Life — July 5, 1929 — page 28: what you’re looking at

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

26 Being A Bull on Kids by HE other day talked to a man who occupies the highest position in his particular line in the United States. For the first time I learned that he spent the first thir- teen years of his life in an orphan asylum. He told me a very interesting thing. A man and woman in Washington saw him one day when they were visiting the institution and invited him. to their house tor Sunday dinner. The woman gave him a toy S ql Wy cart, which was the first thing he had ever had «. p that he could call his own, After dinner she did not ° * $3 > 4 know exactly what to do with him so she gave him a $ book to read—the first book he had ever had. He de- voured it hungrily. Later, she sat down beside him and talked about the characters in the book—which ones had done well with their lives and which ones had failed, and why. That talk startea the boy on an entirely new line of thought; it was the definite turning point in his life. I forgot to ask him whether he ever told the woman about it after wards. Perhaps he did, and she got a big thrill. Perhaps he did not, and she died without ever suspecting that this very casual incident in her home one Sunday afternoon was the most important thing she ever did in her whole life. Like every other American in these stirring times I like to gam- ble occasionally. I like to pick out a horse with a good sounding name and put a few pennies on him. I like to pick out a company that looks as if it were well managed and buy a few shares of its stock. But the most exciting gamble in the world is to put a bet on a kid. Lots of times you lose, of course. The kid may turn out badly, or he may be just mediocre. But every once in a while you make a real clean-up. Some ragged little urchin that doesn’t look like anything at all turns out to be an Abe Lincoln or a Herbert Hoover or an Al Smith. Most pleas for charity are written in the mother, home and Heaven style; I have written several such myself. But my ap- peal for Lire’s Fresh Air Fund is to the good sports of America—the business men who have put down a good big bet on American industries and have made LIFE's FRESH a clean-up in the last few years. I suggest AIR FUND . that they can get a big kick out of buying a » . few kids at the Lire Farm, You just can’t tell what you are going to get. Mavbe the kid that you send there won't amount to anything in after life; may be, on the other hand, he may turn out to be a winner, and the litte push that you gave him may be the turning point. Twenty dollars ($20) will give w little boy or girl from the city streets sixteen days at one of Live's Camps. A fraction of $20 will do \\h its share toward starting one of them on his or her way. Checks payable to Live's Fresh Air Fund F Wes ‘ AC You've had a lot of fun making your will be gratefully received at sy { i ‘ 2 money. Come on now and have some Madison Avenue, New York. Help \ NN Wat f/ fun giving a little away. Be a bull 1s—PLEASE. \\ vale on kids. comicbooks.com