players. When the grounds are very crowded, you need
to be more careful than ever.
The speed limit for automobiles driving through parks
is sometimes not strictly enforced. The safer play-places
are those back from automobile drives. These may be
fenced so that no one can forget and run out in the path
of automobiles. In some parks tunnels under the drive or
bridges over it provide safe ways to cross.
Whenever a public swimming pool or beach is officially
open, there is almost always a guard on duty. Along lakes
and rivers there may be guards at certain parks. But on
a hot day the water is full of swimmers. Any crowding or
practical joking may injure others.
Old quarries are particularly dangerous swimming
places. The water is often deep. Divers may strike their
heads on rock. You should never dive until you are sure
the water is deep enough and that there are no stones or
logs where you are apt to hit them. You may think a lake
or river is shallow enough for you to walk in, but you
may suddenly step off into a deep hole or be caught in
a swift current. A danger to health is swimming too close
to a sewer outlet or in water with harmful bacteria in it.
Playing in vacant lots has all the dangers of public
playgrounds plus those of rough ground and rubbish.
If the owner of the lot agrees to let you use it, it will not
take long for all the boys and girls in the neighborhood
to clean it up and make it safe. Perhaps a father or big
brother will help plan what needs to be done. No street,
even a street on which there are usually few automobiles
or wagons, is a safe play-place unless it is closed to traffic.
In some cities certain streets are reserved for coasting or
for summer play-places by the police department. A big
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