he child. It is so with the Bartholdi Creche on Randall's Island,
in the shadow of the city's Foundling Hospital, that ferries children over
the river for a romp on the smooth, green lawns, on presentation of a
ticket with the suggestive caution printed on the back that "all persons
behaving rudely or taking liberties will be sent back by the first boat."
"The Little Mothers" Aid Society follows the same plan in reaching out for
the little home worker whose work never ends, the girl upon whom falls the
burden and responsibility of caring for the perennial baby when scarcely
more than a baby herself, often even the cooking and all the rest of the
housework so that the mother may have her own hands free to help earn the
family living. These little slaves the Society drums up, "hires" the baby
attended in a nursery if need be, and carries the little mother off for a
day in the woods up at Pelham Bay Park where the Park Commissioners have
set a house on the beach apart for their use in the summer months. There
was much opposition to this plan at first among the East Side Jews, whose
children needed the outing more sorely than any other class; but when a
few of the more venturesome had come back well-fed, in clean clothes,
whereas they went out in rags, and reported that they had escaped baptism,
the sentiment of Ludlow Street underwent a change, and so persistent were
the raids made upon the Society's chaperones after that that they had to
take another route for awhile, lest their resources should be swamped in a
single trip. The United Hebrew Charities, like many other relief societies
with a special field, provide semi-weekly excursions for the poorest of
their own people, and maintain a sea-side sanitarium for the sick
children.

There is no lack of fresh air charities nowadays. Their number is
increasing year by year and so is their helpfulness, though it has come to
a pass where it is necessary to exercise some care to prevent them from
lapping over, as Sunday School Christmas-trees have been known to do, and
opening the way for mischief. There can be no doubt that their civilizing
influence is great. It could hardly be otherwise, with the same lessons
of cleanliness and decency enforced year after year. The testimony is that
there is an improvement; the children come better "groomed" for
inspection. The lesson has reached the mother and the home. The subtler
lesson of the flowers, the fields, the sky, and the sea, and o