New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-03-04
Growing Problem
of Play
Continued from Page T'co

~
Su &C answered the bespectacled
.nrster. with an inclusive wave of his
,nd 10 indicate that the whole width
p"4 ,be cutter was his free field.
.Gt's rretty hard, sometimes, with the
40 always bothering you" he contm-
w ~ "and there's always somebody
a ' or sick with headache"
nWhat do you do when the cops chase
Vol off this blOck?"
4Oh. there are other blocks ne SAID
18th an air of one who bore up well UNI
sor the hand of circumstance. But
~oorlS will complain; there used to be
nan who wrote songs-Victor Her
hort think-and every time he wanted
10 write one he used to come out and
ask US to move on.
Rv this time the whole juvenile pop
.lotion of the neighbOrhood had gath
ored 70 offer me information. Some OF
tbo later arrivals didn't care whether |
nsedtheir names or not. Kenneth OShay
rdBuster McGrath were the most per-
.stsnt expounders Of their grievances.
Tbere was Central Park, but there were
Keep Off the Grass signs, and police
men to enforce them.
aren't there any closed streets where
VOL can play without worrying about
automobiles p
@Tbis isn't the East Side came the
supercilious proclamation of little boy
in 2 Buster Brown collar, whose wistful
owes evidently meant that he wished it
were. over on the East Side they
have Fairgrounds and gyms, and
streets where the automobiles have to
keep off,
The young voices grew more and
more indignant and belligerent, and !
began to feel like the instigator OF popu-
lar riot and discomfort. Somebody III
the crowd had suggested | was re-
Porter. and they were evidently going
70 1--WE their grievances an airing.
Possibly these children of the West
NiDeties were a bit inaccurate and UNI
statistical. There must be some block
on which there is no sick baby, and on
WHICH s----s'idier auntS with sick head
aches reside. But their protest in gen
eral holds true.
1t is corroborated, for example, by
Dr.. Birkins, the principal of Public
School 10, school situated in a by no
means hunger-ridden district in Harlem.
We've been trying to get that for a
playground for years" he said, as he
pointed to q rubbish-flled lot next to
The school, but at present the streets
are the only Fairgrounds in the neigh
horhoOd'
didn't ask my little Ninety-odd
Street informants whether they'd pre-
fer to move over to Rivington Street in
order to enjoy the benefits of public
Fairgrounds. Although ! have half
suspicion that if ever they played in
one, they would say yes, right of the
reel. Some parents on West End Ave
nue. have engaged college students
to take their sons to Van Cortlandt
Park for an afternoons play every day.
But these people are already on the fur
Their side Of the nebula known as the
middle class Children of solid apart
ment blocks must become commuters if
they want to play.
| live in middle class neighbOrhood,
and while it may appear like selfish class
interest, I'd like to put in plea for the
children Of mine and similar districts.
It's not that care for myself, but there
are lot of little friends of mine who
will grow I'D with deathless grudge
against all government unless the City
Of New York gives them somewhere to
play. ] can already hear the murmur
o. protest AS | sit near a half open
window worrying about this problem OF
Fairgrounds / can hear their shrill dis
harmonies. 1t sounds like a concerted
attempt at "Way Down Upon the Suwa-
nee River" but know better. These
poor, well fed, we'll dressed children,