THE FRESH AIR FUND.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXX, Issue 14983, 1 May 1909, Page 8

THE FRESH AIR FUND.

The letter from Mr C. Arthur Pearson which wa publish this morning, appealing for contributions to the Fresh Ajr Fund, speaks very graphically for itself. It is not easy for those of us who live in a laud where poverty is practically unknown, and where tho biu© sky, tho free sea and the bright sunshine aro the almost perpetual heritage of every child, to realise exactly what ia the daily life of tho children of the sluraa in the Old Country. It is scarcely fair, indeed, to paint the drab monotony of life as it exists there in faithful colours. Tho boys and girls o in our own country will hardly' believe that there are little lads and little “ sister’3 grown mother ’ ’ of their own ago in tho Homeland who have never seen the sea, who have never known what it is to pick a flower, and whose impression of tho bright country-side is simply that of “ Ackney, with the ’ouses took away.” Unfortunately, there are thousands of children who are' in this pitiable plight. Norman Gale has said that “the country is a poem writ by God, but few decipher it.” It is to provide the slum childien with a cheap ninepenny edition of this poem that the Fresh Air Fund has boon inaugurated. For tho trifling sum of ninepence, spared from toys or lollies or games, every boy and girl in New Zealand can provide a long lice summer clay for some weary mile at tho sea-side, on the hoather-clad moors, or in one of those many lovely country nooks which aro tho historical jewels of England. For tho cast of half a ticket on the totalizator or a visit to the theatre, every man and woman can givo one of these children a whole fortnight’s solid happiness. Olio day in. a lite is not much to ask for these little ones, and wo should like to see the children of tho dominion making this holiday for their less fortunate fellows their own special charge. There have boon many appeals for help in the salvation of the slum, children, but none is easier to answer or more certain in its immediate application than, this one for a brief holiday for tho tiny dwellers in darkness. Tho subject is not one that requires labouring. The response to the request for help was not a meagre one in New Zealand last year, but wo have hopes that it will be larger still this time, when an effort is being made to extend Mr Pearson’s splendid work, and add another fifty thousand children to the half-million who were last year given a long day’s happiness. There is no question, of sect or ethics or morality involved. All that w asked is that the public, in a pure spirit of hedonism, should individually holp some child to a brief spiritual and physical uplifting. There vs a cheap nine-pennyworth of satisfaction to bo earned in a quite impersonal form of charity. We shall be glad to take charge of any subscriptions to the fund" and to see that they are forwarded to the proper quarter.