New-York tribune., 1917-07-24
Country Folks
Help Fresh Air
Work Succeed
Open Homes at Cost Of
Convenience and Time
to City Children
Pushing Button" Easy
Letter Praises People Who
"Do the Rest" to Give
Youngsters Outing
Pushing Button" Easy

The Tribune Fresh Air Fund is done.
You gave 500 to the fund yesterday
(Did you?); tomorrow twenty, thirty
or perhaps even forty country families
will be giving generous hospitality TO
Johnny and Susie Fresh Air and their
cousins.
You pay the railroad fare Of the
youngsters to vacation land; people
who live on the hills and in the val
leys give them bed and board and low
ing attention while they romp, play
and grow fat for a fortnight. Pushing
the button is the easier part of the
work; doing the rest commonly means
personal inconvenience and the use Of
time demanded by other things. Yet
with what a fine spirit the country
folks do their hard part!
Some time ago The Tribune Fund
! suggested to the people of Bath, n. Y,
that they arrange to entertain a party
of Fresh Airs" this summer, and
some of them agreed to organize a COM
mlttee TO see what could be done.
Among these was a woman who had
had the rare opportunity of seeing the
Fresh Air work from both the push
the button" and the "do the rest" sides;
and who had also had a chance to OBJ
serve the needs Of the children for
whom the work is done.
Fresh Air Work Praised
Bath newspapers looks at the Fresh Air
n m q on ~ oh al L. IL
from so many sides that it is reprinted
here. If you read it, you will con-
tribute to the Fresh Air Fund to-day
and so push the button" for some boy
or girl who is waiting somewhere for
the train to the country to pick him up.
Read it:
To the Editor of "The Courier"
As a former settlement worker
want TO speak a word for the Fresh
Air Children The New York Tribune
wishes to send to Bath.
No one who has ever lived at
settlement in q big city can hear of
these outings without sympathy; and
no one who has not lived in such a
place can fully understand what the
country means to the anRmia of city
child life. To understand you must
live long enough at settlement TO 90
back to beautiful things as to some
thing quite new and strange. | shall
never forget my feeling when after
four unbroken weeks in the stock
yards district in Chicago | went home
to Evanston over Sunday and saw
again the elms, four abreast, arching
the avenues and walks, the broad green
lawns that interspaced the houses and
the lake, tapping the shore in front
Of the house. Such beauty seemed
supernatural, for trees and grass in
the stockyards district struggle
against as great odds as the children,
and the lake is so distant that some
of the children in my group had never
even seen it, although they knew Chi
cago was located on Lake Michigan.
Opening our homes 20 strange chill
dren is for most of US a difficult task.
Yet it's one of those difficult tasks
which is worth doing. Since we have
what the children need-pure air and
quiet and pleasant surroundings--it is
hardly fair to refuse it to them for
two weeks. When the settlement dis-
trict was hot and sticky, the smells
and dirt too obnoxious and the clang
Of cars and the cries Of children TOO
continuous, | had the picture Of other
places / knew and loved as a relief.
But the children clamoring around me
had no such pictures. Their only
world was dirt and noise and confu-
sion. We can give these Fresh Air
Children" picture for their memories
that will long Cutlast their two weeks
stay.
Children Need Horizon
Of courre, these city children are
nhoh NJ
your gift of hospitality in as uncon-
cerned style as treat to one of their
nickel shows. They may even feel
sorry for you because you do not live
in New York They'll tell you Of all
their advantages and make you feel
very small. If you're looking for ex-
pressions of gratitude, don't consider
asking the children. Yet, on the other
hand, you may chance on an apprecla-
tion that will make you feel even
smaller than their contempt for the
country. In a group of twenty girls
that | took out to Evanston one day
two at least have never forgotten their
10y nor the fact that | gave it to them.
One small chap who had been for
two weeks at Camp Good Will, in Ev-
anston, was asked what he most missed
when he came back. He half shut his
ewes, swept wide circle with his arm
and said, "That line" For the first
time in his life he had seen the horizon
line. That is what these children need
as much as anything-a horizon,
chance 10 see that earth and sky meet.
This time Of many good causes is the
hest time for one more. When our
hearts are open it's easier 20 open our
homes. There is no cause more worthy
NJ the best effort than the conserva-
tion of our country's children. Eng
land to-day acknowledges her short
sigbted policy at the beginning OF the
war when she neglected the welfare OF
ber children. She has wasted lnvalu-
ohio lives. In her absorption with all
things pertaining TO war the organiza,
t;ons caring for children and the school
sys,em were broken down. We don't
,,.art to allow her mistake 10 be re-
nSa,ed here. If we, in Bath, can DO
soT,otbing to give strength OF body
"a ro;nd 70 New York's children we
shail have gone far on the way Of doing
omr "b;t," ELOISE II. DAWSON.
,..,,o.,o,, :, The Inbun. frosh Air Fund
Oo"u'u1''.' ..,,,,,io1e,d ............. $40 10
PREVIOUSLY ,,a-O a,a,O IA a C. s......... 5000
in in ios,Ts rsms7 l'C1 q Il. r.. ). NJ : and ,ooo
~ ~, M,,,o s g crccser ............. g %
M. Sidney G Borg ...........'''''''' M IIoV0S 00
Frank n Series ....''''''''''''''''. 10 90
Ia. Korr ................'. .'.''''''''' Ga .a
Mis- NJ X Croshy ......'.'''''''''''' ig oS
Nathaniel VI Washer ..''''''''''''--'' iS60
Joseph ~ L~sicT .'-.'''''''''''''''' a 40
B W Williams .......'''-'.''''''''' SSS
WnlenA Howe Wafre .....''.'''''''''' SGS
Mis- Orucc Talbot ......'''.''''''''' 2S9
Mr. Victor Cummcck .'..'...''':'''''. 2S
Julia GLADYS ffJ s'''''''''''' oo