The Irish standard., 1915-05-01


pressed upon social workers when
they come into intimate and confiden-
tial relations with the immigrant popu-
lation is the distress they experience
i'm trying to bring up their children
under the new conditions.
The majority of them are accus-
toned to greater out-of-door activities
in the lands from which they come
The folk songs, games and dances, the
times enjoyed by the family together,
are among the charms of life not only
in Italy, but in France, Germany, Swe-
den and other countries as we'll.
There, it is more the custom for the
whole family to have their good times
together. Here, the special places for
the men in the way of saloons and
other forms of so-called recreation, and
those that appeal particularly to the
children, help to break the family up
and progressively to install disinte-
grating, specialized forms of diversion.
Effects Of Surroundings on Body and
Mind.
This makes the matter of present
form of amusement of double conse-
quence. 1t has its immediate effect on
those who are participating in the diff
ferent kinds of recreation, and it is
also making habit and tradition which
will descend to the children. 1t is bad
enough to register the consequences
of recreation on wrong lines in the
bodies of those who participate in and
make habit of that kind of recrea-
ton. It decreases efficiency, lowers
the tone, and is losing game for
those who practice it. 1t is at the
same time insidiously confirming in
the minds and practices of people in
acquiescence and a demand for that
particular form of city life. 1t is dis
tinct loss to any community to have it
instilled in the minds of it's growing
children that it Is ar intrinsic part of
city to have saloons and brothels,
arrests, disorderly houses, and whole
line of low tone, destructive, so-called
recreation agencies.
Bringing Back the Open Spaces.
One of the most hopeful develop
ments that has taken place in our
modern life is the bringing back to
the people of open spaces, of swim
ming pools, field houses, Fairgrounds,
recreation facilities of a wholesome
sort.
AS city life is organized to-day, the
working man is unable to provide prop
er recreation for himself and for his
children. 1t must be a community
affair. Together the people must plan
and make provision for this matter of
recreation.
once heard man say that he felt
it almost more important to know
what the young men in his employ did
outside their working hours than what
they did while employed.
Family Recreation In England and
France.
BY the very weight of present ad-
justments, the temptation is placed on
the average working man to make a
wrong use of his recreation moments.
Some of the most cheering sights that
one sees in England are the bowling
green's, the cricket fields and other
places of recreation catered about
the cities, the working people after
hours spending the long twilight in
some form of delightful out-of-door rec
reation. Great use, also, is made of
vacant spaces-allotments they are
called-along railroad tracks. Indeed,
all the land about the cities is parceled
out to those who wish to use it for
flower and vegetable gardens; and as
one travels about, one sees hundreds
of people-men, women and children,
employed in this way during their
leisure moments.
In the parks about Paris one will
see whole families, father, mother,
children, the grandfather and the
grandmother, all playing together, or
with employments and recreations suit
able to each group.
Family Outings In Germany.
In Germany, the average working
man loves to spend his Sunday in the
open air. In the large cities they
start early in the morning with their
whole family, even the babies. They
take their dinner, the children their
playthings, the mother some needle
work. BY train or trolley they reach
some place in the country and settle
under tree in the meadow, on the
bank of river, at any place they like,
for the day. In the smaller places
where the open country can be reached
more easily, they sometimes prefer
having an early dinner at home, but
the afternoon is spent out in the open.
Around nearly all the large German
cities are so-called garden colonies. A
big area is divided into small lots that
are left for garden purposes. The
single lots are sometimes only about
sixteen by thirty-three feet, but the
tract contains little cottage or arbor,
small lawn and heap Of sand as a
playground for the youngsters; and in
these places an abundance of flowers