Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1889-10-26
the spark of life begins to flicker before it
is fairly lighted!

the spark of life begins to flicker before it
is fairly lighted!
1t is to people of this class that benev-
olent men and women mlnlstered when
they inaugurated the movement several
years ago for fresh air funds" These
charities have touched the higher class
people of the cities of the country as
we'll, and while thousands of dollars
have been contributed by urban jewellers,
equally generous and even more grateful
ly touching has been the response from
the country, where owners of pleasant
homes have thrown open their doors to
these unwashed waits of the street, and
have taken the Inflated and hardly nour-
ished children into their family bosoms
Tor one or two weeks during the heated
term, giving the half famished creatures
breath of pure air, taste OF healthful
food and a glimpse of the beauties of
nature.
The movements in favor of these fresh
sir funds have generally been undertaken
and managed by the publishers Of some
paper, certain New York and Chicago
journals having taken great interest for
several years in promoting the philan-
thrcpic work. Encouraged by such able
championship, the movements have taken
hold of the popular heart and extended
from the more wealthy residents Of the
cities to the hulnblest classes, including
employees of manufacturing establish
ments and commercial houses whose
weekly earnings would seem hardly suffi-
cient to support the mouths dependent on
them.
In New York the Tribune was perhaps
the leader in this benevolent enterprise,
and thousands of little ones are to-day
in the land of the living as result of
that papers efforts to give them week
of country air and food. Other papers
have ably seconded the movements of the
Tribune or started Independent enter
prises of their own in the same line, and,
in fact, all the leading journals of that
city are heart and hand united in the
grand project of saving the lives of the
little ones born In squalor and reared in
misery.
In the West there is no city quite SO
badly overcrowded in the tenement quar-
tiers as is New York. Yet in certain dis
tricts of Chicago there is abundant need
for the exercise of similar charity, and q
movement begun some years ago by the
Daily NeWs has gown and hourished,
increasing each year, till thousands of
dollars are now annually subscribed and
wisely expended in giving the children a
week of country life during dog days.
Offers come in from hundreds of rural
homes to take from one to dozen boys
or girls for one or more weeks, giving the
youngsters all they can eat and drink,
and allowing them to smuse themselves
in all proper directions on the green
grass beneath the clear skies Of the
country homes.
Do the children enjoy it? They look
forward to their country week from the
day Of their return one year to the hour
of their departure the next, and sad, in
deed, is the lot of boy or girl who, enioy-
ing the rare advantage one season, is
deprived of it another.
In addition to the country week" plan
Of giving fresh air to the boys and girls
the Daily NeGs has undertaken a new de-
parture, now in the fourth year of its
existence, and that is providing fresh air
for the babies of tired and overworked
mothers who have neither time nor money
to give themselves aud their helpless
charges recr ion. This object has been
the more easily attained in Chicago by
reason of the proximity of Lake Michigan,
and the cooling breezes that come from
over its heaving bosom have been utilized
n unique and happy manner.
Selecting a point on the shore of the
lake far enough away from the business
and manufacturing districts to be reason
ably free from smcke and dust, an open
sided pavilion was erected. where. pro-