The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-08-02

New York where, with the cooperation of the school commissioners and teachers, a Country School Athletic League, mod elled on the Public Schools Athletic Leagues of New York and other cities, already has been organized and has held several successful gatherings, in which hundreds of adult farmers and their wives, as well as the younger people, had an enthusiastic part. A similar experi- ment, though supported by a wealthy metropolitan banker, also is meeting with great success at Far Hills, N J. Here in a village of two hundred people, large model athletic field and playground has been opened by Grant Schley, and from 1000 to 5000 people come from the farms in the neighboring districts to at- tend and take part in the field days.
 The experiments at New Paltz grew out of a feeling that the migra tions from the 5.S00,000 farms of the United States, which has now grown to such an exodus that many districts have to import farm hands, is so serious that instant measures must be taken to protect the productive side of this industry. Churches and schools are less well attended according to pr. Scudder, and the social influences in the country tend to become centrifu- gal when they must be made centripetal. The question in the rural mind should be changed from "How can I get away" to 'How can I make conditions such that I shall want to stay or be contented if have to stay?" The rural trolley, tele- phone and free delivery and the grange are doing much for adults, Dr. Scudder believes, but the problem is to use agen- cies which will extend their benefit to children. And one of these agencies Is organized play.
 ''At first thought" Dr. Scudder said, in a report on the subject to the Play ground Association, "it might seem that country children already have plenty of play and that they do not particularly need playgrounds. AS matter of fact, however, they do not play much, and if they do not play much they do not play enough Their repertoire of game is sur prisingly small and inadequate. More over, their few games are strongly indi- vidualstic, training them for isolated efforts rather than for cooperation. The country child would undoubtedly play more if conditions were favorable. But, unfortunately, things are against him. In the first place, his parents are usually out of sympathy with play. This is partic- ularly true of farm life. They do not see the use of it. There Is no end of work to be done and play Is considered waste of time except in the case of very young children
 The same is true of the attitude of country people toward athletics in gen eral. Their children do not need to run, jump, chin themselves. strike and throw. There are plenty of ways of developing muscle without fooling with such mat ters.
 Moreover the country child is handi- capped from the fact that he does not know how to play or what to play. We are frequently met by the objection on the part of the parents and school of ficers that children are not sent to school to play or to take part in athletics. So well known and so marked is this dis approval that country teachers remark over and over again that they do not dare to have running and jumping, or put up bar and have children chin themselves without express permission from the par ents, and this permission is not infre- quently refused.
 "The case of the village boy may be said to be particularly bad, for unlike the farm child he usually has compar- atively little work to do, and unless he has opportunities outside of schol for t athletics and play, he is likely to pass much of his time in inane idleness, or in activities that are far from wholesome. Perhaps this has something to with bringing about a situation characterized by the well known epigram Man made tne GUY, GOO I1due LHe country, put lHo Devil made the little country village"
 In New Paltz the state normal school became the leader in effort to pro- vide play facilities and the social oppor- tunites of organized play New Paltz Is a village of 1000, in the centre of a rich farming territory. The beginning was made in series of occasional Satudray conferences in which the district school to1 I, ,ioh the local granges were represented. At some conferences domestic science or manual training or scientific fruit rais- ing was discussed, but at last the ques- ton of providing for the play and phys ical interests of the county were consid- cred, and the Athletic League organized, for the purpose of stimulating clean ath- leticy and fostering all forms of outdoor and indoor games. The annual meets now attract gathering of 1,4OO children and as many adults. Boys in country schols made their own apparatus, and one school, having no money for real bas- ketball, practices with pumpkins. The league determined to give athletic buttons to all boys who could chin the bar, run a fixed distance in certain time, and jump a required distance. The stand- ards were the same as those fixed by the city league for New York City young sters It was supposed that these little trials of strength and skill would be easy for the husky" country boy. But, as pr. Scudder reported later: Surprising as it may seem, country boys are, as a rule, physically undeveloped or unevenly developed, and in most communities very few have shown themselves able to make the required standards"
 He found that the uneven development of the country boy tends to make him lose interests in individual tests but take deep interest in group and team con- tests The leagues meets or annual pie mic days or play festivals, or whatever they were. became at once so popular that some of the granges helped to pay the expenses, and many individuals and the teachers associations contributed. I> Na.nAA