THE 'STAR'S' TREAT

Evening Star, Issue 14628, 26 July 1911, Page 1

THE 'STAR'S' TREAT

I TO THE LONDON WAIFS. j —Mr C. Arthur Pearson's Aclcnovrledg- | merit.— I T)ea.r Mr Ednor, -Sir Joseph Ward has ■ today handed me a cheque for £2OO, thn ! subscription of roar readers to the Fresh i Ah Fund. ! This most generous donation will give j no less than 5.000 diildren, who would | otherwise have bad no change from the j J-.-eat and mist-Ty of the sluniis. a happy j day in the- country this summer. I wish I that they could thank you themselves, and i that you were here to sec how h<-artily they mil appreciate your generosity ; but ; since this is impossible I must make my- , eelf their mouthpiece, and thank you and | .your readei-s most sincerely for yotrr spler- | did help. To those engaged lie-re in ti-€ j woik of lb? Fresh Ai.r Fwnd there is no- | thing move eneour-jging than such subst.vr,i tial evidence... of sympathy from friend« i overseas, living in a. happier land, where j slums, ruj they exkt in England, arc praci tically unknown. With very kindest regards, sincercl* your*. C. Ab.thtr Peabson. London. June 15. ' —■A Victor's Testimony.— .Mr W. Davids'in (of Mornington School), ! who was ranonfr the group of Dunodinitef- • who witnessed the outing the London waif,: and strays obtained in Kpping Forest on ; Jr.ne 15 through the liberality of the 'Evening Star's' clientele, writes as follows : vet take advantage of the mail el-cssing to let vou know how much I enjoyed the first of the six Now Zealand days at Kpping Forest yesterday. \t those who provided the money to give these waifs a day's, fresh air oouW have seen the thousand happy hove and girts, could have heard the ringing cheers when the message from our Premier was read, and could have seen how the meatpies and buns disappeared, as i did, they would have known how their kindness was appreciated. —A Warm Appreciation.— One of those quaint little interchanges of goodwill and emotion that are only i possible within the limits of the far-flung i British Empire eoukl have, been witnessed | at any hour on June 15 between 11 a~m. ! and 6 p.m. in Kpping Forest. About a j thousand poor boys and girls were entertained on that, occasion at Loughhon under I the auspices of Mr Pearson's Fresh Air ' Fund ; but the magic mneponces which paid ; the railway fares from Darkest London, 1 provided two gocd weals, plenty of jramee. j and careful attendance did not. come out j of the ordinary coffers of the "cheapest i charity on earth." The hctts were uon-** ; other than the readers of tho Dunedin ' Evening Star.' in far-off New Zealand. j . . . The little ones came from every ! pail of Bethnal Green, and were tho ehil--1 dran, of cabinetmakers and bootmakers and . the like, with mothers who eked out a i precarious living by making boxes; but ; there were hard, grim stories of poverty ; and. distrete thai their teachers had to rt- | veal to Mi? R. J. Seddon and har fellow j colonials when they wore questioned a£ tc I how the pocr of Bethnal Green lived. j "We don't hear the most painful stories,*' ! said one mimrcss ; " I. wish we did. But n--1 raeuibev tl. a p. opie wa have to deal with a-ra End.: .ji ■:■■ ; ■-'■.- rvoi'd. They possess I clujac. .*y.i.... • mischief I find is in the health of the ciiil- ■ dren, but 1 do not so much blame the little ones' surroundings for this as 1 ' blame the original malnutrition of the j mothers, who frequently starve , hemselves ■ so that tin l , miles can have a better chance. ; We have a, family here in this party num- ;' bering nine children, and nearly-all of them are consumptive*. The father only e«iii« 24s per week, and out of that he has to pay 6* 6d a week (or rent. Yet his children arc always wonderfully clean, although some of them have como in bor- ! rowed hats and dresses. And they r.re so | proud of this treat that tlieir parents have j actually -spent- all their savings to come I hem and mt them enjoy themselves. An- ! other lamiiy number 1.1. and the jrocess j of bathing'them every night is so heavy ! thai, the father supervises the washing of I six of them, and the mother looks after ! the remaining live! On Saturdays the whole eleven have to go to bed at 5 p.m.. so that their mother can wash all their clothes ready for Sunday's church !" As Mr Wn.i. Davidson tof Mornington, near Dunedim said afterwards, this picture supplies a sliarji contrast to the free, happy, and careless liver- of children in XeV Zealand. The little folks in that country do not know what poverty and destitution are. Their idea of a treat, is to go on a school picnic with their parent-, who take wonderful hampers of food and at specially cheap railway tickets from the Go\ ernmciit. and presumably not one of them ha.s ever heard what a beggar is or what a shun .Lands for. The Dunedin • Star.' however, has been remarkably suci cessful in stirring the loving little hearts I of the children of its district, in pity for j the sad and pathetic lot of the waifs of London, and already it has forwaided 3 donation of £2IOO to the Fresh Air Fund's Coronation campaign, with the result that several other parties, equal to yesterday'.-' heat have gon>- to Kpping Forest, marching bravely under the New Zealand tlag, and cheering; heartily their generous little lirothers and sisters at the opposite end of the. earth. Not many years ago tracts and stories of the type of "Alone in London' and "Christie's Old Organ' were the sole channel of Stirling up popular sympathies iu the mind.* of children for the destitute and outcast. The, process was admittedly a slow one, but the modern ncv.-paper Press have happily changed all this, and or the newer method now in vogue the Dunedin " Star ' is most certainly a shining example. It also says much for the minds and hearts and training of New Zealand children that they can think so pitifully and so tenderly of waifs, who are distant from them over 12.0C0 miles.— London " Standard,' June 16. —Another Outing Provided.— Yet another children's treat- for London's poor was organised k-st month, when the sum of £SO was forwarded through the High Commissioner for the Dominion for the entertainment of 1.200 children attending the great Jewish Free School at Stepney (London). Among the chief subscribers were the following:—Mr A. M. Myers, M.P., and Mrs A. M. Myers. £c each; Mr Hugo Friedlander. £5; Mr D. J. Nathan, £b: Mr D. E. Theomin and Mr L. Cohen. M.A., £3 os each; Mr A. Moss. Mr Leo Mvers, Mr Julius Wenkbeim. Mr M. C. Barnett. £2 2s each; Mr E. Hallenstein. Mr S. Solomon, K.C., Mr Leslie Harris. Mrs Leslie Harris, Mr G. Bernstein, Mr Willie Fels. Mrs Mark Cohen and daughters, Mr M. Pollock. £1 Is each; Mr fi. R. Moss, £1; Mr E. Theomin, Mr A. Ahlfeld. Sir D. Phillips, Mr Max Cohn, Dr Barnett, Mr H. Moss, 10s 6d each ; Mr S. Jacobs. Mr J. Wolf, Mr E. Solomon. 10s each.