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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (May 12, 1912)
i t i i i -- 7m. Sunday : Bee, Magazine Pag r Sleeping Out-of-Doors Yfc :-Y': i ftV'V' M (I 5 v f : xV . , -;V . r TOO should uk little, cbobbr Bar btLra Balrd what nikN her to belthy and happy, ih would tail you It aba were old Mough to apeak tho Euillth laniuaf that it U bcaui ah Imp out of door. Trus, thla am ail daughter of Mr. and lira, a J. Balrd hai been healthy and happy Ter alnce abe arrived ou thla food old earth. The outdoor aleeptnx la part of the plan to keep her o. But there are a number of Oman children who Bid not start out so auiplclously as did small Bar bara and for whom sleeping outdoors has proved a great bleating. One of these la Betty Colt, the 7-year-old daughter of Mr. and lire. J. Clarke Colt, rhia lttle blue-eyed girl was very delicate antll she was literally put outdoors to live. Now she Is a normal little person one of the coterie of healthy, bPPy. outdoor children. Better was put Oct of doors four years ago. It was In Florida, where her parents had taken her for the winter. She was fed and bathed outdoors and was kept out at bight, too. The outdoor living proved to be the Very thine that Betty needed and has been kept up ever since. 8he and her brother, George, are out of doors all the time, In the winters which the family spend in La. Jolla, Cat, and the rest of the rear at their Benson home. Many Sleeping Porches , , Mr. and Mrs. 7. I. EUIck built a sleeping porch bn their Dundee home for their children, Alton and Frances. It was three years ago when the boy bad throat trouble. He is now just as husky as any boy of his age to be found anywhere. Many other parents have added sleeping porches to their homes, some for the purpose of making tbelr offspring well, others to keep their children healthy. Mrs. Leonora Diets Nelson put a sleep ing porch on her Thirty-eighth street home this ipring for her 12-year-old eon. Diets, who is one of the newest and moat enthusiastic converts to outdoor sleeping. It Is now no trouble to get him In from a bate ball game In the evening to go to bed. In. fact, going to bed has ceased to be a bug bear to the kiddies who sleep out of doors. All of the K. C. Barton children Wadlelgb, Catherine and De Wolfe sleep out of doors when they are at their summer home st Gllmore. They have slept out for the last two years snd their mother sayi that they love it. The Barton aleeplng porch la one of the prettiest and most complete In or around Omaha. It Is large forty feet long by fifteen feet wide. The awnings are Ua and white and these colors are carried out la the woodwork, the beds and other equipment. The Arthur Metzes added a sleeping porch to their house on South Twenty-sixth street last tum Ber and their children, Olga and Loula, and they sleep there nearly all the year. Mr. and Mrs. Harry Jordan have Just put on a sleeping porch for their boys, Chanaing and Jack, young Jack could not wait until the porch was eompleted. He disappeared one evening. The family could not find him anywhere. Finally they looked out on the new porch and there the youngster was fast asleep. The boys are devoted (o tiair Best up among, the tree tops, There is ' " 'IV . .' , y V Sr . If - -7 w 1 X;;.; J X.Itiamas - Just one drawback for Jack. The birds wake him too early In the morning. , - There are many sturdy Omaha lads who have slept out for several years. There are Walton Gross, son of Mr. and Mrs. Arthur W. Gross, who hss slept out In all weathers for two years; Fblllp and Elmer E., jr., sons of Mr. and Mrs. Elmer E. Thomas; Billy Hynes, son of Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Hynes, snd Mr. and Mrs. N. B. Updike's boy, Nel son. Jr. Josephine and Robert Elltck, children of Mr. . and Mrs. A. B. Elllck, do not sleep out In the se verest winter weather, but they go out .early la tbe spring and atay out until late In the fall. "That I what keeps them well," their mother says. The S. R. Rush family have a aleeplng porch on their Dundee home and they all sleep tbe grown ups and the children, Angelina snd Billy there. Tbe children are especially entblutattle. Two years ago Mr. and Mrs. Frank Walters hsd the roof of their house extended and put up a fine sleeping porch for their daughter, Harriett, and there she sleeps every night, from April until November. Defy Zero Weather But the hardiest and most indomitable outdoor sleepers among the girls are Hatel Updike, 14-year-.' old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. N. B. Updike, snd Phyllis Hunter, 12-year-old daagbur of Mr. and Mra. B. H. Hunter. Haiel Updike alept outdoors every night last winter. Mrs. Updike says that wben the thermometer aank to 27 degrees below sero she became afraid that her daughter would certainly freexe. She tried every inducement to get ' her Indoors, but was wsved away with the com mand to "Please go way and let me sleep." But this Irrepressible young sleeper-out came through Ua winter without so ninchjs. n, cold and ha. set, Makes Healthful, Happy Children nally grown seversl Inches in height. Hazel is a real outdoor girl, day as well as night. . She and Phyllis Hunter both belong to the nature s'ddy class of West Fsrnam girls who go once a week to stud birds and flowers snd trees in tbe woods around Omaha. Phyllis Hunter hss tie unique distinction of never having had any sort of illness While ber friends were barking wiUk whooping cough or being caged Indoors mottled with messles or chicken pot, she hss gone happily on her way, unhampered by any of these ailments. Phyllis belongs both to the nature clan and to one of tbe gymnasium classes at the Young Women's Chris tian association. . Edward Wettbrook, the 2-year-old ton of Mr. and Mra. E. 8. Wettbrook, aleepa outdoors st night In mild weather and hss nspped out of doors the year round during his brief existence. So hss 2-year-old Moorehead and 1 -year-old Katheiine, children of Mr. and Mrs. Hsrry A. Tukey. Mr. snd Mrs. J. A. & Kennedy put out tbelr ,2-yesr-old Ann Marie and their 1-year-old in all but the coldest weather. And these little citizens hsve a clear record for good health so fsr. List Almost Endless It would take a long time to get to the end of the list of young Omahans from little babies to big boys and girls who owe their robust health and good nature to outdoor aleeplng. Among the many are the children of Mr. and Mrs. George E. Mkkel, Mr. and Mrs. Harley Moore head's little son, the children of Mr. and Mrs. J. T. Stewsrt, Jr., and the boys of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Adams. Dr. C. C Alli son bss recently built a fine sleeping porch on his country home near Calboun and C. T. Kountxe has added one to his bouse la order that his children . may sleep outdoors. t6o. the doctors and nurses advocate outdoor; sleeping, though they know that It means a loss of business to them. "Just ss soon ss we put the babies out of doors they begin to put on flesh, tbelr cheeks become rosy and their eyes bright," ssld one of tbe trslned nurses. Although the enthuslsra for outdoor sleeping mesns a loss to the physicians, it brings a good deal of extra butlnees to the man who sells swn Ings, the contractors and the architects. The city saletmsn for one of the local tent snd snd swnlng firms ssld that tbe bablt of aleeplng outdoors has Increased 100 per cent a year ever since it started about five yesrs sgo snd that there wss a parallel increase In the sale of awnings. The head of another awning firm said that the number of sleeping porches equipped by his firm tbls sea son hsd about doubled that of last year. "Five out of six of the modern homes sre built with outdoor sleeping porches," says one of the local architects who rarely builds houses without these accessories, which sre really coming to be looked on ss necessities by those fortunate folk who can afford tbem. This architect says thst even the apartment housae are being built with sleeping porches to each apartment. Tbe first one of the sort to be put up in Omaha Is that which Dr. J. J. MrMuIlen will build on Thirty-eighth and Dewey avenue. IWk-to-Xainre Movement This same architect has kept In touch with the enthuslssm for outdoor sleeping ss it has grown from a fad to a settled belief. He ssys that the wave in Omaha Is part of the great "back-to-nature" movement which has been sweeping over the whole country for the last ten years. He de clares that It Is steadu on the Increase snd ssys thst planners of houses navs had to get in line with the movement in order to Keet the new demands. WxZliatzi "Byrnes The first devotees of outdoor sleeping, . la Omaha had to brave tbe curiosity and Incredulity; of their more conservative neighbors and tho tri umphant "I told you sos" of ths indoor sleepers' when they csught even tbe slightest kind of colds In their head. And wben the more daring of the outdoor folk put their children and even the in fants out of doora to sleep the conservatives looked on with horror snd msde dire predictions. The outdoor sleepers always had plenty of good examples to quote. One of the favorites Is that of Genera I Sherman snd his army. - Aftef ihe march from Atlanta to the sea General Bhermaa wrote a friend thst there had not een a cold In his army during the whole ordeal and that he at tributed this wonderful feat to tbe fact that all of the soldiers had slept practically outdoors through-, out the msreh. As no grippe, bronchitis, tonsilltls or other forms of that dread array of "itises" have bothered; the outdoor sleepers, those who began ths move ment have kept It up and it has been gaining con verts ever since. The "night sir" has lost Its old time terrors for the grownup snd the Omaha kid dies thrive on it. This sturdy band of youthful sleepers-out owe their bright eyes, rosy cheeks, active little bodies, their hearty good-nature and feling of fitness all the time, to their outdoor slumbers. And you should see them est! No more Indoor sleeping for them! Snuggled down under tho warm covers on their outdoor eots, they breathe in quantities of pure ozone. ' The fresh air fans their young fancies, t?e stars smila down on these little children of nature and the maples and eottonwoods lull them .to sleep. A nil when the red-breasted robin wakens them la the morning with his "cheer-up, cheery, he cheery," the outdoor sleepers, hop out,, healthy, r "1 happj to meet the dyj " " ? r i r J