20—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 21,1971
Mrs. Bnnton Loves to Entertain Fresh Air
By Mrs. Charles G. McSparran
Farm Feature Writer
-Mrs. Loran W. (Alice) Brin
ton, Nottingham RDI, in Little
Britain Township, loves to enter
tain Fresh Air children from
New York and children from
Lancaster.
She says, “Keeping these chil
dren is a lesson in human rela
tions. You learn from them and
they learn from you.”
Mrs. Bnnton has entertained
children from New York for
eight years. She usually has two
boys and two girls and the same
ones come year after year. The
first one she entertained was a
Chinese girl.
Beverly Jackson, 13 years old,
fiom Queens, N.Y., has been
coming to Brintons all eight
years.
Neil DeGraca, 14 years old, has
been there five years and Ken
neth Ortiz, four years Neil could
not come as planned this year
because he had to go to summer
school. This was quite a disap
pointment for Mrs. Bnnton and
for him, too.
However, Beverly, Kenny and
a first-timer Greer Long, 9, of
Brooklyn, were there this sum
mer. These children all call her
“Aunt Alice” and they say they
are going to “Friendly Town.”
This is the term they use for this
program. Porches and green
grass to play on are a thrill for
these children. It’s hard for
Lancaster Countians to imagine
this.
“Aunt Alice” goes all out to
entertain these boys and girls.
For her it is a year long project
of planning things for them to do
and then to enjoy them while
they visit her. She gets all kinds
of craft books and makes sam
ples of things in winter that they
would enjoy making. She makes
things from cost-free, discarded
Mrs. Alice Brinton holds a Baltimore Oriole nest with an
artificial bird atop. On the wall is a picture she padded with
nylon.
Left to right are: Beverly Jackson, Fresh Air child, Mrs.
Loran Brinton, and Mary Jane Albright, Mrs. Brinton’s niece.
On either side are hand-made hanging flower baskets.
household and farm items such
as wind chimes cut from tin cans
and suspended from metal jar
rings of various sizes, greeting
card Christmas bells, greeting
card hanging ornaments and
hanging flower baskets.
The flower baskets are made
by using a flower pot and 16
baler twines to form a hanger.
The twines 'are used double (in
some cases she dyes them) and
knotted to form a net arrange
ment to hold the flower pot. She
plants flowers such as petunias,
morning-glories and geraniums
in them. They can be hung in
doors in winter to brighten your
house or hung out,side in sum
mer. When the children make
these, they can take them home
with them.
She has a sizeable above
ground swimming pool where
she joins in the fun with the boys
and girls. She- has a sunken
bathtub in her lawn where she
puts goldfish in the summer.
She has quite a few blooming
flowers around her house for the
children to enjoy. She also has
a couple of tents which they use
to camp out some nights. The
boys enjoy the farm animals and
equipment more than crafts.
Brintons also entertain some
grand-nieces and nephews from
Lancaster. They have five
whom they entertain, each for a
week and one at a time
Friendly Town is financed by
many wealthy individuals. The
children were formerly trans
ported to Lancaster by tfain but
now they come by chartered
buses. Every two weeks, over
a six week period in the summer,
bus loads arrive and all of the
children stay at least two weeks,
some stay longer. This year
they came here July 8 through
August 18.
They are underprivileged chil
dren. A lot of their families are
on welfare All must have phy
sical exams before they come.
No cripples nor unruly children
are permitted to come. A lot
more of them would like to
come. Thir hosts are not paid
for entertamg them The pro
gram is administered by welfare
workers.
Mrs Brinton has served on the
Solanco-Strasburg area commit
tee for Fresh Air Children. This
committee places the children in
homes and does their best to lo
cate them according to requests
made.
Alice is a nature lover. She
says, “I’d like to have a tree
house, to watch birds and differ
ent animals,” To this her hus
band says, “Act your age!”
She says, “I laid under bush
es studying birds and nests. I
have lot of books on nature. I
do a lot of reading and in a way
have educated myself.”
Mrs. Briton collects just about
anything in the nature line. She
says, “I have a room full of such
things.” To mention some:
rocks, shells, seeds, bird nests
some from India, snake skins,
sand from different states, fea
thers from different kinds of
birds, teeth from animals, even
a whale tooth, pressed wild
flowers and leaves, dried grass,
pine cones from the west coast
and from Australia, fossilized
rocks, they have fern designs
in them. She collected cobwebs
for awhile, but says she didn’t
get anywhere with the. She also
collected animals’ tails, butter
flies, moths and insects, but
moths got in them. She has sev-
eral kinds of cacti growing in a
window box.
Not only does she collect things
of nature but she has a lot of
antique furniture that came
from her family and her hus
band’s family, antique dishes,
vinegar cruets, old wooden but
ter paddles, potato mashers and
rolling pm, antique lamps, old
bottles and jars and hand-made
pot holders.
Mrs. Brinton is a member of
Rising Sun Seventh-Day Adven
tists Church. She teaches a
nature study group at Daily
Vacation Bible School one week
in July. She taught a Sunday
School class of small children for
several years. She was a Path
finder Leader, which met twice
a month in her church, and she
took the children camping. She
was a leader several years for a
youth group which met every
Friday night. She said, “It kept
me young.” She still serves on
several committee for her
church
Mrs. Brinton, formerly a mem
ber of Little Britain Woman’s
Christian Temperance Union, is
now a member of the Quarryville
W.CT.U. and serving as Social
Service secretary. She had the
other members to a breakfast at
her home in June and win have
them again in the fall. They
spent the day making lap robes,
scuffles, calendars, Christmas
cards, handkerchief cases and
crossword puzzle books for
Veterans at Coatesville, Lebanon
and Perry Point Hospitals.
Brintons own and operate a 130
acre dairy farm where they raise
com, wheat, hay and four acres
of tobacco. They feed all the
crops they raise and buy some
sometimes. They keep 51 Hol
stein cows and about 30 heifers.
Mr. Brinton has been a farmer
all his life. They have owned
this farm 16 years and before
that owned a farm between Kirk
wood and Bartville 13 years.
Loran’s father, the late Wayne
Brinton, farmed below Kirkwood,
had a dairy but more of a gener
al farm. He was a deep thinker,
yes, a man ahead of his time. He
was the first one in that area to
have a silo and a tractor. He
was a very active member of the
Grange.
Mrs. Brinton, the daughter of
the late Mr. and Mrs. Morris
Sprout, also grew up on the
farm, having lived in the south
ern end of Lancaster County and
Mrs. Brinton shows her nylon stocking quilt. The hand
carved teakwood table was brought from India by Mr. Brin
ton s aunt, who was a missionary there for 30 years.
Children
m Maryland. She can still lend a
hand on their farm when neces
sary.
Loran graduated from Colerain
High School and Quarryville
High School. He and his wife
joined Colerain Grange in 1948
and both have been very active
in it, holding various offices. He
is Treasurer and Mrs, Brinton is
Lady Assistant Steward at the
present time. He not only serv
ed as Master of Colerain Grange,
but also of Lancaster County,
Pomona Grange. He is a seven
th degree member of the Grange
and Mrs. Brinton is a sixth de
gree member.
Loran also joined Kirkwood
Odd Fellows in 1948. He has
been a member of Solanco
Young Farmers for four years.
He is a member of the Southern
Lancaster County Farmers for
four years. He is a member of
the Southern Lancaster County
Farmers’ Sportmen’s Associa
tion. He is an A.S.C. committee
man of this area, judge of Little
Britain Township election board
an da member-of Kirkwood Pres
byterian Church.
He is a member of a hunting
club and loves to go deer hunt
ing. He has bagged eight buck
and 6 doe in his time. He also
has a 15 foot motor boat which
the whole family enjoys.
Brintons have two children.
Debra is married to Charles
Burns and they haVe two daugh
ters, Tynia and Carol. They lived
in Germany one year and now
live in Tennessee.
They have' a son David living
at home and helping on the
farm. David graduated from So
lanco High School, took the
academic course. He also at
tended Stevens Trade School
three years and graduated from
there. He was drafted and serv
ed two years in the Army. He
served six months in Viet Nam
and after his term in Vtit Nam
spent one year in Active Re
serves, finishing with Specialist
4th Class rank.
He is a fifth degree member
of the Grange and is serving as
Gatekeeper of Colerain Grange
and on the Finance committee of
Lancaster County, Pomona
Grange. He is also serving on a
committee from the Pomona
Grange to plan with Chester-
Delaware Pomona and Mont
gomery Pomona to entertain
State Grange in 1975. Davis is a