Palatka daily news. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1919-1994, 1921-06-01
LEARN TO PLAY

LEARN TO PLAY
This is tense age. Life is pitch
ed in a high key. The human instru-
ment is strung taut and under this
tension the strings break easily.
There is small relief from stress
and strain in the life of the average
adult. His neck is in the collar and
the harness creaks in irritating fash
ion as he pulls his heavy load.
Then when the days tasks are
done, to what do overweight peo-
pie turn for diversion? Do they re-
lax? Sometimes; more frequently
though, they engage in some form
of amusement that merely aggravates
their physical, mental and nervous
tension. They do not know how to
relax, how to let down. And
Unless one "lets down" one is quite
certain to elbow up" The explosion
is likely to ensue inside the domestic
portals or among ones fellow work
ers in the factory, the office, the
store. misunderstanding follow;
friends are lost.
And how might people 'let down"
without blowing up?" One said he
did relax, that he went to the movies
and baseball games, theaters, and
similar exciting events. He engaged
in vicarious exercise, passive amuse-
ment, sterilized recreation. This
may have helped some. But it was
not the best form of relaxation be-
cause the man did not let go, did not
express himself, did not use his i'm
agination, and did not play.
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game. They do not play nor do not
know how to play. Or, if they do
know, they are too dignifed. Some
people maintain kind of rigid, I'M
bending dignity even when engaged
in dancing. They are the kind who
know not the ineffable joy of DOMINIC
old clothes and going into the woods,
where one may whoop and sing and
cavert without fear of being mis-
taken, in these days of supersolemni-
ty, for harmless halfwit. Too much
dignity and selfrestraint have spoiled
many an otherwise perfectly good
human being.
Learn to play! It's natures great
est safety valuve.
Happy invigorating play is human
necessity. Man had always possessed
the play inclination. The desire to
laugh and sing, to whistle and dance,
is natural 1t promotes perpetual youth
when one "obeys that impulse. 1t
keeps the arteries elastic, which is
the medical mems way of expressing
youth. One of these prophets of glad
ness phrases it thus: "a man is young
because he plays" A man Doesn't .
play because he is young; he is the
product of his own actions. The old
man who sits down after dinner.
groutchy because he makes a noise.
has already passed on. He ought S
to be Oslerized. He ought to be down c
on the floor playing with the children, S
playing like them, adding to the noise. .
Playing the games of men and
women is good. Playing the childrens /
games and in childrens ways is still
better. Golf and tennis are beneficial.
One-old-cat, hop-scotch, duck-on-a
rock, tag, run-sheep-run, even plain
and jumping, are even more
beneficial. Nobody should be too
'grown-up' to play in that fashion.
Play like a child and stay like a
youthfulness of body at
least. Doff the old man and old wo-
man mentality for a while each day
and indulge in simple, innocent pas
times, the child, with children if DOS
;ible' You will not only think young:
you will be and stay young. Start to-
lay. "Obey that impulse. Ponce de
Leon was fool. He looked in the
wrong place for the fountain of
routh."