THE NEW ALLEGIANCE 105 



has each successive Summer resolved into a veritable 

 flower-garden of beauty and fragrance. 



In 1892 the first schoolhouse was built at one end 

 of the farm settlement. Two years later the need for 

 another arose, and this was erected at the opposite end 

 of the town. Several years later still another school 

 was built in the center of the village itself. A kinder- 

 garten, the very first to open in Cape May County 

 settled for over two hundred years was started and 

 conducted by a very intelligent, wide-awake girl, whose 

 work was quickly appreciated by the parents of the 

 children. Only teachers of the highest standing avail- 

 able were considered for the school service, and with 

 its splendid group of instructors and bright, ambitious 

 pupils, Woodbine soon had reason to be proud of the 

 showing at the county commencement, where the girls 

 and boys received the official meed of highest merit. 

 With such activities as public lectures and frequent en- 

 tertainments of an intellectual character, Woodbine 

 rapidly became the center of the county's mental 

 activity. 



My husband was an enthusiast for Americanization, 

 as he fully appreciated the difference between the in- 

 stitutions and conditions our colonists lived or, 

 rather, suffered under in the places they came from 

 abroad, and the conditions and institutions they were 

 fortunate enough to enjoy in this country. Not an 

 Independence Day, or a Washington's or Lincoln's 

 Birthday passed unnoticed. In fact, the utmost care 



