The sun., 1898-01-23
CHARITY THAT DOES HELP.
SOME PRACTICAL RESULTS OF DEM
VER's "PINGREE GlRDBNs."


Fa,siiies Restored IL unaepenaesce sy Their
werk In the sunncr-soms Dlniouities or
| OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES Needless OF All but
FoIice-women who Nsuid Net weed.
DENVER, Jan. 19.--Teaching the poor to cul.
tvato gardens under irrigation bitches has
been ono of the fads of the womnn's Club of
this city. The three seasons Of supervision Of
the "Pingree Gardens" have developed some
! interesting facts. Tho women accomplished
more than they had anticipated. and they now
have n form Of practical charity, woll ground.
cd, which has already brought remarkable
changes into many n homo In this city. Mrs.
Fred Butler supervised tho work during the
past TWO seasons. Every day during the grow.
ing season she mounted her bicycle and rode
| across the Platte River and up very steep hill
TO direct, explain. instruct. and occasionally to
scod when tho shiftless refused to follow out
her instructions. 1t meant ton miles day for
her besides hours OF time, but she was interest
cd In the experiment, and sho worked as vieor.
| ously and as Loyalty as any of the gardeners.
The gardens comprised q tract of twenty-five
acres of ground on the outskirts Of tho city, the
nse Of which was given by tho owner. A. d.
| Wilson. Tho water was given by the Denver
| Union Water Company from its mains. Money
| for seeds was contributed by public.spirited
| citizens, so that all tho poor people had to do
| was to dig and hoe. In 1895 fortyfour families
| worked upon the tract, and at total expense of
| $167 vegetables worth $l 500 wore grown. Tho
| second year tho cost of the experiment was
! 1878 80. and tho crop amounted to S.. 2.175. Last
| season the cost was S3I697, and the output is
| estimated at So. 500, with 376 persons benefited
| in many ways.
Mrs. Butler is little woman. Of pleasing ad-
dress and Of sympathetic disposition. She is q
| most entertaining talker, and when she has for
| her subject the work of tho Pingree Gardens
| she forgets herself in her enthusiasm.
I'm the spring of 1897 we were late in begin
ming the work." said she. "When went to in
vostigating to see what could be done received
| the kindest treatment from all. Again we had to
20 to Mr. Wilson for land. We had to find and
sort tho applicants for garden plots By the
! 18th of April we had visited 800 families, all of
| whom needed the work. We found three fami-
| lies whose gardens in the previous years had
| been their main support who could not wait
upon our action, but had bcsiegcd MIR. Wilson
until he had asked tho City Council to plough
| the ground for them. wish 1 had picture
that would show you how the people who came
! to that place looked Sick people. mothers with
children. and old men were there begging for a
| place. We gave them what We had, and applied
| for more ground. and even then had
| families begging for ground. And how they
worked over their gardens! They would come
! and spend all day, bringing the children. who
| would play in the irriEating bitches. They la
| bored and worked, and their pride In tho first
sprouts was delightful to observe. They would
bring all the people they could from tho bot
| toms to see their work And they were In such
haste to get the things to growing that they
would smuRge in plants that would surely be
| caught by the late frosts. had to go TO the
| woman from whom We were buying the tomato
| ala u f,,l hnr
| the right time came They would not wait for
the things to grow big enough to eat. Many
| and many one met with the first leaves of
their cabbagcs in their baskets, taking them
| home to cook.
| A few did not want to weed their gardens
| and out of the sixty-six gardens we had to take
| away two because they would not tend Them
| Ono woman whose garden seeds had come up
| finely was surveying it with an air Of pride i'm
possible to convey. The weeds that were just
as strong and many times more plentiful did not
worry her in the least l said to her, You
| must hoe your garden She said, i do not know
how. l took the hoe and tried to show her, and
| then she tried. Dear me-! You have seen peo-
| pie who do not know how to hoe. They strike
| feeble ineffective blow. just merely scratching
| the surface. showed her again. and think
that by the time she had learned to hoe had
| hoed her entire garden. But consider the condi-
| tions under which that woman had grown up.
| She had lived almost all her life among the coal
| mines Of Pennsylvania, where nothing could
grow, and when she came to Colorado she had
| gone to similar region where the elevation
never been able to dig in tho dirt and see things
grow. and OF all the pleasures In life to- me one
mse how hara the
they fight till the ground cracks and they burst
| Il think this is one of the best ways to edu.
| cate our people that there is, and one of the
best results is that It has brought us into closer
| ourselves with seeing to the gardens alone; we
| went to their homes and to-day think know
every one of the three hundred among whom
worked last summer. In more than one way we
| took part in their lfe We had marriages. we
We We extended to them the friendly syn sympathy
that seemed to moan more to them than aims.
The ladies OF my committee know them as I
| do, and to-day when meet one OF them know
them as well as / know my neighbors. One
family would drink. One day was going down
the street with lady dressed much more nicely
| than was when saw the head Of this family
just as he caught sight Of me. He lodged as II
was afraid of me, but perhaps because no
thought my friend might be scandalized; but
He came am rubbing his hand % to make 81 it "s more
ht. evidently feeling more of a man because of
These families arc permanently helped. One
| family had been for 40 many wi nters a charge
on the charitable Of this city that they were
ton Society @ said % to M me- " What has Become Of
that family i-they hayc not come in all winter
| tOIu luuL IHey grown enOuBn VeR6-
| tables to ill their cellar and mat erally assist
them through the year.
"Wo found that we had not only to teach
many of our gardeners how to plant their
seed-for they would put the tiny lettuce seeds
| down six inches ana it never came up, and
! would put the corn and peas on the surface
where the pigeons could hnd it-but we had to
teach them how TO save their crops when grown,
TO make kraut of their cabbage. TO pickle their
corn and beans in salt. for they had nothing
but but salt to- preserve II With With to bury their tur,
who put Gown her corn on the ear in pickle
told me she would eat corn on the cob at Thanks
giving.
when the time came for me to make my re.
port. ! went around to look at the stores put
away for winter. and the cellars full OF provisions
did my heart good. They showed me how they
had cared for y. they urged me to taste how good
IL was. and did, and did not die. thought
would, for it was sometimes dirty; but didn't.
Tho children are almost all now in school, 1t
paid me for all my summers work when ono
woman who died looked up in my face and said
she could die easier because she trusted me to
look after her children. Another family were
shiftless. They wanted some necessary they