Frances Power Cobbe
collected other people's, they formed leagues in the interest of the scheme; they raised a first thousand pounds quickly, then another, and still went on subscribing. A big house with eight acres of ground was bought at Little Common, near Bexhill, and became the seaside home of the sick slum children of London—always full of pathetic patients who see beauty at Bexhill for the first time and learn what freedom and wide spaces mean, who suck health and strength out of a new life in lovely surroundings, well fed and housed, equipped with every appliance of play that is dear to a child's heart. Little Folks readers not only established the Home, but have provided more than eight thousand pounds of their pocket-money to keep it going. In connexion with schemes to interest children in their fellows, mention must be made of one of the earliest of all, founded on behalf of Dumb Animals and known as the Little Folks Humane Society. In reply to a letter addressed to Miss Frances Power Cobbe on the subject, she wrote:
"My dear Sir,—I am quite delighted at your 'Little Folks' Humane Society. What an admirable use you have made of your periodical to inspire this feeling among so many children! You will be able also to keep it up month after month. I wish we could make some universal organization for this special work . . . we ought to amalgamate in some way or other. Judging from your list, however, I gather that your 'little folks' are of the upper classes, while our Bands of Mercy are all, I think, village children.
"It is so pleasant and encouraging to see so much being done to lay the foundations of humanity in our social world. If this can only be done, the next generation will make a dean sweep of any cruelties now in vogue I can, unhappily, do little or nothing on these happy lines myself, being absorbed up to and beyond my powers in opposing the worst of all cruelties to animals.
"With warm thanks for your kindness in writing to me,—Sincerely yours,
A pretty story is told by that well-known author for girls, Mrs. L. T. Meade, in connexion with one of her
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