Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-08-30

The great farm wagon of
Camp Good Will had just
unloaded its usual Wednesday cargo OF
fifty poor children. and all but one OF
them Immediately made grand rush
for the swings and sand piles. This one
urchin. he was only about five, was too
surprised TO move. He could only look
around with wide open eyes and drink in
the unfamiliar beauties Finally he had
to give expression to some of his
thoughts.
And this Camp Good Will. situated in
one of the most picturesque spots at the
north OF Rock Greek Park, in the leafy
shades of virgin forests and with the rip
pling creek making wonderfully cool mu-
sic for the hot days. is a veritable fairy
land for the children of the poor.
The little kid who had been so over
whelmed at the sight of real nature was
only one of fifty, but he was the one
who was more impressed than any of
was the first time in all of his FIVE years
that he had ever been off of the asphalt
streets of the city. He had never seen
trees grow except in one of the parks He
had never felt the free dirt under his bare
feet. And he had never had the aroma
of the pine-laden breeze refresh his tired
lungs. Perhaps he really didn't know
that such things actually existed. So it
that 1t was a faryland to which he had
been transported.
The children leave dull care behind
when they enter the portals of Camp
having good time that they do not think
of what is going to happen to them when
they quit its joyful precincts.
The children are not bashful at all,
and every visitor is welcomed as one of
themselves and Immediately made to feel
at home.
Are you the doctor?" asked one dimin-
utive mite of girl of a visitor.
What's the matter? Is anyone hurt ?"
asked the visitor. solicitously as the grin
ming mob closed in upon him
law. no." said the urchin, you look
like the doctor, that's ALI Nobody's
hurted much I've stubbed my toe" And
he held up the battered member proudly.
And / fell over a log and BACKED my
eye" said little black-eyed maid
And 1 scratched my arm on thorn,"
said another.
And - began still another, but the
visitor fed before such an onset of baby
troubles. Everybod seemed to have
bruised him or herself. and all were proud
OF the achievement.
Are Bright Youngsters.
Those same youngsters would have run
around the city for the whole summer
without doing a bit of damage to them
selves. but a couple of days in the coun-
try had battered them all up. They were
injuries that are quickly healed, how
ever.
These children of the city's poor are
bright youngsters when given an oppor-
tunity. Perhaps ii is their very life on
the streets that sharpens their active lit
tie brains and quickens their intellects.
In the sand pile behind the old house
some of the boys construct all sorts Of
wonderful parks and models. On the day
that the reporter visited CamD Good Will
a couple of them had made a complete
facsimile of the Marine Barracks. with
houses and walls, and even guns. 1t
showed very we'll their powers of obser-
things which they had observed.
When the children first get into the
country they actually do not know what
to do with themselves. They play with
the things that are right at hand. such as
the swings and the sand piles, but as for