Evening Star Newspaper, June 10, 1935, Page 52

‘THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., JUNE 10, 1935. ——S =, == =5 AR THAT THE CRIPPLED CHILD MAY WALK! BY JOHN.]. DALY - HEY call them Temples of Mercy— the Shriners’ Hospitals for Crippled Children. i Fourteen years ago they were but a dream. Today 15 of these hos- pitals are operating at various places in the Nation, the total operating cost to date is close to the $11,000,000 mark. Last year alone nobles of the Mystic Shrine of North America spent almost $1,000,000 on the upkeep of these Temples of Mercy. Without benefit of ballyhoo, the nobility has here accomplished an outstanding work and one with which, strange to say, not all members are familiar. ' As W. Freeland Kendrick, chairman of the Board of Trustees, Shriners’ Hospitals for Crippled Children, recently wrote to those interested in this work: “Many of our mem=- bers are ignorant of the great work for hu- manity that the Shriners of North America are doing for destitute crippled children.” A look at the record shows to what stu- pendous heights this work has grown., For instance: The Shriners have invested close to $10,000,- 000 in real estate, buildings and equipment for the 15 orthopedic hospitals now in operation, These hospitals contain close to 1,000 beds. Nearly 20,000 destitute crippled children have had the benefit of medical care at these tenters. Some of these little patients have been completely cured of their maladies. Others have been partially cured. Still others have been materially helped. Aside from this number of cases, 35,000 addi- tional children have been treated in the out- patient departments of these Temples of Mercy. OW these, of course, are the bare facts and figures—and they mean everything or nothing, according to the way the average man or woman views figures, If, on the other hand, as one of the Wash- ington Shriners recently said, “a man look at these figures through the eyes of a humani- tarian be sees something that is amazing.” He sees, for instance, a mother, heart-broken, because her little boy has come into the world crippled. A sad-eyed mother, kneeling in the dark of night at the side of a little crib, and crying because her boy will never have the opportunity to play as other little boys play— out on the open lots, on the base ball diamond, on the playgrounds; because her boy 1s a cripple. “Then, comes a day when some Shriner, knowe ing of the 15 hospitals, learns of the distress in this household; hears the pitiful tale of a mother and father unable to get the necessary medical care and treatment for their boy. And forthwith a Shriner becomes a good samaritan, For, without bothering about race, or creed, or any circumstances other than the need for a helping hand, this good Shriner makes ar- rangements to have a boy or a girl get the best medical treatment that surgeons can supply. Then the tears turn to smiles, the clouds to sunshine, and three hearts are made happy at a stroke—the hearts of the mother, the father, and the boy—four hearts, in fact, the heart of the Shriner, too; for it was written, somewhere in the Good Book, by the master of all the nobles in the universe: “Suffer the little children to come unto Me, for of such is the Kingdom of Heaven"; And, “Whatever you do for these, my little ones, ye do for Me.” Half the time, naturally, the Shriners who see to it that little boys and girls are taken care of in the 15 hospitals now functioning are not bothering one moment about any reward, spirit- ually, or otherwise; but they get it just the same—in the prayers and thanksgiving of those who receive the benefits of this glorious service. YVEN in the technical names of jobs done there is little or no romancing, nor room for visualization, for what does it mean simply to say that last year so many thousand casts were applied, or so many braces attached, or s0. many leg irons shaped or fastened, or so many pairs of orthopedic shoes distributed. When it is said, however, that all the work done—by doctors and nurses and Shriners, and all concerned—was free of charge, the average man begins to think of something else again. Free of charge. It means that the poorest pan have the same hospitalization as the rich. It means that poor boys and girls from the humblest homes have a chance to enjoy medical treatment akin to that given the multi-million- pires. It means, too, that all of these advan- tages are at the disposal of boys and girls who might otherwise go through life missing the kindly, friendly touch of humanity that comes with contact to a great organization. It means that hopes are lifted high and life made worth- while for the unfortunate little criples and their parents. Though no one wants to brag in matters of this kind, it is with a note of pride that the Bhriner may say, “The Shrine was the first to organize in an effort to help crippled children.” A survey of the field shows that what the Bhrine started 14 years ago is now being copied by other organizations; that national organiza=- tions and local clubs are paying a lot of atten- tion to the care of the crippled child. Thus a good example justifies itself. Thousands of Lame Boys and Girls Ozve Their Chance in Life to the Shriners® “Temples of Mercy.” IFTEEN great hospitals filled to capacity attest every day to the fact that the Shrin- ers are “on the job.” According to latest figures, there Is a waiting list of approximately 2,000 boys and girls who want to go to these hospitals. « In a time of great stress and suffering throughout the Nation it has been gmpossible for the Shriners to enlarge upon their work- aday plan. Otherwise, these 2,000 children would now be in hospitals, getting the same tender car and devotion given their more for- tunate brothers and sisters. All that the Shriners are asking now is that this work keep pace with itself; that there be no slipping back; that the necessary million dollars a year—a goodly sum—keep rolling into the exchequer—to pay the bills. This, naturally, will be done, when men who "WELVE hundred and ninety-one years ago a small band of harried Arabs, impatient with the slow processes of Eastern justice, determined to take the law into their 3wn hands. They gathered together at Mecca, in Arabia, in the twenty-fifth year of the Hegira (644 A. D.), under the leadership of the Mohammedan, Khalif Alce, a son-in-law of the prophet himself. Their object was clear—to dispense justice and execute criminals who escaped the penalties of the corrupt courts of the time, after such persons had been validly accused. They bound themselves to work speedily, to work quietly, in order that security and secrecy might be maintained. They pledged them- selves to three aims—punish the guilty, protect the weak and promote religious toleration. Thus began the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, an international confraternity which today numbers millions of men in every corner of the world, a mighty strength for good. Origin of the Shrine Order Many times the work of the organization was halted by revolutions in the Oriental na- tions, where it first flourished. However, it must have met with approval, for each time it was suppressed, it again sprang into activity, functioning openly as an extra legal body. Early in its history the order received the patronage of the Sheik Abul-Barakat Abd- Ullh Ibn Ahmad Alnasan, more familiarly known among Arabian savants as Hafizudeen. In 1698 it was firmly founded both in Mecca and Aleppo, and again at Cairo in 1837, when the Khedive of Egypt approved it as “‘an organization further- ing civilization and law.” In Europe one of the more recent organizers of the order was Adam Weishaupt, a professor of law at the University of Ingolstadt, in Bavaria. In the year of American independence he revived the order, under the name of the Tlluminati, establishing a society whose mem- bers became known all over the continent, understand the common humanities learn of the great work accomplished, day in and day out, every week and every month of the year, without noise or ostentation, by the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine Noble Kendrick recently appealed to all poten- tates, recorders and “keymen' of the Shriners’ Hospitals for Crippled Children “to spread the gospel of what is being done in this field of mercy; to spread the gospel taroughout our membership.” All those familiar with the work believe that these hospitals should receive increased sup- port In tact, such support is forthcoming in certain ways—most because of the appealing work being done An example of this augmenting of the regu- lar funds was given in Washington not so long ago. It was on a night In early May, in the Maytlower Hotel, when 3,000 Shriners and their wives attend a celebration, the high light of which was the turning over of a $13,000 check to the potentate of Almas Temple, Bob Smith That check--for the exact sum of $13,00172 —represented a legacy left to Almas Temple by the late Noble John Benjamin Flick In his last will and testament Noble Flick desiznated that this money go for the specific purpose of helping the little boys and girls who need help so badly., the crippled children cared for at the Shriners’ Hospitals for Crip=- pled Children. This money, left by a man who saw the real work being done in several ot the hospitals operated by the Shrine, was turned over to an endowment fund operated by the Board of Trustees It was such an inspiring thing to do that the work ot Noble Flick caused editorial com- ment in several of the Washington newspapers., Also, it was later !sarned that the money lett by Noble Flick is only a part of the sum evene tually to be realized from his estate. It was, in reality, only a portion of the bequest WH,\I‘ Noble Flick did other men will do Even now, some Shriner drawing to the last days of his life probably is thinke tng of those thousands of little children who are without the benefit of friendship, who need some help, such as this, expended day after day by the hospitalization work of the Shrine A thought of some hobbling boy, trying to get his weak legs to carry him through life, touches the heart as no other sight—and Shriners when they think of these things will undoubtedly add their mite—and their might-— to the good work already done, and being done, Noble W. Freeland Kendrick and his asso- ciates have in their hands a happiness-making machine that touches, like magic, the broken lives of little children—and mends them. That is the one thought behind the great movement inaugurated by the Shriners in this field—the care of crippled children. It was Noble Kendrick who first recom- mended that a Shriners' hospital for crippled children be one of the philanthrople works of the order. That he is now chairman of the Board of Trustees insures this project being carried through to its ultimate goal. It cer- tainly will not rest half way. That is tha belief of all who have the interest of this work at heart. Nor are these hospitals the run-of-the-mine order of hospitals There was a plan behind their design--to make them things of beauty as well as of utility: to take them out of drab surroundings and plant them in fertile fields, with great greenswards and lawns and flowers in abundance. So thav the httle caildren would drink in the beauties of nature while they ate being administered to by human hands. Hand- some buildings they are, set in artistic sure roundings. Evervthing that can be done is being done for the little folks. Aside from building up their poor, deformed bodies, the spirit is taken care of, for, ofttimes, a crippled child is a problem for the psychologists. A child's spirit can be broken as well as his body, and the coupling of two cures takes place daily in the 15 hos=- pitals operated by the Shrine, Nor is education in itself neglected. Boards of education in the environs of the hospitals furnish teachers, who give class and bedside instruction to the children. On a smaller scale, it is somewhat like the vocational training work carried on by the United States Govern- ment after the World War. The first unit in the chain of orthopedic hos- pitals was established at Shreveport, La. in 1922, There are 50 beds in that hospital, the same capacity as that of the Twin Cities Hos- pital at Minneapolis. Other hospitals of the same size are at San Francisco, Portland, Oreg., and Montreal. Springfield, Mass., has a hos= pital, So has Chicago. There is another at Greenville, S. C, and a 100-bed unit at St. Louis, Mo. Philadelphia also has a hospital containing 100 beds. In faraway Honolulu, T. H., there is a magnificent hospital, the out« growth of what is known as a mobile unit. Four cities have hospitals operated as mobil¢ units, They are Spokane, Wash.; Salt Lake City, Utah; Lexington, Ky., and Winnepeg, Canada. It is said that the average stay of these lit- tle patients is 100 days—about a third of a year, which means quite a bit of expense in each individual case When one of these little fellows “takes up his bed and walks” there is supreme joy - for all concerned. When that happens, a miracle takes place. That is me reason why the hospitals of the Shrine are so appropriately named the Temples of Merey, the Toemples of Magair