Life — June 29, 1922 — page 6: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

LIFE LIFE’S Fresh Air Farm Opens This Week for Its Thirty-Sixth Season HE stork who deposited you and me on_ this terrestrial sphere was a wise old bird. When he picked our places to pass our child- hood he made sure that they should be in at least decent surroundings. . The other and less saga- “Your—darn—flower—bit cious storks—and they are —me—so—I’m—goin’"— is home!” vastly in the majority—de- posited their babies not so discreetly and with the result that countless little children suffer all sorts of misery and through no fault of their own. These kiddies didn’t pick the right stork. If you don’t believe it, come with us any July or August day or night and make a trip through New York’s tenement streets. You won't enjoy it. The bad smells, the bad air, the heat from overhead, from the walls and from the pave- ments, will make you faint and sick. If you have any heart at all, the sight of thousands of little children suffering from ills they can’t escape will make you ques- tion the Wisdom of Fate. The bigness of the problem of how to help these children will give you a feeling of hopelessness. There are so many of them! You can’t help them all. Of course not. But you can do your bit. For two weeks you can take at least one pair of bare feet from the melting asphalt of New York streets to the cool green grass of the country, at least one little body from the heat and bad air of a crowded tenement bedroom, or from sooty roof or fire-escape, to the fresh air of a farm in the Connecticut hills. For such city sports as dragging the body of a dead cat over the hot pavements will be substituted wholesome play under the trees, splashing in the brook, and the startling discovery that milk doesn’t always come in bottles. Your particular youngster may gain a new outlook on life and new ambitions. At least the child will be given a better chance in mind and body to face the other fifty weeks of life in the tenements. How You Can Do It The magic wand you can wave, to effect this transforma- tion from wretchedness to joy, from ditt to cleanliness and from disease - breeding con- ditions to healthy ones, is the amount of ten dollars contributed to Lire’s Fresh Air Fund. You were a child once. Perhaps you have children of your own. But you can never “Put it back! Do ya wanta get sent back to the city?” know what this ten dollars’ worth of heaven means to a poor kiddie in New York. Thank your God you don't, Two weeks of delight and health for a little, poor child. And the cost, even in these times, figured approxi- mately, is only ten dollars for each child benefited, All remittances should be made to Lire’s Fresh Ajr Fund, 598 Madison Avenue, New York Cit On Life’s Farm Lire’s Fresh Air Farm is located at Branchville, Connecticut. From the close of school in June until its opening in September, parties of about two hun- dred and fifty children are given a fortnight’s vacation in the country. The children sent there are drawn from the city missions, from the East Side and from various “Settlements” and poorer districts of the Greater New York, and the effect on them of a fortnight of good food and pure country air is surprising. Caretakers are always with the children. In an experience with more than forty thousand children at the Farm, so far there has not been one serious accident or a worse illness than results from over appreciation of green apples. ‘s Farm is supported entirely by contributions friends and readers. Costs are high this year, but we estimate that ten dollars will provide a happy va- cation in a life where happy vacations are a rarity. However small or large the contribution, we can use it to advantage. Acknowledgment is made in Lire about three weeks after receipt, also by letter immediately if the sender's address is given. Children’s clothing is badly needed—partly worn rom- pers, overalls, sweaters, jackets, underwear, and espe- cially shoes. Our age limit is twelve years, but larger sizes frequently fit. Their own garments go to pieces with the hard vacation wear. Packages sent to Lire’s Farm, Branchville, Conn., will be gratefully acknowledged. Life’s Fresh Air Endowments To establish a Fresh Air Endowment two hundred dollars in Victory notes, in Liberty 4% per cent. bonds, other good securities, or cash, should be sent by regis- tered mail to Lire’s Fresh Air Fund. The income from this amount provides that every summer, in per- petuity, a poor child will be sent from the slums of New York for a fortnight’s stay in the fresh air of the coun- try. A Fresh Air En- dowment may bear any designation its donor chooses. Address all commu- nications and make all checks payable to L1re’s Fresh Air Fund, 508 Madison Ave, New York City. (The Fresh Air State- ment will be found om page 29.) comicbooks.com