The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-10-07
Exporting Fairgrounds
Spread of Our American Rec reatiOn Movement in Coun- tries of. the Orient.-China Shows Most Progress.
c. M. Goethe.

|
 New East,'' the message of the Am erican movement for play and recrea- ton. He had earlier established a playground at an orphange in Sacra-
 mento and helped to organize the play l ground work of the city. MT. and Mrs Goethe are backing playground | work in Calcutta until point is l reached where the government will take it over,- and they are also con tributing the American share toward
 a playground leader in Korea-)
 CExclusive Service The Survey Press Bureau)
 A Mexican governor addressed his l people in 1908 with words which five
 years later seem almost prophetic. He said: Today Mexico had Diaz. That
 means peace. Diaz is old. When he is gone, what will happen? I say as long as your recreation centefs in the bull fight, as long as your little boys,
 and mothers with babes at breast,
 flock to these places, so long will Mex ico be a land of revolutions. While
 the strong hand of Diaz still supports
 you, commence, now, to find a, sub
 stitute in character building recrea-
 tion.''
 Watch the crowd in Montezuma's
 capital coming from the bull ring
 Men and boys scramble, almost fight,
 for strips of muscle from a dead bull
 They believe that eating this prevents cowardice. Little children carry away
 in triumph the cruel steel barbs4 glee-l
 fully accounting scenes not much re-
 moved in b1oodiness from those of the
 arena in which gIadiators fought and
 early Christians were martyred. You
 turn away, feeling that, with our Knowledge of a better recr cation, there comes a. responsibility to transmit that knowledge to those whose civilization is different.
 Recreation is a world need. To what
 6oS5 -foar7 r.-t 5reatfon movement spread to the coun- tries of the Orient? There are only a few little beginnings. A start has been made in Manila Through the co-operation of the Young Men Chris- tfan Association and the Playground and Recreation Association, a. com mittee was appointed by Acting Gov-l ernor-G General Gilbert, who granted ani appropriation for an experimental l playground in the Tondo, a congested l first. The attendance, ran into thou sands. The effotr now is for con1-J plete Manila system; and then should | come extension tllroug gholt the islands. The Fi1fpinos Legislature is quick to 1 appreciate work toward social better ment. Members return to, their homes with strong eonvtctions that heir towns should have the same inproVe- ments as the capital ssA
 Talk to the typical Chinese merchant of Singapore or Penang. owner of tin mines and plantations of pineapple-f Princeton, another at Oxford. whel poured his wealth into China to back9E the theoriss Of Sun Ykat IS in iusstsi the Manchu. How his Knowledge of American institutions suppr ises you; l; and how eager he is to learn of Am erican pIaygrounds. At his paIatiaI country home, with 1uxuriant growth of mango and cocoa nuts and brilliant bougainveolHas. you will find < lodgei gates decorated with the porcelain Chinese lucky dog and the Araerican1 Eagle. He is proud, to have the enl-al bIem of our republic, the model IferI
 New China, The soil here awaits the1t seed. It will grow as illx- uriant1y as the bananas on his esxate5i
 Or go to the Temple Of Kali ins sCai- cutta for striking argument of play ground extension in st11e Orient Vel had planned to arrange for asmodeTE in India, preferably at Bombey or Delhi. It hadsIs been suggested to us that we see D. w. Lee. who with lis wife. Ada Lee has g. reputation all over India for ac- comp1ishing things. Alter we told them the playground story, which vel from Yoko11 oma to Cairo MT. Lee said; 'HThts plan seems good. My niece has seen playground work in 3 Los Angeles. We will discuss the mat
  will then be- better Informed.
 So we went to the temple of Kai, ,aIt Goddess of Hate. Our word thug is Hindustian. It comes from an or-i ganfzatbon of thieves and murderers 1 whoes headquarters were at the tenn ole and who shared spoils with the ( priests. The man who originally gave he jungle land for the temple was ] shrewd real estate operator, al- -hough he had not heard of f+unearn- sd increment When Kali was cary sd to pieces by her husband, Shiva, 9ne of the fingers fell on this spot, which henceforth became sacred. The egend was evidently concocted by the shrewd realty operator, though there s no record that he sold lots at a T 'upee down, a rupee a month. Trades nen for several blocks around depend i 1pon the visitors to the temple The D; alter is situated in the center of a square, in crowded, dirty part of l Calcutta. tI is reached through a g narrow alley, bounded by stalls filled garments, save the sacred thread over ] he shoulder.
 The temple visitors are largely wom- v an. Many bring children, some sick, v o the shrine of the goddess who sends ( disease The courtyard is. crowded. In E front of the shrine is a struggling y mass Of women, each fighting for the ,hance to lay her offering at the feet | ,f the dread Goddess. Big burIy Hin | lus are at the entrance. One says o something like, Kali. One eyed god : less Hate,' Then with a formation f ike the old flying wedge of American F ootbaH, they rush int othe mass of I women, opening a. lane to the hideous r yrinning idol. Leaving the shrine, the 0 women run through line of almost e laked 5Bfahnnins to where young kids, o with feet bound, are stacked like piles f f cordwood. Each mother pays the D sead priest Another priest decapi- n ates a kid, the mother meanwhile lolding her screaming child so close a hat the squirting blood will strike it's O ace. The paving stones became slip a ,ery with blood. A more horrible t
 nad I1,