Play is related to morals. As we learn from Judge Lindsey: “The
whole question of juvenile law-breaking--or at least nine-tenths
of it--is a question of children’s play. A boy who breaks the
law is in nine cases out of ten not a criminal. He is obeying
an instinct that is not only legitimate, but vital, and which,
if it finds every lawful channel choked up, will seek an outlet
at the next available point. The boy has no especial desire to
come in conflict with the laws and usages of civilized society.”
Give a boy an opportunity to play at his favorite game, and the
policeman will need, as Mr. Lee puts it, “a gymnasium himself
to keep his weight down.” Give children playgrounds, and the
same spirit and imagination which form rowdy gangs will form
baseball clubs and companies for games and drills. Precinct
captains attribute the existence of rowdyism and turbulence to
lack of better playgrounds than the streets. They break lamps
and windows because they have no other provision made for them.
London, after forty years’ experience, says tersely, “Crime
in our large cities is to a great extent simply a question
of athletics.” “This is not theory, but is the testimony you
will get from any policeman or schoolmaster who has been in a
neighborhood before and after a playground was started there.
The public playground is a moral agent, and should be in every
community.” The play of youth needs careful and scientific
direction, so as to develop active and manly qualities of mind
and character.--GEORGE J. FISHER, “Proceedings of the
Religious Education Association,” 1907.
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