St. Paul daily globe., 1886-07-26
FOR POOR CHILDREN
Mrs. Cleveland Forming a Society to
Send Poor Children to the
Sea Shore.
How the Tender-Hearted Wife Of the
President is Appealed to by
Omce-Seekers.
Indications Point to the Adjourn
ment of Congress Some Time
Next Week.
Report on the Internal Revenue Ser
vice--Funeral of the Late WILL
lam Hunter.
Interested i'm Charity.

special TO the GLOBE.
WASHINGTON, July 25.-It seems that
Mrs. Cleveland is taking the lead in Wash
lngton charities as we'll as in its society.
Since she came here she has per-
formed many private acts of benevo-
lence and contributed literally toward the
flower mission and other charitable organi-
cations. Now she proposes to organize a
society of ladies in official circles for the
purpose of raising funds to send the poor
children to the seashore as often as posi-
bic during the heated term. There is al
ready society here which has for its OBJ
ject to give the little ones week in the
country occasionally, but there has been
little vigor in the movement, and as
consequence, very few children can
get breath of fresh air through
its efforts. Mrs. Cleveland is going
into this work heartily so that
by the time she leaves the city, the organi-
zation will be on a firm basis with funds
enough in the treasury to at least set the
project in motion. Many people think
that Washington, with its wide avenues,
abundance of trees and comfortable-lookin
dwellings, has no nests of poverty and sick
ness such as are found in other large cities.
Mrs. Cleveland has found out differently in
her long drives, and she Is determined to
use her position as we'll as her private re-
sources TO help the little sufferers who have
been born and reared in alleys without ever
having seen, perhaps, a blade of grass
She has already conferred with some of the
cabinet ladies and other leaders in society
and has found them enthusiastically in
favor OF the project. A meeting will soon
be held at which steps will be taken to-
wards
PERMANENT ORGANIZATION.
Funds will not be slow Forthcoming. The
president will of course contribute, since
she is so earnest about the matter Mrs.
Whitney, who will be Mrs. Cleveland's
chief assistant has promised to interest her
friends III the movement. She will, no
doubt. contribute largely. Mrs. EndicOtt,
Mrs. Villas and Mrs. Naming have Informed
the mistress of the White house that they
will do all in their power to further her
charitable intentions, while wealthier citi-
zens of Washington declare they had long
hoped for such movement and would
help it along gladly. When Mrs Cleve-
lands intentions are made public it is prob
able that there will be considerable in
crease in the number of begging letters
that come to her daily. Already she is
overwhelmed with them. They are
probably the first taste she has
received of the bitterness mingled
with the sweets of high station. Her mail
has of late become larger than that of
many public men. Being youthful and in
experienced, she reads all the letters, and
they trouble her greatly. If she received
only purely begging letters, her course of
action could be easily regulated, but she is
troubled with letters from women, and
sometimes from men, asking her help to
obtain or retain some position in the govern
ment employ. These applicants know that
she is a young and tender-hearted girl, and
after having failed elsewhere they make
piteous appeals to her for assistance. A
cabinet lady said a few days ago that one
morning when she called at the White
house she found Mrs. Cleveland pondering
over lengthy letter, while others were in
her lap.
TEARS WE'RE IN HER EYES
as she appealed to her visitor to read the
letter and tell her what to do. The letter
was found to be most pitiful appeal from
woman who had been dismissed from the
agricultural bureau on account of insuffi-
cient appropriations. The woman limited
that her dismissal had reduced her to such
abject poverty that she was forced to sell
her bed in order to procure food for herself
and children, and she would have to go to
the poor house unless she could get employ
ment at once. She then went on to beg
Mrs. Cleveland to talk to her husband of the
matter and concluded with some adroit
"reminiscences of the time when she was a
happy bride herself. II told Mrs. Cleve-
land" said the cabinet lady, ''that if she
began to interest herself in such applca-
tions there would be no end to her troubles.
and that while the individual in question
seemed to deserve pity, l saw no way of
helping her except by purse charity Mrs
Cleveland did not seem to be satisfied with
this. Whether or not she spoke of the
matter to her husband I do not know" 1t
is not surprising that woman should appeal
to woman under the circumstances that i'm
PEELED the discharged employe of the agri-
cultural bureau to write that letter, but
that man should appeal to Mrs. Cleveland
seems contrary to the eternal fitness of
things. Yet it is frequent occurrence
She has received several letters of appeal
from weak-kneed men who have been dis
missed from the government service and
who have not the courage to face the presi-
dent or the department officials to make
their complaints and seek reinstatement.
1t is hardly probable that Mrs. Cleveland
pays any attention to such unwomanly
letters. Still they continue to pour in.