New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-08-14
AuCES FIND WONDERLAND
Tribune Fresh Air Children Wei
coined at Fairfield, Conn.
IN MODEL COUNTRY HOUSE
People of Town Do ALI in Their
Power to Make Visitors Happy
During Their Vacations.

When Alice made her original trip &c
Wonderland she had TO fall down wei
10 get there But what she saw when sne
arrived was worth the price Of admission,
even If the latter was expressed In scares
and fears rather than dollars and cents.
It was a long time ago that Alice first
descended upon that land Of strange things,
long before the days OF aeroplanes and sub
marines and other modern means Of trans
portation. 1t isn't strange therefore, thai
she has changed her method OF approach
and with The advancing years has adopted
the railroad, which is almost as quick as
falling down a well.
Anybody would know In a minute that II
was Wonderland at which Alice had ar
rived-that is, anybody who had had much
experience with ordinary trainmen and con-
ductors. Everybody knows how at ordi-
nary stations these men annoy passengers
by telling them to hurry as they struggle
UP or down the car steps with hands full Of
bundles and suitcases.
step lively. therer'
"A little lively please: We can't wait all
day"
There is nothing OF this sort at the Won
derland station. When the train comes 20
stop and Alice appears at the top Of the
steps with her bag-she takes one with her
nowadays-there is quite different chorus
Don't hurry; there's lots Of time!'
Easy now don't tumblc"
That's the girl"
Isn't that Wonderland language for a
trainman?
Down in the chief grocery OF the village
another bit of proof as TO the identity OF
the place might be picked up. The follow
ing colloquy. with its indications as TO the
relative value Of money as compared with
some other things. might be overheard al
most any Wednesday afternoon:
will you send those goods UP right
away, Mr.. X.
Sorry. maam; can't do IL for two Oh
three hours yet"
But I must have them"
VERY sorry. ma am: but, you see, I've
| just had the team hitched up 10 take Alice
/ for drive"
"Oh. well, II It's Alice"-
WagonIoad Of Twenty AIices.
/ And. sure enough. pretty soon there
would be the grocer driving along some
shady, wonder skirted road with a wagon
load of twenty Alices. Among the varie'
ties of cake which Alice found on her
world renowned first visit and which made
her grow bigger or smaller at her whin
! there must have been one that enabled
/ her to multiply herself also.
! II the whole truth were 10 be told Il
would be necessary TO admit that Alice
| must have been excessively greedy wher
| il came 10 testing the multiplication cake
! At any rate there are several thousand o
her abroad this summer. but only twenty
| in that particular corner OF WONDERLAND
where the grocery store man let's his pa
irons wait for their goods on one after
noon In the week while he takes the Alice'
wonder hunting.
Any lingering doubt as 70 their Alice
ship or the authenticity Of the Wonderland
| into which fortune had dropped then
would be d.spelled In FIVE minutes II tbs
douhter followed their jaunting car as /
carried them past wood and meadow, farm
| and village. Everything that lifts wing
whether bird or insect; everything thai
| blossoms and sends out leaves-in short
everything their eyes light on-seems new
and wonderful to them.
There Is, however, one confusing cnanS
noticeable in Alice. She must originally
have been country girl, otherwise how
| could she have fallen down a well-peopl'
| don't have wells in the city. Nowadays
however, the things that the Alices wondel
at chiefly are the things which are dis
tinctively rural and-most astounding cir
cumstaHce of all-wels seem 70 be among
the greatest curiosities which a land re
plete in wonders affords
II is probable that If the twenty wide
eyed young misses IN question had The
matter referred 10 them they would re-
pudiate Alice as a name, and stoutly as
sert that they we're Fresh Airs and not
Alices BY the same token. the grocery
man and his fellow townsmen would prob
ably insist that Fairfield, Conn, was their
everyday postofice address. though they
rather agreed with their visitors that there
were many noteworthy things about their
home town. And these are the real facts
But never was there a nearer approach 70
Alice in Wonderland than a Fresh All
child in Fairfield.