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OUR
HOMES
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Why
was there a need for such a frenetic surge of building activity? The
answer was that there was a significant
demand growing for the new school in the hills.In 1902 there
were 72 children in residence,by 1910 this had risen to 305.
Moreover, the children didn’t just come from nearby tea gardens.In
1902 the children came from almost all Provinces of Eastern
India,after that from other places like
Madras
,Secundrabad,
Punjab
,
Bombay
,
Bangalore
etc.Hardly an
area of
India
was
unrepresented
Graham had to build.Interest was growing in his project and he must
have felt the need to
propagate the spark of concern he had kindled in various communities
across the country. He was not alone in his task, as there was many
a supportive voice, ‘The white man’s burden ‘ is not such a
one as may be lightly thrown off. The burden of supporting and
assisting this community unquestionably rests upon
every man who has either made
India
his temporary
home,or who has a stake in the country from which he
derives a reserve.
Laidlaw
Cottage
On
26th November
1908
Mrs.
W.M.Crawford of
Darjeeling
cut the first
sod of the
site for the Cottage which Mr.Robert Laidlaw,M.P.,was to build in
memory of his mother.
Laidlaw
Cottage,whichwas to be for boys,would occupy a magnificient site and
was the beginning of a new line
of cottage,higher up the hill than any built till then.
Eastern Bengal
and
Assam
Cottage
On
6thJuly 1909,the cottage provided by the
province
of
Eastern Bengal
and
Assam
was formally
opened by the then Commissioner of Jalpaiguri. The Cottage had been
built by funds supplied by the subscribers in the
Eastern
Province
and by the
Government.The Home’s Board were grateful
for their cooperation and rejoiced in the privilege of being helpful
to the Province.
Lucia King Cottage
The
Cottage was opened on Foundation day(24th September1910). The
cottage was to be used for the smallest children and
will be the training ground for Nursery Nurses. Their
training
would be somewhat on the lines of that in the Norland Institute,
London
,and the object
was to prepare a
well-equiped class of girls to be children’s nurses.The curriculum
proposed was that after passing the 7th Standard,the girls(who
already had a thorough training in domestic work in the cottages)
should get special training in the following:
(1)
Management of young children;
(2)
Kindergarten teaching so as to be able to begin the education
of young children;
(3)
Dressmaking that they may be able to cut out and make
children’s clothes.
Scottish
Canadian Cottage.
On
23rd December
1912
the Scottish
Canadian Cottage was opened.It was a happy
selection ,for it embodies the names of two nationalities-the one
distinguished for their sterling qualities which ensure success, the
other being called the land of promise. This Cottage was made for
the boys.
Bhagalpur
(Grant)
Cottage
The
Commissioner of Bhagalpur Division opened the Cottage on 20thOctober
1911,this Cottage was made for boys and were to be occupied by those
who were temporarily housed in Lucia King Cottage Bhagalpur(Grant)
Cottage is situated furthest up the mountainside of any of The
Cottages.
[To
be continued ...........]
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