Never yet was a boy who dreamed
of ice-cream sundaes while
playing ball.
Every one knows that play means health and happiness to children,
and nearly every one thinks of the playgrounds movement as based solely
on ideals of health and ideals of happiness in a rather narrow sense;
but the movement means much more than health and happiness as these
terms are generally understood.
The Indian boy's play, which included practice with the bow and arrow,
foot racing, ball playing and horse-back riding, was perfectly adapted
to the needs of his adult life, but how about base ball and prisoner's
base for the boy who is to become a salesman or a mechanic, a physician
or an engineer? Good fun and a good appetite certainly come from these
games, and one may also place to their credit a tempered reasonableness
and a high regard for what is fair and square; _but as a training in
application nothing can take their place._
Play as a training in application! That certainly is a paradox; and
yet everyone knows that play is the first thing in life to give rise
to that peculiar overwhelming eagerness which alone can bring every
atom of one's strength into action. Ability to focus one's whole mind
upon an undertaking and to apply one's whole body in concentrated
effort is what our boys and girls are most in need of, and vigorous
competitive play serves better than anything else, if, indeed there
is anything else to create it.
Intense and eager application! That means not only an escape from
laziness and apathy, but eagerness is the only thing in the world that
defies fatigue. A healthy boy can put forth an amazing amount of
physical effort and be fresh at the end of a day of play. And a man
whose habit of application is so highly developed that it assumes a
quality of eagerness and never fails in absolute singleness of purpose,
is there any limit to what such a man can do?
* * * * *
Every one knows that play means health and happiness to children,
and nearly every one thinks of the playgrounds movement as based solely
on ideals of health and ideals of happiness in a rather narrow sense;
but the movement means much more than health and happiness as these
terms are generally understood.{3}
The Indian boy's play, which included practice with the bow and arrow,
foot racing, ball playing and horse-back riding, was perfectly adapted
to the needs of his adult life, but how about base ball and prisoner's
base for the boy who is to become a salesman or a mechanic, a physician
or an engineer? Good fun and a good appetite certainly come from these
games, and one may also place to their credit a tempered reasonableness
and a high regard for what is fair and square; _but as a training in
application nothing can take their place._
Play as a training in application! That certainly is a paradox; and
yet everyone knows that play is the first thing in life to give rise
to that peculiar overwhelming eagerness which alone can bring every
atom of one's strength into action. Ability to focus one's whole mind
upon an undertaking and to apply one's whole body in concentrated
effort is what our boys and girls are most in need of, and vigorous
competitive play serves better than anything else, if, indeed there
is anything else to create it.
Intense and eager application! That means not only an escape from
laziness and apathy, but eagerness is the only thing in the world that
defies fatigue. A healthy boy can put forth an amazing amount of
physical effort and be fresh at the end of a day of play. And a man
whose habit of application is so highly developed that it assumes a
quality of eagerness and never fails in absolute singleness of purpose,
is there any limit to what such a man can do?