The World Beautiful 



A SURVEY OF CURRENT BETTERMENT EFFORT 

 Conducted by the Editor 



Letting Windows Into the Souls of Tenement , , 

 Children 



THE excellent work done by Hull House 

 and The Commons in the congested 

 districts of Chicago is being eflaciently 

 duplicated by the Westside District Chi- 

 cago Board of Charities. The yearly re- 

 port of the bureau just issued under 

 the suggestive title "Short Stories of So- 

 cial Service," has a chapter on "let- 

 ting windows into the souls" of tene- 

 ment children. One tired mother, thirty- 

 seven years old, who had never been outside 

 of Chicago, was enchanted with the summer 

 camp at Evanston. "I never realized there 

 were such trees and grass and bathing 

 places," she exclaimed. "And I never im- 

 agined there were such people as you — doing 

 all these kind things for poor folks who have 

 no claim on you." She actually believed she 

 had discovered an unfamiliar species of hu- 

 man beings. "I tell you," she said on the 

 return trip to Chicago, "it has been a lesson 

 to me, and I'm going back to do all the little 

 acts of kindness I can around my own neigh- 

 borhood. For," she added, somewhat diffi- 

 dently, "I'd like myself to be your kind of 

 folks." 



This is one way of living the life beautiful 

 — ^the "Sunshine" way of making happy and 

 beautiful the life of others. 



Vacant Lot Cultivation 

 Another interesting method of contribut- 

 ing to the life beautiful for others who sadly 

 need it is the cultivation of vacant lots by 

 the poor of our great cities. In several East- 

 ern cities this vacant lot gardening has be- 

 come an important factor in the philan- 

 thropic work of the municipality. The Phil- 

 adelphia Vacant Lots Cultivation Associa- 

 tion has recently published a little leaflet 

 which presents some very thought-stimulat- 

 ing reading. In the City of Brotherly Love 

 this idea is no longer a fad. It is a busi- 

 ness, and is managed in a business-like way. 

 The ground costs nothing. The owners are 

 glad to have it worked, to have it turned 

 from a sordid waste to a beautiful garden — 

 and glad to help, since it entails no cost to 

 their purses. The street sweepings are the 

 fertilizer. Seeding a garden costs about 



$1.50. Many of the plants, such as tomato^ 

 cabbage and celery plants, the association 

 grows itself. It buys tools and lends them or 

 sells them at cost, supports an office, a su- 

 perintendent, some few men and teams. The 

 ground so far worked pays well. During the 

 present year the association is farming^ 

 twenty-three acres, at twelve and one-half 

 cents an hour for work. The entire cost per 

 garden this year is $6. The gardeners are 

 "mostly worn-out or disabled good men; 

 half men; half sick; now and then a drunk- 

 ard, some men who work ten hours a day in 

 a shop or store, grow vegetables overtime 

 to get on faster;" some women, some school 

 children. There are "all sorts, but the rich, 

 and lazy," and all are volunteers. They 

 pick themselves out. No references are 

 asked, and the sole conditions of holding a 

 garden are: (1) working it properly; (2) be- 

 ing tolerable as a neighbor to other garden- 

 ers — for the dividing line between the gar- 

 dens is only a path. 



The effect of the gardens is manifold and 

 beneficial. Those who work them learn how 

 to get a good deal of money out of a little 

 ground. They learn the business of garden- 

 ing. The work cultivates neighborliness and 

 sociability and thrift. Besides it gives a 

 feeling of independence and brings many 

 unfortunates, both physically and socially^ 

 into helpful contact with nature. More 

 than 800 of them were working gardens in 

 August last. Each has a quarter acre of 

 land; they grow from two to five crops a 

 year. From March to December one of 

 these sections will yield, on the average,, 

 about $50. A typical case of a little old 

 Italian man is cited. With wife and ten 

 children, and no occupation but one and a 

 half of these gardens, he devotes his whole 

 time to the work. He began last year. He 

 said, through an interpreter, that he knew 

 nothing about American gardening ways, 

 but knew the Italian. He plants in crazy- 

 quilt fashion: no rows. When asked what 

 he'd take for his crops this year, he said, 

 they'd bring him more than $250. 



To Cure a Cold in One Day 



Take Laxative Bromo Quinine Tablets. 

 All druggists refund the money if it fails te 

 cure. E. W. Grove's signature is on each, 

 box. 25c. 



