Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1909-11-25

Both of these attitudes are wrong.
We do not yet realize the truth, that,
in this life of ours. the physical
underlies the mental and the men
tai must not be developed at the
expense of the PHYSICAL
Our educational system was wroug1
out mainly by childless monks in the
seclusion Of the monasteries, who
reversed the Greek system of ply
steal education What we need and
what we are going to get is a bet
ter balanced system of child culture;
for to be conscious of a need or
a deficiency is to be far on the way
to overcome it. In the last few years
We have witnessed the awakening of
the race, (Which on physical develop
ment6,) has lain dormant since the
time of old Greece. Hygiene, pub
lie and personal, school sanitation;
public parks, gymnastic training, folk
dancing, vacation play schools, va
cant lots for gard oning, home, school,,
and municipal play grounds have re-
ceiVed more attention in the last
five years than in all the past five
centuries put together.
Every one has observed how the
play spirit is sweeping over this coun
try. The quest of recreation is not
only legitimate, it is essential as
food, shelter, and religion. Mr.. Jo-
seph Lee, of Boston, father of the
play ground movement in his country
says: ''The thing that most needs
to be understood about play is, that
it is not a luxury, but a necessity;
it is not simply something that a
child likes to have, it is something
that he must have if he is to grow
up.
1t is more than an essential part
of his education; it is an essential
part of the law of his growth, of
the process by which he becomes
man at all.
The play movement is being wonder
fully organized, and nothing is plain
er than that the people Of this coun-
try are at heart in sympathy with
play, and that with proper enlighten-
ment and leadership they will under
take seriously to provide adequate
111o 20 60
sides this, we are beginning to catch
the wider significance Of play and
TO recognize that the play ground is
a social institution, just as much as
are the home, the church, and the
school.
AS a matter of fact, there should
be play for everybody. For young
and for old, play is one of the most
important concerns Of life, and no
one should be too old to enjoy it.
Schiller said: '.Man is wholly man
only when he plays" and Fr0adel
tells US; play is the purest and
most spiritual activity of mankind.
1t holds the course of all that is
good And anyone of you know
All work and no play makes Jack a
dull boy" So then let us play. Let
us not be like the extension lecturer
who had accumulated a great amount
of valuable information on the
spirit of Play in Adults When
however. he was asked by a group CT
young people to join in series of
games and dances, he protested in
CONSERVATION that he never did such
things. He was then and there in
lated, and afterwards declared he
had never had such a good time in
his life. What is needed is a culti-
Vation of the spirit of play; for
the play instinct, is as we'll esta-
bllshed as any other instinct of the
race, which mankind shares with the
animal, and, like any other instinct,
can only die of disuse
Educators, sociologists, scientists,
statesmen, our increasingly powerful
Women's clubs of the country, and
even the business men and politi-
clans are becoming interested in a
vital, practical way in bringing the
child back into his own world 1t is
estimated that last yearfifty million
dollars were spent in the United
States in providing play facilities for
children, where there had been but
thousands spent before. Luther Bur
bank has given us his book on 1.-The
Training Of the Human Plant Elk
President Roosevelt has expressed
his feelings in number of letters
on the need of play and Fairgrounds,
in one of which he says, play
grounds should be provided for the
child as much as Schools" and again
THE neglect of this matter is to