New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-08-10
HAD NEVER SLEPT IN A BED.
THE UNUSUAL AND HAPPY EXPERIENCE OF
ONE FRESH AIR YoUNGsTER.

ONE fREott AIN iOI .NISi
Most people do not consider the mere faa OF
having bed TO sleep In a luxury. They might be
surprised to hear that there is small boy In this
city who until few weeks ago could not renem-
Der ever having slept in bed, although he has
q home and Is watched over by a loving mother.
The individual referred TO lives in one OF the worst
OF the East Side tenements, might be Imagined,
He is about as small small boys So and two
large black eyes which denote his italian blood are
the only big things In his makeup. Even his family
Is small for ne and his mother comprise the entire
domestic circles. His father. who is In existence
and Is worthless drunkard, does not count because
he left his little family IN the lurch long ago ana
ran away TO California. The mother IS too slckIy
20 do any work and life in tenement has not
made her any better no money comes into
the little family's Golfers. and in fact. no coners
are necessary. The boy and his mother I've on the
generosity Of a restaurant keeper near oy. VINO
sends over to them the scraps and leavines from
his tables. Their home is a pitifully small room
on the top floor OF a tenement, and as tae
brick wall OF the tenement in front EXTENDS TWO
or three stories further upward directly opposite the
one window in the room and not three feet away,
there Is no light for the humble apartment Il
black and damp there all day and sunlight - un'
known. These conditions Of life are not uncommon
on the East Side. and those who must suffer Them
have learned the futility OF complaint Inc 1T
tie family which occupies these palaual quarters
does not think It's lot extraordinarily hard as re-
CARDS its place abode, and the only KICK RECORD
ed has come from the Junior member. There IS one
bed In the room. and II is so small that Only VHe
mother can sleep in II. The junior memner mas
slept on the floor all his life, and has often bitterly
bewailed the fact that floors do not grow softer
with time but on the contrary seem 10 grow rap'a'
~ harder. He has tried every part OF the moor
over and over again but II has been as iron ana "
would seem that some OF this iron had been COM
municated 10 his soul.
few weeks ago The Tribune Fresh AIT dna
took the little boy away from the brick walls ana
damp rooms for a while and sent him 70 the coon-
try He reached his destination In the evening sho
was at put 10 bed. That Is ne was .ets ~
his room and told TO go TO bed, go he craW!ea ~
on the outside and lay down on the coveriet ZOE
a few minutes. 1t was rare moment anu "e
closed his eyes while his head swan with ecstasy
The bed clothes were all underneath, for their mis-
sion in life he did not understand. and II was coa
but he cared nothing for that. He was sleepuis
In bed really and truly bed Win ph'o" y"
t. and what mattered it, under such circumstance
whether the mercury stood at zero or the oo'Aas
point? Then habit told. A creeping Suspicion
seized him that all was not right VINO mao ''sA
him he might sleep In the bed and what reason
was there why the rghtful owner should n''
appear and demand his own NO such IHAu.,
this could not be possible-his place was ~
floor. and he should have known Il long os'0'''
Slowly and sadly he crept down
ing in the window. the astonshed farmer %iis
found her little guest curled up on the moor "n"'
the bed lay untouched. ,,N., Oh.
For the lands sake!" she exclaimed. then sac
picked him up and laid him. still asleep on 'hs 0eN'
while she carefully tucked him in =. -, --~o,
Well who'd a thought II? | wonder IL the Wv
little mite knows what bed ~ =, -.
She had good cause for wonder for \ took n o
half day 10 convince her guest that ne ana ~
body else was 10 sleep in the bed, and that tha'
was what IL meant Tor -. 49,.
Nnety-sx children sent 10 the country yvs
terday by The Tribune Fresh Air Fund ana ,ne
places which received them were Plttstoh ryn,,
Mountvie, Penn. Elizaoethtown, Penn. hu psaS
vIlle Penn. and few PAGES near rsnts
At Mountvie and Mlllersvllle the arraheeH'ehnSvv
for receiving the children have been MADE ~
Bishop II. +. Light and A. 3. Eshleman respecuI.
~, and the people who have so generously thrUmn
OMEN their homes to the little folk are as toI99ne'
Mountviile Penn.-Joseph X Newcomer ME
David Herr II. NJ swarr, Amos H. shenk; H Li,V.
Wilmer jacob Kendig Adam Fisher, A N VII wv
mer, Daniel Wittmer, Joseph Hawbeeker. me Key
Jacob X Newcomer, Joseph Borneman, Jsee04p3- ~
Myers Henry NJ Herr and Aldus Barr H''sWyy
wife Penn-Mrs Dr. Ryerly, the Rev O. ~, "
chris, Miss Emma Hersey, Siias Buekwalter. Mrs
Benjafnan Nen Miss Barabara beagle and M'S'
Caly HOAX.