The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1914-08-18

iillNHH NtlNntlNs ~ EOou ny
which To get indigestion is To stay i'm
the house continuously, worry, avoid
the fresh air and take no exercise.
by following these directions you can
bring upon yourself a beautiful case Of
Indigestion. and in very short time.
, IL YOU do not want it, get out in the
open air, take plenty of exercise. and
carry the spirit of play into the things
YOU do. Constant use OF the smaller
muscles, such as the fingers, or long
concentration i'm thought, without
proper exercise for the fundamental
bring about nervousness. Use the large
muscles in play, and throw off the
nervous strain. \ large proportion of
the insanity in this country is directly
traceable To nervous strain, and at the
rate insanity is increasing in this
country we will all be i'm the insane
asylum within two hundred years.
Further, a nervous teacher makes a
nervous class, so if there is any way of
preventing ii we ought to do it. | be-
lieve no teacher can keep herself in
proper condition for teaching school
unless she has one or two hours of
good play in the open air every day.
She will be a happier and better
teacher for doing it..
During the last three decades the
movement for organized play has
grown throughout the civilized world.
In the United States it started in
Boston in 1886; but it was a direct i'm
portation from Germany, where IA be-
ginning had been made several years
earlier. For the last twenty years
play has been u part of the curricu-
lum of many Of the German schools,
and it has produced these two very
important results: The number of
days of absence from school on ac-
count of sickness is very greatly re-
duccd; and in cities where adequate
play facilities are furnished, the pro-
portion of men who were able to pass
creditably the physical examination for
entrance into the army is very much
greater than it is in the cities where
such facilities are not furnished. There
is now about one hour per day of or
ganiZed play as part of the curricu-
lum of the German schools. There are
two hours per day of organized play
in the preparatory schools of Eng
land
The Playground Association OF
America was organized in Washington
in 1906. At that time there were TWEEN
ty cities i'm this country that were
maintaining Fairgrounds. 1t is eight
years since then, and there are now
more than five hundred such cities. In
1909 the state of Massachusetts passed
a law that required every city of fifty
thousand inhabitants to vote whether
or not it would maintain play
grounds. Under that law forty-two
cities voted, and forty voted yes" with
vote that was five to one in the ag-
gregate. Two years later this law
was pushed on To apply to cities of five
thousand inhabitants.
In this country we are now spend
ing about ten million dollars a year on
public recreation, or ten cents per
capita, but for cities of twenty-five
thousand or more the average is
twenty cents per capita. We are, how
ever, spending on private recreation,
moving picture shows, dance halls and
pool rooms, i'm the neighborhood of
twenty dollars per capita. We are
spending about twenty dollars per cap
tia on drink and about ten dollars per
capita on tobacco. 1t is probable that
in every city where "a playground sys-
tenn has been established which
reaches the older boys as well as the
younger boys saving i'm these and
other items is effected with amounts
to considerably more than the amount
spent on public recreation.
Many cities throughout the country
are now copying the system in use ut
Gary, Indiana where organized play is
a part of the school curriculum. SUI
perintendents of schools and presi- |
dents Of normals have been visiting
Gary in such great numbers that they
have been obliged To set aside four
weeks for these people to visit the
place. Otherwise they would inter-
fere with the work. |
There are those who always say that |
play grounds are not needed i'm cities |
the size Of this because there are |
abundant vacant lots where children |
can play. In my own experience the
vacant lot makes very little difference
in the need of Fairgrounds in any city |
The vacant lot does not belong to the |
city; the child il always "a trospasser
there. Such vacant lot may he used
by the big boys To play baseball in the
spring and football i'm the fall; 1t will
not he used by the little children. and
II will not be used much by girls. II
anyone Will keep track Of the games
that are played on such lot he will
learn | think, that good proportion
of the games break up in some kind
Of quarrel and that much of the
language employed is not such as
could be sent through the mails. Such
vacant lots are often under the DOM
ination OF the most vicious influences
In the community. Nor will conditions
be altered If you equip these lots with
any amount Of apparatus and call
them Fairgrounds. If such n vacant lot
mi IL.