The National tribune., 1908-02-27

Two men in New York City did a
very fine thing the other day by pro
viding luncheon for fully 700 poor little
school children One of these was the
keeper of a restaurant, Adolph Lorber,
and his colleague in the good work a
Mr. Henry Balfe, whose occupation has
not been named. Most of the children
of New York's poor go to school with
little or no breakfast, frequently none,
and have nothing more to eat till their
dinner To expect attention, order, dis
eipline or anything else from such poor
little empty, aggressive stomachs is ask
ing almost too much, and it is wonder
full that such good results have been
obtained. The idea Of giving these chill
dren something to eat at the noon re-
cess originated with an organization of
women, who learned from one of the
teachers the condition of things. Since
then there has been some effort made
to provide food for the children at noon,
but not on the grand scale of the two
aforementioned men. Mr.. Lorber,
whose restaurant is in the neighbour
hood of the school, and which the chill
dren pass going to and from, put sign
IN his window reading, "All school chill
dren are invited to dinner" and at IL
o'clock Grand street, in front of his
place, was packed with children. In
side he had six tables, each of which
would seat SO children, who We're served
to a fine dinner of soup, pot roast, with
delicious gravy, the roast banked with
peas and carrots, which made the chill
dren's eyes open, other vegetables, and
lastly, a charlotte russo with a cup OF
tea, coffee or milk, as was preferred
While engaged in eating some one start
al hn a assertion
Mr.. Lorber charged people so cents for
such a luncheon, whereupon little eyes
grew brighter at the realization of thei1
great good fortune and mouths became
more Industrious. As long as there was
any food in sight the little ones fingered
and when at the end of about an hour
the last of them departed the kind res
taurant keeper beamed with satisfac-
ton, and said his thermometer of JOY
had gone up "a degrees, and he meant
to repeat his feast. Mr.. Balfe's treat
was on a smaller scale, consisting only
of sandwiches of different kinds, apples
and milk served in the big assembly room
of the school. 1t was pretty difficul'
for some of the children to decide which
host they would homer, but most of the
older and wiser heads sagely concluded
they would get more at the restaurant
SO made a rush for Grand street, while
the younger children patroniZed the as
sembly room. However, there were
children enough to fill both places, and
when the pangs of hunger We're satisfied
they We're not inclined to criticize OF
find fault with the means which had
brought about this desirable result bu1
all felt very grateful to their generou:
benefactors.
The first woman preacher in America
Mrs. Antoiuette Brown Blackwell, who
for many years was one of the star
speakers at the Woman's Rights Con-
ventions, will preach once month in
the little church she has helped to build
in Lorraine, a suburb of Elizabeth, N
J.; that is, she will do so when the
church is finished, as it is expected tc
be in March. Mrs. Blackwell has now
reached the advanced age of "a, an6
tho her voice is not quite as strong as
it used to be, her mind is as active anG
vigorous as ever. Her long life, filled
with activity in good works, should en-
courage the really serious women o.
the world, and put to blush those whose
lives have no real purpose. If womer
want to keep out of insane asylums and
nerve sanitariums, they must keep theil
minds and bodies active in work fol
others Mrs. Blackwell was first or.
dained in 1853 as Congregationaiis
minister, but her ordination brought 81
many denunciations from orthodox pa
pers that she resigned five months later
and became a Unitarian. The land OF
which the new church is built was con
tributed by Mrs. Blackwell, who alst
raised a large amount of money for the
erection of the building.
Everyone will rejoice at the good for
tune of Miss Annie Wallace, of Atlanta
and other fair librarians of Carnegi,
libraries will perhaps, way down in thei
hearts, begin to nurse a little hope. Mis-.
Wallace has been the librarian OF th'
Carnegie Library of Atlanta, Ga, eve
since Mr.. Carnegie presented it to thu
city; in fact, she was largely instru
mental in securing the $4,000 which
the great steel magnate gave Atlant;
for that purpose. Being very bright
earnest, enthusiastic worker Mr.. Car
negie became interested in her, and OIL
the recent announcement of her engage
ment she received a letter of congratu
1ation from him, promising her '.littl
remembrance" which proved to be
six per cent interest on 100000 WORT
of Steel Trust bonds, which money h
has ordered paid to her yearly by tn
Home Trust Company, of Hoboken.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton's g-anddaugh
ter, Miss Nora Batch, one of the bright
est young women in America, who ha
been very successful civil engineer TO
a number of years, has thrown dow
the gantlet before one of our oldest
most abused conventions. Miss Blatcl
is about to be married, and is entirel
out of sympathy with the usual custom
which floods a bride with gifts froT
people who care nothing for her; there
fore, engraved on Miss Blatch's weddin
invitations is the request that no pres
emf be sent. The giving of weddin
presents, like the giving of Christina
presents, has been carried to such ex
cess that the true spirit has fled in dis
gust, leaving, in the majority of cases
only some ugly, mercenary motive.
girl announces her marriage, and he
acquaintance exclaim YEARLY, "Anoth
er wedding present, This will make tn
- j have given this year, and / do nc
see how ! can possibly make another
but ] suppose must" Who wants any
thing given in this spirit, and yet ever
girl-bride knows that many of her beau
tiful gifts have come from just such ur
willing hearts. When a girl makes he
new home it is a great joy to hav
around her the wedding tokens of low