Los Angeles herald., 1907-05-19
SAY KIDS! GET
WISE TO The
FREE DOM S
New Playground Is
Opened
Mayor Harper and Rev. Baker P. Lee
Formally Turn Over Breath
ing Spot to Happy
Children

A new city playground was formally
opened yesterday and the kids had an
afternoon of it. They weren't these not
house kind of kids, either, but real
youngsters who know how to play ana
how to yell, and who never fail TO 90
either when the occasion offers.
But the kids weren't all little at that
Mayor Harper, Rev. Baker p. Lee and
can it be said without disrespect-Mrs.
Willoughby Rodman were also there to
enjoy the delights of childhood and
breathe the pure air of the new play
ground.
This little spot where the kids can go
and mingle with their kind in the
healthy rigors of baseball, tennis,
swinging, trapeze work and kindred
necessities of budding manhood is To-
Gated on Lake Shore Drive and Temple
street and occupies exactly three acres
Its entire space is plated off into tennis
courts, basketball courts, swings, tee
ters" and great big baseball diamond,
where a fly ball will not get lost for
want of room.
The little weeney kids are taken care
Of too, for there are sand boxes on
every side where the babies can dabble
around to their hearts content and feel
almost as though they were at the
beach. And then the big kids, those
who have grown up and must needs
forsake the pleasures of baseball and
tennis for more sedate pursuits can sit
in the shade of some grand eucalyptus
trees and watch their own offspring
mingle with the offspring of others
whose joy of kid days is but a memory
and tell each other what they did before
the days of responsibility came with its
burden of worry and trouble.
City Gives Square Deal
Yesterdays opening of the new
grounds, which will be known as city
playground No. 2, was not such a very
formal occasion after all. One big kid
named Lee 1--WE grownups call him the
Rev. Baker P. Lee but he wasn't any
thing but a plain man when addressing
the children yesterday mounted a
bench and told the other kids what they
should do and what the real object of
the playground really is.
Now, kids, remember" said DR.. Lee,
"even your playing is for a purpose.
You're getting a square deal from the
city and all the good people who helped
when you got these grounds, and what
you want to do is tO give them square
deal in return.
Ou KNOW WndJ IIledIl' Wv Hell
you're playing ball don't try to cheat
and hold the other fellow on second
base when the umpire isn't looking and
the runner has chance to get on a
base. Let him go, and if you can't send
the ball over to third in time to catch
him give him credit for getting there
safe.
Character is the whole thing, and
that little feeling we call conscience is
opportunity to grow, and if you follow
what it tells you there isn't any chance
that you won't give everyone square
deal.
Good Investment
Now, a lot of money has been spent
in preparing these grounds for you to
play on, but if one of you is saved from
yourself and grows up to be an ex-
ponent of the square deal the money
will be well invested. But it shouldn't
only be one of you, it should be all.
Build up your bodies and minds at the
same time, and if you act on the ball
field honoraby you are sure to follow
the same rule in other places"
The kids spotted Mayor Harper when
he came to mount the bench to address
the bunch after DR.. Lee had finished
"Dere's Mayor Harper" said one
urchin.
"Where?" asked his companion on the
"teeter."
Jaw, don't you see. Dat fat guy wild
the beaner on his block
And that's the way our honorable
chief executive was introduced to at
least one embroyo citizen.
Mayor Harper managed to take a
little fall out of his predecessor by tell
ing the kids that Rev. Mr.. Lee was not
a ball player nor a good runner, and
that he didn't ven work, but talked mis-
way around. The youthful auditors ap-
preciated the sally and cheered Mr..
Lee. and when Mayor Harper told them
how Mrs. Willoughby Rodman, presi-
dent of the playground commission, had
bossed him around to obtain what they
were at present enjoying the kids
cheered again, and with renewed vigor.
But Mrs. Rodman was not to be ca
joled onto the bench to deliver herself
of an opinion on why Fairgrounds
should be constructed. The one person
who has done so much to make life
worth the living for the coming genera
tion was content to sit in the back
ground and allow others to do their
share of talking, while she rested on
the joys of hard work already accom-
plished
Location Is Ideal
The new children's playground, as ex-
empliffed in the one which was opened
yesterday at Lake Shore Drive and
Temple street, certainly fills long felt
want. Its broad and level field of three
acres, conforming to every detail of out
door amusement the average young
American can wish for, is set in an
ideal location, and it's easy access to all