Facing Tomorrow, Understanding Yesterday, A History of Orange ...

honorofSamuel and Fannie Brockwell. The congregation ate lunch on the
churchlawn and heard Rev. Ormond preach on "Church Administration"
inthe afternoon.
EarlyVacation Bible School Experiences
The Hut became a centerfor church life at Orange - a life that had always
includedmany activities for children of the families who were members
ofthe church and for their friends in the neighborhood. Vacation Bible
School,for instance, has always played an important part in the church's
life."Miss" Ethel Hogan recalls the Bible School of 1937 with fondness.
Classesfor ten to twelve students were held in the Hut that summer. The
topicof study was "Jesus as a Boy," and each day, the pastor, Rev. Floyd
Patterson,assigned Bible verses that began with "Jesus said" for the
studentsto memorize. During their craft period, they made pasteboard
housesto resemble those of]esus's day. One house had the roofleftopen
tosymbolizethe house in Capernaum where friends let a man with palsy
downthrough the roof so that Jesus could heal him (Matthew 2:1-5).As
anillustrationofhow bread was made inJesus's day, the children removed
thehusks from the heads of wheat and pounded the kernels. Early Bible
Schoolshowed that even the children of Orange liked to eat - a fact wellknownto
later generations - and refreshments played an important role
inBibleSchool activities. In 1937, refreshments consisted of raisins and
figs,typical foods of Jesus's time.
In summer 1938, the Vacation Bible School subject was Brazil, and
posterswere made to illustrate how the people there lived. One showed
thepeople picking beans from coffee bushes. After carefully inspecting
thescene, one child spoke up saying, "Well, that's no worse than picking
beanshere." Each child was given a scripture to read every morning.
Anotherwould say a prayer. Songs were sung as they are today. Cookies
andlemonade were served as refreshments. Lemonade was a special treat
asitwas made with plenty of fresh lemons.
Sometimes the Bible school would last for two weeks. At the close of
school,the students and teachers often traveled to Hogan's Lake for a
picnic.Since there were so few children in the congregation, Orange and
McDuffieBaptist often would work together, sometimes meeting at
Orangeand sometimes meeting at McDuffie. After Amity Methodist
Churchwas organized in 1958,children from there often joined with those
fromOrange and McDuffie for Bible School. Later each church organized
itsownVacation Bible School. Neighboring children were always invited,
andmany came just as they do today.
Even though there were similarities between Vacation Bible School
inthe 1930s and that in the 1990s, children then likely would find more
thingsthat were different than were the same - just as members would
findtheir surroundings and experiences quite different in the two time
periods.For one thing, most activities were accompanied by chilly temperatures,for
the sanctuary and the Hut were heated with stoves for years.
Inaddition,the stoves were ugly. The sanctuary stove occupied one front
comer,and the stove pipe, suspended by wire, stretched across the
sanctuaryceiling and out the other side ofthe building. Will Freeland built
firesin the stove at church for many years, and those who attended
OrangeChurch in the 1930s and 1940s recall that the ashes in the stove
alwayseemed to need shaking down just as the preacher began to pray.
PrestonHogan and Walter Everett took turns building fires in the church
andthe Hut after Will Freeland's death in 1947.After World War II, during
theministryof] ohnnie L.Joyce, church members installed a coal-burning
FACING TOMORROW, UNDERSTANDING YESTERDAY 33
Vacation Bible School- circa 1937
joint Orange and McDuffie Vacation Bible
School at McDuffie Memorial Baptist
Church - 1954