Education: Correspondence Course

In schoolrooms throughout the U.S. last week, youngsters redecorated empty cigar boxes with U.S. flags and paste-ups from magazines, stuffed them with school supplies, sewing kits, warm socks and mittens, soap, toothbrushes, yo-yos. They were “Friendship Boxes,” wrapped as gifts to the children of Europe and Asia from the children of the U.S. Every parcel included a letter from the sender, and some writing paper and a self-addressed envelope.

With the help of the American Women’s Voluntary Services, more than 100,000 Friendship Boxes had already been shipped overseas. Many a U.S. schoolkid, wrestling with his first letter to a new, unknown friend, discovered that much of what he took for granted in his life looked wonderful written down (“We have mountains . . . fertile valleys . . . beautiful gardens”). When the thank-you notes arrived, he felt even luckier. Sample: “I am not writing so fine, because I have been 31 years in a camp. Well, let us not talk about that.”