New-York tribune., 1913-07-14
SALT BREEZES REVIVE
SISTERS APPET|TES
% Girls at Tribune Cottage
Give Daily Imitation of Res
cued Famine Sufferers.
HOUSEKEEPING A PART
Connecticut Vacation Head
quarters Working at Capacity
Under Strain of Hot Weather
Exodus to Country.

EXODUS TO country.
twenty-five girls eating and never a
sound! That is to say, none save gentle
sip.sipping as the bread and milk disap-
peared from view They had just begun
70 eat and an appetite whetted by the
salt sea breezes during an afternoon
play left them no time for words.
BY the time they had gotten along as
far as the cake and jelly, however. now
and then a word passed from one to an
other. But even then the conversation
was scattering until one after another
leaned back in her chair with a sigh OF
eontentment that spoke volumes. And
then there were volumes
They were the Elm Cottage sisters, OF
whom you may have heard; sisters for a
fortnight and dwellers for a like space Of
time amid the charms of old Fairfield.
Conn. II was at supper on the second
dsy Of their sisterhood that they were
discovered so silently laying in store OF
good things against the physical demands
Of future hours of romping and pleasure.
Elm Cottage sisterhood-be sure you
pronounce IL "Elum"; the girls all do
lasts only two weeks, which is a crying
shame. for by the end of two weeks
you've acquired such love for the cot
tage and Mis- lie Niness that you want
10 remain a sister for the rest of the
summer But that can't be, for there are
many others waiting for a chance to en-
ter the family, and so. say the girls,
Don't be pig"
To become a sister you have TO he
picked out by the Tribune Fresh Air
Fund. and about the only qualification
required for selection is that you be
girl and look as though you needed lots
Of that milk and plenty of those salt sea
breezes mentioned a while back. OF
course. not everybody with these qualit-
cations can be accepted. because the fam
ly numbers only twenty-five daughters
at a time, or 10 during a summer.
Sister Mary may never have seen Sister
Katie or Sister Jennie before reaching
Elm Cottage. because one of them may
live in Harlem, another on the West Side
and the other on the East Side. It's safe
10 say, however, that within twenty-four
hours they will be true sisters and ready
10 dispute the iconoclast who says they
have not been lifelong friends.
You see the life at Elm Cottage is such
a homelike. intimate sort Of hfe-w.th
only twenty-five in the family-that one
has TO be friends with every one else.
And then everybody is everybody else's
equal. Everybody sleeps in just the same
sort Of white bed, and everybody's bed
has just the same sort Of little rush bot
tom chair alongside IL. Everybody has
just the same sort of little house dress
and bathing suit provided for her-Snd
DON'T let US forget those beruffled and
tucked white Sunday best dresses that
everybody is fitted out with.
Then. too, everybody helps make her
own bed in the morning, and everybody
takes her turn at helping set the table,
If everybody does not happen TO be too
small In fact, everybody does every
thing. and so. on the basis Of the old
adage about many hands" and labor
light" while everybody gets acquainted
and has lots Of fun. nobody does much.
II might be added that after very
short stay at Elm Cottage everybody
Just loves Miss lie Niness. the moth
er" of the family. and is simply crazy
about Sarah" the cook.
Elm Cottage is another one Of those
places where the Tribune Fresh Air Fund
co-Operates with the people Of the com
munity in providing country outings for
the poor children Of New York. The cot
tsge is the property of and is supported
by the people Of Fairfield. The Tribune
Fund selects the children to be enter
taned and provides for their transporta-
ton TO and from Fairfield.