My dear Mrs. Sprague:
This is the time of year when many people make their plans to leave the hot and dusty city to go to the clean and cool country. There are thousands of children who never have the opportunity to do this unless you and other kindly disposed people give it to them.
Hull-House Association owns a country place consisting of seventy-two acres of ground north of Waukegan; it contains three ravines and many beautiful trees. The place is well equipped with comfortable dormitories, dining doom, recreation hall, swimming pool, playground, vegetable and flower gardens.
This country place has an endowment sufficient for its annual upkeep, while a group of young women trained in playground work give their services each summer. We are, however, dependent upon public subscriptions for the actual support and care of the children, the babies and their mothers who are sent there during five months of each year. It costs five dollars to keep a child there for two weeks, and we hope very much that you will feel like giving the city children whose only playground is the street, two weeks or more of country life so necessary not only for their education and pleasure, but also for their physical development. There are hundreds of children coming now every day to Hull-House to ask with pathetic eagerness if they can go to the country this summer. Whether they receive a favorable reply depends entirely upon the generosity of the public.
Faithfully yours,
Jane Addams [signed]
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