports I had heard concerning the Tressler Orphan's Home had not been
exaggerated.
So far the work in the Primary room has been very pleasant, but there is still
room for improvement."
We have great reason to feel proud and thankful for the present state of health
at the Home.
Among so many young people brought here from so many different places, it is
impossible to expect that we should not find some illness at times; but every
safe guard in the way of sanitary conditions, ventilation, etc., is always
thrown around the children, so that we feel sure if any illness visits the Home
it is not due to any lack of interest taken in the Home by employes.
At present there is no illness except coughs, colds, etc., which are found
everywhere.
During the past years there have been no serious or complicated cases at all and
we consider our health report as nearly to the standard as can be made.
The Newport News; 26 June 1896
Vacation at Tressler Orphan Home - New Rules and New Teachers.
Vacation began at Tressler Orphan Home yesterday. None of the children
will leave the institution excepting those who may have been discharged on age.
There has been more or less friction during the past year between the
superintendent, C. A. Widle and the teachers, owing to the fact that the
Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees employed both superintendent and
teachers, and the latter declined to acknowledge the full authority of the
former over them.
The relations became decidedly strained, threatening the impairment of the
institution through the development of a spirit of insubordination upon the part
of the pupils, with the responsibility of it all falling upon the
superintendent, who was powerless to remedy the difficulty so long as the
teachers refused to acknowledge his authority over them.
He finally tendered his resignation to the Executive Committee, who held a
meeting last March which resulted in a decided vindication of the superintendent
and a positive declination to accept his resignation.
He was also authorized to employ all the teachers, with the assistance of the
Executive Committee, so that hereafter they will all understand who is in
authority over them. An assistant matron will be added to the faculty.
A meeting of the Board of Trustees was held last month, when the action of the
Executive Committee was fully ratified and a resolution passed requesting Mr.
Widle to remain as superintendent.
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