Scotch Puritans, their trials and sacrifices, their faith and sincerity, their superstition and cruelty. Add to this the history of the Puritans in Holland and New England, and a new field is opened for a broader and more appreciative study of American history.

Emerson has well said: "We are to read history actively, not passively; to esteem our own life the text, and books the commentary. As we read, we must become Greek, Roman, Turk, priest, king, martyr, and executioner. We must fasten these images to some reality in our secret experience, or we shall learn nothing rightly.”

CHAPTER VIII

OTHER OUTDOOR AMUSEMENTS FOR LARGER

PUPILS

The necessity for

The Need of Outdoor Amusements. systematic exercise as a means of physical growth and development is sufficiently apparent to any one who will think upon the subject carefully; but there is one element of child life that has been repressed, stunted, and in cities almost killed by lack of thought, by insufficient appreciation, and too often by entirely mistaken ideas. This element is the love of outdoor play.

The English are by nature a play-loving people. Put half a dozen healthy English boys in any surroundings you please, free from restraint, and in fifteen minutes some sort of a game will have begun. The playground is deemed so important by the Germans that a committee was sent to England, some time since, to investigate the methods of the English playgrounds, the games played, and their value as a means of development. The report of this committee was embodied in the public school system of the Empire. Playgrounds were provided, and instructors to look after them, to suggest games, to have the general management of the sports of the pupils. A report recently made to the Board of Education in the city of New York, recommending the establishment of a new school, not only provides for a gymnasium and bathrooms, but also for ample playgrounds and the necessary appliances. Any one who has been near the ordinary schoolhouse during recess time knows how the spirit of play will find expression in spite of hot pavements,

and narrow and crowded streets, under all possible limitations of time and opportunity. It is the lack of grounds that drives the children of the cities to the streets. It is the want of proper outlets for this natural desire for amusement that drives the young to morbid, vicious, and unhealthful indulgences and habits.

The Repression of Youthful Spirits Unsafe. You can no more repress this tendency with safety than you can tie down the safety valve of a boiler and keep up its fires. A child is a miniature engine, with its fire constantly burning, producing intense activity of mind and body. Mental work is wearing, and will soon produce physical exhaustion in a growing child. This must be counteracted by a constant, careful attention to the child's amusements. The boy who will go away from his fellows to pore over a book (however interesting), and persist in this course, either is mismanaged or needs to be subjected to some sort of energetic treatment. Provision should be made for all his needs.

At the age from six to ten, the time for reading and study should be much less than that for play. From ten to fourteen, the time should be about equally divided; while from fourteen on, the reading and study should be given the greater attention.

The amount of knowledge gained in the schoolroom is not proportional to the time spent over books. In fact, it is often in inverse ratio to it. It is all very well in theory to talk of the wide-awake, energetic teacher imparting to his pupils his own life and vigor, making them quick, active, and attentive; but physical conditions often make this an utter impossibility. Improper ventilation, long hours, and the strain necessary to keep order in a large schoolroom too often produce the forced obedience, the listlessness and indifference that are so common. There is too much of the repressive tendency in education, and until it is eliminated we cannot hope for the best results. It is my experience that no amount of punishment is half so effective as a half

hour's hard play to curb the spirit of mischief and disorder. When this fact is recognized and the proper remedy provided, the government and discipline question will be much more easily solved.

Play must be spontaneous and natural. It cannot be enforced by rule, or learned by rote. It must be attractive and absorbing, so as to command all the energy of the body. For younger pupils, it should not require special training.

The Direction of School Amusements. It is customary in some of the private schools of this country to place the playground in charge of one of the teachers, this constituting a part of his regular work. When the right man can be chosen, a better plan could not be devised. The teacher must be in full sympathy with the boys, and must understand their wishes and desires, their temperaments and dispositions. He must be their companion as well as their teacher, and must possess their confidence and regard. A man in such a position, and filling it well, has an opportunity for good that ordinarily does not fall to the lot of the teacher.

Objections to the Supervision of Athletics. There has been a diversity of opinion as to the advisability of the supervision of athletics, the general rule being to leave this matter in the charge of the pupils themselves. In too many cases the results of the plan have been unsatisfactory, and for widely different reasons. In schools where the regular athletic sports have been in favor, and have been supervised by teachers, the results have shown sometimes that too much time has been taken from the regular work of the class room, and that the exercises themselves have been without the continuity and regularity that would have made them valuable as a means of recreation and growth. The tendency has been to the forming of athletic associations, whose members do all the work, while the remainder of the students applaud and boast of the excellence of their respective teams; so that for thirty or forty

men who do too much in the way of sport, there may be four or five hundred doing nothing. In cases where games with teams from other schools cannot be easily arranged, or where there are other important interests involved, the subject of athletics would be entirely forgotten.

A certain Western college became famous for the number and excellent showing of its orators at the interstate contests, but such a thing as a football team was unknown in it; and its baseball team, extemporized in emergencies, could have been defeated easily by the team of any selfrespecting academy. There was no interest in these sports, seemingly because there was no one to begin the movement and keep it up after it had begun. In this instance, the faculty of the institution were much to blame. It seemed to be a fixed idea with them that excellence in the athletic field must mean weakness in the class room; that muscle and brain could not go together; that precious moments would be wasted somewhere. As a matter of fact, the time had been much better spent on the athletic grounds than in the ordinary ways in which the students employed it. This fallacy of the interference of the field and class room is now generally exploded. There will be some students who will not shine in the classes, but will be stars on the field. For one of this class, however, there will be hundreds who will become healthy, sound, strong, refreshed in body and quickened in mind, and who will preserve the proper balance between exercise and study.

Recreations for Public Schools. - The principle is the same in the common school as in the college or academy. The boys and girls of the smallest school district have a right to be considered even a right above that which can be urged in any higher institution. Theirs is the right of childhood to be passed happily, busily, healthfully, and to be supplied, not only with books, teachers, and wellappointed schoolrooms, but also with the inestimable privilege of well-ordered exercise and amusement. Country