Evening star., 1899-01-28
Rows and the Pingree System.

To the Editor OF The Evening Star:
The new movement of utilizing vacant
lots will be watched with deep interest
no doubt. not only by Washingtonians, but
by others. To some the experiment will
mean but little; to others it will be another
step in the study of sociological problems.
If there is any one thing above another
that marks The closing years of the twen-
tieth century it is the tendency to get
down to real things, real facts, real living.
Scientists have found that there are no
laws SO applicable to life in all its phases
as those of nature; and educators have
found that nothing so tends to sylnmet-
rical education as the study of nature. 1t
awakens interest, cultivates the powers of
observation, of reasoning of imagination
and of memory; it leads to clearly defined
descriptive ability and to accuracy of
thought and expression. Why not then
make use of this system to arouse our
boys to a keener realization of life? Might
not such a course supply one of the missing
links between the home and the school?
Our boys are not alone to blame for what
they are. The home folks draw sigh of
relief when the boys are off for school, and
the teachers draw another when they start
for home. A third sigh can be heard at
the neighbor's who do not enjoy the in
evitabe noise; whose troubled faces show
the anxiety attendant upon torn up lawns,
defaced surroundings and threatened win
doWs; the walks are made impossible from
marbles and other games, and on the
streets the vehicles are trimmed with
fringeS of boys contrary to the taste of the
driver and to the rules of safety, and if
they recede to the alley there is worse mis-
chief yet to engage their attention.
The very energy that makes our boys
troublesome Is the exact quality needed to
make of them prosperous, sterling and
courageous men; yet we are constantly
crushing it. destroying their nerves. driv-
ing them to unnatural lives and robbing
them of the high ideals of the relationships
of life. Boys want activity; to them it
matters not whether it be kicking a ball or
chasing a fire engine If there be only
| hearty rivalry with others 1t has been the
experience Of some, and no doubt others
could give a similar testimony, that boys
| like work almost well as they do play
| If ii is conducted in the right way and with
the right spirit. Why not then convert
these vacant lots or number of them into
agricultural kindergartens for the smaller
boys, and into real gardens, graded
system for the older ones? An adjoining
| lot inclosed with wire netting would af-
| ford place, without danger of injury to
the property of others, for spirited games
under proper instruction, and If the ex-
pertinent proved successful some kind of
shelter might perhaps be added later, where
| the boys could be taught to whittle, thus
making their own whistles, kites and other
simple toys, which would tend to develop
| originality. Uniformed in overalls, shoul-
| utIeu Will SdTutu implements ana Indrcn-
| ing to the call of the bugle, what boy
would not be gardner?
The moral needs hardly to be drawn
| Any mother who has the confidence of her
| boys and knows what boy life is, even
among what are supposed to be our best
| families. but be alarmed at present
| conditions and glad to welcome anything
| that come which will send the pure
| blood coursing through the veins till it has
| no time for deterioration and sends pure
| thoughts thronging to the brain. till little
| space is left for evil ones. Cannot this ex-
| pertinent be tried? MOTHER
| January p, 1899.