Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-11-02

~
n children of Europe. young and
~ old, to play
Faces pale from undernour-
ishment during the years of war. or per-
haps with a pailor from days Of terror
spent underground in the ruins of
former homes. are to be won back to
health and childhood by the great
American ideal of play.
Serious faced children of Poland,
rou,.I-ey.u youngsters of France, the
p~ed faces of erstwhile Belgian
Dgees, the. toiling children OF
ltalys crowded populations. boys and
girls. all are to be taught the lesson
of American play which their soldier
brothers learned during the war and
are still learning.
When, last Fourth of July. on the
great esplanade at Lyon, France. the
y. NJ. G. A. put on an enormous play
fete" with 5000 French boys and
girls going through the drills and
folk dances which are feature OF
nearly every American public school
entertainment. the 10000 French spec
tators expressed the widest enthusi-
asm.
1t was not merely because each
family's Jean and Leonie were TAX
\ ing part; it was the novelty OF
the spectacle. as. pink-cheeked and
bright-eyed with the vigorous exer-
else. they advanced by Fights and
"cclumned left" or later skipped
through the figures of the familiar
Morris dances. 1t was the idea that
children could get together for mass
games and that school might mean
the growth of the game spirit and
the building up of sturdy bodies as
we'll as of quick minds.
France Wanted to Learn.
The man who is responsible for this
revelation to the people of Lyon IS
Elmer Schreiner. formerly in charge
of physical training in the public
schools of Mount Vernon, N. Y. Mr..
Scheiner went overseas for the Y.
NJ. c. A. in February, 1918, beginning
his work with athletics among the
French troops. He soon found that
he had a much larger problem on his
hands. The entire French population
wanted to learn to play. and the
children probably needed it most of
all. Mr.. Schreiner is now in France.
at the request of the French govern
ment, to introduce American physical
training. with it's bodybuilding ex-
ercises, its base ball its basket ball
and it's folk dances, among the civil
ian population of France and to train
French teachers, who will make the
work permanent.
Nowhere in Europe do people know
the game spirit" They understand
1t somewhat in England. but it is safe
to say that even there the play in
stinct does not extend to all classes
of the population as in the United
States. In Belgium, in France, in
Italy, sport is the monopoly of the
rich man. There Is no sport for the
working classes. There is no physi-
cal training in the schools. and more
than that. there is no popular con-
nf far chi1drap
or adults anywhere. One. returned
athletic director told that the only
game he had seen played extensively
by French children was marbles, and
the only time he had seen French
children out for a good romp was on
Mardi Gras day. and that came only
once year.
French Soldiers. Amazed.
This is even more true of adults.
French soldiers at first saw with
amazement the enthusiasm with which
Nhe American doughboy went in for
base ball. foot ball, soccer and track
scarce and poor in quality. Sammy"
might be bunking that night in a
mud puddle, or he might already have
put in a ten-hour day at ditch dig
ging. But aching muscles and the
general depression vanished miracu-
UP for practice.
ma fol-" grunted little Frenchy,
"what silly chaps are les Americans"
But in spite of himself he got in
terested. he and a lot of his comrades,
and one day they requested the ''Y''
to send over a man to form a French
base ball nine and furnish little
coaching. The Foyers du Soldat the
French Y. NJ. c. AS. took up the idea,
and today base ball has made a per-
manent place for itself with the
soccer. to tennis. and to track and
field sports.
The advent of z NJ C. A. athletic