The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1912-03-18
THE PLAYGROUND MOVEMENT
lContinued from 1st pagel

Boyhood ia q period of growth, and
1t Is all-important how the boy grows.
Wise and properly informed direction
should guide through the differing
periods; and is it not possible to learn
and then to teach the right form OF
play at the right time In the boys adj
vance. and make all the mighty pos
sibilities for good or evil In this play
conform themselves to the law OF
wholesome growth, and thus go
long way towards making nation OF
splendid men?
We have democratic life in theory,
and we have 1t sometimes in reality.
Zangwill, the Hebrew dramatist, Is
frequently and approvingly quoted Tor
calling the American public school
"the melting pot of the nations" mean
! ing thereby that all within them are
on an equal footing, racial differences
are under flame, and so are dross and
unworthiness in each burned away,
and only the red gold, which makes
| for civil excellence, remains.
This is not half true. In most pub
lie schools in some degree racial diff
ferences with accompanying prejud-
/ ices yet obtain; the color line is large
ly still a dead line, and woe to the
scholar who is rash enough to cross;
the rich expect. and sometimes get,
consideration; the poor in cheap
clothes are made to feel the greater
blessings of good dress on the backs
Of more fortunate schoolmates; and
the recess and dismissal times are
periods for the grouping of differing
social compilations, just as sharply
and definitely marked as If each
group wore uniform making a tri-
bal distinction. In many places. too,
religion is yet a Chinese wall and
makes full communion nigh to impos-
sible. But he who says that the play
ground is the melting pot" will tell
the absolute truth Here boy
counts for what he is. that is, what
he can do. Is he feetest he is first;
is he strongest he is hailed the chief;
is he bravest and gentlest his is the
palm and is he noblest he is king OF
all the hearts His color or family
neither win nor lose him place. Here
at last is the real Bohemia. the
dreamers land, where only merit
wins the crown John Boyle O'Reilly.
once heartsick at the froth and show
of the vulgar world about him, cried
out from his sweet heart:
I'D rather live in Bohemia than in
any other land,
For only there are the values true,
And the laurels gathered in all mems
view"
All else is worthless How 1t would
have delighted his wholesome soul,
could he have seen the thousands on
the Fairgrounds, and for the first
time in history on the cool, clear
heights, Irish boy and Jew boy, Can
adam and Syrian, Turk and Christian,
white boy and black boy. Swede and
Pole, Finn and Dane Greek and ltal-
ian, all In hand and heart and place
one with the child of the Cavalier and
the Puritan, and everyone of them
with the sunlight OF whole summer
in his eyes.
Every playground is city in min
iature and the children therein are
receiving solid training towards a
superb citizenship. In fact nearly all
the time they do better here than
their elders do in the real city life.
Conduct is everything. Above all
else they are made TO play fair" the
boy guilty OF any indirection or bru-
tally is at once in disgrace; the Ian.
guage OF the lips must be clean. dir
ty" speech repeated puts a boy out.
side the pale; they must be patient,
too. and each one in mannerly fashion
await his turn; obedient also must
they be to law higher than their
own Wills, and gentle ever to those
younger or weaker than themselves;
and all these things have in them
promise of the highest civic good.
When young people play no games,
they soon learn to run in gangs" and
the gang spirit is near akin to the
spirit OF the wolf; II is coward, but
Il soon learns to sneak anu snarl and
snap and rend After thirty years in
the priesthood my feeling is that
many q boy, who becomes a curse"
could have been saved had he had
the sure right to play and do II in res
pectable companlonship. His trend
could have been pointed right
In our playground we did not for
get TO teach children TO work as well
as TO play. Under very competent
teachers the girls were taught to
make their own clothes. and actually
did make them. and clothes for others
In their families as we'll They were
taught plain sewing, embroidery and
lace making. while boys and girls
were taught rafiia and other elemen-
tary arts and crafts. A great tent the
day OF the Tailltenn Games was GOV.
cred completely, so too. the tables
stretched within IL, with marvellous.
| ly beautiful articles OF worth, and the
children with shining eyes and swift.
soft fingers sat and reproduced the
article before the delighted visitors.
The commingling OF thousands on
the Worcester Fairgrounds last sum.
mer gave opportunity for a splendid
thing. the awakening Of the magma.
ton and the higher emotions. II is
said that we grow like those with
whom we live. and that may mean we
grow towards the good or the bad.
Very often the old Puritan nature, un.
relieved or frightened by a Celtic. n
Norman, Latin, or an Oriental drop
Of blood is a cold and sad faced thing.
All the winters of two hundred years
are in Il, 1t needs warmth. imagin.
alton. the sense OF color. sight OF
the spiritual side OF things. II needs
In some way to be made conscious Of
presences in the sunlit clouds, In the
sheen upon the water, in the waving
OF the grasses, in the billowing OF the
tree tops, in the winds that 20 sing.
ing by: II needs deep draughts OF the
more abundant life outside ourselves,
which the little Gael OF the sea.grey
eyes knows, and the jew boy who in
fancy has heard the battle shouts OF
/ the Maccabpcs feels. and which little