Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-05-14
HELP FOR LITTLE ONES.
Plans Of Associated Charities Outlined
- Relief Of the Distressed
the Keynote.

public mass meeting to be held In the
First Congregational Church, 10th and G
streets northwest, next Wednesday even
ing. This mass meeting, which is to be
presided over by Commissioner Mcfarland
and addressed by Robert B. Armstrong, as
sistant secretary of the treasury. has been
arranged to serve two purposes-first that
people of all classes may know definitely
about the condition and some of the needs
of the poorer children, mothers and con-
valescents of the city, and, secondly, that
they may Know the plans which are TO be-
put into operation this summer to improve
some of theser conditions and meet few
urgent needs.
An investigation into the actual condi-4
lions which surround the lives of the Door
of Washington reveals many unusual facts.
A communication from the Associated
Charities says:
when the days are steaming, when the
heat becomes SO intense that the pavements
blister and glare all day and the sultry
nights bring little rest, then the world goes
hard with the little children in the over
crowded sections of the city.
with most of us it is possible to get
away for a day or week to break the
monotony of strenuous labor and uncom-
Portable surroundings; generally we can
change the scene for short time and re-
new and refresh ourselves. But how diff
II there can be found no escape from the
continuous bound of irksome duties and no
refreshment and change. We have but to
realize such facts as these to be moved
most deeply and to bestir ourselves at the
first call to help the very unfortunate.
Hundreds of Sufferers.
There are hundreds-perhaps thousands
of poor children whiting and suffering, to
whom country air, good food and frolics
upon shaded grass plots would mean re-
newed and vigorous life The absence of
such change, in scores of pitiful instances
every summer, means the undertaker's
wagon and the white ribbon on the door.
There are many poor and toiling mothers
who drag YEARLY through the sweltering
heat, caring for half a dozen fretful chill
dren, doing all the homework and provid-
Ing part or even all the family income.
who need fresh air and recreation as seri-
ously as do the babes which pine away
upon their fevered boSoms. There are the
fnvalids and convalescents from the hos
pltals, a1ling women and children who are
dismissed before they are able to work,
and who find difficulty in recuperating in
the cramped. unwholesome homes of pow
erty There are cripples who must suffer
In Sllence and move about amid great PAIN
to whom good food fresh air. green grass
and shady trees would be great blessing
TO be sick In summer. or, even If well,
to live through the summers heat in a ten
ement or novel where seven or eight peo-
pie are crowded into one or two small
rooms, without ice or window screens or
adequate ventilation; wi>>l~ut light sum-
mer garments or change of q, tire; with no
facilities whatever and no running
water, is an experience which is Distress
Ing even to imagine 1t is an experience
which when we know. something about 1t
We will do all We can to render it's repeti-
ton Impossible or to lessen its terrible
evils.
I'm the spring Of 1902 the Summer out
[ngs committee Of the Associated Chari-
ties was organized to- serve as general
movement, working in cooperation with
all other summer outing agencies, endeav-
oring to strengthen the communfty's fresh
air work In such ways as were suggested
by the associations close knowledge of the
needs of the citys poor. The selection of
benef1ciaries; the distribution of street car
tickets, the organization of outing parties
and the enlistment and direction Of numer-
Gus volunteer helpers are all undertaken
by the trained officers and agents Of the
Associated Charities. Free trolley rides.
picnics and halliday excursions to the
parks, the suburbs or the 200" made up.
the first seasons work Of the summer out.
ings committee. Street car tickets were
also given privately by the visiting nurses
and the charities agents to individual con-
invalids and the mothers Of
sickly babies, who were thus enabled to
enjoy car rides frequently, or even daily,
until good health returned In the summer
of 1902 $3.50 was contributed for this work,
and $3.50 street car outings were provided.
Contributions increased to $1,1S1 for the
following summer, and 13,466 street car
tickets were used, while two additional
lines of outing work, described in the fol-
lowing paragraphs, were inaugurated:
Outings for the Needy.
Outings of a week--or two in the real
country were added to the committees
work last year. Several young working
girls. convalescents. nervously broken-down
women and children whose home life was
especially unfortunate. were sent to coun-
try places where generous people had Of
fered them free room and board for week
or two. 1t is hoped that this work may be
extended next year by systematically OBJ
tanning free boarding places for. short pc
RODS In suburban communities and small
towns within fifty miles of Washington.
"Provjdentially this attractive plan has
been made practicable this summer. In
Rock Creek Park an ideal property In an
ideal location has been put at the commit
tees disposal by the District Commission
ers Colonel Biddle suggested the arrange
ment by asking If the roomy house with
several large barns and outbuiidings which
the property includes might not proftably
be used as a summer outings camp and a
center for days outings. In this Rock
CT eek Camp Good WIFI temporary tents
can be added to the permanent buildings so
that the number of children, mothers and
&C nvalescents to be accommodated will de-
Zone of the many important benefits of
the fresh air work Is the formation of
closer friendship between the volunteers who
conduct the outings and the children and
mothers who enjoy them. New bonds of
sympathy and unusual responsiveness to
friendly Influences have been developed UNI
der the heart-warming experiences OF
picnic together in the woods. lima CINE what
a marvellous day or week In the country, in
quiet in play, in Gods beautiful out of
DOORS means to a neglected little life to
whom 1t comes the first and only expe-
rience of the kind. Usually there are views
afforded of orderly family life, of farm
work and the processes of nature-sugges-
lions which will affect the children In Inn
portant ways for years. 1t is not simply
little fresh air, few memory pictures OF
trees. grass and flowers and a brief rest
from the grind of life in poverty-stricken
homes that the outings afford. More inn
portant even than these essentials are the
suggestion of new ideals, the broadening
outlook upon life, and the renewal of cour-
age ambition and the other springs of char
acter. AS Jacob Riis puts it, These sum-
mer outings let windows into unenlight-