too high a price for benefit to poor people.  Thus there seemed to be established a rate of income which, for the requirements of the creche conducted under great expense, would be entirely inadequate.  There were apparently no sponsors for the undertaking but the board of lady managers, and a steady loss of 25 cents on each child for a period of seven months would pile up the losses to unknown and quite incalculable proportions.

It is true the board had received a sum of $100,000.  This was to cover all expenses of the board, whose members were the official hostesses of the fair.  Everything was to be conducted at this great exposition in the most munificent manner possible.  Ceremonies and entertainments which had been given at the dedicatory exercises in 1903 indicated a scale of elegance and boundless hospitality; in fact, hospitality was to be a distinguishing feature of this great exposition at St. Louis.  The board of lady managers formed a part of the hospitable equipment, welcoming the world to the official home of the exposition, and were to fulfill one of woman’s missions and entertain in a manner and on a scale harmonious with the greatest and most beautiful exposition the world had ever looked upon.  For these purposes the money must be made to last throughout the seven months of the coming fair.  No more fatal thing could occur for the fair name of the board than to spend early and inconsiderately, and to be met later with pecuniary embarrassments and complications.

The estimate for the opening expenses of the creche exceeded by some $16,000 the sum appropriated by the Exposition Company.  The members of the board might have felt justified in furnishing this sum, but there loomed before them the vast bulk of losses which must follow as the result of cutting the price from 50 cents to 25 cents on each of the many children to be accommodated at the creche.  It was an enormous responsibility.

Consultation with President Francis and some of the directors seemed to indicate that the saving to them of the promised $35,000 would be very desirable.  The building was about to be commenced, and only a few hours were granted the board for their decision.  It was obviously impossible to enter upon a work involving great and unknown expense pregnant with such possibilities of loss and failure, and so, with the deepest regret, the members of the board saw their cherished castle in the air—­the beautiful, useful creche—­fade and disappear.  Words can hardly express the discouragements and heart sinking of the members over this failure of their fond aspirations.

Mrs. Ruth Ashley Hirschfield opened her Model Play Ground on May 23, 1904.  From the beginning it seemed to meet the requirements in a simple but direct and effective manner.  So successful was it that soon the demands outgrew the accommodations, and the possibilities of extending the work were