New-York tribune., 1918-01-02
The Children s Carnival
A Glorifed Hour of Child Life Is
Pictured by a Spectator
To the Editor of The Tribune.

To the Editor of The Tribune
Sir: The chldren's carnival held fer a
week past at the Grand Central Palace is, the
best child community joy New York has ever
spread shared. No New York Christmas
ought ever to be without one again. 1t has
given at least 25,O00 children crowded hour
of glorled child life, and as write, Satur-
day afternoon, the number grows with the
stream of children that makes the flood of
entrance at the wickets.
1t is no grown-up affair adjusted for chill
dren. 1t is child all through, and brought to
every chlld that look Of glad amaze which
only the twinkling tapcrs of the Christmas
tree can bring to q child's face Circus
movies, theatre, Mother Goose, a wonderful
slide down which shouting children sped
fishing pools for manifold fish of the Christ
mas breed, blindfold grab mcrry-go- round
Ferris wheel. Noah's Ark, Treasure Island
real policemen, real fireman, real engines
real Santa Claus the most wonderful ever
but why catalogue these breathless iovs Of
childhood? To these, since the core and
centre Of this city Christmas carnival was ,
present to every child of any man with the
colors that would come there, was added also
the sombre note of ''the trenches" and NOV
ing and pathetic Christmas "here" and cover
there, the latter with desolate and hat
tered roadside crucitix before which throupb
all the hours one Italian woman and another
knelt reverently, with prayer for the children
trat were present and the father that was
away.
More man four thousand children Of mon
IN uniform sent their names in for nroson,s
hundreds of soldiers in camp and canton
menc wrote for their children and gave their
Number, names and addresses, officers and
prlvates alike. Americans all With those
VINO came, free guests, for the gifts of ,
grateful city to the sons and daughters of
It's sons gone out ready for ife's last s.cr;
'icc, there was added the surging stream of
chlidren who entered for a fee so small that
1T was no more than the poorest fam;I;os
give for the movies. and to these which were
present were added wonders for children f.r
greater than movies in all their glory.
great array of charities sent all their chill
dren And (alas, that such draft should
crown lfe's early cup with woen. tho
manned, the blind and the dumb were There
IN scores and scores.
forty-odd years ago l knew the tenement
life Of this island it is known only TO the
straight-out reporter, not the "special.u mr.
the STAR or the "department man." but inst
the plaln stral ghto ail-around reporter
10 the child this tenement life, worse then
perhaps than now. seemed grim grimy.
muddy and sidewalk horror, under which one
child in three then died under siX and ono
enid IN about SIX IN the next eight wears.
ierod has less chance at the lnnoccnts nov,
or Manhattan Island, but he still slavs. and
when The universal Christmas comes the
SHADES gather around the growing boy and
girl of tenement and small arartmcnt az in
no other week of the year
me Christmas carnival for its hours
makes these shadows to fee awav II g;vos
what childhood SO lacks in a city, the sp;rjt
OF safe and spontaneous adventure and
mutual joys. The sum needed to do all this
Is so small, the fruits manifest and the
Joys so abounding that not one but a dozen
Christmas carnivals should come in the fu+
ure. How can any one without shame take
the festival of the Christchild alone when
this Community Christmas is possible?
The public of this island is always brim.