New-York tribune., 1918-04-07
Laura CreWs
Theories on
Work and Play
Has a Plan to Stem the
Tide of Agricultural
Desertions

Every one is agreed that person
must have so many hours for play, so
many for sleep, and so many for work;
but very few are agreed on the num-
Der OF hours one may play, or work. or
sleep. Some would play all the time
Some are drones and would sleep all
the time, while there are exceptions
who welcome twenty-four hours of
work. Neither if exaggerated is good
for the human body, and Miss Laura
Hope Crews, who appears in the
Shubert production of "a Pair of Petit
coats" at the Forty fourth Street
Roof Theatre, has outlined schedule
which will work out we'll in anybody's
case.
Miss Crews is at the theatre from
to 1880 every night except Sunday,
and twice a week she has matiness.
These arc Miss Crews's official hours
for work, although she spends many
more hours working when she is not
she devotes to play is in reality what
other people call work. At present
she is writing a play during her hours
off stage. This is recreation to Miss
Crews, although to many others it
would be labor of the hardest kind
She is firm believer in eight hours
Of sleep for everybody. Unless the
body and mind are rested they will
not perform the duties required, and
in Miss Crews's opinion, it takes at
least eight hours Of sleep to rest the
body. If person performs very
strenuous physical labor nine hours
sleep may be necessary.
"There arc times" says Miss Crews,
when mental work is rest for the
body. If a person has been doing very
strenuous work, and his body is tired,
there is nothing as resting as some
problem to work out with the mind.
That is the reason good book is often
resting. A book soothes the mind, and
at times induces sleep. I have known
people who became so tired from their
efforts on the stage that they were
unable to sleep for several hours. l
have also experienced this difficulty
myself, but now l know how to remedy
it. At such times l read very dry
book, or work out a difficult problem
in mathematics. One or the other is
bound to produce results.
physical labor is very fatiguing,
especially if one is not accustomed to
it. Last summer I did some work on
my farm in New Hartford. l went
right out in the garden with my hoe
and worked for five hours in the morn
ing, as hard as l could work. For the
first few weeks the morning work was
all could stand. Gradually, however,
my muscles became accustomed to the
strain, and l was able to work part Of
the afternoon as we'll. AS the summer
wore on l could get up at S o'clock in
the morning, work until Z, and then
after ! had breakfasted l could work
on until noon. Then after light
lunch l was able to finish the after
noon on the farm. Needless to say,
when nightfall came ! was able to ac-
quire sleep with very little effort. One
never needs sleep producing drugs
after hard days work on the farm.
However, too much work Of this
kind makes n man sluggish I believe
in plenty Of recreation. 1t would be
much better if farmers stopped work
for three hours during the day and
played baseball. This would rest their
minds, give their bodies somethiny
different to do, and they would sleep
easier and take greater joy in life.
With II programme Of this character
VIC would not have so many boys lcav-
Ing tho farms for Cities"