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By Helen Astor.
(Mrs Vincent Astor.)
THIRTEEN years ago Miss Mary
Morton, daughter of Vice-President
Levi P. Morton,' established
Holiday Farm, at Rhinecliffe-on-the-Hud-on,
in New York. The home grew out
of a need which Ml Morton recognized
' that a child who had been ill might
itlll be a victim of the Alness If dis
charged too soon from a hospital
A child that had been 111 may have be
come reasonably well, but yet foe weak-
too weak to withstand the onslaughts
that conditions of crowded tenement lite
make upon the physical constitution.
patient should never be discharged from
a hospital until completely recovered
and provided with a fund of resistance
against the environment that menaces
health.
But this desideratum cannot be
reached by overcrowded city Institutions.
Those who are no longer acutely ill must
give way to those who are suffering
more than themselves. Those who in
favorable conditions will recover must
give way to those who must have care or
die. Therefore those in the lesser state
of need must make way for the greater.
It is upon tils proposition that Holiday
Farm, Home for Convalescent Children,
was built.
Last year Mr. Vincent Astor, desiring
to erect a memorial for his father,
Colonel John Jacob Astor, who was lost
in the Titanic disaster, conceived the
idea of building a new home for the in
stitution and ot enlarging Its scope. The
home was erected at a cost of about
1100,000.
Holiday Farm Is eighty-five miles from
New York. Far enough to escape the
noises, the tainted air and the feverish
momentum of city life, yet within three
hours from the home of the patient by
train, or less, if, as sometimes happens,
the automobile of one of the owners of
country homes near Rhlnebeck is offered
for the return of the little one.
The.weak point ot convalescent homes,
as of hospitals, Is that the patients must
too soon give 'place to others. The dis
tinguishing characteristic of 'Holiday
Farm what makes it unique is that
the little ones who have been ill remain
until they are well, no matter how long
that is. It they ere quite well after a
fortnight, very well. If their recovery
requires two months, three, four, six,
:hey remain unmolested until the cure is
beyond question and they possess a fund
f reserve vitality.
Boys are admitted from the ages of
four to nine. Girls from tour to fifteen.
When the girls have recovered their
health an effort is made to find a home
for them in the neighborhood which has
given them health. On the domestic staff
of many homes within a radius of twenty
miles from Rhlnebeck are young women
whose names are on the registration
books of Holiday Farm.
But it the children must return to
their homes, those who are actively In
terested in "the Home for Convalescents
have arranged that they shall do so with
memories of simple, pleasant and health
ful living. The terraced lawns slope to
a brook which runs through the farm.
The grounds are shaded by tall, old
trees. Twelve swings, gliding settees
and sand box, an out-of-door glass-Inclosed
playhouse beneath a tree whose
branches sweep the ground are there tor
their amusement For the play spirit Is
encouraged for .the building of health.
The old bouse which originally sheltered
the institution provided for twenty little
Invalids. The larger new one, erected on
the site of the old, has a capacity of
fifty. ;
Most convalescent homes close in Oc- :
. tober. Holiday Farm is always open.
Pale little chlldien learn there the de
lights of coasting and sleighing.
A laNSy
flu ft fi r'
ilk hx
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imm
sS;K.i: yw mm mat- m-
Mrs.
Vincent
Astor
Tells of
Health
and Hap
piness Brought
to Invalid
Children
ofthePoor
Holiday J arrit House, Built by Vin
cent Astor as a Memorial
to His Father.
ers went from the New York Mission
and from Saint Bartholomew's: The
Charity Organisation, the Union Settle
ment, the Cathedral of St. John the
Divine contributed. Twenty-two of the
patients came from miscellaneous
sources.
Many incidents that strike the human
chord occur at Holiday Farm. For in
stance, thither went little Catherine,
aged seven, ill-nourished, under-sized, ex
hausted. Turning a grave and prema
turely aged face upon her questioner,
she said: "My mother had rheumatism.
I did all the housework for the family
until I broke down. Then a visiting
nurse sent me here." Little Catherine
stayed at the home until she had rested.
Reports of her said she bad gained four
pounds a week after receiving this im
petus toward new vitality.
One little stranger in our land went to
the farm after an operation for appendi
citis. To a small American who was
making the Journey from New York to
the home with her the little foreigner,
hugging a moth-eaten muff to her thin
breast, boasted: "Our family are rich."
Said the American child:
"How much money have yout" ,
To which the little stranger replied:
"My mother's got a Job scrubbing for
-eight dollars a week."
"That's nothing,'' said the American.
A Group of the Small Convalescents at Holiday Farm.
"My father gets, nine dollars a week
.when he works." - .
Holiday Farm cares for such children
as these: On Christmas forty-four sat
down to a turkey, dinner. Of these only
ten would have had any Christmas joy
at home.
Interested in the home and making
annual as well as special and occasional
contributions to it are Miss Mary R. Cal
ender, Mrs. Henry O. Chapman, Mrs. W. i
B. Dlnsmore, Miss Dlnsmore, Mr. A G,
Gallatin, Mr. and Mrs. Vincent Astor,
Mr. and Mrs. R. P. Huntington, Mrs.
Garrett Kip, Mr. Ogden Mills, Mrs. Will
iam Church Osborn, Mrs. James Roose-
" taw
HY. m. 1,1 V
Ular of the ? -Of?
Mrs. Vincent Astor, a Pillar
Convalescent Home,
There Is a kindergarten within doors.
If the little invalid's stay Is long, his or
her education need not be neglected.
The rooms are large, and air and light
have freer access to them than in most
institutions of the kind. There are per
fect heating and ventilation, which are
valuable aids to sound and rapid con
valescence. Out-of-door sleeping porches
are further aids.
Children go to Holiday Farm through
the channels ot New York City hospitals.
All the nations of Europe and China and
Syria are represented. Many children go
who are fighting the weakness 'following
operations for appendicitis. Others are
slowly recovering from typhoid and
other fevers. Preventive work Is some
times done, for children have been spared
the operations and the fevers by the
healthful surroundings and nourishing
food given in time.
Every effort Is made to give the chil
dren the benefit of the latest discoveries
ot science and the best methods of care
of the sick. The matron. Miss Ada C.
: Lynch, paid visits to convalescent homes
to study their problems and their means
of solving them. She made a study of
expenditures, learning that Holiday
Farm had eliminated waste to the point
of being run a little more economically
than the average similar institution. ' Its
expenditures are about 112,000 a year, or
45 cents a day, for each child. Rules are
reduced to the minimum, because they
sometimes hamper the full usefulness of
convalescent work. . '
Last year S8S children were cared for
' J lK i ff'il
, '"lLA'4M- 0ne of the uKht and Air Flooded Dormitories.
velt, Miss Ruth V. Twombley, Mrs. IB,
Aldrlch, Mrs. G. B. Alexander, Mr. Will
iam L. Allen, Mr. A. T. Asher, Mr. Henry
O. Barbey, Mrs. George D. Beattys, Miss .
Sadie Bellonl, Mrs. B. J, Berwlnd, Miss
B. C. Brooks, Mr. William Kelly Brown,
Mrs. Andrew Carnegie, Mrs. H. T. Cham- -bers,
Mrs. J. J. Chapman, Miss Allla
Cramer, Miss Julia D. DawsAn, Mr. Wal
ter Decker, Mr. David Dows, Mrs.
Tracy. Dows, Master Olln Dows, Mrs. H.
K. Dunham, Mr. Charles Ferris, Mr.
Henry Grube, Mr. Frank Herrick, Mrs.
F. D. Fitch, Mrs. Gerald L. Hoyt, Mr. R.
P.' Huntington, Mrs. Mary Adams Johns
ton, Miss Elisabeth Lynch, Mr. C. E. Mc
carty, Mr. A. C. McCurdy, Mr. Marshall,
Mrs. Douglass Merritt, Miss Ethel D. Mer
ritt, Dr. George N. Miller, Mr. Peyton
F. Miller, Mrs. W. Starr Miller. Mrs. L.
A. Mitchell, Miss Montgomery, Mrs. L. P.
Morton, Mrs. Thomas Newbold, Mr. 8. H.
Olin, Mrs. Wlllard D. Straight, Mrs. Za
brlskle, Mr. Franklin Olmsted, Miss Julia
Olmsted, Mr. Henry Farrlsb, Jr., Mrs.
Frederick Pruyn, Mr. A. M. Quick, Miss
Mary O. Radcllffe, Mr. F. Rlckert, Mrs.
Archibald Rogers, Mrs. John 8. Rogers,
Mrs. 'H. Ruge, Mrs. David Rumsey, Mrs.
M. V. B. Schsyver, Mrs. Stewart, Mrs.
R. B. Buckley, Mr. A. Lee Wager, Mr.
William F. Wey, Mr. Eugene Wells,-Mrs.
William Woodward.
Among the gifts to the invalids from
other children were a playhouse and a
copy of "Little Folks," by Miss Alice
Astor; a Punch and Judy show with Ice
cream, vegetables "from their own gar
den," a barrel of pears, a barrel ot apples, .
a doll, a sack and twelve pairs of stock
ings, six pairs of shoes and a radioptleon.
The officers of the Holiday Farm Asso
ciation are: President, Mr. Vincent As
tor; vice-president, Miss Ruth Morgan;
secretary, Mrs. R. p.v Huntington; treas
urer, Mrs. Tracy Dows. The executive
committee is composed of Mr. and Mrs.
Vincent Astor, Mrs. Tracy Dows, Miss
Elsa Howard, Mr. R. P. Huntington, Rer.
F. K. Little, Miss Elizabeth Lynch, Miss
Ruth Morgan, Miss Ethel Merritt, Miss
Julia Olmsted, Miss Margaret Buckley,
Mrs. William Woodward.
A Little Patient Growing Well
Without Being Hurried.
- i
at the farm. Of these SOS returned well.
Twenty-nine were Improved. Forty-two
are still in the home. Nine did not Im
prove. .
, The small patients go from Roosevelt
Hospital, from Harlem, Gouvernenr, Belle
vue, the Presbyterian, St. Luke's and
New York hospitals. The Bureau of
Child Hygiene sent some patients. OtU-
Copyrlght, 1016, by the Star Company.
How You Can Make Your Clothes Waterproof
A
FRENCH scientist has lately discovered an effective
method ot making garments absolutely waterproof.
The process Is simple, durable and Inexpensive, and
does not Injure the appearance of the cloths. It consists ot a
very slight Impregnation of the fiber of the cloth with wool-fat.
This Is dissolved and diluted in a neutral, anhydrous and vola
tile liquid.
Take live or ten parts ot Adeps lanae, procurable at almost
any drug store, liquefy it In a little chloroform and dilute with
ninety to ninety-five parts of gasoline.
Immerse In this the entire garment, squeezing or stirring it
for a' few minutes, then wringing out and drying In the air.
To make bags, leggings, articles of coarse cloth or canvas
Great Britain Rights Reserve
waterproof smear them thoroughly with a mixture of talo
with fifty per cent vaseline. i , ' 1
Red vaseline Is best, since it costs less and gives an attrae,
tlve khaki color. The paste Is applied much like shoe blacking
and Is then rubbed In vigorously with a brush to make sure ol '
an Intimate contact.
Shoes, also, should, be waterproofed, especially for the win
ter and wet spring months. Any ot the reliable brands of
waterproofing oils -on the market will be found satisfactory,;
provided they are applied often enough after every trip In the
rain or snow. The old-fashioned method of rubbing ht tallow
is still efficient, though not so convenient to use as tie com
mercial brands.
