New Britain herald., 1915-10-30

WILL d 1dIllly lO raise. IulS IS 1Hdi les Page, of Tulsa, Okla MT. Page started with an intimate knowledge of the troubles and burdens of the | widow, for one of his earliest recol- l lections was that of seeing his
 widowed mother bending wearily over
 a washtub in the effort to rub out of
 the board sparse living for herself
 and her seven children. He tried
 to help her shoulder her burdens and worked hard to help her take care Of | the children. But hard as he could l Work the struggle was a heavy one' i and 1t deeply impressed into his bewil-
 dered child mind a resentment against
 the conditions that could impose this | burden upon his mother. The first ! resolve he ever made was that when he grew up he would take care of all the widows.
 His mother worked herself into her grave and left him With the family l cares. He did what he could find to do and later, when the family was old enough to care for itself. he set out to seek a fortune. Three times he made one and three times it slipped through his grasp. Then fate one day led him to the oil fields in Oklahoma and pointed out the way.
 The result of his planning is one of the most unique institutions in the country. It is a town for widows. It almost built itself overnight. It sprang from the conviction of MT. Page that a widow only wanted a chance to work for her children and to keep them together. It is in no sense 8 charity, every mother must work out her own salvation-but MT. Page stands by her while she is work ing.
 He is a multi millionaire now; but never too busy to hear the plea of widow. At first he found work for them in Tulsa He found jobs for dozens of them Any widow who appealed for work at the Page offices and who indicated a disposition to raise her family in the fear of God and without shirking her responsi- bilities found a friend in MT. Page. The time came when the town was full of widows.
 Guess I'll have to build town for them,'' said MT. Page.
 Established Orphans Homo. A few miles out of Tulsa he had already established an Orphans
 
 1 from a bankrupt institution in the l town from which the children were l about to be turned out. MT. Page heard of it and went down and legally | adopted all the children. He has none l of his own, but every homeless child is | entitled to his love and protection. His method of taking care of them 1 is characteristic one. He had a l friend in Tulsa, an officer in the Sal vation Army, Captain Breeding. 1 'I want you to take these little kids 1 out on my farm and make home for | them,'' he said to Captain Breeding. You need the outdoor life yourself Put 'em in slime big tents until we can | run up some buildings. I cannot stand
 by and see them turned out in the
 cold.''
 The captain protested on the ground
 that he had a mission he dared not
 neglect.
 God has called you to greater
 mission," said MT. Page. Here are a
 lot of children to be trained into use-
 full citizens. There cun be no greater J work in the world"
 'Daddy Pages Children" | Captain Breeding took off the uni-
 form of the army and put on the blue l overall uniform of the farmer and | went out on the farm. It was new
 sort of orphans home There were l no uniforms, no set rules. They were l just Daddy Pages children" to be I brought up as a large family, in sem :, sible way. Practical teachers were l brought there and the children looked | upon themselves as especially lucky to
 be the proteges of MT. Page. 1 Near the farm he built his town for
 the widows He calls it Sand Springs. It is in a picturesque spot, with low. 1 tree-crowned hills rising all about it. l He built a street car line to carry the
 widows and orphans to and from Tulsa | and not a one of them pays fare. The 1 conductors know them all and any 1 child who swings aboard the car and
 says. "I'm one of Daddy Pages boys" l is not questioned.
 Famous "Widows' Row." l Just outside the city limits he built ! the famous Widows Row. There ! are dozens of small two and three l roomed cottages for the widows who
 choose to live there, under the trees, | in the fresh country air, gas, fuel and | rent were furnished free. down town" district was built up and fac l tories invited to come, that the widows 1 might have plenty of work.
 First a canning factory came. The | widows might raise the vegetables and | sell them to the factory, or they might
 go to work in the factory at the can ming. A day nursery was established
 at the Widows Row 10 care for the l babies while their mothers were at
 work There is kindergarten for
 the children old enough, and only l widowed mothers were engaged to l look after them. There must be plen-