THE FRESH AIR FUND. [TO run EDITOR Or THA "
SPEOTATOA:1 Bra,—Will you allow me to bring to the notice of your readers the fact that the Fresh Air Fund is in dire need of support, if it is to continue its beneficent activities during the present year ? As most of your readers will be aware, the object of the Fresh Air Fund is to give a day of happiness in the open country, or at the sea- side, to the children of the very poor who are doomed to spend their childhood in the dreary slums of our great cities. The Fund also niain- tains a number of special homes to which sickly children are sent for a fortnight's recuperative holiday. It is no exaggeration to say that numbers of young lives have been saved by these holidays. Since I founded it twenty-five years ago, the Fresh Air Fund has given over three and a half million children from the slums of our great cities a day in the country, while nearly thirty-five thousand of the most needy have been taken for a fortnight to the country or the seaside.
As all expenses of management are borne by the promoters, the cost pm head is extremely low. Thus, for one shilling the Fresh Air Fund is able to give one-child a day of happiness ; for 12s. 6d. a sickly child can be sent to a holiday home for a fortnight ; while £10 10s. will cover the entire cost of a special one-day party of two hundred children, with the necessary attendants. Every donor of £10 10& is invited to have his own name (or any name he may select) associated with the special party he has provided. I am aware that your readers have a great many calls on their generosity at the present time. I would, however, ask them to bear in mind that a very large number of the children who would benefit by the work of the Fresh Air Fund are the children of men who are serving their country, and I would suggest that there can be no better way of expressing our gratitude to the man who is fighting for us than to look after his children during his absence. If any of your readers feel disposed to forward a donation, will they please address the envelope to the Hon. Secretary, Mr. Ernest Keasell, 226 Great Portland Street, London, W. f—I am, Sir. dm, Aransas PEARSON.
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