The review. [volume] (High Point, N.C.) 1908-19??, 1919-02-27
YOUTH IN CITY STREETS.
Lives Going to Waste for Lack d
Places TO Play ~
tBy Supt. Schools A. As4TayIor,

: T..
By sup' Schools 4 AETayior,
Jane. .AddAms, in one Of her books
has a chapter with the caption OF
this article. Her presentation is so
forceful that wish to quote copious.
ly as follows: ,e.
THE classical city 9pruuaotad play
with careful sollcitude, building the
theater and stadium as it builk the
market place and the temple. = The
Greeks held their games an integral
part OF. religion and patriotism.
In the medieval city the knights
held their Journeys aa. 1.-THE guilds
their pageants.. > a.s.zss,I #
'Only in the modern city have men
concluded. that it is no longer neces-
sary for the municipality to provide
for the Unsuitable desire for play.
"a further difficulty lies in the fact
that industrialism has gathered to-
gether multitudes of eager young
creatures from all quarters of the
earth as labor supply for countless
factories and workshops, upon which
the present Industrial city is based.
Never bef ore in civilization have
such numbers of young girls been
suddenly released from the protec--
tion of the home and permitted to
walk unattended upon city streets
and to work under alien roofs; for
the first time they are being priced
more for their labor power than for
their innocence, their tender beauty,
their ephemeral gaiety. Society cares
more for the products they manu-
facture than for their immemorial
ability to reaffirm the charm of exist
ence. Never before have such num-
bers of boys earned money independ-
emily of the family life, and felt
themselves free to spend it as they
choose in the midst of vice deliberate
,ly disguised as pleasure.
J. 'The stupid experiment of organic
ing work and failing to organize play
has, Of course, brought about a fine
revenge. The love Of pleasure will not
be denied, and when it has turned into
all sorts of malignant and vicious ap-
petites, then we, the middle aged,
grow quite distracted and resort to
all sorts Of restrictive measures. We
even try to dam up the sweet foun-
tain itself because we are affrighted
by these neglected streams; but al
most worse than the, restrictive
measures is our apparent belief that
the city itself has no obligation in
the matter, an assumption upon
which the modern city turns over to
commercialism practically all the pro-
visions for public recreation.
"Quite as one set of men has or
ganized the young people into indus
trial enterprises in order to profit
from their toll, SO another set of men
and also women, I am sorry to say,
have entered the neglected field of
recreation and have organized enter
prises which make profit out of this
invincible love of pleasure"
Reader, how does the< Impeachment
of the modern city, by Miss Addams,
strike you, as applicable to the mod
ern city Of High Point? Are we
guilty.? Have we made machines
and merchandise Of our boys and
girls? Are they grinding at the mill
to fill our Golfers? Are they old before
their time? Have We robbed them
of their youth?
I want to plead for a place for the
children to play, for public play
grounds fitted with playground equip
ment, at public expense or by private
subscription. even as you may see it
in other modern cities. Winston-Sa
lem has made some progress in this
line, and supposing that this poem
did its part there, we reprint it here:
PLAY GROUND
(One prevention against disease and
crime.)
Plenty of room for dives and dens,
glitter and glare of sin
Plenty of room for prison pens,
gather the criminals IND
Plenty of room for jaiIs and courts;
(willing enough to pay)
But never place for the lads to race,
never place to play
Plenty of rooms for shops and stores.
-Mammon must have the best.
Plenty of room for unning sores,
that rot in the city'S breast
Plenty of room for lures
that lead the hearts of youth astray.
But never cent On the playground spent,
mo. never place to play
Plenty of room for schools and halls
plenty of room for art.