Well, young Jack Johnson is going to see the world's fair after all. And so are four other out-of-town boys who're parked with him at the Chicago Home for the Friendless, 5059 Vincennes Avenue.
Jack is the 13-year-old lad from Malvern, Ark., who hitch-hiked barefoot 700 miles to see A Century of Progress and then was stopped at the gates by a policeman yesterday and taken to the home.
Scores of people communicated with Mrs. Elizabeth Littler, superintendent, last night after reading in The Daily News of Jack's plight. They volunteered to take the boy to the exposition and "show him a real time."
"We've four other boys here under similar circumstances, too," said Mrs. Littler today. "They range from 15 to 17 years and two of them came from Lubbock, Tex., one from Kansas City and one from Minneapolis.
"And this week all five of the boys will be taken to the exposition by reputable citizens with whom we are satisfied."
Meanwhile the Travelers' Aid Society is cooperating to locate the boys' parents and secure transportation back home for them.
"The problem of transient boys," Mrs. Littler said, "is a tremendously growing one, especially with the scores that will come to Chicago this summer in a vain attempt to get employment at the fair or somewhere in the city."
The police have instructions to bring the boys to the Home for the Friendless, following which they come under the jurisdiction of the Travelers' Aid.
Although the five out-of-town boys at the home weren't enough to go around the thirty-odd persons who volunteered yesterday to take them to the fair, the home asks that other individuals call later in the summer with the same offer. Or they may send tickets or money with which to take the children.
