THE FRESH AIR FUND.
(To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") SIR,—You show such kindness in publishing appeals for charities that I hesitate to ask you to add to the number which you thus assist. My excuse must be the especial nature of the charity for which I ask your powerful assistance. It is called the Fresh Air Fund, and it is distinguished from all others by the fact that its management involves no expense whatever. The whole of the necessary rents, salaries, printing accounts, postages, &c., are paid by the promoters, and the Ragged School Union places its great and admirable organize- tion at the disposal of the Fund freely and gratuitously. During the nineteen years of its existence the Fresh Air Fund has given well over two and a half million children a happy,well- fed day in the country. These have been sent from the slums not only of London, but of every town in the United Kingdom with a population over 90,000. Ninepence pays the entire cost of a happy day for one child. Roughly speaking, its fare from the unlovely slum to the lovely country costs 3d., and the remainder is sufficient to supply it with two nourishing meals. This year the Fresh Air Fund—of which his Majesty the King is the Patron—wants to arrange a day in the country for 260,000 children, and, further, to give a fortnight's holiday by the sea to 5,000 of the neediest. There are no distinctions of class or creed, the only qualification is poverty and the unlikelihood of any other holiday. The children are divided into parties of two hundred each, and the cost of one of these parties with the necessary attendants responsible for the safety of the children is entirely covered by the sum of 28 2s.
I wonder if any of your readers will send this sum to the Secretary of the Fund, and if any more who cannot afford so much will give what they can ? Subscriptions should be addressed to the Hon. Sec. Fresh Air Fund, St. Bride Street,
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