Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-27
Help the Crippled Child
Continued From First Page,


mately. It has been a labor OF Iove-a
labor Joined in by many thousands
whom ] have never met and who know
me only by hearsay or the printed
page. Without those thousands Of peo-
pie Of modest means, whose free-wili
offerings came to heaps of dimes and
quarters and dollar bills folded IN pen
ell scrawls, This Is for the crippled
kids"-without them there would be
scores OF cripples more than there are
now.
1t was at Christmas time In 1920 that
the work began-if work ii can be
called. From that time on II has been
IN the hands of an administrators, Con
Van Malta, who has served without pay,
as have all the others associated in the
expenditure Of the fund. There isn't
any pledge, there isn't any certificate
OF membership, there isn't, any for
riality at all about our fund for Grip
pied children, but it lives on because 1t
appeals to the hearts and minds Of men
and women everywhere.
Many Contribute.
Some Of the contributions have been
as little as penny from tiny boy or
girl who had been told Of the work or
had seen picture in one Of the maya
zines OF crippled child who was being
helped. And the biggest contribution,
from others, has been 5000 in a lump
sum. Fifteen thousand dimes came IN
coin shower at Thanksgiving time,
and 10000 quarters poured in at
Christmas.
The money hasn't enriched any doc
tors or hospitals, but it has met their
expenses In giving serviceable legs and
feet and spines to little helpless boys
and girls from many States. 1t has
paid railroad fares to hospitals when
mothers or fathers Of crippled young
sters couldn't even pay that item Of
expense. The egg money contributed
by many farmers wives, for instance,
helped to bring happiness to a Colorado
mother and her crippled little boy.
Bernard
We didn't know her or anything of
her and the boy until the agent at the
railroad station in Topeka, Kan,
'phoned US one morning:
There's q woman here at the sta
tion-came last ilight-slept in the
waiting room with her little boy-boy's
cripple-says she IS from Colorado
ana wants to know where to And you"
And then, while the agent was 'phon-
ing. the woman, afraid that she might
be turned away. wrapped her worn
shawl about her shoulders. took her s.
year-old boy in her arms, and facing a
Winters wind that blew with icy. sever
ity, in a strange city hundreds of miles
from home, trudged 10 blocks up the
hill to the court Of last resort" for
her, child.
I'm sorry I didn't write you I was
coming" she said, and she held the
crippled boy out In her defense Of a
journey that needed no defense. az
thought-well, thought If ! could only
get here myself and show you my boy,
you would not send me back
Hundreds of applications for help
must be refused every year. for the
fund Is not huge one and the need
Is far greater than the resources. But
when this mother was told: We'll not
send you back; we'll give the boy what
nelp we can," tears flowed down her
face.
Now Like Other Boys.
In the shadow Of Pixies peak out In
Colorado. On lonely farm, that mother
had sobbed many a time, as she lay at
night in her bed beside her crippled
boy and had prayed for the help that
might never come Skilled sllreerv.
skilled treatment by great orthopedic
specialists, who contribute their kflowl-
edge and time to the purpose Of the
funu. answered those prayers. And 50
it is that now little Bernard does not
have to sit and wait to be lifted and
carried or crawl about. He goes to
school as other children 90 to school
and as a man he viii be as near normal
as, SCIENCE in surgery can make him.
Then there were Charlie and TFielrna
and Margaret, three Kansas children.
all in the hospital for remedial meas
ures at the same time. They had
natural fear of being cut, of being
"doctored." but they wanted the BIRTH
right Of bodies like other boys and girls,
That they might not be set apart,
summed and avoided by other children
at play, and objects Of curiosity In the
SO they withstood the unavoidable
ordeal. Of treatment as travely as any
soldiers In battle. To them went the
victory-for Charles little feet will
track" now and not get in each others
way. And Thelria's back, after five
long months in a traction frame fol-
lowed by major operation. is a straight
back growing stronger every day.
Little Margaret. who cried In kinder
garten because she could not go through
the exercises like the. other children.
and told her mother she never wanted
to 60 back to school, and whose mother
and father didn't know what to do.
because there was no money. is happy
now For the kindergarten teacher en-
listed atd-and Margaret plays now like
other children.
= There was Frank, a little 2-year-oId
from down along the Rio Grande IN
Texas, whose feet turned in and doubled
upward so mitch he couldn't possibly
use them except to try to get his toes
in his mouth like other babies. And
Minnie, whose mother wrote us from
Oklahoma:
Il wonder If you could help me? My
daughter Is crippled from ififantile pa
ralysis since she was 2 years old; She
IS IL now. 1t Is very hard for her
she walks on her toes; she cannot get
the rest Of her feet on the ground. If
you could help her I'd be so thankful.
I have six children, all little ones, and