New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-08-22
The Tribune
Fresh Air Fund

If you were little Johnny of Allen
Street, the street into which, it is said,
the sun never shines, and when school
let out in June you had hurried round
to the nearest settlement house and
asked the teacher" if she'd send you
to the country witt. the Fresh Airs
And teacher" had said she would
as soon as possible, because there
wasn't any place to plav ball or 20
swimming in Allen Street, and because
you couldn't ever get any idea what
America is really like by playing
among the rubbish in the cutters Of
Allen Street, by listening to the roar
OF the IL" overhead aid by watching
the swarm of foreign born folks who
make up the traffic along the street
And you had run home so happy YOU
were ready to bust and told mamma"
the good news, and she'd said she was
awful glad you were gong to get a
chance for little fun and health.
which no one could possibly get in
Allen Street
And then a week went by with you
hoping every day that the teacher"
would come and tell you to get ready
tc go the day after tomorrow
Third Week-No Vacation
But she didn't come and the DAVIS
continued to come and go and you had
to tend the pushcart or your father
in the mornings and hang around fac
tories in the afternoons to get wood
to carry home for the fire through an
other week
And the third week passed and she
didn't come
Then, toward the end of the fourth
week, you saw her coming down the
block, and your heart jumped with joy
and you ran to meet her, only to find
out it wasn't you she was after but
your sister Susie
And the fifth week passed with you
still kicking your heels in Allen
Street
And when the sixth week was almost
gone you decided to go round to the
settlement house again and push your
claims little, but teacher" only said
she hadn't forgotten you and to come
around next week
And next week, when you went
around, she looked at you kinda sadly
and said, I'm awfully sorry, Johnny,
but the man that runs the Fresh Air
Fund says that they haven't any more
money, and so they've got to close up
all the camps, even if there are a lot
of boys that haven't had vacations
YETI
And when she saw the tears in your
eyes she added, But he's going to put
something in the paper about all you
boys, and he thinks maybe somebody
will give a lot of money to the Free
Air Fund so that all the camps can
stay open until all you boys that have
been waiting all summer have been
sent away
But you went back to Allen Stree
cats you saw, and pulled little girls
hair and made faces at baby until
it cried, all because you felt as gloomy
as the inside of an Allen Street tene-
ment--
Then the Time Comes
Then a few days after Teacher
came flying up the stairs of your house
and shouted, Come on, Johnny, come
get examined; they put it in the paper
and lot of folks woke up to the fact
that you were just going to lose your
vacation, and five of them gave thou
sand dollars, and ten gave five hundred
and twenty one hundred, and a lot ten
and twenty and twenty-five and seven.
And now they can keep all the camps
open till September and you and the
other ,499 can all have your vacations
before school opens!'
Now, if you were little Johnny and
IF all this money had been given to
Keep THE TRIBUNE FRESH AIR
FUND camps open each for another
party Of boys, ooh. boy Wouldn't that
be a gr-rrand and glorious feeling"
It's a grand and glorious feeling you
can give, if you will. There ARE 1900
boys of Allen Street and other streets
like it who have been patiently waiting
all summer for their turn to come for
Fresh Air vacations, but the turn
hasn't come yet And it won't come
if friends of children don't make it
7 by sending their contributions to the
Fund
The Fund closed one camp last week
for lack of funds. 1t will have to close
another one on Wednesday unless
friends rally to the support of the boys
at once. And ALL camps will be ,loses.
/ by next Monday unless prospects grow
much brighter each day this week.
Latest Additions to Fund
Contributions of the Tribune Fresh
Air FUND:
Previously acknowledged ......ss5, s37. ST
+ Ruth f.eOnnari 90