The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1921-06-09

A gigantic clock with human wheels
and springs working with perfect
rythm and precision was the spectacle
which greeted the thousands of par
ents and friends of the five thousand
school children Of the Kenosha public
schools during the first All-School
Field Day at Simmons Athletic Field
Friday afternoon. Seen from the
crowded grand stand and bleachers the
drilling presented a veritable sea of
white and black rising and swaying as
though the wind were blowing over the
ripples on the surface.
The grand stand and bleachers ap-
peared all decked up with the colors
Of the various schools as though a
worlds series game was in progress
on the field. Fully three thousand peo-
pie assembled to watch the children
go through their exercises under the
direction Of the instructors in the
Department Of Physical Education.
Chilly Weather Handicap.
The brisk north wind that greeted.
the participants proved to be a ire
mendous handicap to the fulfllment of
all the events scheduled for the day
1t was necessary to move forward the
time for the events in which the child
rem of the kindergartens and the first,
second and third grades-there were
1880 Of em-participated so as to al
low for their removal from the field
early in the afternoon. Thanks to the
thoughtfulness of the supervisors of
the exercises the children were all
warmly dressed and there was very
little complaint of the cold.
The first events of the afternoon
were the Junior High school competi-
tion field and track events. School
rivalry was entirely prohibited And the
1,190 entries in these events were Sc
lected to enter without thought of the
school they came from. This was found
necessary because of the handicaps
some of the schools had in the way
of numbers entered Some schools
had five hundred entered in one event
while another school entered but fifty
and the results would be too one-sided,
SO all competition was eliminated.
Many Promising Athletes.
Each member entered was eligible to
run in the SO-yard dash without re-
gard to qualifications. In this event
the athletes we're running against time,
each being required to run the eighty
yards in IL seconds flat in order to be
qualified. The next event was the
standing broad jump. Each student
was required to jump six feet and
half in order to qualify in this event.
The third event on the schedule was
the throwing of basket ball, open
to both boys and girls.
These events were followed by mass
drills and games in which approx
mately 2,400 lower grade furnished
took part. The Since band furnished
the music for these drills and the band
also gave various concert selections
between the drills. In these drills
we're demonstrated the methods of
supervised physical culture used in the
schools to make the children physically
efficient as we'll as mentally efficient.
Last went is Feature.
Sixteen hundred and forty children
from the fourth, fifth and sixth
grades participated in the last event
of the afternoon which was the feature
of the days entertainment. Setting up
exercises and mass drills with both
boys and girls exhibited perfect time
and unison and offered splendid
testimonial to the efforts of the physi-
cal instructors.
Photographers perched on the roof
of the grand stand took pictures of
these drills and they will be used in
the biennial report of the superinten-
dent of schools to show just what
Committees Have Big Job.
Much Of the success of the meet is
due to the efforts of the committees
whose cooperation made a gigantic
task possible. The finance committee,
headed By Louis Rahr, reports that
the day more than paid for itself