Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1910-10-23

ity. PLAY is form of social conduct and
is either moral or immoral, just as life i
itself or other social action is. Play pre-
vents much mischief and vice by merely
giving a healthful expression to motor
restlessness and new interest to occupy
the mind.
ION the positive side it has strong
tendancy towards good. 1t strengthens
the will. The muscles have been called
the organs of the will ana anything
which tends to strengthen the muscles
tends also to STRENGTHEN the will. Play
requires nnumerable choices. which
must be instantly executed. The tend
cncy to instant execution OF purpose is
likely to prove good moral adjunct
Vigorous play teaches determination as
almost nothing else can. Another strong
tendency toward good which play has
is that it's choices are made under con-
dition> of freedom. A child in the
home and at school is under direction,
but the child at play makes his own
choices. Play tends to be pursued WIS
all the might and hence to unity the
mind Play promotes loyalty
George E. Johnson, superintendent
of the Pittsburg Playground association
says, In the long process II racial de-
veopment every organ and instinct with
which a normal child is born has been
tried and found good, has been refined,
and passed on, and yet some higher
function, some yet nobler conduct shall
spring from their roots. Not in the
school but on the playground can these
deep instincts of workmanship imitation,
rivalry. cooperation, find their true and
eenetc expression and build more
stately mansions in the soul rs the swift
seasons ROLL
"Now since people are awakening to
the fact that play is as necessary to the
chi1ds development as school work and
that it is simply part of natures law
Of growth as natural as that buds should
unfold or leaves and flowers should
turn towards the Sun, town or city
that does not provide a place for its
children to p1av does not provide for
them place to grow up, without very
likely coming in conflict with the law
Time was when the children could play
on the streets with comparative safety,
but in these days of rapid transit street
cars. motor cycles, and automobiles, the
child is not safe on the street Where
then can he play? You may say you need
not worry over that, in North Dakota
there is plenty of room. If any of you
have been learning to drive an auto
mobile recently yon have doubtless had
the fact brought forcibly to mind that
the children, even in our smaller towns
do Use the street for a playground and
the sidewalk for skating rink and a
cast way When you look about you YOU
lind that the vacant lots are rapidly dis
appearing. The school yards and resi-
dences yards are small Where then,
even in many of our villages have the
children of the neighborhood TO con-
gregatc but the streets? To remodel a
city is expensive. The necessities should
be planned in advance. Is it not surprs-
ing that school boards, especially in the
new towns where land is cheap, would
build school house without ample
playground? They do this because they
do not realize the Importance of the
fact that the real life of the child is not
lived in the schoolroom, but on the play
ground That in the words of Dr..
Wood Hutchinson, The playground is
the chief field for the development Of
body and mind, of training for social
life. for organization and combination
with his fellows and he goes as far as
to say, Better a playground without a
schoo1house than a schoolhouse without
Playground 1t behooves us to
arouse public sentiment i'll this matter
and see to it that Fairgrounds are Sc
cured in our new and developing states
before land is any higher. Cities should
avoid the errors and observe the exper-
fence of the past. Our great cities have
been forced to expend millions where
thousands would have been sufficient
years ago for Fairgrounds. Even in Our
small towns history has repeated itself.
The school authorities in the town in
which I am most interested have recently
purchased almost the entire double
block adjoining their school buildings
and moved off houses and barns at a
much greater expense than it would
have been few years ago, still they
realized that they must have Fairgrounds
and the price of the lots would not de-
crease, therefore, they must do it now,
| anu thNy AINj W. oA\ S4eAA " say civ
are equipping those grounds with good
apparatus School officers, school
teachers, citizens and parents give the
boys and girls chance to play. Give
them chance for innocent sport, give
them a chance for fun, better play
ground plat than a court and Jail
when the harm is done! Give them a
chance, if you stint them now, tomorrow
you will have to pay much larger bill
for darker i'll, so give them chance
to play /
1t is not within the province of this
paper to discuss the wonderful play
grounds which our cities all over the
land are establishing. l wish time per-
mitted, to review the progress made in
the playground movement. They say
that the proof of the pudding is in the
eating. There is abundant testimony to
prove that the playground is doing the
things claimed for it in this paper Look
and behold the results. Theodore
Roosevelt says of the ten million dollar
Fairgrounds of Chicago, They are the