188 MY AMERICAN FRIENDS

trained both In the principles and technique
of their work1 and showed a devotion to it, a
belief in its value, and a skill in achieving it that
never failed to arouse our admiration. Through
their assiduity in showing me their work I became
fairly well acquainted with that remarkable social
phenomenon—the municipal recreation of
America, referred to at the opening of this
chapter as one of the most promising currents of
American life.

The National Recreation Association of
America, with headquarters in New York, is an
independent institution supported by private
contributions from all parts of the country.
The Board of Directors is composed of men
and women eminent in many walks of life and
its executive, housed in offices in Fourth Avenue,
do their work, as I have good reason to know,
with the enthusiasm of those who feel themselves
engaged in the public service, and with the com-
petence proper to it. The field workers or other
representatives of the Association cover almost
the whole of the United States; they report to
headquarters on the recreational facilities in their
"territories"; where these are inadequate they
stir up public opinion to improve them; and
are everywhere at hand to confer with municipal
authorities, school managers, leaders of boys'

1 Admirable training in " Recreational Leadership " can be
obtained, for example, at the Y.M.C.A. College at Springfield,
Mass.> or at the School established by the National Recreation
Association in New York,