Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1912-09-05
SOCIAL LESSONS ARE
INS1ILLED BY SPORTS
SO Says DIR. Henry s. Curtis,
Former Secretary Of Play
ground Association.
TEACHES A BOY LOYALTY
Famous Organizer OF Play Advocates
the Promotion Of tho National
Pastimo Among Youths
OF Today.

Chicago. Aug. 24.-"Playing baseball
With a regular team teaches a boy 10y
atty and instills social lessons hat will
affect his whole life. Competition with
the ordinary back-lot nine will not do
this. Therefore, get the boys to work
on permanent teams and reap h bene-
fits of organized recreation"
This was the announcement on the
national game made by DR.. Henry s.
Curtis, former secretary OF the Play
ground Association of America, in q
lecture on play at h University of
clared the game AS played by pickup
teams on acant lots to be a much
overrated institution because Of its
emphasis on individual performances.
DR.. Curtis handed the educators
something like a shock when he de-
clared that geography and mathema-
tics were by no means 81 large a part
Of a boys education as they are gen
orally regarded in schools. The inn
portance Of athletics as a beneficial
agent in bringing up the young is not
realized. he declared.
Encourages CIean Living.
Nothing in the world takes hold Of
a young man like athletics" he said.
Sports encourage clean living. The
bad craftsmanship toward those who
are depending on their success to go
out OF training in season. Consequent
ly they have good health and good
thoughts at the same time.
Games. such as baseball, give the
young American is getting his con-
ception Of the law today largely from
the games he plays. We always have
to teach baseball to the boys. We have
when we organize a branch Of ath-
letics in n community. The rules Of
the game are a part Of the moral law
of a boy. If he breaks these avs he
is likely later to break the laws of
the community in which he lives.
When we go into a large city and
talk to the common council concerning
the establishment OF Fairgrounds, some
always asks If we think we have
to teach baseball tothe boys. We an
swer that we do, for the great majority
of our boys do not know the real game.
II you think the ordinary baseball Of
the back lot is the real thing you are
mistaken.
When IS or 20 fellows choose up for
a game, h individual always plays
merely for himself and does not care
for the team. He never learns loyalty
or baseball in this way. On the other
hand. if he belongs to a permanent
team, he learns to subordinate himself
to the team. One Of the things that
civilization stands for most is
SAS oOil1ly VI ldISS LldSSeS VI people W
work for a common good. Baseball
teaches this.
Teaches Loyalty.
"In the playground, for instance, the
boy inds that the judgment on his play
is not an individual, but a social judg-
ment. He is judged solely on the eff
feet of his play on the team as a whole.
Our best organized games are teaching
loyalty just as much as the school
are teaching mathematics.
This thing which the boy learns in
baseball is the same thing that is called
citizenship as applied to a city
and patriotism as applied to the ma
tion.
Every city owes it to its chilren to
provide Fairgrounds. Hundreds of chill
dre, were recently arrested in New
York for playing on the streets. The
city that says the children may not
play on h streets and yet furnishes
them with no other place is running q
school Of crime. In a case OF this kind
we are not dealing with delinquent chill
dren, but with delinquent cities"