El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-10-19
ssHEE! a fellow knows now wher
VI TO find the other fellows"

I ~ 10 INA the olner 1elloWS-
A little boy OF somewhere between
three and six years old had been in
troduced to a Neighborhood Play
house He had fingered and played
there and gone again AaG this was
his rapturous comment, as quoted by
Mrs. Elizabeth Byrne FERN, who orig
mated the Neighborhood Playhouse
idea, and who now tells Us how it has
worked out
We are told that play is the great
educator. II is supposed to be the duty
OF child too young TO 90 TO school
and too old TO sit in its mothers lap
to develop itself by playing with all
its might and main. We adults have
heard this so much that we are dis
posed TO worry about a child who be-
comes tired Of playing. or who doesn't
like TO play alone. or who doesn't play
happily under supervision We are in
clined to call the small creature to
rather strict account for its unpIay-
fulness-
But where Is he to play on anything
like the scale, hat is. that childhood
games demand2 On a city sidewalk?
In the extremely narrow restrictions
Of city back yard? In temporarily
unused corner of somebody's bedroom2
Mrs. FERNS Invention.
II IS just this interesting question
that Mrs. FERN has carefully thought
out. and. as she believes. found the
answer to. And this answer takes
the form OF an entirely new institu-
ton, the Neighborhood Playhouse.
To begin with. Mrs. FERN found that
children like TO play with other chill
dren Of their own neighborhood They
don't particularly like TO be taken to
distant spots to play with children
whom their elders consider "des.ra-
BILE" Do parents know this?
Have you ever heard the tone OF
complaint in a child's voice and seen
the look OF dissatisfaction in his
eyes2" asks Mrs. Fern How often
have heard that tone. and when I
have sympathetically stunned to look
for the cause I have invariably found
a child in charge Of an adult. distract
ed from his real needs, pushing along
some expensive toy. which only served
to irritate the child and further &C
centuate his distinctness from other
children"
on the other hand. the street won't
serve as a playground Neither viii
most homes, both bectuse they haven't
proper play facilities and because the
atmosphere IS too personal
So, II YOU were five years old and
gone 10 school. and the backyard
looked uninteresting and It was a
rainy day besides-wouldn't you think
it a very wonderful thing TO go to
playhouse in the next block and stay
until dinner timer"
An Infant Clubhouse
The idea is almost that OF an IN
FAINT clubhouse. Every child In the
neigh borhood belongs 10 the club. Ev-
erything in the clubhouse belongs to
the children. Every child associates
on perfectly free and equal terms with
every other child.
Very old fashioned people who be-
lieve that a child should be nagged
and supervised practically all the time
that il is awake doubtless viii DIS
approve Of this idea Some theorists
cooked that up" they will object with
a good deal of scorn. at would never
work out In practice, and even II II
did, It would give children Tar TOO
much liberty.
But the interesting thing is that IT
does work out And though It gives
children liberty. II gives them respon-
sibility at the same time. II play ma
terials are destroyed. the children
themselves have no way of replacing
them So they learn to be careful.
Likewise If a child doesn't MAY
fair he pays the natural penalty That
is. the other children won't play with
him. And it's very much less FUN TO
play at home by oneself. So the spirit
Of fairness Is bred.
Furthermore. in the playhouse there
is no audience for whines or com