The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1909-06-01

depend on him to keep active without
much of your Interference. l have
read a book of genuine sense intended
[ for teachers, but quite as
useful for spectators n interpre-
ters like us. 1t is called "CiVics and
Health and is by that able and bel
ligerent advocate of the theory of cur
ing municipal ills by letting the air
in on them. William H. Allen, the
Secretary of the New York Bureau
Of Municipal Research. Mr.. Allen
quotes as a sort of text in one of his
chapters this from Luther Burbank:
Every child should have mud pies,
grasshoppers and tadpoles. Wild
strawberries, acorns, and pine cones.
trees to climb and brooks to wade in.
sand, snakes, hu~ckleberries and hor-
nets; and any child who has been
deprived of these has been deprived
of the best part of his education"
Almost any boy can get these things
in Dayton, Ohio. It's the boy in New
York, in Chicago, in Pittsburgh, the
boy whose home is IN air-tight flat,
whose father and mother are in an
endless struggle for rent and food
money, whose only playground is a
street which never say a grasshOpper
or tadpole, and where his possession
Of it is disputed by drays, pushcarts.
. L Wv gill ~ Ups. d Cdlk
you expect Of that boy? You cannot
expect him to keep still. He cannot.
He will find something, papers to sell.
boots to black, errands to run, gangs
to join and he will learn with a boys
unshrinking directness the ancient
and terrible wisdom Of the street. He
learns it not from choice, but because
he is given no place in which to learn
other things. Give him a playground
or a shop and see how quickly he Will
take to tools or athletics or gardening.
The stories Mr.. Allen tells Of the
promptness with which boys and girls
take possession of every spot opened
to them in New York all fill me with
glee. There are the vacant schools.
/ never heard Of them until last win
ter. All summer long from nine to
twelve the New York school houses
in districts where the children never
leave town, are opened, not for book
study, but for any occupation of the
hands the child wants. 1t must be a
heartening sight.
"One who visits vacation schools
Mr.. Alien says. lis struck with the
difference Of the atmosphere from
thai of the winter day schools. Here
are the same rooms, the same children
and in many cases the same teachers,
but different work. Each child is
busy with a bright, interested, happy
expression and easy attitude. Some are
at nature study, some are weaving
baskets. making dresses, trimming
hats. knitting bright WOrSted sacks
and mittens for the winter. Boys are
carpentering, raffia, or wrought-irOn
work. In none of the rooms is the
absolute unity or the m~ethodical or
der of the winter schOolrOom, buzz
rather the hum of the WOrkroom and
the order that comes from a rOOmful
of children interested in the progress
Of their work"
But there are other openings for
them. The roofs of the school houses
are turned into Fairgrounds which are
crowded from morning until night. In
certain sections where there are va
cant lots, school farms are being es-
tablished. Take to it? They beg to
be given the plot if not bigger h
a desk top. The boy or girl who Sc
cures one is happy for the summer.
Those who do not. get their comfort
in sitting on the fence watching their
luckier mates, Pining for something
active and interesting to do-thats
the normal boy in country or city.
All We nave to do is to steer him into
a healthy open place and give him
his head. Who can tell how many
a Wright the world has lost because
there is no room anywhere for him to
fly a kite or build a bob-sled, 1t
is not our teaching they need; they
know how to learn. tits not our ap-
paratus; they IAN make their own
tools. It is not our presence: they
are masters of their own world: IN
is lot, a roof, a backyard, an
abandoned pier. Give it to them and
their busy brains will turn it n a
Boys Kingdom.