Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-08-04
PosIEs FOR THE POOR.
How the Tired Tenement Dwellers Are
Cheered.
rNew York Tribune.

How the Tired Tenement Dweiers Ar
Cheered.
New York Tribune.
The crimson rambler rose made
mass of brightness in the basement Q
-sll Souls church. Buttercups an
daisies and red clover spoke eloauentt
OF country fields, and here and there
telated wild rose sent out the breath o
! country lanes. Great heaps of black
eyed Susans patiently waited thei
turn. Boxes from florists there Were
too. which, when opened, disclose
opulent masse of carnations ans
i La France roses. bedded in damp ferns
/ But these We're not more highly price
1 than the sweet. old fashioned gardei
I blooms. with the associations that APP
peal to so many: the marig"lds anc
ceaniine. the pansies and sweetpeas
illa tail, White garden lilies With theil
golden hearts. And cheek by iowl witt
the lily and the rose were heaps anc
heaps of crisp lettuce heads and fresh
l,tt!e new beets.
1t WAS distribution day at the New
York Flower Mission. the oldest in New
York and the second in America For
thirty two years the New York Flower
Mission has twice Il Week Mondays
and Thursdays made its distributions,
II does not try to grapple With any OF
the great problems of poverty and So
cal economies. 1t Just tries to bring a
LITTLE brightness into the lives of people
who are sick and poor, in simple,
friendly way
More than 600 societies and indvidll-
ais sent flowers to the mission. Among
The societies are churches, Christian
lndeavor societies. Kings Daughters
ana Woman's Christian Temperance
rrions. Many perhaps most of tho
flowers are picked by children: and thru
tie Oranges and the Long Island towns
and UP in Connecticut and New York
states their small fingers are busy every
sunday and "Wednesday filling the great
boNt and hampers to he sent to town
hy the night trains. Express compa-
Ines carry them free; volunteer work.
crs make them into bouquets eacn
Monday and Thursday morning. and
then distribute all those that are not
called for. To Bellevue and New York
hospitals they go. to Gouveneur and
Hudson street and score of other hos
l.i;als to homes for old people and chill
dren. To mansions in the crowded slums.
q free llindcrgartens and day nurseries.
Then. sometimes. a worker takes a bas
] etful of bouquets on either arm and
w;lls down thru the crowded tenement
regions. She asks in the tenement
l..N 10 Il ~,
building or any crippled child or per-
son confined to his or her room. She
leaves them in little stores and shops or
gives them away wherever she sees a
longing glance.
one day il woman said to one of the
workers: Il have been trying to think
where l have seen YOU before. Didn't
you use 10 give out flowers in NJ hos
pital? Seven years ago, when | was
sick there, you brought me a bouquet
and because l was so weak you pinned
ii on for me-
The perfume of a single bunch of
flowers had lasted thru seven years.
Another worker will never forget the
face of q woman in one of the most
crowded sections of the city. She re-
them to be for sale. When she found
they We're intended as a gift her face
frightened in a wonderful way
a present. y present. She cried.
and ran To get water to put them in.
Every Thursday until the close of
the school year boys come from the
schools for crippled children. with great
clothes baskets. which they fill with
boquets to carry away. and when the
vacation schools begin. pupils from
them do the same. Occasionally con-
of fresh eggs. fruit.or vege-
tables comes in from some warm
hearted country friend. Sometimes
when people go to Europe for the sum-
ner they will leave orders with the
gardener of their country place to send
weekly boxes OF flowers and fruit or
both. This was done this summer by
Mr.. Breese of Southampton. l.. l., and
? parting gift from J. Pierpont Morgan
before he sailed early in the summer
was a big consignment of flowers and
from his place at High
and Falls. Some city people, when
hey clean house in the spring. will send
all the jelly left over from the winters
tore 20 the Flower mission. There is
no one thing more welcome
han this for it is something sick people
,at, and not till one has seen the fare
n the great hospitals on the island can
he judge what it means to add q little
to the menu.
The Flower mission is a most con-
.ented society. 1t has only two things
N aSk-frSt. that its country friends |
,hould pick new blossoms and pack
hem with care. in order that they may
lot fall to pieces on being unpacked: I
second, that more volunteer workers
will come Thursday morning to the
basement of No. 104 East Twentieth (
street to take the place of those who |
cave the city during July and August. |
A Scotsman's View.
TlGdinbur9h Scotsman