LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1710, 29 March 1913, Page 6

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

4 THE FRESH AIR FUND. AN APPEAL FOB THIS SLUM CHILDREN. Sir,—Once again I would ask'you to 1)0' so good us to allow me to place before your readers the claims oi' the Fresh Air Fund. I do so with tlio. more assurance since tlio experience of past years has convinced ma of the ready.sympathy and generosity of the people of New Zealand. There is, indeed, no more encouraging feature of our work among the children of ),lxo slums than tho warm-hearted help of friends overseas who, by their letters' and by their practical assistance, show that they do not torget the neglected little ones tit Home.

It is difficult,' perhaps, for those who dwell in sunny clnucs, in spneious cities where'destitution is practically unknown, to picture to themselves the distressing' poverty of the slums of the United Kingdom. An urgent cry wells up from*many a dreary court and squalid tenement; it is the cry of tho prisoners of the slums who long for ii sight of tho sun and a breath of pure air. It is our task to see that this cry reaches the cars of those good-hearted folk who, if tlioy heard it, would gladly nrako an effort to 6end joy where joy is so little known. ' The l ; resh Air Fund exists to carry out such charitable impulses. It lifts tlio poor town children out of their sordid environment, and gives them a day's holiday in the fresh air among green fields, and forest glades, or by tho sea. Even those who have no children can recollect something of their own youthful feeling for Santa Claus. . Well, the RA.F. is tho Father • Christmas of tlio slums—but he comes in the summer, when the crowded alleys are hot and stifling, and when tho need for" relief is most urgent. ~ When you are only ten or eleven years old, and when out of 565 days there is only one that is rose-coloured, you don't, lose your hold of that one so easily. You long for it to come; you look back at it very often. Thousands of these children have known what it was for one day .to be contented, and to have their fill of food and play, aughter, and ' merriment—to enter into their heritage of -nature. All through the long winter months they have been cheered by the hopo that another rose-coloured day awaits them this summer. And there fire many thousands more who have never had one such day; and who plead that they may bo taken too. Nona of your readers, I feel sure,'would like to think that soino waif had been left behind weeping out its little heart becauso they had forgotten to send the trifling sum that will mean so much to it. Some of these children are so ailing, stunted physically and morally, that, a day m tlio country would be of little use. As many of these as possible are 6ent a y'W «y the Fresh Air Fundi for a fortnight to the country or seaside. They are tenderly oared for, they play or bask in the sun all day, and at night they sleep in clean white beds. To them the country is. a Paradise—an almost incredible fairyland. The benefit of tho change to their health is only surpassed by the- impression, made on their characters. They gain ideals. Manv of them experience'for the first time * the joys, the comforts, and the refining inliuenoe of home. Most of them hciv© never before realised the meaning of tlio word' countiy." They feel for the first time i mi: boundless sea and fields aud eky The flowers, the trees, and animals, the hundred familiar objects of the countryside which we .scarcely notice appeal to them with tho magic interest of the unknown.

1 here occurs to me in this connection a story recently told me by one of our helpor®. A littlo crippled girl who had never been fnvny from slumland was sent for a fortnight last ,summer to a couutry farm, bho was very shy and bewildered on her arrival, and it was some time before she thawed under the 1 influence of the motherly farmer's-wife. But as the novelty of her surroundings passed away, she attached herself with- dog-liko devotion to her new friend. . The little cripple was specially interested on her first day by tho chicken-run, as she had not previously met a. live f-owlj ill tiie evening.tho farmer's wife was.sitting, ill tho rose-covered porch of'the farmhouso plucking a chicken; the little' girl sat by her side, watching her intently with evident surprise. At last lier curiosity overcame her. shyness, „ "Phase lady," she stammered blushing, please lady, do you take ■ their clothes olt every,night?" There are many thousands of little boys i • who might well be excused for asking the same question. What can you expect? The slum, where tho sun ibeats down on grimy pavements and drags up 'the stench from airless courts, is the only playground that they know. And at night they lie sweltering in their rags, three, four, a' dozen in. a room, huddled together on sacking ■or bare- boards, their uneasy sleep broken by the sound of angry blows and foul language; ' l'or the little sum of ninepenco you can give one of these 'prisoners a day's freedom; c£B • 2s. will provido a holiday for two hundred children, with tho necessary attendants—and that day may be calletl by «ny name desired. The oost of a fortniK,ht s holiday for one child is 10s. Hie outstanding feature of-the Fresh Air I 1 nntl is that every penny received 'in subscriptions is spent on, the children. 1 1 here are no expenses of management, ho rente of offices, no; salaries—these are paid by "the (/ promoters. There are no distinctions of creed. Poverty'is tho passport to tho F.A.i*. -country. The King is patron of tho fund,, and a generous annual subscriber. Four years .ago his Majesty,- with Queen Mary, spent an afternoon amoiig' 1000 F.A.F. children in Eppmg Foiwst. • This year the F.A.F. enters on'the 22nd S.T« n » of , m? worlt ' We hope to send 2a0,000 children to the country for a day, tv l<®st '5000 for'a fortnight. The r.A.F. has never looked back. Each year we progress, and we shall not rest content until every deserving child in tho Kingdom can -be sent .for a fortnight's There is need, therefore, for every P?ni.y;(and what better reward could any man or woman ask than to know that at least one child has not been left behind' bubsqriptions should' bo made payable to the Fresh Air Fund, and addressed to tho hon. secretary at S3 St. Bride Street, London, E.C.—I am, otc., rw i. „, C ' , AI JTIIUP. PEARSON. n\ e shall be glad to acknowledge and forward any donations received for this fund. Last year our readers responded to tho extent of providiiig for the oiitrtainnient of nearly 400 of these little slum children.!

MR. TREGEAR AND IMMIGRATION. Sir, Would you kindly allow me a little space to answer Mr. Tregear's letter of a few days ago, and I will not trouble you further. He said something to this effect: "If my hand had not, shaken so I would have been able to shoot straight." Hell, by the way Mr. Tregear jumped I reckon I made a bull's-eye. What puzzles people is this: tlio irrcconcilablo position ho takes up withj tho doctrines he propounds! Why does lie not give us something pacticiil, as "Anti-Humbug" suggests in Ihe Dominion" this morning? Then wo would giro him credit, for what lie says, even if wo did not agree with lnm.—l am, etc.,' . • STILL .DISGUSTED.