The Washington herald., 1913-08-03
By JULIA CHANDLER MANI.

the hills runs the sunlit road through
Rocx Creek Park to the Baby Camp
and Hospital which came into being las'
summer through the activities OF tne
Summer Outings Committee of the wash
ington Board Of Associated Charltes
From the end OF the Fourteenth street
car line TO the summit OF the hill upon
which the camps stand the way is oeau-
tiful and / wish every reader OF Ihe
Herald's Page for Every Woman could
have Travelled i, with me last Monday
morning not because of its loVehness'
but for what lies at its end-rows OF
little human beings in their tiny wnite
beds in the open-air wings OF the oig
farmhouse-many of them silently CALI
ing the attention of the world 10 the
horrors Of heredity and the oeastlai
quality of mans selfishness.
When We sit in the twilight glow al
home and soothe our babies to sleep with
tender lulIabies how far from our own
doorsteps do our thoughts travel? DO
they concern themselves only with the
children under our own roots or reach
out in love and sympathy and pity 1or
those little ones who come into the worlo
with chance for life and life's success so
slim that these chances seem not TO eN-
ist at all?
Our answer distinguishes fho'heii
from maternity.
All female animals love their own
Young, and will fight to the death Tor
their protection. If We do not het'er
than this how are We higher than they:
Real Motherhood.
fl were asked to define motherhood
l should say it was love for all chill
dren; an exquisite yearning\ to help all
children: particularly those who have
,--o
chances of our own
was thinking of this as / stood be-
side Mrs Louis A. Simon. superintend-
ent of the Babies Camps and Open-Alr
Hospital last Monday morning, wonder
ing in my heart Just what the enect
would be if every woman in Washing-
ton who calls herself mother could
stand there and watch these i'll little
children of the city's poor hsht asainst
such terrible odds for life.
Let me tell you about one or TWO OF
them.
In one little white bed there lies the
offsprine of an habitual drunkard her
tiny cheeks sunken in, and her nones
almost protruding through the skin. IN
another little bed the pitiable protest
against the most loathsome OF al
hereditary diseases looks one squarely
in the face making one feel an intense
sponsible parties. And all along the
hie screened porches one walks with
pitying thoughts watching the helpless
LITTLE bodies so racked with disease Ana
when the rounds have been MADE, one
turns to Mrs. Simon and is greeted by
a smile that holds all the radiance OF
her donation of herself TO this splendid
beautiful work, and for Just a httle
moment one looks from her smile back
along the rows of little white beds with
their miserable occupants and-wonders
how she can smile.
But the wonder IS short-lived-
They are nearly all getting well,
Mrs Simon said to me with that little
ripple of gladness in her voice which Is
one of its beautiful characteristics
Getting weIl?" l questioned incred
uIously. you mean they have been
worse OFF,
20, yes" she told me, they were mucn
worse when they came. 1t is wonderfu:
to see how they respond to medical shhi
and the proper diet.
Dependrnt Upon Subscriptions.
How do YOU know about them?'
went on, eager to know just how these
little i'll babies come to the camp from
crowded homes where the struggle TOT
the hare necessities of life is enough to
school of privation. to say nothing oil
the helpless babies
Then il was that Mrs. Simon told me
the work of the Sumemr Outings COM
mittee of the Associated Charities, It's
search for the sick babies OF homes IN
which they do receive the proper care
and its numerous ways of appealing to
public sympathy for financial help that
alone makes the Baby Camp and Hospi-
tai possible.
II is all dependent upon the voluntary
contribution Of big-hearted folk. That IS
one of the reasons 1 wish you had been
with me last Monday to see the babies
who are being brought into the GLORIOUS
land of health through the care they re-
ceiye at the Baby Camp, and how peau
tifully clean, and sweet, and cool this
refuge of these little ones is kept
There is the diet kitchen where a
trained nurse spends her hours preparing
each baby's food, for each child mas
separate formula prepared by the resi-
dent physician, who gives her time te
saving the lives of these little children
~ the very moor. Each baby's bottle i
labeled with the child's name. so thai
there is never a chance of mixing them
Several trained nurses are in CON
slant attendance upon the babies, ana
nursery maids help out where trained as
sistance is not required
And better than everything else dUou
the Babv Camp Is thar the mothers o
the sick babies-or as many Of them a!
can leave their families and as can be ac
comodated in the house and camps-cont
with their babies. not just that they, too
may have the cool beneficial air of tho
country, but that they may learn how te
care for the little ones-how to prepare
the formula for food, which the doctor
fInds the most digestible and nourishirg
in other words how to prevent the con-
yalescing baby from slipping back int
the clutches of disease when IL becomes
we'll enough to be taken home.
Look beyond Help of Today.
know of no other institution where
such measures to prevent relapse c,
a sick patient are taken: where those In
control have the future welfare of tie
natients so close to their hearts tina,
they look beyond the help of today tt
that which each little patient will re.
ceive when it goes back under the pa.
rental roof.
Then, too, no time limit is set for the
visit of the babies to the hospital They
stay as long as they are in need q
the help of doctor and trained nurse
or until the two months, during whict
the Baby Camp is kept open, have ex
pired.
Wouldn't it be splendid thing to eA
tend these two months each year into g
much longer period for this noble resch'
work? Wouldn't 1t be fine II still NOR,
screened porches could be builded for tn