New-York tribune., 1907-10-10
A FEW THEFTS.

This garden isn't so much for the purpose or
teaching farming as it is for inculcaung courtesy.
tr71thfulness, respect for public property And
you'd be surprised TO how scrupulous these
chlldren are about letting one anothers plots alone
We have had only one instance of stealing-by a
child. that is; I'm sorry 10 say that outside ma
Tauders got in and took our pet and pride-our
big prize cabbage. But last summer l noticed that
one little girl who had plot here had a curious
fulness in the froat Of her blouse. Every day her
blouse got that strange bulge when she'd been here
q niue "hlie. It's terrible thlng to accuse
child Of stealing, but I summoned courage and
talked 10 Mary She had four punches Of lettuce
IN her blouse, and she owned that she had been
taking things constantly from other children 5
plots know she didn't take them to her mother,
who is a nice woman: I fancy she sold them to
some grocer. We took her plot away from her.
Her mother begged us 10 take her back but Mrs
Parsons said, That would be the yeBy worst thing
for Mary. What good would all moral talk
Ing 90 If she didn't feel the consequences Of break
ing the law" But / own it went 10 our
hearts 10 see Mary hanging around outside the
garden. peering fl wistfully. We gave her plot
this summer and we haven't had better girl
Though the vegetables are all in. d large crop Of
cats remain at the school garden. -Four accom-
panied Miss Mead and the reporter around the
place; happy family of kittens played tag over
their mothers back. the pavilion, and other
cats dotted the landscape. All summer. when the
children found hurt cat anywhere they would
bring il to the garden to be nursed and the teach
| s:s encouraged them TO do 50, because, as Miss
Mead said, there isn't much in this neighborhood
to make tenderness gerrninate in the hearts the
aAofen This IS one OF the worst localities in New
York. with all these slaughter houses around
Naturally. many Of the boys cruel. A favorite
! amusement is 10 tie tin 70 a cats leg-with
he cat side OF this close picket fence and
/ The the other. And men stand BY AND
laugh 50 were very glad to foster any kindly
| tendencies the children show. What becomes Of
/ the cats in the winter? Oh the who stays
here 70 take care OF things is very good to them
50 we've no fear. And the ships that touch along
here nearly always want cats. so dispose of
good many"
Some Of the most successful young farmers this
summer were crippled children. who were brought
10 the garden every Wednesday and Saturday
thTough the agency Of the Crippled Chdren's Driv-
Ing Fund John, Of the boys, was sixteen
years old and paralyzed. a wheel chair was
PROVIDED Tor him BY "A school which became inter-
tested IN him He had a short handled hoe and
ne would sit and dig away al his vegetables. Not
Icontent with that he somehow got down from his
Iohalr and c-awled around his plot 10 weed it. Two
,flppled boys gardened in partnership. One had no
Ihanos-they were ground off by a train on Eleventh
lAfcnue-the other had no feet But together thew
leot along beautifully. with their pair Of hands
taao one pair Of feet.
1 Great pride did all these young farmers take in