The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1877-11-08

games and playthings Of youth are not
those Of childhood but the play OF an
old dog-though more rarely occurring
is nevertheless the same as that Of n
young puppy. The object Of play in
young life is exercise. ID is the peculiar
exercise which Nature prompts the or.
ganism TO undertake and il may be said
that Il is the only possible form Of cxcr-
else which is at once attended by pleas
ure, and is able to mould the frame OF
the growing animal in the direction OF
its perfect. development. Its antithesis
Is task work, which though ID may not
involve one tithe the exertion, neycrthe.
less passes quickly into fatigue. and thus
results in straining some muscles unduly
while others are left comparatively unde-
vcloped. In play alone, the instructive
sense OF physical need gets full scope;
/ its spontancity and aimlcssness are there
fore only apparent, and its nature and
amount are determined by the sense OF
pleasure in the exercise itself. while on
| the other hand, n strictly natural limit il
/ imposed on all undue exortion by obedi.
enee TO the sense Of fatigue. The result
Is an cquable and harmonious develop.
ment Of muscular energy and nutrition
IN every muscle and fiber; and il il one
attainable in no other way-certainly not
by any prescribed routine OF exertion-
or save by obeyinga natural instinct
DR.. John Strachan. Of Edinburgh, has
recently published a valuable little treat.
ise, physologically inquiring into the
bearing Of play upon education and train.
ing; and after adducing conclusions sub.
stantially similar 10 those above enumcr.
ated, he proceeds further and states that
the law Of spontaneous development
though play does not end with physical
Improvement, but that, after q time. the |
higher and more differentiated faculties /
come TO be required for the perfection Of /
the animal, and that the same law pre-. 4
sides over their evolution. PLAY, he ox. |
plains, that is apparently aimless, or, at /
least, not consciously directed exercise.
Is the means Of securing the equable do 4
velopment Of the brain aud It's faculties
memory, Imagination, hope. wonder.
and even special kinds Of intellectual
and moral activity. according to the en-.
dowments, and perhaps also the acci.
dents, Of social position in the Individual
Exercise Is accompanied by pleasure
up TO the limit Of fatigue; beyend this
limit, by pain or uneasiness Special en-.
dowments or faculties brought into prom.
inence by accident and after exercised
are more. others are less. developed. 49,
But IN every case there Is a limit, and the
only sure way Of asccrtaining the limit l.
by giving scope to the instinct in other
words, by allowing play or apparently
unregulatod and spontaneous impulse IL
due place in the work Of education"
OF course the practical deductions 10 ,
be made from Dr. Strachans conclusions /
are, first. that tasks should never be ar.
ranged so a. to carry the organism over Z
the limit Of fatigue, that play a. such
should be real play, nothing but the " Ab. /
solutely free and spontaneous direction I
Of the sport impulse. and not circum.
scribed by any limits as to kind or ma ,
ture. Our authors treatment ends with
The bearing Of play upon the education
and training Of the young. else he might .
have pursued his inquiry further aud
reached the hardly avOidablo conclusion
hat, as the human being grows older. '
play becomes more and more a mental
process, until at last IL becomes scarcely a
iistinguishable from work itself The !
abors OF almost any professional man
will demonstrate this; the results Of his
port impulse viewed individually arc
iue TO what would 10 another man in. .
Tolve hard labor. Eventually play be- v
comes merely difference in work and in. 4
lolves the disuse Of one set Of tired brain
as IL were aud the calling into
Iction Of a fresh series. and the more diff
erent the labor the greater and more 1
and doubtless the more benc-
icial the change. The author Of that
funny children's story Alice b
n Wonderland and the wildly absurd
Hunting Of the Shark" Is n grave theo. n
ogical professor In n great English uni II
both writings are produc b
ions which professional wits and humor. e
sts would shrink from attempting 20 &
iyal. So, also, hard physical work pre- h
enting a still wider dissimilarity 10 men. 4
al labor becomes comparatively play b
The ex-Prime Minister Of England finds
rs greatest enjoyment in hewing down d
he trees on his estate And we know Of .
many an instance where an amateurs .
mechanical workshop adioins the Office '
II physician or lawyer. or where the a
.rtists easel furnishes the necessary play &
o brain closely engaged in scientific 2
tudy. a