Full text of "The power of play : a discussion on the place and power of play in child-culture"

See other formats

THE POWER OF PLAY

The Place and Power of Play
in Child-Culture

GEORGE HAMILTON ARCHIBALD

AUTHOR OF
" »1BLK LESSONS FOR LITTLE CHILDREN " BTC.

SECOND EDITION

UNIVERSITY

' "••__>

LONDON:

ANDREW MELROSE
1 6 PILGRIM STREET, E.G.

INTRODUCTION

IT is not the purpose of this book to discuss the
psychological aspect of play, but rather to
treat the subject in a popular and suggestive
manner. Psychological works on the subject have
been consulted and are frequently quoted, but the
discussion has been carried on with the aim of
removing, if possible, the fears and perplexities of
the parent and the teacher, and to show that the
deep-seated and unconquerable love of play is not
something that has to be opposed and suppressed,
but rather fostered and cultivated.

The pietist Tollner once said : " Play, of what-
ever sort, should be forbidden in all Evangelical
schools ; and its vanity and folly should be explained
to the children, with warnings of how it turns the
mind away from God and eternal life, and works
destruction to their immortal souls."

Such sentiments as these are nowadays seldom
entertained. Thanks to Froebel, Dickens, and

164852

vi INTRODUCTION

other reformers, there is a brighter ami a
happier era dawning for the child. Child-study is
opening new fields of research, each of which is
bringing the child into clearer prominence; and
there is hope that in the near future the God-given,
instinctive love of play, instead of turning the child
" away from God and eternal life," will be used by
parent and teacher as a strong ally in bringing him
nearer to the Father in Heaven, and as a potent
factor in keeping him from straying from the path
that leads to the Eternal City.

If this book helps to remove some of the
misunderstandings that rise mountain-like between
parent and child, if it will assist in bringing the
parent and teacher into closer and truer sympathy
with the growing, developing boy and girl, it will
have served its purpose.

CONTENTS

CHAP. pAaB

I. THE CHILD WHO PLAYS . . . * . 1

II. THE CHILD WHO DOES NOT PLAY . . . 43

III. Two KINDS OF PLAYERS ... 78

IV. MAKE-BELIEVE PLAY ... 84

V. THE SABBATH AND PLAY IIK

"Deep meaning oft lies kid in childish play "

SCHILLER.

Do ye hear the children weeping, 0 my brothers,

Ere the sorrows come with years ?
They are leaning their ycung heads against their mothers,

And that cannot stop their tears.
The young lambs are bleating in the meadows,

The young birds are chirping in their nest,
The young fawns are playing with the shadows,

The young flowers are blowing towards the weat ;
But the young, young children, 0 my brothers,

They are weeping, bitterly ;
They are weeping in the playtime of the others,

In the country of the free."

ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING.

UNIVERSITY

THE POWEK OF PLAY

CHAPTEK I.
THE CHILD WHO PLAYS.

"The streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls PLAYING."
— The EibZe.

"T)LAY,>J says Froebel, "is not trivial. It is
-*- highly serious and of deep significance.
Cultivate and foster it, 0 mother. Protect and
guide it, 0 father."

The play instinct affords the teacher and parent
a ready opportunity of training the child into
right ways of living. The more energy the child
possesses, the better; the more energy he is
endowed with, the greater are the possibilities of
his life.

A superabundant nervous force is generated in
every healthy child. Some of the energy is used by
the involuntary muscles — in breathing, digesting the

2 THE POWER OF PLAY

food, and circulating the blood. The superfluous
energy must be thrown off ; therefore the child runs
and races, shouts and plays. If we compel a child
to keep still, we repress his energy ; and this
irritates and injures his nervous system.

It is not always the boy at the head of the class
who makes the greatest or best man. Often the
one who is so fond of play that he is called
" dullard " and " dawdler," ultimately proves to be
the most useful man.

Napoleon was " forty-first in his class in the final
examination"; he wrote to his father telling him
that if the list had been printed upside down, he
would have been at the head.

" Isaac Newton was at the foot of his grade at
twelve. He showed neither ability nor industry."

Charles Darwin was not an industrious boy. He
writes : " To my deep mortification, my father once
said to me, ' You care for nothing but shooting,
dogs, and rat-catching ; and you will be a disgrace
to yourself and all your family ! ' '

Eobert Fulton was a " dullard."

George Eliot learned to read with difficulty.
Her husband writes : " Hers was a large, slow-grow-
ing nature."

Nansen's brothers and sisters called him the
" Dawdler."

Herbert Spencer was inattentive and idle; and

THE CHILD WHO PLAYS 3

the first evidence of his remarkable powers of
concentration was the formation of a collection of
insects, which he had been encouraged to make by
his father.

The French biographer of Eosa Bonheur, — E. F.
Ellet, — in Master s-in- Art t writes as follows : " Kosa,
now in her eleventh year, generally contrived
to avoid the schoolroom, and spent most of her
time in the grassy and wooded spots afforded in
the Bois de Boulogne and other environs of Paris.
. . . With her passion for independence and out-
door life, incurred almost daily the reprimands of
la Mere Catherine, who was distressed at her
neglect of school. . . . Eosa was placed with a
seamstress in order that she might learn to make
a living by her needle. Nothing could have been
more disagreeable to the poor girl than the
monotonous employment to which she was thus con-
demned ; and whenever her father came to see her,
she would throw herself into his arms in a passion
of tears, and beseech him to take her away. . . .
More than ever perplexed what to do with her,
her father now left her for a time entirely to her-
self ; and Eosa, full of unacknowledged remorse for
her incapacity and uselessness, sought refuge from
her uncomfortable thoughts in his studio, where
she amused herself with imitating everything she
saw him do — drawing and modelling day after day

4 THE POWER OF PLAY

with the utmost diligence, happy as long as she
had in her hands a pencil, a piece of charcoal, or
a lump of clay."

We have without much thought endorsed the
maxim, " All work and no play makes Jack a dull
boy," but the tremendous possibility of character-
building through play has been, so far as the vast
majority of parents and teachers are concerned, left
unappreciated. The average parent has felt that
the love of play was something to be overcome by
the child, and that until he had subdued it he would
never become a useful man. We have forgotten
that, when the proper time comes, the absorbing
love of play will pass out of his life, just as with
the ten-year-old the delight in " make-believe "
has passed; and it will do so as naturally and
readily as the tail of the tadpole is absorbed into the
useful legs of the frog. The more enthusiastically a
child plays, the more enthusiastically will he, at the
proper time, enter upon business or his other
mission in life. The hilarious enthusiasm of child-
hood and youth will in time develop into the eager
earnestness of the business man, the soldier, the
missionary. A child-life without play means a
whole life of limited possibilities.

Marie Corelli fittingly says : " Happy in these
days of vaunted progress is the dull, heavy boy who
cannot learn — who tumbles asleep over his books,

THE CHILD WHO PLAYS 5

and gets a caning, which is far better than a
" cramming " ; — who is plucked in his exams, and
dubbed 'dunce* for his pains; — the chances are
ten to one that, though he be put to scorn by the
showy college pupil loaded with honours, he will,
in the long run, prove the better, aye, and the
cleverer man of the two. The young truant whom
Mother Nature coaxes out into the woods and fields
when he should be at his books, — who laughs with
a naughty recklessness at the gods of Greece, and
has an innate comic sense of the uselessness of
learning dead languages which he is never to speak,
— is probably the very destined man who, in time of
battle, will prove himself a hero of the first rank ;
or who, planted solitary in an unexplored country,
will become one of the leading pioneers of modern
progress and discovery."

Dr. G. Stanley Hall, speaking of Christianity
and physical culture, says : " By weight the adult
human body is nearly one - half muscle. The
muscles are the only organs of the will, and are
likely to share its strength or weakness. Muscles
have done nearly all man's work in the world.
They have tilled the soil, built cities, fought,
written all the books, and spoken all the words.
Through all the past, men have been the strivers
and toilers. There is a sense in which all good
conduct and morality may be defined as right

6 THE POWER OF PLAY

muscle habits. More than this, just in proportion
as muscles grow weak and flabby, the chasm
between knowing and doing the right, in which so
many men are lost, yawns wide and deep ; and as
they become tense and firm, doing becomes — as
F. W. Robertson was wont to say it should — the
best organ of knowing. Eational muscle culture,
therefore, for its moral effects, — often for the young
the very best possible means of resisting evil and
establishing righteousness, — is the gospel I preach
to-day, a gospel so reinforced by all the new
knowledge we are now so rapidly gaining of man's
body and soul, that it is certain to become a
dominant note in the pulpit itself, just in propor-
tion as those whose vocation it is to save souls
realise that they must study to know what the soul
is. " We are soldiers of Christ, strengthening our
muscles not against a foreign foe, but against sin,
within and without us. We would bring in a
higher kingdom of man, regenerate in body ; make
it more stalwart, persistent, enduring, taller, with
better hearts, stomachs, nerves, and more resistful
to man's great enemy — disease."

In German life, during the past century, the
significance of play as a developing factor can
scarcely be over-estimated. The possibilities of play
in maturing the physical nature were appreciated
by Gutsmuth, and in 1796 began a movement

THE CHILD WHO PLAYS 7

which has continued and increased until the present
time. This remarkable interest in play was the
cause of the establishment of public playgrounds all
over Germany. But the importance of play as a
developer of the inventive and creative instincts —
that is, as means to increased brain-functioning
p0wer — is only now being comprehended. These
playgrounds are now used for much more than
as mere developers of muscles, for, under the
supervision of men trained to understand the
relation of play to the development of the higher
faculties, they do much for muscle, mind, and
morals.

In America, large sums of money are being
spent on the establishing of playgrounds ; and if
England is to keep pace with her competitors, she
must awake to the realisation of the need of
opportunities for placing play within reach of
the masses of the children of the working classes.
Philanthropy which would encourage the growth
of all that is best in life, can find no better field
for its activities than the establishment of well-
equipped public playgrounds in needy districts.

The young of all animals play, and the richest
lessons of life are learned through that play. If,
for example, you will study the play of rabbits, you
will find the mother-rabbit teaching the little ones
to run quickly in and out of the burrows, or in-

8 THE POWER OF PLAY

citing them to chase one another through the
thorn hedges or barbed-wire fences. The young
of goats, though reared in a city, will in their play
leap high in the air, learning all the time to jump
from crag to crag, the natural habitat of the wild
goat. The parent lion or tiger, though a prisoner
in the menagerie, still teaches the cub, though
it will never know freedom, to leap from an
imaginary ambush on to the back of imaginary prey.

W. J. Long, in Ways of the Wood Folk, writing
about beavers, says : " All the building is primarily
a matter of instinct, for a tame beaver builds
miniature dams and houses on the floor of his cage.
In vacation times the young beavers build for fun,
just as boys build a dam wherever they can find
running water. I am persuaded also (and this
may explain some of the dams that seem stupidly
placed) that at times the old beavers set the young
at work in summer, in order that they may
know how to build when it becomes necessary."

Eeferring to the play of young bears, he
says : " There were two of them, nearly full-
grown, with the mother. The most curious thing
was to see them stand on their hind-legs and cuff
each other soundly, striking and warding like
trained boxers. Then they would lock arms and
wrestle desperately till one was thrown, when the
other promptly seized him by the throat."

THE CHILD WHO PLAYS 9

When we remember that the bear uses his fore-
paws to catch fish and frogs, to break to pieces
stumps of trees where honey is stored, to strike his
enemy, or when in a close encounter to hug and
squeeze him to death, or to wrestle until his op-
portunity comes to strike with his powerful claws,
we readily see in the plays of the young bear the
" germinal leaf of later life." The natural play of
kittens teaches them to detect and secure their
food, as well as to escape from or fight their enemies.
The plays of all animals are the " germinal leaves of
later life."

The play of a little girl is par excellence with dolls.
Does a boy play with dolls ? If so, how much ? Just
as much as he will have to do with the care of the
babies by and by; or, it may be said, just as
much as his ancestors before him have had to do
with the care of the children. The little girl
learns more of the real duties in the home through
her make-believe play with her dolls, tea-sets,
cooking- stoves, etc., than she will learn in all the
schools of domestic economy ever established.

But educators, unfortunately, used to think that
they had discovered a better way than the natural
way, and our little children were, and still are,
forced, against all the instincts of life, away from
their play into schools, where in many cases play
is rarely permitted. As a result, they are suffering

io THE POWER OF PLAY

from arrested development of the will, as well as of
the emotions and the intellect. No wonder Froebel
insisted, "Would'st thou lead the child in this
matter, observe him. He will show thee what to do."
Let no one think, then, that when a child is playing
he is wasting his time. Some one has said that a
child's play is his religion. At any rate, we may be
sure thaf. what work is to a man, play is to a child ;
therefore, " Guide it, 0 father ; foster it, 0 mother."

Patterson Dubois says: "What sadder sight
is there than a child without childhood ? I often
see a certain blind man grinding a little hand-
organ, as he stands by the hour on a Philadelphia
curb-stone. Alongside of him stands a young boy,
presumably his son, who is there just to take care
of the sightless man. It sometimes seems to
the observer that the deprivation of that faithful
boy is even more pathetic than that of the afflicted
man. The boy stands, with nothing to call out a
boy's activities and interests. His life is all care
and responsibility, with no freedom, no activity.
Yet he seems patient and cheerful. There are
children held fast in shops and factories, and
children held fast in palatial nurseries, without
companions, without a real child-life."

Dickens, in describing a gay scene at the
Hampton racecourse, says: "Even the sunburnt
faces of gipsy children, half -naked though they

THE CHILD WHO PLAYS n

be, suggest a drop of comfort. It is a pleasant
thing to see that the sun has been there ; to know
that the air and light are on them every day ; to
feel that they are children and lead children's
lives; that if their pillows be damp, it is with
the dews of heaven and not with tears ; that the
limbs of their girls are free, and not crippled by
distortions, imposing an unnatural and horrible
penance upon their sex ; that their lives are
spent, from day to day, at least among the waving
trees, and not in the midst of dreadful engines,
which make children old before they know what
childhood is, and give them the exhaustion and
infirmity of age, without, like age, the privilege
to die."

The aim of all parents and teachers is, of course,
to guide the child in his growth so that he will
develop into a good man. But what is a good man ?
Suppose we should eliminate from the child's dis-
position all the instincts, traits, characteristics,
which, as adults, we conceive to be undesirable,
would we have a good child and afterward a good
man? Should we banish all cruelty, all com-
bativeness, all selfishness ? Are we sure that,
if we could do so, the results in the last
analysis would be desirable ? To remove all
selfishness from a little child, so that, as he grew,
he would not know what selfishness meant, would

12 THE POWER OF PLAY

be, to say the least, to exclude the possibility of
experiencing the joys of unselfishness. To eliminate
all the cruelty from mankind would be a mixed
blessing. For example, who would be the fisher-
men and the butchers ? " We do not need them,"
cries the vegetarian. But who would plough the
fields and dig the gardens ? Who would destroy
the destructive gipsy and the coddling moths ?
For in these processes, numerically at any rate,
more death and destruction is wrought among the
worms, ants, and other insects than by all the
butchers in the world. When we come to think
of it, there is, after all, some virtue in these things
that we have hitherto called faults.

Hodge says 1 : " Probably the best way to teach
selfishness is to try to teach unselfishness too early.
The passion for ownership is coextensive with life.
It is an expression of " The Will to Live." It is
as universal as hunger. It begins in the living
series when an amoeba swallows a particle of food.
By the effort put forth in the act of swallowing, the
particle become the amoeba's property for the sus-
tenance of its life. With man, it is the foundation of
government and of social organisation, as well as the
chief incentive to labour, invention, and discovery."

If we study the child in the light of history, par-
ticularly in the light of the history of evolution, we

1 Nature Study and Life, by C. F. Hodge.

THE CHILD WHO PLAYS 13

find that the child has bound up within him the traits
and characteristics of all the life that has gone before
him. He is a bundle of inheritances. He is what his
father, his grandfather, his great-grandfather have
made him. Indeed, there is wrought into the pos-
sibility of his life instincts from all the life of the
race that has preceded him. As a child develops
physically, he passes through all the stages through
which the race has passed. Drummond puts it
clearly when he says : " The science of Embryology
undertakes to trace the development of Man from a
stage in which he lived in a one-roomed house — a
physiological cell. Whatever the multitude of rooms,
the millions and millions of cells, in which to-day
each adult carries on the varied work of life, it is
certain that when he first began to be, he was the
simple tenant of a single cell. Observe, it is not
some animal-ancestor or some human progenitor of
Man that lived in this single cell, — that may or
may not have been, — but the individual Man, the
present occupant himself. We are now dealing
not with phylogeny — the history of the race — but
with ontogeny — the problem of Man's Ascent from
his own earlier self. And the point at the moment
is, not that the race ascends ; it is that each indi-
vidual man has once, in his own lifetime, occupied
a single cell, and, starting from that humble cradle,
has passed through stage after stage of differentiation,

14 THE POWER OF PLAY

increase, and development, until the myriad-roomed
adult-form was attained."

As with the physical, so with the mental and
moral. The failure to appreciate this principle of
evolution has led us into gross error in the past.
We have treated children as if they were little
adults, and we have sought to develop in them
adult characteristics. We have forgotten that in
their development they repeat the history of the
race, and it is well that it is so. The child could
not understand history or appreciate and venerate
the past if there was no responsive chord in his
experience that could be touched.

In play a child repeats the activities of the race.
" Why is it," asks Gulick, — an authority on the ques-
tion of play, — " that a city man loves to sit all day
and fish ? It is because this interest dates back to
time immemorial. We are the sons of fishermen,
and early life was by the waterside, and this is our
food supply." Just as the race passed through the
myth and legend periods of its development, so the
little child passes through the periods when myth
and legend appeal to its soul as nothing else can.
Just as the race passed through the period of
savagery, and later developed a rude tribal organisa-
tion, so do children. The fourteen-year-old boy,
with these inherited instinctive tendencies, appears
at times to be little more than a savage, and for a

THE CHILD WHO PLAYS 15

season delights in the activities and propensities of
his savage progenitors. Should we try to eliminate
this phase of his nature ? If we could do so, what
would the result be ? Professor James, in his
Psychology, says: "If a boy grows up alone, at
the age of games and sports, and learns neither to
play ball, nor row, nor sail, nor ride, nor skate, nor
fish, nor shoot, he will probably be sedentary to
the end of his days ; and though the best oppor-
tunity be afforded him to learn these things later,
it is a hundred to one that he will pass them by
and shrink back from the effort of taking the
necessary steps, the prospect of which at an earlier
age would have filled him with eager delight."
As with these physical activities, so with traits
of character. If they do not become reflex in
childhood and youth, they will atrophy and pass
away.

If the process of evolution were completed at
birth, we should do well to endeavour to eliminate
all selfishness, pugnacity, cruelty, from the child's
life ; but such a process is not completed until he
has reached his full physical growth, and not even
then. To force his development would be to cause
arrest of development in the next stage. We must
study the child if we would undentand him.
We must have our aim clearly in mind, lest we
crush out too soon " characteristics upon which

16 THE POWER OF PLAY

future strength depends, and inculcate in a hotbed
growth virtues which, from force of early growth,
failed of a robust and vigorous maturity." Evolu-
tion does not destroy, but rather builds upon, the
past.

But let us go a step further. The aim of the
educator is, not to eradicate, but to build upon.
Take, for example, pugnacity. To eradicate all the
pugnacity from a man's character would be to rob
him of a very necessary and valuable possession.
It is better to build upon the tendency, and turn it
into the right channel for character-forming.

Dr. G. Stanley Hall, in his latest and greatest
book, Adolescence, says : " An able-bodied young
man who cannot fight physically, can hardly have a
high and true sense of honour, and is generally
a milksop, a lady-boy, or a sneak. He lacks
virility, his masculinity does not ring true, his
honesty cannot be sound to the core. Hence,
instead of eradicating this instinct, one of the great
problems of physical and moral pedagogy is to
rightly temper and direct it."

The good man is not the man who never fights,
but rather the one who fights, and fights hard, for
the right, and in defence of the weak and down-
trodden. The man who cannot fight is not the
strongest man. As with pugnacity, so with cruelty,
selfishness, anger, and other so-called evils. But

£O

THE CmrfiTWHO PLAYS 17

how are we to harness these valuable instinct
possessions, and change this raw material of the
soul into forceful character ?

It is inherent in the young of all life to play,
and our aim is to show how the games and the
plays of children develop not only a characteristic
tendency like pugnacity, but all the possessions
which they have inherited. Seeing that play has a
spontaneous interest in the child's life, it becomes
a most valuable ally to the parent and teacher.

Dr. Hall, in Adolescence, discussing the ques-
tion of play, says : " The antithesis between play
and work is generally wrongly conceived, for the
difference is essentially in the degree of strength
of the psycho-physic motivations. The young often
do their hardest work in play. With interest the
most repellent tasks become pure sport, as in the
case Johnson reports of a man who wanted
a stone pile thrown into a ditch, and by kindling
a fire in it and pretending the stones were buckets
of water, the heavy and long-shirked job was done
by tired boys with shouting and enthusiasm.
Play, from one aspect of it, is superfluous energy
over and above what is necessary to digest, breathe,
keep the heart and organic processes going; and
most children who cannot play, if they have
opportunity, can neither study nor work without
overdrawing their sources of vitality. Bible

i8 THE POWER OF PLAY

psychology conceives the fall of man as the neces-
sity of doing things without zest ; and this is not
only ever repeated, but now greatly emphasised,
when youth leaves the sheltered paradise of play to
grind in the mills of modern industrial civilisation.
The curse is overcome only by those who come to
love their tasks and redeem their toils again to play."
What constitutes a strong character ? Two
/ most important traits are forcefulness and altruism.
Let us discuss these. Do the games develop force
and altruism ? Just as the blacksmith's arm
becomes strong through continued strenuous use,
so a trait of character is developed by effort. In
no way can a child be so powerfully induced to put
forth strong effort as in the games he plays, and each
effort will help him some other to make. Effort is
aroused through the passion to succeed, and thus
will is developed and forcefulness cultivated. It
, matters little how a trait is produced, so long as
the man possesses it ; if you can call forth forceful-
ness in your boy by making him work, by having
him perform tasks of drudgery, well and good. But
the occupation will lack the enthusiastic interest of
the games, and as a consequence the child will fail
to put forth his best effort, and will suffer from
arrested development. The appeal must be made
either through his spontaneous interests or through
those other interests closely associated with them.

THE CHILD WHO PLAYS 19

As with force, so with unselfishness. Unselfish-
ness is not an early product : it displaces selfish-
ness only gradually. "First the blade, then
the ear, and after that the full corn in the ear."
The ear of the corn must first grow large and
rank, and afterward comes the full corn.

With the early stages of adolescence co-operative
group-games are played (see chart on page 20).
This co-operation in play gradually brings a child
into right relations with his fellows. A cricket
or base-ball club composed of ten-year-old boys will
elect a new captain three times a week. Five
years later the organising instincts have developed
to such an extent that once a year is often
enough to elect a new captain. In these group-
games the player finds his right relation to his
fellow, and to the whole. He knows that too
frequent change will bring defeat to his side ; so he
sinks his own personal desire, for the good of the
whole. Up to this time he cared only to show
off his individual ability as a player ; but now he is
learning to obey the leader, and sacrifice himself.
He knows that, if he does not do so, he must soon be
relegated to the substitutes' bench or the second
eleven.

Play develops a reverence for law and order.
True, there is not much love of order or law in the
little child's play ; but, as the period of adolescence

THE POWER OF PLAY

approaches, the love of more orderly and better
organised games is apparent. Professor E. P. St.
John of New York, working over information
gathered by Dr. Luther Gulick, has made the
following chart, which illustrates the point : —

PLAYS AND GAMES OF BOYS.

Age.

Individual Play.

Competitive
Group-Games.

Co-operative
Group- Games.

Blocks.

Sand.

Running.
Cutting.

Shooting.
Machinery.

Tag.

Hide and Seek.

Marbles.

12.

Ball.

Base Ball.

Basket Ball.

Football.

24.

Hockey.
Tennis.

It will be observed how largely the co-operative
spirit develops after the twelfth year. Now, as
never before, the boy is learning the lesson which
every good citizen must sooner or later learn, namely,
that he has become amenable to law. Thus, in

THE CHILD WHO PLAYS 21

play respect and reverence for law is fostered;
and because of the absorbing interest in the sport
the lesson is very readily learned, and is also
deeply impressed.

Under the inspiring conditions of a keenly-
contested match, the boy learns ^the importance of
individual duty. One weak spot in the team
means almost certain defeat for the whole. So he
does his best. From game after game thus played,
the player comes gradually to see the attitudes of
mind and conduct which will bring him into
proper harmonious relationship with his fellows : a
most important lesson for the " Men of To-morrow "
to learn.

True it is, that the force and the unselfishness
thus produced by games may be rough and ready in
character, but it is real force and genuine unselfish-
ness— not of the hotbed type. Out of this raw
material — out of this strong, even rank, growth
— will come the higher types of Christian manhood.

George E. Johnson says : " We may over-cultivate
selfhood, and develop an egotist ; we may under-
develop it, and produce a weakling. We may
over-cultivate the instinct of pugnacity, and develop
a brute ; we may under-cultivate it, and produce a
coward. We may over-cultivate play, and develop
a sport ; we may under-cultivate it, and produce a
being devoid of enthusiasm, force, or ambition in

22 THE POWER OF PLAY

life. It is when the higher evolves from the lower
that we can hope that the highest type of man-
hood will be developed."

Froebel says : " It is by no means, however,
only the physical power that is fed and strengthened
in the games ; intellectual and moral power, too,
are definitely and steadily gained and brought under
control. Indeed, a comparison of the relative gains
of the mental and of the physical phases would
scarcely yield the palm to the body. Justice is
taught, and moderation; self-control, truthfulness,
loyalty, brotherly love, courage, perseverance,
prudence, together with the severe elimination of
indolent indulgence."

Hughes says : l " The old idea, that the mere
storing of the memory was the highest work of the
teacher, made it difficult for teachers to believe
that one could seriously suggest that play should
be made an organic school process, to be systematic-
ally carried on as a regular means of educating
children. At first the suggestion met with ridicule
only ; then leading minds acknowledged that play
might be of advantage, as a rest and a change from
severe mental work; next it dawned on a few
progressive teachers that play was really better
than formal physical exercises for training the
child physically in varied activity and in natural

1 Froebel's Educational Laws, by J. L. Hughes.

THE CHILD WHO PLAYS 23

gracefulness ; until now the world is beginning to
understand that Froebel made play an organic part
of his educational system — not alone for recreation
and relaxation, nor for physical culture only, but
as the most natural and most effective agency
for developing the child's physical, mental, and
moral nature, and for revealing and defining its
individuality."

Play is so entirely different from the old-
school processes, that its recognition as a means
of educating children has completely altered the
standpoint of educational thinkers, and has done
much to free them from the dogma that " know-
ledge alone is power."

One-sidedness in character-building must be
avoided. There are few all-round men. The educa-
tion which does not produce all-round character is
defective. To illustrate : The millwright who
constructs a great fly-wheel frequently casts it in
three sections, each of equal weight, otherwise the
complete wheel would be " out of balance," and
when set in motion would not run even and true.
All schools of psychology divide the human mind,
like the fly-wheel, into three sections : Knowing,
Feeling, and Willing, or the Intellect, the Feelings,
and the Will. The man who merely knows is not
the powerful man. To know without having the
power to do is to be weak indeed. The great man

24 THE POWER OF PLAY

knows and feels and acts equally. To have a
strong intellect without a kind heart to guide it,
is to be like the blind man who, well armed,
shot friend and foe alike. Feelings must not
carry away judgment, or inspire to action
beyond the power of the will to perform. This
is the psychological basis for all education,
secular or religious. Our schools have erred in the
past because of our abortive efforts to make the
child know. We have forgotten that it is just as
important for the child to feel as to know ; indeed,
feelings should precede knowledge. To constantly
cram a child with knowledge, without developing
in him a love of things learned, or the power to
practise them, will develop one-sidedness.

Hence the value of play and manual training :
they develop the power to do. Hence also the
value of having the child study and care for
flowers, birds, animals, etc. ; for, while all help to
develop the power to know, these activities help to
cultivate the power to love and to do.

Hodge, writing on the subject of play, says:1
" Play is coming to be recognised more and more
as an important factor in life and education.
Nothing as fully brings into healthful activity
every function and power; so that Froebel truly
says, 'A man is a whole man only when he

1 Nature Study and Life, by Professor C. F. Hodge.

THE CHILD WHO PLAYS 25

plays.' Play of the young is generally preparatory
to activities of adult life ; pet-plays prepare, as
nothing else can, for the most important of all
functions, the care of the young. The care of the
pet involves the same reasoning, the same thinking
and feeling, and willing and doing, as the care of
the child."

Elizabeth Harrison says : l " Hence the value
of toys : they are not only promoters of play, but
they appeal to the sympathies and give exercise to
the emotions. In this way a hold is gotten upon the
child, by interesting him before more intellectual
training can make much impression. The two
great obstacles to the exercise of the right emotions
are fear and pity. These do not come into the
toy- world ; hence we can see how toys, according
to their own tendencies, help in the healthful
education of the child's emotions — through his
emotions, the education of his thoughts ; through his
thoughts, the education of his will, and hence his
character. One can readily see how this is so.
By means of their dolls, waggons, drums, or other
toys, children's thoughts are turned in certain
directions. They play that they are mothers and
fathers, or shopkeepers, or soldiers, as the case
may be. Through their dramatic play they
become interested more and more in those phases

1 A Study of Child Nature.

26 THE POWER OF PLAY

of life which they have imitated ; and that which
they watch and imitate, they become like."

To teach a child fifty verses of Scripture without
helping him to put one of them into practice, or to
have him memorise verses from the Bible without
cultivating a love for the Book, is positively
harmful to the child's character. It is better to
love the Bible than to know it. A child seeing
his mother's love and reverence for the Book may
learn to love the Bible long before he knows it.
Love for a thing, power to do a thing, and know-
ledge of a thing must all be intimately associated.
Love for the Bible, power to do what it teaches,
and knowledge of the Book must go hand in
hand. Mere knowledge is not power. The strong
character is the one who knows, and feels, and acts.

Play teaches a child to act. Play develops the
will The will is the putting into practice power
of the soul, and play makes the child act readily
and quickly. Play develops the motor side of
his nature. Our methods of education have been
developing the sensory system and allowing the
motor to take care of itself. Play puts the
motor system on a level with the sensory, it
bridges the mighty chasm between knowing and
doing. The inherent, persistent, unconquerable
love of play in the child is after all one of nature's
efforts to develop an all-round character.

THE CHILD WHO PLAYS 27

Hughes says : l " The rapidly changing con-
ditions of a good game, and the complications
incident to a keen struggle, afford perfect op-
portunities for motor development. No other pro-
cess so completely develops the mastery of the
mind over the body, and so fully trains the body to
respond perfectly to the mind, as a good game.
The brain, the motor system, and the entire body
are co-ordinated in their action, until the expert
player performs feats of agility or skill which to
the unpractised appear to be almost impossible.

" The moral effects of play are most important.
The play of a boy corresponds to the work of a
man. Every quality that is requisite in the man to
make him completely and honourably successful, is
necessary to complete success in the plays of the boy.

" The weakening self-consciousness of childhood,
the most restrictive influence in a child's life, is
overcome by social intercourse on the playground,
under the stimulating conditions of co-operative
effort to achieve success.

" Personal fear goes out of a boy's life after he
has had a few years' experience amid the inspiring
struggles incident to outdoor sports. He learns to
think only of his predominant aim, and loses his
weakening self - consciousness in the desire to
achieve the end directly in view."

1 FrocleVs Educational Laws, by J. L. Hughes.

28 THE POWER OF PLAY

What, then, shall we do with this play-loving,
active child ? How shall we manage him ?
Froebel says : " I can convert childish activities,
amusements, occupations, all that goes by the name
of play, into instruments for my purpose." We
must harness the child's activity and put it to use.
More positive teaching is necessary. The gospel of
Chalmers was impregnated with the thought of the
"expulsive power of a new affection." He who
would train the active child, must learn the
expulsive power of a new activity.

The young child is very suggestible. Negative
" don'ts " have very little prohibitive force with
him. Cease saying " don't " and learn to say " do."
The " don't " method may appear to be the quickest,
but it is not the most effective. Much of the
punishment administered is the result of the break-
ing of unnecessary negative commands. The fewer
the prohibitions, the fewer will be the punishments.
Never prohibit anything you cannot prohibit. Two
parents discussed the question of " do " and " don't."
One of them, a mother of three " stirring " children,
recognised for the first time that she had been
making mistakes just at this point, and determined
that for the future she would cease the negatives
and use the positives. A week later this mother
remarked to her friend : " I have been led a pretty
chase this week. Ever since I saw you, I have

THE CHILD WHO PLAYS 29

been trying to find something for my children to
do" She was one of those mothers, and their
name is legion, who have not cultivated the art of
keeping the children busy. " Don'ts " had always
been readier for her than " Dos," and she found it
next to impossible to change the habit of ten years
in ten days. It had not occurred to her to save the
old magazines and illustrated papers, so that when
the children had nothing to do, she could keep
them busy cutting out the pictures. She had
never thought of buying a little box of paints,
so that, when the children were tired of cutting
out pictures, they might paint them in all sorts
of fanciful colours. She had never appreciated
the advantage of keeping a bottle of paste at
hand, so that when the children were tired of
cutting and painting the pictures, they could paste
them together in original and fantastic fashions,
and thus develop their artistic and imaginative
faculties. She had not cultivated the art of
suggestion, and was therefore greatly handicapped
in her work of child-training. One mother allowed
her children to paste the pictures they had cut
and painted upon the nursery wall. This was
certainly something novel in the art of decoration.
The room was a gem in its way ; and in the process
of adorning it the children were kept busy, the
play instinct was harnessed, and the all-creative

30 THE POWER OF PLAY

instincts were brought into action. Below are
some horses which were cut from paper by a ten-
year-old boy without using a pattern. His mother
had encouraged him to observe the horses and to
use his scissors and pencil, and these are the result
of his observations. The first is a city carriage

horse, and the second is the result of his impres-
sions after watching a working horse in the country,
which had broken the rope that fastened him
and was running away.

Another mother has two or three globe fly-
catchers, and in the summer an important item of

THE CHILD WHO PLAYS 31

her boy's routine work is to take the flies out of
doors and set them free. Thus she harnesses his
activity and broadens his love and sympathy for
the lower creation. The parent must cultivate the
art of helpful suggestion, and be always on the
outlook for occupation which will use the activity
instinct. Here are some more suggestions.

Give the children a black-board. Give them scis-

sors and coloured pencils with which they can make
paper dolls, etc. In one home the children made
croquet sets out of green peas and wooden toothpicks.
Large dried green peas were soaked in water, and
from these and the toothpicks the children readily
manufactured mallets, balls, and hoops. One boy,
when he tired of croquet sets, made a waggon from
the same materials. Give the children reins with

32 THE POWER OF PLAY

which to play horse, beads to string, materials for
blowing bubbles. Be sure that they have a sand
pile to play in ; give them blocks in abundance, a
tool-box, pictures, scissors, and paste.

Mrs. E. E. Kellog, in Good Health, makes the
following suggestions : " Among fascinating occupa-
tions for the very little ones is that of sorting and
classifying objects of different colours, shapes, and
sizes; corn, red, white, and yellow; beans,black,brown,
speckled, and other large seeds ; pebbles, light and
dark; buttons, scraps of pretty cloth; various coloured
papers ; large glass beads ; coloured wools. These
are all suitable for this purpose. When obtainable,
half-inch cubes, spheres, and cylinders, which can
be purchased both coloured and uncoloured, will keep
the little fingers, eyes, and brains busy stringing
them on a shoe-string, or a tape with needle
attached. With a little suggestive help from the
mother, something of form and number may be
learned through their use. Empty spools, or the
contents of the button-box, may be used for stringing
when the beads are not obtainable. Blocks of
wood — oblongs, triangles, squares, octagons, and other
mathematical forms which anyone familiar with
the use of a saw can provide from pieces of board —
offer almost endless possibilities for the construction
of houses, furniture, ladders, railways, or any other
objects which the imagination of the child or the

THE CHILD WHO PLAYS 33

fertile mind of someone suggests. We recently
read of one mother who provided for her little ones
a pounding-table, with hammer and nails, which they
drove to form patterns of fences, bridges, elevated rail-
ways, tables, and numberless other things. Pins, and
a cushion in which to stick them, might be utilised
in the same way. Sand and pebbles are always
favourites with the children. A low table, with a
deep tray just covering the top and filled with sand,
is most serviceable ; but a pan, filled with moist sand,
placed on a sweeping-cloth or on an old sheet upon
the floor, will answer very well. The filling of
bottles, pails, or other dishes with the dry sand,
the pressing of moistened sand into patty-pans to
form cakes, or the shaping of it into a flower garden,
in which to plant small stems and twigs, will
furnish the wee ones employment for a whole
morning. For the child of six or seven, the sand
pan offers possibilities almost without limit. In
the sand he can represent mountains, rivers, and
all geographical formations ; make the hut of the
Esquimaux, the adobe house of the Mexican, and
the dwelling and environments of people in other
localities. He can make letters, figures, pictures,
and all manner of designs in the sand. If it be
feared that the sand will make too much dirt
indoors, we suggest that a child's broom and dust-
pan be kept in some convenient place, and that
3

34 THE POWER OF PLAY

the little ones be taught to sweep up their own
litter when they have tired of the work in the sand.
This will occupy them anew for a time, and will
be of value in more ways than one. Cleaning-up
is a process which should follow all the children's
occupations.

" The modelling of familiar objects in clay, dough,
putty, or warm beeswax ; the blowing of soap
bubbles; outlining of designs with some kind of
flat seeds, as split peas, or lentils ; the braiding
of strands of bright-coloured cloth, or the stringing
of soft pieces to be made into rugs, are other
pleasing employments for the little folks."

Set the children to tell stories to one another,
or to their dolls. Children in the very imaginative
period of life enjoy telling stories of their own
construction. As soon as they can write, have
them write some of these stories. Two friends,
who were engaged in an absorbing conversation,
were greatly disturbed by a girl of eight years.
Presently one of them, who knew that the child
had lately learned to write, said to her : " Eleanor,
you told me a beautiful fairy story one day. I
wonder if you could write it out for me now ? "
The following, with the omission of the original
illustrations, was the result : —

" Once upon a time there lived some dewarfs
and they lived in this funny house, and one of the

THE CHILD WHO PLAYS 35

dewarfs name was Dan and he wore a funny suit
and they called him Dan Dan the funny man and
one day Dan was walking in the woods and he
met a beautiful girl and she said Hallo, Dan and
Dan said How do you know thats my name. Oh
she said I heard your brothers call you that. But
said Dan that is not my name, my name is Dan
Dan the funny man. Yes she said. I know that
but I thought that you would be cross. They
went home together and while they were eating
there a funny funny little man came and stood
on the table and put his hands in his pockets and
said. Ladies and gentlemen and all at once he
blew his horn and seven little rats and seven little
pumkins came and he said change and at once
carriages and horses stood before them and the
funny man said, Get in, and they obeyed and they
drove away and they lived ever after in houses of
gold."

It is unnecessary to state that the two friends
enjoyed an undisturbed conversation. But what
was equally important, the child, instead of being
repressed, was given an opportunity for developing
her imagination and for improving her powers of
story- telling, to say nothing of the opportunity for
practice in her newly-acquired accomplishment of
writing.

Give the children material for making toys,

36 THE POWER OF PLAY

rather than toys ready made. Keep them supplied
with pieces of cloth, buttons, hooks and eyes, etc.,
with which to make dresses for their dolls. " A
wise mother trained her little daughters, by the use
of doll patterns, to understand dressmaking so well,
that when they grew older they could make all
their own gowns, with the assistance of patterns."
Eemember that the children are not naturally
lazy ; they are full of energy and ready for action.
If a child ever develops into a lazy man, it is
because he has been taught to hate work, which has
always been presented to him in unattractive forms.

Therefore, instead of teaching the young child
to sew by making table napkins or such things
for her mother, or by making dresses for herself,
interest her in the more attractive occupation of
making dresses for her dolls. There is to the
child a vast difference between hemming big table
napkins for ordinary table use, and cunning little
ones to be used at a doll's tea-party. The more
useful employments will come all in their own
good time. Kemember that play is a child's work.

Mr. James P. Upham, who for over twenty-five
years has been connected with the premium depart-
ment of the Youth's Companion, states that for
prizes the boys are most likely to choose "some-
thing they can make something, or do something
with, or to earn something with." Thus the scroll

THE CHILD WHO PLAYS 37

saw has been by far the most successful premium
ever offered by the paper ; likewise, the most popular
premium for girls has been the Kensington patterns
for art work. The following list includes the most
popular premiums as determined during a period
of twenty to thirty years : The camera at present,
microscopes and telescopes, magic lanterns, soldering
casket, glass cutter, pocket tool-holder, outfit for
making initial jewellery, carving tools, pocket-knives,
materials for building canoes, Florentine bent iron-
work, Weeden's engine, materials for a model motor,
toilet hair-clippers, oil-painting outfit, water-colours,
etc., celluloid decorating outfit, dolls, collection of
puzzles, megaphone printing-press, and certain books.
In general, educative toys were considered un-
successful as premiums, as also were electric toys
on the whole. The latter were not nearly as
popular as steam toys.

A most interesting study, investigating the
favourite plays of the Worcester, Massachusetts,
school children, was made by Mr. T. E. Croswell,
and the results published in the Pedagogical Semin-
ary, volume vi., No. 3. One thousand boys and nine
hundred and twenty-nine girls answered, among
others, the following questions: " 1. What toys or
playthings do you use most ? 2. What games and
plays do you play most ? 3. Which of these are
your favourite ? 4. Name other games and play-

THE POWER OF PLAY

things which you used when younger." The follow-
ing chart shows one of the results of this study : —

THE TWENTY-FIVE LEADING AMUSEMENTS.
Total, 1000 Boys, 929 Girls.

Boys.

Girls.

Boys.

'£

1»

-S

•g

•S

1. Ball .

679

241

409

2. Marbles .

603

115

130

3. Sled

555

110

498

4. Skates .

538

168

412

113

5. Football.

455

157

6. Tag ...

356

442

7. Relievo .

336

126

194

8. Hockey, Polo, Shin- \

313

ney . . . /

9. Checkers

277

189

10. Hide and Seek

241

427

132

11. Waggon, Express .
12. Dominoes

188
185

35
42

7
133

13. Top

176

...

14. Play Horse .

166

15. Cards .

163

151

16. Bicycle .

160

17. Snowballing .

123

18. Swimming . .
19. Kite

119
107

15
12

20. Black Tom and \
Black Jack. . /

102

21. Horse Cobbles

22. Books, Reading

108

23. Fishing .

24. Boat

25. Leaves . .

112

THE CHILD WHO PLAYS

Gii

-Is.

Girls.

•-B
a

1. Dolls .

621

2. Sled .

498

555

110

3. Jump Rope .

480

4. Tag

442

356

5. Hide and Seek

427

132

241

6. Skates .

412

113

538

168

7. Ball

409

679

241

8. Play House .

365

9. Jackstones

341

10. Play School .
11. Doll Tea Set .

257
242

32
73

69
8

12. Doll Carriage .

233

13. Relievo .

194

336

126

14. Checkers

189

277

15. Hop Scotch .

154

...

16. Cards .

151

163

17. Croquet .

148

18. Dominoes .

133

185

19. Marbles.

130

603

20. Leaves . ,

112

21. Hoop .

110

22. Books, Reading

108

23. Flowers .

102

24. Drop the Handker )
chief . . j

101

25. Snowballing .

123

40 THE POWER OF PLAY

The following were the leading amusements of
boys in Brooklyn — total number, 205 :l —

Mentioned Favourite

by with

1. Ball 151 68

Base Ball alone . . .101 53

2. Marbles 109 15

3. Sled 100 9

4. Skates 89 17

5. Football 73 16

6. Top 64 7

7. Tag 51 5

8. Snowballing .... 48 5

9. Checkers 45 15

10. Pass Walk .... 40 5

11. Hide and Seek. ... 39 5

12. Sleigh Riding .... 37 5

13. Prisoners' Base ... 36 2

14. Snap the Whip ... 33 1

15. Swimming .... 28 9

16. Dominoes .... 27 2

17. Puss in Corner .... 27 1

18. Play Horse .... 24 6

19. Bicycle and Velocipede 23 6

20. Lotto 22 4

21. Waggon 20 4

22. Kick the Can .... 19 2

23. Kites 19 0

24. Shinney 18 0

25. Messenger Boy ... 17 8

All these interests should be studied by the
parent, so that he may be ever ready with a sugges-
tion, and thus keep the child busy. Soon the

1 From article on " Amusements of the Worcester School
Children," by T. R. Croswell, published in Pedagogical Seminary.

THE CHILD WHO PLAYS 41

child thus kept employed will learn to find
activities for himself. Every time the child is
repressed, the sympathy which should exist between
parent and child is lessened ; while every time there
is an outlet furnished for his activities, the love and
friendship is deepened.

Hughes says : l " Self -activity is impossible under
restraint. The child loves to do right better than
to do wrong, to be constructive better than to be
destructive. The well-trained teacher can change
the centre of interest without coercion, and without
interrupting the operation of self-activity."

Interfere as little as possible with the child's
play. Suggest certain activities when necessary;
do not do so when unnecessary. Do not have the
child to depend on you to supply activities any
of tener than you can help it. Keep him busy ;
but as soon as possible have him suggest his own
activities, and also those for the other children.
It is exercise of this sort that develops the creative
instinct. The men who can create something are
the men in demand all the world over to-day.

Oftentimes toys are chosen for children with
little thought. When purchasing toys, aim to
get those that will keep the children busy. Eschew
the mechanical toy, which interests them only until
the novelty wears off. As has been said, give them

1 FroebeVs Educational Laws, by J. L. Hughes.

42 THE POWER OF PLAY

materials out of which they can make their own
toys, and thus harness their play and activity
instincts as well as develop their imaginations.

Pets are of great value to children. They
stimulate the growth of the emotions as well as
develop the power to do. Caring for pets makes
children careful, and tending them makes children
tender.

The dog is the most popular pet of all. Of
2804 children, it was found that 42 per cent,
of them was most fond of the dog ; 2 7 per cent,
of the cat ; 6 per cent, of canaries ; 5 per cent,
rabbits ; and so on in the following order : horses,
parrots, chickens, ponies, pigeons, squirrels, fish,
lambs, monkeys, goats, doves, cows, etc.

" The boy without a playground is father to the
man without work " ; and it might be added, the
boy without pets is father to the vandal and the
prize-fighter.

CHAPTER II.
THE CHILD WHO DOES NOT PLAY.

rilHE child who does not play is a much more serious
•*• problem than the child who does nothing
but play. The child who plays needs a director ;
the child who does not play needs a doctor.
The child who does nothing but play can be taught
and trained through his love of play ; but the child
who does no playing must be regenerated in nerve
and muscle, and first be brought to love play.
The playless child is the little old man, and will
soon become a most unfortunate case of arrested
development. The dwarf is a case of arrested
development. He did not grow in the growing
time of life, and now it is too late to make up the
deficiency. The qualities which can only be
developed in a child through play are dwarfed in
that child who cannot or will not play. The over-
studious child is in greater danger than the over-
playful child. The parents and teachers of the
studious child are apt to overlook the fact that

44 THE POWER OF PLAY

the child does not play enthusiastically ; and because
of the false distinction they make between work
and play, are flattered rather than alarmed : the
result is arrested development.

The rose which human fingers have hastened in
its unfolding will never develop into a full-sized and
perfect flower. Forced development leads to arrested
>< development in the next stage. Bryan says : —

" Many things which would be grossly immoral
for the adult have no moral significance whatever
for the child. The child's standard of morality,
so far as he can be said to have a standard, does
not come to him so much by intuition as by precept,
and not so much by precept as by unconscious
suggestion and imitation. Nothing could be more
deadening to the development of the child than
an attempt to make it conform in every way to
the moral standard of the adult. Because the
naked child manifests no sense of shame, he is
not therefore disgracefully immoral. Because the
child, under the vividness of the imagination,
does not adhere literally to the truth, he is
not therefore a liar. Because the child connives
in every connivable way to attain some desir-
able end, he is not therefore a trickster; and
because the child appropriates that which does not
belong to him, he is not necessarily a thief, as his
father would be under the same conditions.

THE CHILD WHO DOES NOT PLAY 45

From the standpoint of the adult, these things
would all be gross breaches of morality, but
from the standpoint of the child they have but
little moral significance. The time will come
when they will have great moral significance.

A precocious sense of moral development must
be avoided during early years, as well as a morbid
sense of moral delinquency. Better no sense of
morality at all, than that the child should either
hold himself up as a bright and shining example
of right conduct, or that he should be taught to
magnify his mistakes into unpardonable sins. It
is not good for the child to be acutely conscious
either of his goodness or his badness. The normal
child will be occupied with something other than
self ; that is an adolescent experience. We often
teach a child to discern right from wrong, and
admonish him to cleave to the one and forsake
the other, only to find that, despite our teaching,
the second state of that child is worse than the
first.

Montaigne says : " Our work is to train men ;
not souls, not bodies, but both ; they cannot be
divided."

In the past we have been in the habit of
talking about saving souls, as though a man's soul
could be saved apart from his body. Jesus healed
men's bodies. The teacher of the mind or soul

46 THE POWER OF PLAY

must study the body. There is as much danger
of extreme spiritualism as of extreme materialism ;
the church of the past half-century has suffered
quite as much from the former as from the latter.
We must not divorce body and soul The inter-
dependence of mind and body is well recognised.
There are few sympathisers with that spiritual hero
of the fourteenth century who wrote on the wall
of his cell, "A pale face, a wasted body, and a
lowly demeanour are the marks by which a
spiritual man may be known." Weak and
helpless women are going out of fashion ; the
sooner they go, the better. George E. Johnson,
Massachusetts, says : " The day is coming when
each child in our public schools will be considered
as .a being with a body as well as with a mind."

Children are afflicted with many physical defects,
and are often wrongly punished because of action
or inaction resulting from them. Study well,
therefore, the physical defects of the child.
When we recognise that a child is ill or defective,
we become more tender in our treatment of him.
The bigger the child, the better ; the more pounds
he weighs, the better. Genius is sometimes done
up in small bodies, but, on the average, the heavier
the child, the better. It is a striking fact that
the truant boys of Massachusetts weigh less than
boys of the same age who are not truants.

THE CHILD WHO DOES NOT PLAY 47

The following figures, given by Roberts, make
this difference apparent: — '•

Age. Number of Boys.

13
14

14
15

112
84
37

233

55
26
11

Where found.
Public School

Truant School

Weight.

87-49

93-98

105-24

28671
Average, 95-57

83-30
85-98
9400

263-28
Average, 87*76

showing a difference of 7'81 Ibs.

Again, here is a chart showing the average
weight in public schools of boys aged 1 1 years : —

Grade.
1 .

Number of Boys
weighed.

• • • 59

2 .
3 .
4 .

. 311
. 665

. 546

5 .
6 .

. 123
33

Weight.

63-4
63-5
68-0
69-2
71-3
73-3

Here we find 59 boys who are far behind the
other boys of their age, and these weigh only
63 Ibs. ; while 33 boys, who are far ahead, weigh
10 Ibs. heavier. In England the social classes are

48 THE POWER OF PLAY

more clearly divided than in America. The
following figures are from English schools.

CHART SHOWING DIFFERENCES IN WEIGHT.
2378 BOYS.

riaq. Number Average

Class' Weighed. Weight.

150 78-07

Public School .

Middle

Elementary

Royal Military College

Factory Children

Industrial Schools

686 68-00

181 67-08

840 65-01

341 67-04

180 63-02

2378

In England, " Public schools " are the best schools
of the country (for example, Eton, J:lugby, and
Harrow), while the Industrial schools are practic-
ally reformatories. Observe the difference in the
weight between the best and worst nurtured classes.
It has been found that there is a difference of five
inches in the height of individuals of twenty-one
years of age in the best and the wort$ nurtured
classes in England.

As a result of the " Child-Study Investigation "
carried on in the public school of the city of
Chicago from March, 1899, to June 23, 1899,
Mr. W. S. Christopher says " it is clear . . . that
on the average those pupils who have made great
intellectual advancement are on the whole taller,

THE CHILD WHO DOES NOT PLAY 49

heavier, stronger, possessed of greater endurance
and larger breathing capacity, than those who
have made less advancement."

The bigger the child, the better ; therefore care
for his body. Speak seldom to him about what
"tastes good," but often about what will make
his body strong. When he has a pain or an ache,
trace it back, if possible, to some over-indulgence.
Praise the strong and manly; speak with pity
of the weak. Inspire him to self-control and to
the development of his body. Choose carefully
the food to be placed upon the table. Self-
sacrifice on the part of the parent is necessary
for the welfare of the child.

Elizabeth Harrison says i1 "In a thousand such
ways can children be influenced to form judgments
concerning lines of conduct, which will help them
to decide aright when the real deed is to be
enacted. I know of the Kindergarten - trained
five-year-old son of a millionaire, who refused
spiced pickles when they were passed to him at
the table. 'Why, my son/ said his father, 'do
you not want some pickles ? They are very nice/
* No/ replied the boy ; ' I don't see any use in
eating spiced pickles. It doesn't help to make
me any stronger; my teacher says it doesn't.'
If this kind of training can be carried out, such

1 A Study in Child Nature.
4

50 THE POWER OF PLAY

a childhood will grow into a young manhood which,
when tempted, can easily say, 'No, I see no use
in that. It will help to make me neither a
stronger nor a better man.'" The great lesson
in life, and the most difficult to learn, is the lesson
of self-control. It is not more parental control
that is needed, but more self-control on the part
of the child.

Froebel, in his Education of Man, says : " In the
early years the child's food is a matter of very great
importance ; not only may the child by this means
be made indolent or active, sluggish or mobile,
dull or bright, inert or vigorous, but indeed for
his entire life."

Again, Froebel says : " Parents and nurses should
ever remember, as underlying every precept in
this direction, the following general principles :
that simplicity and frugality in food and in other
physical needs during the years of childhood
enhance man's power of attaining happiness and
vigour, — true creativeness in every respect. Who
has not noticed in children over-stimulated by
spices and excess of food, appetites of a very
low order, from which they can never again be free
— appetites which, even when they seem to have
been suppressed, only slumber, and in times of
opportunity reappear, to rob man of all his dignity,
and to force him away from his duty. It is

THE CHILD WHO DOES NOT PLAY 51

far easier than we think to promote and establish
the welfare of mankind, and here it is easy to
avoid the wrong and to find the right. Always
let the food be simply for nourishment ; never
more, never less. Never should it be taken for
its own sake, but for the sake of promoting bodily
and mental activity. Still less should the peculi-
arities of food, its taste or delicacy, ever become
an object, but only a means to make it good,
pure, wholesome nourishment. Let the food of
the little child be as simple as the circumstances
in which the child lives can afford, and let it be
in proportion to his bodily and mental activities."

When the child complains of headache, do not
always sympathise with him, but inquire what he
has been eating, or what time he went to bed last
night. Get from effect to cause every time.
When the boy does not want to play, find the
cause in wrong eating or drinking. If he be sleepy
or cross, if he works badly at school and loses his
place in the class, help him to see what is the
cause of the trouble. Here is a little fellow who
was well trained. He said to his mother, " Mother,
I think the cobbler across the street has been
eating something that didn't agree with him."
" Why ? " said the mother. " Well, you see, mother,
yesterday he allowed me in the shop and told me
a story, and I told him one, but to-day he is so

52 THE POWER OF PLAY

cross he wouldn't allow me into the shop at all.
I suppose he's been eating something that wasn't
good for him/' It is quite likely that the boy's
judgment was wise.

The mental education of the child is so closely
connected with the physical education, that it is of
the greatest importance that the physical develop-
ment should be of a high order. To this end each
individual child should be studied carefully. Not
only should his own physical nature be studied,
but also the physical natures of his father and
mother, of his grandparents and great-grand-
parents, so that tendencies to any hereditary
diseases may be anticipated and guarded against.
Such foresight and care can guide and tide a child
over critical periods until he finally quite outgrows
his weaknesses.

It is of the greatest importance that the child
should have a normal physical foundation, iu order
that the training of the senses may be carried on
to the best advantage. If a child's eyesight is not
good, his perceptions of the things around him will
not be correct ; if his hearing is dull, he will miss
many things, and probably get wrong ideas of
many others.

Perhaps the most important sense of all to train
is the sense of touch. For through it he learns
more than through any other sense. A child can

THE CHILD WHO DOES NOT PLAY 53

never have a correct idea of the shape of a thing
until he has touched it, handled and felt it. He
can never have a correct idea of a distance until
he has measured that distance by walking it. He
should therefore be allowed to handle everything
around him, and to experiment for himself. All
his learning should as far as possible be connected
with some physical activity : he should make
things and do things with his hands.

The sense of sight should be carefully trained.
From the very first he should be taught to notice
and observe things, in order that he may gain the
power to see quickly and accurately. His sense of
hearing, too, should be trained. These things can
be done by bringing him into close touch with
nature. If the animals, birds, insects, trees, and
flowers are his friends, he will have plenty of
practice in observing and seeing and hearing. He
will learn to look for the smallest things about
each one, to listen for the calls of the animals and
the noises of the insects, for the notes of the birds,
and the rustlings of the wind through the trees.

The world is half-full of people who, having
eyes, see not ; and having ears, hear not. It is a
foregone conclusion that the child who starts out
in life handicapped with physical defects — bad
eyes, ears, throat, teeth, etc. — will be found to fail in
the race for life in these days of keen competition.

54 THE POWER OF PLAY

Dr. Topleitz examined 2000 day-school children
in New York City, and found 1260 of them
suffering from some defect of ear, nose, or throat.

Forty-seven per cent, of the children in day
schools have been found to be defective in
sight.

Conrad in Germany found 45 per cent, defective.
Hippel „ ,,38

Kotelman „ ,,59 „

Erusiman in Eussia „ 61 „ „

Carter in England ,,49 „ „

Allport in Minnesota ,,32 „ „

Eisly in Philadelphia ,,46 „ „

Showing an average of 47 „ „

Eecent tests in Chicago revealed that 32 per
cent, of the children entering the public schools
were defective in sight. The percentage was
increased to 43 per cent, at nine and a half years,
and receded again to 30 per cent, at thirteen and
a half years.

The result of Dr. Eeichard's extended investiga-
tion on the hearing of children shows 22*27 per
cent, defective. Dr. West found 41 per cent, of
Worcester public school children below the ninth
grade defective in sight. For the ninth grade the
effectiveness was 18 per cent.

The Child Study Monthly reports the following

THE CHILD WHO DOES NOT PLAY 55

—"An interesting case, showing the effects of eye-
strain, is that of a son of a principal of one of
the Chicago schools. In Kindergarten and first
grade he was restless, easily tired, and so irritable
by the close of the day, that parents were annoyed
and puzzled. Though naturally a nervous child,
he had never shown chronic bad temper before.
His mother had her eyes examined and glasses
fitted, and experienced so much relief, that, merely
as an experiment, the boy was taken to an oculist.
Glasses correcting the marked astigmatism in
otherwise normal eyes solved the difficulty."
What might have been the result had he been the
child of poor and heedless parents ?

The superintendent of a school for the blind
made the statement to the writer, that out of the
one hundred and fifty scholars in his charge, fifty
of them would never have been blind if they had
had proper care. While visiting one school, this
superintendent found a child nearly blind. When
it was proposed to remove her to the blind school,
the authorities of the day school protested against
such action. When examined, the child was found
to have but three two-hundredths of perfect sight.
A few months more in that day school, and the
child would have been totally blind.

One mother punished her child again and again
for inattention. A few months later, that same

56 THE POWER OF PLAY

child had to undergo a serious operation upon her
ears and throat. Fancy the mother's remorse.

Here are a few simple and well-known tests for
the eyes, such as are used by any oculist : —

Hold this diagram of a dial two feet from the face, and examine
it with each eye in turn. In perfect vision, all the white lines will
be seen with equal distinctness ; but if any appear blurred or
tinted, astigmatism is present.

ii'jjli1 "sir

SELECT THE BLACKEST LETTER,

If you can see these lines with equal sharpness, you have excellent
sight, but if they appear blurred, or the spaces look tinted, you
are suffering from astigmatism.

THE CHILD WHO DOES NOT PLAY 57

To see all these lines distinctly is a proof of good vision.

If this arrangement of parallel lines confuses and tires the eyes after
gazing at it fixedly for a few seconds, your eyes are more or less
astigmatic, and you should seek advice for them.

Defect* of eyesight reqoirihg correction by the use of spectacle* are purely mechunt-
«*!, and can be so corrected by the proper adjustment of perfectly made lenses that
their effects will be entirely obviated. This print should be read easily at fifteen
Inches from the eye. If you cannot do so you should wear spectacles. It does no»
pay to buy cheap spectacles. They distort the rays of light, disturb the angles of
vision, cause pain and discomfort and injure the eyesight. When it is necessary .to
hold work or rending matter farther than fifteen inche* from the eyea in order to see
distinctly, it is a sure sign of failing Axion, and much annoyance 4ittomfort and
pain will be prevented by having a pair of cUwe* fitML

UNfVERSITY

58 THE POWER OF PLAY

No. i.— Pearl.

The absurd prejudice that some people have against the use of glasses, influenced by
their regard for their personal appearance, is indulged in at the ultimate cost of good

No. 2. — Nonpareil.

sight — or perhaps loss of useful vision. The earlier these refractive troubles
are attended to, the less powerful the lens that has to be worn. This allows

No. 3. — Brevier.

a margin for future changes. But it is in view of the abnormal
deviation from the healthy eye which must come as we advance

No. 4. — Bourgeois.

in life that the judicious use of glasses is of so much
importance, preventing, as it does, congestive states of

No. 5. — Small Pica.
the eye, which tend to morbid changes, ending,

No. 6.— Pica.
it may be, in glaucoma, or cataract.

No. 7. — Great Primer.

The wearing of shades over the

No. 8.— Double Pica.

both eyes: better that

In perfect vision, the smallest type should be read without difficulty
at a distance of fifteen inches. If this cannot be done, suitable
spectacles should be obtained without delay.

THE CHILD WHO DOES NOT PLAY 59

Taylor in his book, The Study of a Child, says :
" In a spelling class the other day I asked the
students to criticise the work of their classmates,
and to mark the misspelled words. One of them
complained to me that her critic had marked three
words in her writing speller that were correctly
spelled, though they had been spelled aloud for
her guidance. The next day I took occasion to
speak of the matter, assuring them that each
critic would be held responsible for his work.
As the class was dismissed, the critic mentioned
came to me and confessed. I asked why she
did it. She replied, * My eyes ! I suppose it
must be my eyes/ Examination showed that
she was right, and her many blunders were all
explained."

Again, Taylor says : " I had occasion once to
reprimand, for the third or fourth time, a young
woman who had been giving me much anxiety by
her repeated indiscretions. She smiled as I spoke
of her offences, and giggled as I assured her that
she was at the point of suspension. In surprise,
I asked her why she received my reproof with
such levity. She answered that often when she
wanted to cry she laughed, and that often when
she wanted to laugh she cried. With a word or
two I excused her from the room, and sought
further light. It came from a friend, who said,

60 THE POWER OF PLAY

* That young woman has suffered from childhood
with epilepsy. For a year or more she has been
so nearly well that her parents were assured last
summer by her physician, that if she could be
sent among strangers for a while she would
probably forget her affliction, and in her new
surroundings attain perfect health and self-
control. She undoubtedly told you the truth
about her crying and laughing muscles becoming
crossed at times. Epileptics can hardly be
expected to be either intellectually or morally
normal.' "

We are indebted to the Child Study Monthly
and Journal of Adolescence for the following:
" Philip (aged eight years) spent two years in
the lowest primary grade. He made no progress
whatever. His younger brother entered the same
grade and was promoted in one year. The
principal sent Philip to the second grade out of
kindness. One more year passed, and still Philip
could not read, write, spell, or cipher. The
principal read something about Child-Study. He
took Philip to a surgeon and had the fungus
growths (adenoids) cut out of his nostrils. The
principal said nothing of this to anyone. In a
short time the principal's children in the second
grade came home and told with wonder how
Philip had distanced them all. The teacher could

THE CHILD WHO DOES NOT PLAY 61

not understand the cause of the marvellous change
in Philip. In a few months he stood at the head
of the second grade. For three years he had not
heard with any clearness his teachers or his mates.
There are hundreds of defectives who have been
thus helped by Child-Study, and thousands who
await the teacher."

In an average class of forty-eight pupils, the
teacher will find six pupils so dull of hearing in
loth ears as to be greatly handicapped in all oral
work, and six others who are considerably handi-
capped unless they sit on the proper side of the
room to favour the better ear. In other words,
at least one-fourth of the pupils in school have a
defect serious enough to demand attention. Some
one has said, " Children's ears should be examined
— not cuffed."

Dr. Homer Smith of Norwich, N.Y., says :
" Children suffering from Hyperopia (or far-sighted-
ness) study and work only by an abnormal effort
of accommodation, and, varying with the degree,
study becomes more and more difficult. Such
children detest study, are thought to be indolent,
and can only be driven to close application. They
delight in outdoor games, are physically robust, but
may as a result (in some ways) be mentally un-
developed. The parents of such children do not
appreciate how irksome becomes continued use of

62 THE POWER OF PLAY

the eyes for near work, nor how fatiguing is
such exercise to them. To laziness and heredity,
and not to an infirmity, we often attribute the
cause.

"Myopia, or near-sightedness, is the result
usually of a prolongation of the optic axis, with
the far point of distinct vision at a definite
distance ; this distance, of course, varying with the
degree of myopia. The sufferers from myopia
cannot see clearly beyond a certain point in low
degree, say about forty inches. Objects within this
distance are seen clearly ; and in a certain sense
this is an advantage, in that objects are appar-
ently larger and are seen with less effort; but
its disadvantage lies in their inability to see
beyond this point. The myopic are given to
sedentary occupations, they cannot partake in
outdoor games, they become ill developed mus-
cularly, they prefer home amusements and reading
when they should be with their fellows in the
open air ; they are inattentive to black-board work,
and are reproved for that which is no fault of
theirs.

" It is little short of marvellous to note the
change which properly fitted lenses make in both
these cases. Children are the same the world
over: they are eager to learn, and they rejoice
in outdoor sports as well. With corrected vision

THE CHILD WHO DOES NOT PLAY 63

the myope leaves his books and blocks, to join in
bat and ball ; and the hyperope will take his share
of school work without complaint ; and that natural
balance which now ensues between brawn and brain
exists, to the perfect development of a sound mind
in a sound body."

The child who does not play is often found to
be suffering from adenoid growths and enlarged
tonsils. These fill up the cavity behind the nose
and mouth.

In such cases there is always a low power of
resistance against disease. If the case is a bad
one, the child is pale and poorly nourished. He
will become round-shouldered, have a muffled voice
and snuffling respiration. The nose and cheeks
fall in and present pinched features. The arch
of the palate rises, the incisor teeth overlap, the
mouth hangs open, and the muscles become flabby.
Then is contracted the habit of mouth-breathing,
and the air, not warmed, or moistened, or filtered,
meets the unprotected pulmonary tissues. The
sense of smell atrophies, and a great protector of
health is lost. Loss of hearing is sure to follow.
Speech is affected, and there is inability to concen-
trate the mind. The desire to play passes away,
and the temper and disposition and intelligence
depreciate, and soon is resultant in a serious case
of arrested development.

THE POWER OF PLAY

The following chart will give an idea of the
large number of children defective in hearing : —

Doctor.

Place.

Number.

Defective.

Pritchard in Russia examined 1055 found 22 per c

Sexton

New York

570

Weil

Germany

5905

Worrell

Terre Haute

491

Gelle

Paris

1400

Maure

France

3588

Lunin

Russia

281

Parr

Scotland

600

Schmegelow

Copenhagen

581

The following are some very simple and well-
known tests for the ears which can be made by
any teacher or parent : —

HEARING TEST. — " In the hearing test a
watch should be used which has a clear distinct
tick. With normal hearing such a watch, when
fully wound up, should be heard ticking plainly
at a distance of 36 inches from the ear. To pre-
vent any mistake, however, it is well to ascertain,
by trying the watch on several people who have
good hearing, how far away others can hear the
ticking of the timepiece in question. In making
the test, one should get a friend to hold the watch
and to measure the distance at which the ticking
can be heard. The person to be tested should be
seated in a quiet room, so that the ticking of a
clock or other sounds cannot interfere. The eyes

THE CHILD WHO DOES NOT PLAY 65

should be covered, and the ear not under examina-
tion should be closed to sound. The watch should
be brought close to the ear first of all, and then
drawn away in a direct line until its sound ceases
to be heard. This test should be verified by hold-
ing the watch more than 3 feet away, then bringing
it slowly nearer until the ticking is perceptible.
Granting that the watch can be heard normally at
3 6 inches, the distance at which a defective ear hears
it gives, by comparison, a measure of the defect in
hearing. If only heard 1 2 inches away, the ear has
only 12-36 (or J) the hearing power it should
possess ; if heard only 9 inches away, J normal
hearing, etc."

G. E. Johnson of Andover, Mass., has made a care-
ful study of children's teeth. He says : " It is well
known that with the advancement of civilisation
there has come an increasing tendency to physical
degeneracy in many particulars. This is especially
noticeable in regard to the jaws and teeth of the
present generation." l According to Dr. Rose, only
2J per cent, of Eskimos have defective teeth, 3 to
10 per cent, of Indians, while, according to
Johnson's studies, 97 per cent, of Andover school
children have defective teeth.

Dr. Dennison Pedley, in England, conducted an
examination of the teeth of 3800 school children,

1 "A Study of Andover Children's Teeth," Pedagogical Seminary.

66 THE POWER OF PLAY

from three to sixteen years of age. 75 per cent. (
of these children had diseased teeth. This is
better than the figures which the Andover children
show. At Andover the teeth of 497 children
were examined: 96*6 per cent, were defective.
Besides the decay of the teeth, there were numerous
abnormalities. 26 per cent, had teeth pointing
upward and outward, or jaws meeting at either
front teeth or back teeth only, thereby interfering
greatly with mastication of food. Two children
were unable to bite the little finger when inserted
between the front teeth. Out of 165 children in
one building, 136 had green stains more or less
marked. 87 per cent, of the 497 never, or rarely,
brushed their teeth; 23 of them never made any
pretence of caring for them; 63 per cent, of the
children over six years neglected to clean them,
and even 23 per cent, of the High School pupils
were guilty of like neglect. It is generally
supposed that it is of little or no use to care for
the baby teeth. The mouth, when rendered foul
through the decay of food and teeth, becomes a
veritable hotbed for the lodgment and generation
of disease germs, an " entrance gate " for infectious
diseases. The immunity of the physician from
infectious diseases is due far more to cleanliness
of mouth and person than to anything else.

Booker Washington says : " In all my teaching

THE CHILD WHO DOES NOT PLAY 67

I have watched carefully the influence of the tooth-
brush, and I am convinced that there are few
single agencies of civilisation that are more far-
reaching.

"Many children suffer from diphtheria who
never would do so if the mouth were kept clean,
and the teeth, the baby teeth, in a good state of
repair. Of 3000 Americans over twenty-five
years of age, only seven had all four of the sixth-
year molars. Why? Largely because of the
diseased companions among which these teeth
came to live. Of 1840 cavities in baby teeth,
only 48 had been filled ; that is, 2*6 per cent. The
great question of physical welfare, especially in
the case of children, is the question of nutrition.
That which is digested and assimilated, rather than
that which is swallowed, is the principal thing."

Proper mastication is necessary to proper diges-
tion. Proper digestion is necessary to good temper.
Good temper is necessary, on the part of both
parent and child, if punishments are to become less
frequent. This is the relation of punishment to
physical defects.

John Dalziel, a sympathetic lover of the child,
has given us the following incident : " Many
instances of apparent stubbornness on the part of
the children have come under my notice, which
upon a thorough investigation have been found to

68 THE POWER OF PLAY

arise from some defect in the organs of sight or
hearing, such as astigmatism or a deformity in the
ear.

" The head of a child may appear normal to
many persons, indicating in some cases more than
ordinary intelligence, while there exists such a
condition that it is impossible for the child to
understand some propositions, even when expressed
in simple terms.

" The appearance of the eye-ball is not an indica-
tion of the power of seeing in any individual, a
fact attested to by oculists and understood by
many educators ; but that there is still a great deal
of ignorance of the laws governing mind-develop-
ment, which should be known to every person
entrusted with child-cultivation, is manifest from
the treatment of children by both parents and
teachers.

" One of the most painful instances of the belief
of the innate badness of some children came under
my notice a few years ago in the city of Phil-
adelphia. The mother's statement in this case was,
' That ever since he was a baby he had given her
a great deal of trouble, from a habit of knocking
things over.' As his eyes were perfect, and he
could see the objects and play with them, his
parents did not suspect there was any defect in
his sight; and consequently he was punished for

THE CHILD WHO DOES NOT PLAY 69

what appeared to be wilful mischief, and that
which seemed still worse — trying to lie himself out
of punishment by saying he did not see the things
there. This determined persistence in lying was
the cause of all his afflictions; it was, however,
accompanied by an aggravating habit of making
grimaces at the person questioning him, a sure
sign of natural depravity. As is frequently the
case with children when they know that they are
being punished wrongfully, this boy resented the ill-
treatment by stoic endurance while under the rod,
thereby gaining the additional stigma of being
vicious and incorrigible.

"With such a character, gained at home, he was
taken to an asylum for feeble-minded infants, for
the purpose of being disciplined. At first, in the
new surroundings, he brightened up ; but it was
not long before the teacher had full evidence of
his obstinacy.

"The importance of beginning right was fully
understood ; and the teacher, taking an object in
her hand and holding it before the boy's face,
asked him, while he was to all appearances looking
directly at it, ' What is the name of the object
in my hand ? ' The child twisted his face up,
and with a grimace asked, ' What object ? ' Here
was confirmation of the bad character he brought
with him. His head was held face to the object

70 THE POWER OF PLAY

and a correct answer demanded ; then followed the
usual answer, ' I cannot see anything.' For such
obstinacy and prevarication there was but one
remedy.

" The child was desirous of pleasing his teacher,
and watched her closely, so that he could occasion-
ally name the object held up ; this, however, only
made his conduct at other times less tolerable.
As a crucial test, the teacher would hold a pin
before the boy's face, and upon his statement that
he could not see anything, the point would be
brought in contact with his nose, producing a cry
and the statement that 'It is a pin.' Severe
punishment followed this experiment.

" Fortunately for the child he became sick. An
oculist, after examining him, stated that there was
a defect in his sight, but the exact nature of it
was not easily determined.

" After this the child was treated less severely ;
but all his endeavours to prove himself truthful
were futile, and the poor little fellow pined away
slowly and died, without any adequate cause in
the shape of physical disease.

" At the request of the oculist, the boy's brain
was given to him for examination ; he found that
the nerves of sight were disconnected, which
would render it impossible for the child to see any
object in front of his face, but that he could see

THE CHILD WHO DOES NOT PLAY 71

all objects on either side of him ; and only by
twisting his head and shutting an eye could he
be able to see things in front of him.

" The remorse felt by his former teachers can be
readily understood ; but what a picture it is ! Who
can appreciate the acute mental suffering of the
infant when punished by its mother for untruths
it did not tell ? Think of the effect upon the
mind of a child, deprived of food, kept in confine-
ment, and flogged for failing to comply with
requirements it had no means of comprehending ! "

In a certain High School a boy who was called
" incorrigible " by all his teachers passed into
another department. He was in the habit of thrust-
ing a pin or his penknife into the boys who were
seated alongside of him. This performance was
repeated over and over again. He was usually
sent from the room, and afterwards severely
punished. At last he came under the care of a
teacher who had great sympathy for boys. This
teacher carefully observed the actions of the lad,
and made up his mind that there must be some
reason, other than pure badness, which prompted him
to such vicious action. He suggested to the boy's
father that the lad should be examined by a phy-
sician. The father replied, " All he wants is plenty
of punishment." However, a physician was called,
and the boy was carefully and thoroughly examined.

72 THE POWER OF PLAY

It was found that one of the lungs was almost gone,
and the other somewhat diseased. It was then
observed that these "incorrigible" actions occurred
in the afternoon, and particularly on days which
were close and muggy. The teacher and physician
gave it as their opinion, that in acting as he did
the boy was fighting for his life. In the close
room he could not get sufficient air to breathe, and
he knew that after such serious misdemeanours he
was sure to be sent to the principal for punishment,
and that outside of the room he could get air to
breathe.

Such instances and statistics as are here given
must certainly bring us more into sympathy with
our children. Before punishing, we must be sure
that there is not some physical defect which leads
to wrong action. Dr. Bedder says : " Whenever a
race attains its maximum of physical development,
it rises in energy and moral development."

The child who does not play is a more serious
problem than the child who does nothing but play.

CHAPTEK III.
TWO KINDS OF PLAYERS.

Would you know how to lead the child in this matter ?
Observe the child ; he will teach you what to do,"

/CHILDREN differ ; no two are alike. There are,
V however, certain positive types, and this
chapter will deal with the Restless and the Quiet
types, in contrast. These may be called the
Motor and the Sensor types. The poet has
appreciated the differentiation when he speaks of
" men of thought" and " men of action."

Let us consider the differences. The motor
child is very quick to act : for him to think is to
act. All his ideas seek to find their outlet in
bodily activity. He wants always to be moving,
acting, doing. A lad who, while rapidly swinging
his feet, was asked by his teacher, " What are you
thinking of?" said, "I was thinking if my feet
were ponies, how I would go ! " This is a case in
point. The sensor-minded child is slow to act.
He does not manifest the great bodily energy of

74 THE POWER OF PLAY

his motor brother. His energy runs to thought:
he is content to sit comparatively still; he turns
things over in his mind before he puts them into
action. While the motor boy is in danger of
thoughtless action, the sensor is in danger of
actionless thought. He is contemplative, quiet,
serious, and retiring. Not that he does not play ;
but his play, at any rate until he is thoroughly
aroused, is of a quieter type. He is fond of the
company of his elders. He and his grandfather
are good friends : they love to be together ; he is
"grandfather's darling." Not so the motor boy:
he is grandfather's horror. He is nearly always
making the people who live with him uncomfort-
able by his noisy actions. He is impulsive,
thoughtless, and rash ; he is boisterous, explosive,
and naturally rude. Sometimes he can hardly be
trusted to play with other children. He may
possess no more energy than the sensor child, but
what energy he has finds its outlet in bodily
activity. He is always getting hurt. The motor-
minded child of three years is usually ornamented
with several black-and-blue spots, the result of
hasty indiscretion, which his more cautious brother
escapes.

All young children are very " suggestible," but
the motor child is more readily suggestible than
the sensor. He does things with a rush ; he is the

TWO KINDS OF PLAYERS 75

hustler and the bustler; he is always on the qui
vive for what is going on. Not only is he very
suggestible, but he makes many suggestions. He
is always ready to give advice. The adage, " Think
twice before you speak," is the suitable one for
him. Not so with the sensor child : that caution
is out of place for him. It may be absolutely
harmful to him ; for his tendency is to think, not
twice but many times, before he acts.

Another adage in common use is, " Children
should be seen and not heard " ; this maxim must
not be applied to the sensor child. Comparatively
speaking, he does not want to be heard. He is
secretive and retiring, and if not corrected will
spend his life in retirement and seclusion. We
should ask him what he is thinking of, encourage
him to talk, and help him, by speech and action,
to give expression to himself.

The motor-minded child is always ready to
commence something new : he is quick to begin
a thing, but slow to finish it. He likes changes :
he is apt to become the " rolling stone that gathers
no moss." The motor child loves to " show off " :
he is always talking about the things he is going
to do. He is a boaster ; he is apt to be domineer-
ing, and wants to lead the other children in their
games. He loves to play with children whom he
can control. Because of his enthusiasm he is a

76 THE POWER OF PLAY

born leader, but there is danger that he will not
think enough to lead wisely: that after an ex-
plosion or two of great talk and boast he will
collapse, and give place to one more thoughtful
than himself.

The sensor child does not want to lead, but
usually prefers to follow. He occasionally makes
a suggestion for a game, and it is usually a wise
one. Someone else, however, is apt to become the
leader in that game. He always looks before he
leaps, but there is a danger that he will not leap
at all ; and if not trained rightly, the world will
lose the influence of a life that would otherwise
be a thoughtful power. Both of the children may
be self-conscious, but the motor child shows his
self-consciousness more than the other. He shows
off in great style, wants everyone to see his im-
portance ; and if this tendency is not corrected in
his early years, he will have to learn through bitter
experience.

The motor-minded child of four or five years
cries loudly when he is hurt; he is the "cry
baby." There is a loud explosion; a grief which
is soon over. The sensor-minded child grieves
more quietly. He gets the sulks and shrinks
within himself. His sensitive nature is easily
offended. We must not take a stick to him, as
we might do to the motor-minded child. It would

TWO KINDS OF PLAYERS 77

reak his heart. We cannot break the heart of
the motor-minded boy ; he has the safety-valve of
demonstration, through which he lets off the steam :
but the sensor child is easily driven away, and
there is danger of quickly losing him from onr
heart's sympathy, love, and control.

The motor child is very demonstrative. If he
finds that he loves you, he will say so; he will
hug and kiss you and tell you that he loves you
" a hundred times," " a thousand times," " a million
timeS*' The other child loves you just as well, but
says less about it. Perhaps he shows it more by
his quiet actions than by many words.

The motor-minded child asks many questions:
the sensor asks comparatively few. Not that the
sensor child has any less curiosity than the motor,
but the latter must speak what he thinks. The
sensor child listens and learns from the other's
questions.

The motor child jumps to conclusions : he does
not wait for proofs, but at the least sign makes
up his mind. He does not differentiate carefully.
Without sufficient data, he draws his conclusions,
and is often led into impulsive and mistaken
actions. One can always tell what he is thinking
about. Every expression on his face is the reflec-
tion of his thought ; he is as easily read as an open
book. The teacher can see by his expression

78 THE POWER OF PLAY

whether he is pleased or displeased. Not so with
the sensor child. The teacher finds him a difficult
pupil to understand, and only after continuous
questioning can she discover whether or not he
has grasped the thought. The motor boy wants
to guess at things. He loves to guess. He
commits to memory with ease ; for memory- work
does not make him think : he does it automatically.
To make such a child commit to memory is
surely an educational blunder. We must make
him think, think, think. He wants to act, act, act.
He is always ready to give attention, but he will
not for long give his undivided attention. In
preparing lessons he is superficial. He will tell
his mother that he knows his lessons, when, as a
matter of fact, he only thinks he knows them : he
has skimmed them, as he skims everything else.

The motor child commits a dozen acts of dis-
obedience to every one the sensor child commits.
For the motor child to disobey does not, comparat-
ively speaking, mean much : he acts so quickly,
so impulsively, so thoughtlessly, that he disobeys
before he knows it. Not so with the sensor. His
acts of disobedience are more thoughtfully com-
mitted : they are premeditated. We call the
motor-minded child a disobedient child ; but, as a
matter of fact, his many acts of thoughtless dis-
obedience are possibly altogether not as great as

TWO KINDS OF PLAYERS 79

one of the sensor-minded child. Consequently the
parent who does not understand the difference,
fails to deal justly.

The question will of course be asked, Are there
not children who are half sensor-minded and half
motor-minded ?

All the children who have come under the
observation of the writer have, on a reasonably
intimate acquaintance, been easily placed in one
class or the other; but the subject is open for
further investigation. It is certain that in almost
every family of four children both types may be
easily discovered. At all events, there are a
sufficient number of extremes to make this study
well worthy of attention.

We see these different characters among the
biographies of Scripture. It is easy to place
Peter : the rash, impulsive, boastful, energetic,
suggestible, demonstrative, talkative, self-assertive,
enthusiastic, motor-minded disciple. It is not
difficult to class John : the thoughtful, the one who
shows us so much of the deep things of God, who
deals with eternities, and with great heights and
depths of things spiritual ; John, the quiet, retiring,
contemplative, modest, cautious, undemonstrative,
sensor-minded disciple. John, however, was one
of the sons of thunder. How are we to harmonize
this fact with the quiet, retiring, gentle disposition

8o THE POWER OF PLAY

described ? One characteristic of these deeper
natures is that when they are aroused they speak,
and speak with the voice of thunder. Arouse this
sensor-minded child, and he will show all the
reserve fire of his nature. Nor will it be easy for
him to get back his habitual calmness. Once
more, we see the difference portrayed in the
hustling, bustling, impulsive Martha, and the quiet,
retiring, comtemplative Mary.

It cannot be said that the one type of character
is more excellent than the other. The world needs
both. Education and training should bring to
the child that which he needs to make him an all-
round character. Education, however, cannot begin
until the child is understood.

How shall we train these different natures ?

1. THE MOTOR CHILD.

This child is sure to be doing something all the
time ; idle hands he cannot have : he must act. If
he is not given the right things to do, he will do
wrong things. Certainly if he is not kept busy
at the sort of work he needs, he will keep himself
busy at the very sort of thing he does not need.
The secret of training this child lies in harnessing
his energy, and turning it into the channels
necessary for his best development. His games,

TWO KINDS OF PLAYERS 81

if they are left to himself to choose, will be games
of action and not of thought. Thought-games are
the very ones he needs, and these must be sug-
gested to him.

First. Get him interested in such thought-
games as draughts and checkers.

Second. Give him complex things to do. Do
not, however, tax him with more than he is able
to bear.

Third. When he gets into trouble through
hasty actions, point out to him the fact that he
has acted without thought, and therefore must
suffer.

Fourth. Keep him from jumping to conclusions.
Help him to weigh evidence carefully.

Fifth. As often as possible let him work out his
problems alone. Assist him only enough to keep
him from being discouraged. Give him lessons
that will make him think. Keep away those of a
rote character.

Sixth. When you read or tell him Bible stories,
choose the stories that will help to correct
his impulsive disposition. Show how the heroes
were calm, thoughtful, self -controlled. Make large
in the story the characteristics that you would
develop in the child. Do not discourage him :
inspire him.

Seventh. Keep him much in the society of

82 THE POWER OF PLAY

those rather older than himself. As has been
seen, he prefers the society of children whom he
can control.

Eighth. When he studies, send him to his own
room, where he can be alone. Every motor influ-
ence about him attracts his notice.

Ninth. Suggest things for him to do, rather
than for him to don't. To tell this boy not to
do a thing, almost makes him want to do that
very thing. It certainly makes it harder for him
to refrain from doing it. Kemember that he is
very suggestible.

Tenth. Be careful how you dress him. Put
the quiet colours on the "show-off" boy, and shield
him from any parade before others. Prevent him
from hearing his own praises sung. Earely, if
ever, have him recite or sing alone before strangers
and seldom before friends. Keep him from taking
part in entertainments, or from anything that will
pamper him in his love of showing off his self-
importance.

2. THE SENSOR CHILD.

First. Keep in company with him.

Second. Encourage him to talk, and so give
expression to himself.

Third. Suggest things for him to do: get him
to act.

TWO KINDS OF PLAYERS 83

Fourth. Encourage him to lead the other children
in the games, etc.

Fifth. Let him recite or sing in public. He
lacks self-confidence.

Sixth. In some things he is easily discouraged.
In these encourage him. Praise him for small
successes.

Would you know how to lead the child in this
matter ?

Observe him. He will tell you what to do.

CHAPTER IV.
MAKE-BELIEVE PLAY.

IMAGINATION AND PLAY.

ULLY says : " I often wonder, when I come
across some precious bit of droll infantile
acting, or some sweet child-soliloquy, how mothers
can bring themselves to lose one drop of the fresh
exhilarating draught which daily pours forth from
the fount of a child's phantasy."

Beware of arrested development. All healthy
children love to play ; but healthy young children,
especially, enjoy the play of "make-believe."
Here is a little fellow who buttons up his coat,
pulls down his cap, swells himself out, puts his
shoulders back, and cries, " I'm a policeman " ;
here is another, who throws an imaginary bag
over his shoulder, loads himself up with "make-
pretend " letters, and cries, " I'm the postman."
Where can there be found a better opportunity
for helping a child to understand the duties,
hardships, etc., in the life of the policeman and

MAKE-BELIEVE PLAY 85

the postman than during the period of " make-
believe play " ? The child, in impersonating the
policeman, the postman, his grandmother, the
kitten, the bird, or any other character, learns to
enter into the life and to understand the feelings
of that other as he can do in no other way. The
child who misses the opportunity to play in such
a fashion will suffer all the days of his life from
arrested development.

Dickens wrote : " I often consoled myself by
impersonating my favourite characters in the books
I had read. I have been Tom Jones for a week
together. I have sustained my own idea of
Koderick Eandom for a month at a stretch.
For days I can remember to have gone about,
armed with the centre-piece out of an old boot-
tree, the perfect realisation of Captain Somebody
of the Eoyal British Navy in danger of being
beset by savages, and resolved to sell my life as
dearly as possible."

I heard of a little fellow who played all day
long that he was a coal merchant. He dragged
his little four - wheeled cart to the side of
an imaginary ship, loaded it with imaginary
coal, dragged it off to his fancied customer, and
delivered it. He repeated this action again and
again. He was so interested in his play, that at
night, when on his knees for his evening prayer,

86 THE POWER OF PLAY

he said, "Dear God, make me a better coal
merchant." Was there ever a more beautiful
prayer, or a more natural one ?

Elizabeth Harrison writes : " A young mother,
whose daughter had been for some time in a
Kindergarten, came to me and said, ' I have been
surprised to see how my little Katherine handles
the baby, and how sweetly and gently she talks
to him.' I said to the daughter, 'Katherine,
where did you learn how to talk to baby, and to
take care of one so nicely ? ' ' Why, that's the
way we talk to the dolly at Kindergarten ! ' she
replied. Her powers of baby-loving had been
developed definitely by the toy baby, so that when
the real baby came, she was ready to transfer her
tenderness to the larger sphere."

The wise teacher or parent will find that the
secret of success lies in working with nature — not
against it. But let us go a little deeper into the
subject.

The imagination is that power or faculty of the
mind with which we consciously weave, out of past
memories, new ideals or images. Phantasy is a
similar power, but used sub-consciously or uncon-
sciously. We dream when in a state of phantasy.
New imaginings or images are made from past
memories. There is nothing new under the sun.
It has been said there is nothing absolutely new

MAKE-BELIEVE PLAY 87

in the Book of Kevelation. There are new com-
binations of past memories, but nothing in itself
really new. " One time," says a student of birds,
who had a short while before been observing the
games of children in the Kindergarten, " I dreamt
that I saw a beautiful goldfinch. I was very
anxious to see it at close quarters. All at once
I fancied myself stooping down and holding up
my hand above my head. I was pretending, as
the children do in their games, that my fingers
were the branches of a tree. The goldfinch came
and lit upon one of them. I caught him, and
examined him at my leisure. There was nothing
new in the dream. The goldfinch and the games
were all past memories, but I constructed these
past memories into new forms."

Imagine an outfit with which to travel to the
North Pole. It would be necessary to go on ice,
through the air, upon the water, etc. What would
the outfit consist of ?

We can think of the combination of a sledge,
a boat, a balloon, and even a steering gear for
navigating through the air, yet we have imagined
nothing really new. We have put old things
together and perhaps made new combinations, but
nothing absolutely new can be imagined. All
dreams are images made, when in a state of sub-
consciousness, out of old ideas. All ideals formed

88 THE POWER OF PLAY

while conscious are also made out of past
memories.

A child can only make a mental picture out of
past materials, and with him materials are not
abundant. Hence the picture in the child's mind
is apt to be far from true and very primitive.
Dr. Lange, speaking of his childhood, says that,
when the story of the flood was discussed, his
childish fancy pictured the chaos to be such a
flood as was often caused by the river Saale, which
flowed near his house. The mist that rose from
the water in the mornings and evenings was the
Spirit of God that hovered over the waters. On
the shore, where there were many reeds, Moses was
exposed in his little basket ; while his sister, in the
neighbouring field, watched the fate of the little
fellow. From the same stream rose the seven
fat and seven lean kine of Pharaoh. At the
point where it was particularly deep the children
of Israel crossed, etc.

Fifty children, eight years of age, were asked the
question, What do you think God looks like ? .

Their answers are most interestimg. Here are
some of them :

I think God is like a man, but He is holy.

I think God is like an angeL

I think God is like a good man.

God is a good man; He speaks very cleverest words.

MAKE-BELIEVE PLAY 89

God is like sweet flowers.

God is like a big ball of light

God is like a fire.

God is like a cloud.

God is like a great man.

God has a nice face.

God is like a good man, and very quiet.

A child, seeing the white fleecy clouds rolling by,
asked, very naturally, " Auntie, is that God's hair
blowing in the wind ? "

In a study on " Children's Attitude towards
Theology," Earle Barnes found similar ideas. He
says : " Of the three members of the Trinity, God
receives far the most attention from children
under twelve years old. When they refer to
Him, they speak as of a great and good man.
' I think God looks like a human being ; but
looks more kind and good, and shines like the
sun/ ' God looks like any other man ; but He
is greater and wiser and smarter.' 'There is a
beautiful throne, on which God is sitting, with a
crown on His head, a sceptre in one hand and in
the other a globe. Rays of light are going out
from Him in all directions, and light the whole
place/ The little four-year-old girl already quoted
asked: 'What does God eat? Is it chopped
grass ? Doesn't God have any dinner ? Did
Robinson Crusoe live before God? Who was

90 THE POWER OF PLAY

before God ? Is rain God's tears that run out of the
sky ? How did God put the moon in the sky ? ' '

This agrees perfectly with the study made by
Dr. G. Stanley Hall, in which he found the little
Boston children saying that — " ' God is a big,
perhaps blue, man ; very often seen in the sky,
on or in the clouds, in the church, or even in
the street. He came in our gate; comes to see
us sometimes. He lives in a big palace, or a
big brick or stone house, in the sky. He makes
lamps, babies, dogs, trees, money, etc., and the
angels work for Him. He looks like the priest,
Froebel, papa, etc.' They like to look at Him,
and a few would like to be God. 'He lights
the stars, so He can see to go on the sidewalk
or into the church.' Birds, children, Santa Glaus,
live with Him ; and most, but not all, like Him
better than they do the latter."

The son of an artist thought that the moon had
been painted in the heavens, as his father painted
trees and figures on his canvas. A three-year-old
child fancied that the moon was a balloon which
had been fastened to a string, and that the string
having broken, it had flown away to the skies.

Children from the second until at least the
ninth year live as it were in two worlds. For
convenience let us call them the world of " realism "
and the world of " make-pretend." The first might

MAKE-BELIEVE PLAY 91

be called a lower world and the second a higher.
Many young children live more than half the time
in this upper realm of "make -pretend." The
practical question cornes to us, " How shall we
deal with the children who live so much of their
time in this world of fancy ? " Should we tell
them fairy stories ? Should we tell them fairy
stories on Sunday ? What shall we do when they
tell us the monstrous stories of their imaginations ?
What about Santa Glaus ? One parent says,
" These things are not true, and I will not
encourage the child in deceit." Another sees
in them the possibility of great development in
character-building. Which is right ?

It should be remembered that as the love of
play is universal with all children, so is the love
of story. The fondness for fairy stories, or the
interest in " making - believe," is not perverted
desire, any more than is the natural interest in play.
All young animals play. Child-training becomes,
therefore, a question of working with nature by
appealing to these spontaneous interests in child-life.

Logically, the ruling-out of fairy tales, myths,
and legends, because they are not absolutely and
really true, means depriving the child of much
food for his development. It is like clipping
the wings of the mind, for the imagination is to
the child what wings are to the bird. If we

92 THE POWER OF PLAY

decide against Santa Glaus, we must, if we are
logical, decide against the fairy story, the myth,
and the fable ; indeed, all Mother-Goose tales
must go, and most of the nursery rhymes. It
will not do to allow the child to pretend that
the stick is a horse, that the doll is a real live
baby, that the sofa-end is a stage coach, or the
box a grocery store. All dodging plays and games
of pretence must be put away. It will be readily
seen that thus the child is deprived of much that
he loves and much that is helpful to him.

Taking Santa Glaus or the fairy tales out of a
child's life is like taking sunshine out of day.
Sidney Smith says, " If you make children happy
now, you will make them happy twenty years
hence by the memory of it." " But," says the
earnest, anxious mother, " I will not deceive my
child." It is just here that the mistake occurs ;
for, after all, it is the spirit in which the thing
is done that makes all the difference.

Here is a woman who, when talking to the dog,
says, " Come along, little doggie, and I will ask the
old lady that lives in the cupboard if she has a
bone for you." " Old lady," she gaily says, as she
opens the cupboard door, " have you a bone for my
doggie to-day ? " Now, there is no old lady in that
cupboard. "But she is only in fun," we say.
Exactly ; so it is with the Santa Glaus myth, the

MAKE-BELIEVE PLAY 93

fairy tale, the horse stick, and so on. We must
talk about Santa Glaus in the same spirit that the
woman talks to the " old lady in the cupboard " ;
that is, in the spirit of " make-pretend," or " let's
suppose." Now, when we come to tell the Christ
tale, we must speak in a different tone and spirit.
Here we are in the world of " realism." But how
can the child discern this difference ? Easily
enough, and soon enough. It is the spirit and tone
and the demeanour that make the difference.
" Make the myth as gloriously impossible a one as
you can." Miss Poulson says, " Tell it to them in
merry mood and laughing mien, and with funny
shrugs and winks. Be wholesomely humble and
ignorant. Tell it as you would dodge them ; and
when they learn the truth, let it go." Who cannot
remember when he came to himself and said, " What
a goose I was to think that stick was a horse ! "

In the same way with the Santa Glaus myth :
let the children come to themselves, and it will be
a joy to them as long as life. Where is the grey-
headed man who does not look with joy upon the
" Santa Glaus " days ? The child thus taught will
never look back and say that his mother has
deceived him.

The extreme position in this question is the
dangerous one. We must neither deceive the
child nor hinder him from living in his natural and

94 THE POWER OF PLAY

beloved world of make-believe. We must neither
deceive his intelligent judgment nor starve his
vivid imagination. And there is no need for doing
either. It is one thing to dodge a child, it is
another to deceive it. It may be a wise and
necessary thing to evade a direct answer for a time,
but the occasion will come when direct issues can
be no longer put aside. There is no need, when we
are telling a child a fairy story, to inform him that
it is not a true tale ; nor is there need to go out of
the way to tell him that Santa Glaus is a myth
But the time will come (the later the better,
perhaps), when the growing intellect will demand
explanation, and then it must be given. Imagina-
tion must be fed, but not at the expense of
intellectual deception. There is one comfort about
it all, and this is, that imagination will continue to
feed upon the myth, legend, and folk-lore, even
when reason and intellect recognise them as fiction.
We can all remember that for years after we
knew the truth about Santa Glaus, we still con-
tinued to hang up the stocking on Christmas Eve.
Keason and imagination are allies, not enemies.
George Albert Coe sums the matter up thus :

"One extremist would feed the reason and starve the
imagination, while the other would stuff the imagination without
reference to the reason. The present tendency is toward the
latter extreme, and the current is setting so strongly that way,
that a warning is needed lest we prolong for another generation

r* CF

MAKE-BELIEVE PLAY 95

the difficulty with biblical wonder stories that has so seriously
troubled the last several generations. If we do not believe that
a serpent spoke articulate language, or that the sun stood still at
Joshua's command, we should not teach these stories as though
they were truisms. If we doubt them, we should not teach them
as though we did not doubt. As soon and as far as any child
shows an inclination to discriminate literal truth from imaginative
forms, the literal truth should be given together with the figure
that clothes it. This does not imply the foisting of theories or of
debated points upon children who are not ready for them, but it
does imply fidelity to the truth as we see it. Only through such
fidelity can we prevent catastrophic doubts in later life."

But to return to the question of the value of
make-believe plays and games.

Here is a make-believe game as played in one of
the Kindergarten departments of a crowded city
school in England.

Rhyme for a Nutting Game in an imaginary wood
(suited to the intelligence of a class of children
aged 5J years):

1. "Come and let us ramble

Through the wood to-day ;
Bring your lunch in baskets.
And we'll all be gay.
Merrily we walk along,
With a happy shout —
Under bending branches,
Peeping all about.

2. "See that pretty squirrel

Running up a tree !
Do you think he's frightened —
Just by you and me?
Here's a fine big nut tree —
Shake it ! See them fall !
So full are all the branches,
There's plenty for us all.

96 THE POWER OF PLAY

3. "Fill your little baskets-
Some for Mother dear ;
And some we'll take to school,
For those who are not here.
Now, happy little children,
Tired with work and play,
We will all go Home,
And come another day."

L.R.

Baskets filled for " Mother dear " and for " those
who are not here " will develop unselfishness in
the child quite as well in the realm of make-
believe as in that of realism.

Here is another game for the little people.
Instead of imaginative drill, this is a splendid
substitute. Drill as usually conducted is merely
imitative, but all make-believe play tends to
develop the creative and inventive instincts. One
hour of make-believe play is better than five of mere
physical exercise, provided the former can be so
conducted as to act as a developer of all the
muscles of the body. This game illustrates how
this may be done :

SANTA GLAUS GAME.

This is the way the snow came down in North-
land, till at last the ground was white.

(Raise the arms. As arms are lowered,
move the fingers one after the other,
imitating the falling of snow.)

MAKE-BELIEVE PLAY 97

Santa Glaus drove his reindeer over the snow.
(Eun about making-believe drive.)
His feet grew cold and he warmed them by hopping.
(Spring from ball of one foot to the other,

raising foot high in the back.)
He warmed his fingers by blowing on them.
This is the way he took presents from his pack.

(Imitate unloading a pack from the back,

first one hand and then the other.)
The children were fast asleep.
In the morning they found that Santa Glaus had
left them a toy elephant that moved his head.
(Twist head to right, bend.
Raise, face front, bend.
Raise, twist to left, bend.
Repeat movements, with continuous motion.)
They found a jointed doll.

(Arm movements, leg movements, bend

forward at hips.)
And a little drum.

(Clap hands, in imitation of beating a

drum.)
And a jumping- jack.

(Jump lightly, landing on balls of feet
with legs a little apart, at the same
time clapping hands over head.
Jump back to position, and bring hands to

sides.)
7

98 THE POWER OF PLAY

The children were so happy, they skipped about
while beating the drum.

(Skip, either sideways or forward, around

the room.)

When Santa Glaus got home that night he was
very tired, and he sat right down, like this :

(All sit down.)
And he put his head down, like this :

(All put heads on arms.)
Then he closed his eyes and went sound asleep.

(Have children pretend that they are
asleep, and keep them so until they
are quiet and rested and ready for
next exercise.)

Martin Luther, writing to his child about heaven,
says : " Grace and peace with Christ, my dear little
boy. I am pleased to see that thou learnst thy
lessons well, and prayest well. Go on thus, my
dear boy, and when I come home I will bring thee
a fine fairing. I know of a pretty garden, where are
merry children that have gold frocks, and gather
nice apples and plums and cherries under the trees,
and sing and dance and ride on pretty horses with
gold bridles and silver saddles. I asked the man
of the place who the gardener was, and who the
children were. He said, 'These are the children
who pray, and learn, and are good.' Then I

MAKE-BELIEVE PLAY 99

answered, ' I also have a son, who is called Hans
Luther. May he come to this garden, and eat
pears and apples, and ride a little horse, and play
with the others ? ' The man said, ' If he says his
prayers, and learns, and is good, he may come ; and
they shall have pipes and drums and flutes and
fiddles, and they shall dance, and shoot with little
cross-bows.' Then he showed me a smooth lawn
in the garden, laid out for dancing ; and there the
pipes and drums and cross-bows hung. But it was
still early and the children had not dined, and I
could not wait for the dance. So I said, ' Dear
sir, I will go straight home and write all this to
my little boy ; but he has an Aunt Lena that he
must bring with him/ And the man answered,
' So it shall be ; go and write as you say.' There-
fore, dear little boy, learn and pray with a good
heart, and tell Lippas and Jost to do the same,
and then you will all go to the garden together.
Almighty God guard you. Your loving father,
Martin Luther."

The Great Teacher is the great teller of stories.
It is said of Jesus, " Without a parable " — that is,
without a story — "spake He not unto them."
Stories must fit the stage of development in which
the child is living. The child we are now con-
sidering— the child who is living in that stage when
the imagination is in process of rapid development —

100 THE POWER OF PLAY

must be largely taught through the myth, the
legend, and the fairy tale.

The following story, by Maud Lindsay, is a
beautiful illustration of the use of the fairy tale
in moral teaching. It is all the better for not
being absolutely true. It is just the sort that will
attract and interest : —

WHAT THE STARS SAW.

The long, peaceful night was just changing into
morning, and the calm Moon, surrounded by her
Star-children, was listening as they in turn told
what they had seen.

Said the first Star: "In an old apple tree I
saw a dear little mother-bird spreading her warm
wings over her babies in the nest, and the wind
gently rocked them all to sleep."

Then said the Moon : " You, my child, beheld
a beautiful sight."

Said the second Star : " I saw a little dog,
with a sore foot, limping along the street, and a
boy picked him up, saying, " Why, you poor little
thing ! Ill take you home, and feed you, and give
you a nice piece of carpet to sleep on, and make
your foot well ; and, as you seem to have no home,
you shall live with me."

The Moon said again : " You, my child, beheld
a beautiful sight."

MAKE-BELIEVE PLAY 101

The third Star said: "I saw a stranger
travelling along a dusty road. He stopped at the
cottage and asked for a glass of water ; and a bright-
eyed little maiden very gladly ran to the well
and brought some water to him, after which he
felt much refreshed, and soon reached home."

And again the Moon said : " You, my child,
beheld a beautiful sight " ; and she also went on
to say that, if we only look, we can see beautiful
things by night or by day, for the world is full
of them. Then all the Stars listened, for the calm
Moon was ready to tell what she had seen. She
said, " I peeped in at an upper window, and there
I saw three little children at their mother's knee,
thanking the Heavenly Father

'For rest and food and loving care.'

Then said the Stars : " Ah, dear mother ! you
very surely beheld a most beautiful sight ! "

Elizabeth Harrison writes : " Over and over
again did my children ask for the stories of those
old Greek heroes. At last a child said, 'Let's
play Troy.' 'How can we?' said I. 'Oh, don't
you see ? ' was the ready answer. ' The chairs
can be the walls of Troy — just so ' (arranging them
in a circle, backs turned outward) ; ' this table with
four legs can be the horse — ever so many of us can

102 THE POWER OF PLAY

get in under it and be the Greek soldiers, while
the rest can push us into the city ; then we can
get the beautiful Helen and take her home/ So
eager were all to attempt the dramatising of the
stories told, that chairs and tables were soon
arranged, and the various names of the heroes to
be represented were selected. One chose to be the
strong Achilles; another the good Diomed, whom
the gods helped in the fight; another was Ajax,
the brave ; another was Hector ; and so on, until all
the more heroic characters were chosen. The
beautiful Helen was to be represented by a dear
little fair-haired girl of four, a favourite of all.
To test them, I said, ' Where is Prince Paris ?
Who will be Prince Paris ? ' There was a dead
silence ; then one boy of six, in scornful astonish-
ment, exclaimed, * Why, nobody wants to be him —
he was a bad, selfish man/ ' Well,' said I, ' the
tongs can be Paris ' ; and from that time forward,
whenever they cared to play their improvisation
of the old Greek poem, the royal Helen was gravely
led into the walled city of Troy, with the tongs
keeping step at her side as a fit representation of
the inner ugliness of weak and profligate young
princes. I merely relate this incident to show
that when children have been led to represent the
good and true, they do not wish to play a baser
part."

MAKE-BELIEVE PLAY 103

For a few years — notably the fourth, fifth, and
sixth — the normal child lives in a world where the
imagination fairly runs riot.

During this stage they tell stories that can be
rated among the most marvellous productions
of fiction. When to believe what they say, and
when not to, is the query. Oftentimes during this
period they themselves do not know whether what
they say is true. There is a time when the little
fellow scarcely realises whether the stick he is
riding is a real horse or not. It is very real
to him.

A minister's son said to his father, " Papa, you
should have seen the bicycle go down our street
all of itself. No, papa ; there was an elephant
on top of it, and another elephant on top of him ;
and the bicycle struck a stone on the corner, and
one elephant was killed and the other one turned
into a man."

Another boy said, " Mother, see that lady
on the wall. She looks like a queen ; she opens
her mouth and laughs at me. I open my mouth
and laugh at her. Do you see her ? " The mother
sees a zigzag crack in the plaster, but the boy
sees a queen.

The question is, How shall we guide these
imaginative minds ? How can we be most helpful
to them ?

104 THE POWER OF PLAY

Richter says : " Such a child should not be
branded as untruthful. His imagination should
have plenty to feed upon, plenty to work upon
outside of everyday trivial matters. In simple
justice he should receive help and training in
distinguishing between fancy and fact. He is
entitled to as sympathetic a training in accuracy
of speech as would be given to a child who had
some special difficulty in enumerating correctly.

" To tell this child that he is lying will help to
make him a liar. All the forces of his mind are
impelling him to conjure up these curious con-
ceptions : the imagination is struggling for develop-
ment. He cannot cease his thinking, and he has
not learned to control his speech. He is not
untruthful ; but if those who ought to know better
impress it upon him that he is, he will soon come
to think that such is the fact, and as a consequence
his character will be injured. Guide the child
into right methods of expressing himself, but think
twice before you tell him that he is untruthful."

There are times when thoughts more weird
than those of the bicycle and elephant stories rush
through the mind of the adult. The adult has
learned to keep them to himself. The child has
not : that is the difference. The child in this
period needs materials with which to play.
Through suggestion and his love of play direct

MAKE-BELIEVE PLAY 105

and develop the imagination. These tremendous
stories of his do not need repression so much as
the imagination that makes them needs direction.
Give him blocks, and set him to work making
locomotives, horses and waggons, or temples and
cities. When he comes to you with his mind
filled with these imaginative, fantastic stories, set
him to work in the sand-pile. Give his imagination
something to feed upon, some definite play- work
to perform. Harness this child's imagination,
and turn it into play-channels that will afterwards
merge into useful helpfulness.

Katherine Rolston Fisher says : " The elaborate
toys of to-day are, from an educational point of
view, pernicious. They not only rob the child of
the pleasure of using his imagination, they tend
to rob him of the faculty itself. Give the children
ideas, not things ; they will find material in which
to embody the thought. To a restless four-year-
old, scrambling aimlessly about the piazza, it is
suggested to play that the rocking-chair is a ferry-
boat. At once he undertakes the multiple role
of captain, engineer, deck hand, and steam whistle.
The rail becomes the pier, the bar which fastens
the shutter is twirled to imitate the sound of a
chain tightening upon the windlass. He projects
his mental state upon his environment. Demand
the realistic in art and literature if you will, but

106 THE POWER OF PLAY

remember that abundant opportunity for the free
play of the imagination is a right as well as a
delight of childhood.

" Children revel in the make-believe. A three-
year-old girl cooked day after day on a stove made
of a piece of cardboard with four holes in it,
resting on four blocks. One day a matter-of-fact
visitor, moved by unnecessary pity, bought for the
child a toy stove, with an oven-door that would
open and lids that would ' take off.' After a
brief season of pleasure in the new plaything, both
it and the old makeshift were abandoned. Its
completeness left no field for the exercise of the
imagination or ingenuity. The little girl lays
aside her big doll, with a wardrobe as complete as
her own, and spends hours fashioning odds and
ends of material into garments for a twopenny
china baby.

"A certain imaginative little girl was never
willing to go to bed and be left to herself. She
is always happy when impersonating someone, so
her mother proposed one night that she should
play she was going to a ball. In imagination she
put on her satin dress, long gloves, slippers, etc.
Auntie was the coachman, who took her to bed ;
and she was very ready to go, for the sake of
getting started. The next night she went to
California to visit some friends. Her mother wrote

MAKE-BELIEVE

out a ticket to give the

traveller took a sleepkijfcar,

reported a d^igh&ul wip. 3lotherplans,V'aJ^new

journey for ijgy^every GiMft now,'~ani.«e goes

happily off to bed."

No matter what occupation in life the child will
follow, the more his imagination is developed and
controlled, the more successful will he become in
his life's work. The keener the imagination of the
lawyer, the plumber, the minister, the better
workman will he be. If the carpenter can see the
house built before the foundation is laid, he can plan
his work in such a manner as will save time and
money. To have to do a thing to see how it will
look, is the result of an undeveloped imagination :
it is a case of arrested development.

It is said of Tissot, the French artist, that after
studying the manners and customs of the people he
painted, he would just draw his picture in outline ;
then, summoning all the powers of his imagination,
he would think until he saw the whole picture
clearly before him, then he would paint it.

The treatment necessary for a child with a very
vivid imagination will of course be vastly different
to that necessary for his more prosaic brother.
Many children are punished for telling untruths
which, as we have seen, are not untruths at all.
The children never mean them to be such ; but,

io8 THE POWER OF PLAY

coming as they do out of a vivid and uncontrolled
mind, they startle us, and we are apt to punish
thoughtlessly. The imaginative child needs direc-
tion rather than punishment. By every means he
must be helped to bring his abnormal imagina-
tion within bounds. If he is not so helped and
trained, he will in later life be carried away with
every wild-goose scheme that presents itself. His
judgment will not be stable, and his life will be
a record of helpless drifting hither and thither.
On the other hand, the child with little imaginative
power must also be assisted in his development.
He lacks power to express himself ; and in the
endeavour to describe something he has seen, he
stutters and stammers. We must have patience
with him, and give him many opportunities for
practice in self-expression. The child's imagination
can be stimulated through the use of building-
blocks : give him as many as he can use — not thirty
but three hundred. Suggest that he should build
them into all sorts of fanciful shapes. Keep him
constructing. Let him build castles in the air,
and then in sand. Select toys for him with great
care. Give him material for making houses, rather
than houses ready made. Give the girl the
material for making and dressing the dolls, rather
than the dolls all ready dressed. A cart-load of
sand would be invaluable. I have heard of a child

MAKE-BELIEVE PLAY 109

who was kept busy for many an hour during house-
cleaning time by his mother's wise suggestions.
With the dry end of a rope he painted the furniture
all over the house — or imagined that he did.

The parent can also make use of the imagination
in reproving the children. The story is often
better than the stick, and many of the best lessons
the child learns come to him through an appeal to
his imagination in the story. The following is a
case in point : —

A little fellow was playing bubbles. The rule
was that he must take the soap out of the water
when he had finished with his bubbles. He
wearied of his play, and, going to his mother, said,
" Will you tell me a story ? " The mother asked
him, " Did you take the soap out of the water ? "
The little fellow replied, " Yeth, I gueth tho." But
his mother " guethed " not. Indeed, she knew that
the soap had not been taken out of the water.
What should she do ? Many mothers would have
taken the boy by the hand, led him to the water,
put his hand down into it, and, when the soap was
found, said, " Now then, you have told me a lie."
Thus would have come the clash of wills. This
mother knew a better way. " And you want me
to tell you a story ? " she said, as she took him on
her knee. Then she told him a story from the
Book of Kevelation. She described the pearly

no THE POWER OF PLAY

gates, the jasper walls, and the golden streets of
the New Jerusalem. She pictured Heaven as the
beautiful place, until the littie 'fellow cried, " Ithent
it gloriouth ? " Then tJa.e mother finished the story,
saying earnestly, " a^fr no one ever entereth there
who loveth and^njftketh a lie." The little fellow sat
thoughtfulhyWfeoment, and then slipped from his
mother's krree. As he toddled off he said, " I gueth
I better go and thee about that thoap ! "

A wise mother will never punish a child by
threatening him with, or putting him in, a dark room.
There is no place for such punishments as an
appeal to the "Boo man," the "Blackman,"
or the " policeman." Children have already enough
childish fears. When it is necessary to punish the
child, punish him ; but never, unless you would make
a coward of him, appeal to such fears as that of the
dark room, or the "Boo man," or other of the
mythical goblins.

Teach him to fear only the result of wrong-
doing. Teach and train the mind from effect back
to cause. If he ever has a pain, let the cause be
spoken of. Lead him to understand that for every
broken law of God, suffering must follow.

Is your child afraid in the dark ? Then remem-
ber he needs sympathy and help. Punishment
will not cure him. Deal gently with him. He
cannot be cured in a day ; you will need long, long

MAKE-BELIEVE PLAY in

patience in helping him to overcome his weakness.
Do not test the child greater than he can bear, but
little by little help him to repose his confidence
in the loving Heavenly Father. Tell him in a
simple natural way stories of birds and animals
who never think of being afraid in the dark ; or
stories of children who are not afraid, or have
overcome their fears ; of brave knights who were
brave children. Acquaintance with such characters
will help to strengthen him for the battle which
he has to fight.

It is really not much use either to reason with
or to scold a child who is afraid in the dark. The
imagination is keen and vivid, and because of this
many children suffer acutely. It is well to ignore
the particular fear, and keep the child as nearly as
possible from anything and everything that will
cause him to be afraid.

A wise mother writes of her little girl : " As
soon as I became aware of her fear, I gave orders
to have the lamp lighted a little earlier, so as to
avoid her becoming aware of the increasing dark-
ness ; and I did all in my power to amuse her, so
as to keep her from thinking of it ; and I had a
light burning all night in her bedroom. It took
me a long time to overcome this nervousness ; but
I succeeded at last, and now she will go anywhere
over the house without the slightest fear.

112 THE POWER OF PLAY

" At one time I found it necessary to have every
room lighted ; and I would wander round from one
to the other, talking to her from wherever I might
be, and at length getting her to come to me, even
though she could not see me. I soon saw that
reasoning with her was useless, so gave it up,
insisting also upon the other members of the family
doing the same ; we simply surrounded her with
light, whilst we ignored her fears ; and by degrees
I was able just to have a subdued light, and then
entered the dim apartment, where I would call her
to come and see something; then came, still by
degrees, a really dark room, which was entered as
a matter of course ; then a second dark room, till
at last I had the joy of knowing that the terror
had either been forgotten or outgrown — I think
the latter."

Perhaps the following verses may be helpful
to your child, and assist him to overcome his fear
in the dark : —

AFEAID IN THE DABK.

Who's afraid in the dark?

"Oh, not I," said the owl,

And he gave a great scowl,

And he wiped his eye

And fluffled his jowl 1 "Tu whool"

Said the dog, "I bark

Out loud in the dark — Boo-oo I *

MAKE-BELIEVE PLAY 113

Said the cat, " Miew !
I'll scratch anyone who
Dare say that I do
Feel afraid— Miew !"

"Afraid," said the mouse,
"Of the dark in the house ;
Hear me scatter,
Whatever's the matter —
Squeak ! "

Then the toad in the hole,
And the grub in the ground,
They both shook their heads,
And passed the word round.

And the birds in the tree,
And the fish and the bee,
They declared all three
That you never did see
One of them afraid
In the dark.

Think more of the environment of the child than
of the child himself. Make it gentle and strong and
pure. Keep the intellectual air invigorating and
the moral atmosphere bracing, and there will be
little fear of the child.

A thoughtful Kindergartener writes: "During
the first year I worried myself nearly into nervous
prostration studying how to cure Horace of making
faces, Thomas of tattling, and Eoy of lying. I
conscientiously took up every little detail of faulti-
ness and dealt with it especially. The work that
year was worse than a failure. The atmosphere of
8

114 THE POWER OF PLAY

the Kindergarten was unendurable. The children
were a constant shame to me, and I a source of
discomfort to them. In spite of my efforts to
improve them, each child added to his own faults
the faults of the others; and in each one was
developed a spirit of criticism and correction that
was worse than all else."

Beware of the child who, when you tell him a
story, is always asking, Is it true ? A normal child
is not analytical. The child who cannot take things
for granted, who is always wanting to know " if it
is true," is a little old man. He is losing his
childhood, and will soon be a case of arrested
development.

Lengthen the childhood of the child. Keep him
in the world of play and make-believe as long
as you can, and teach him by and through his
love of play. The child who is forced to walk too
soon will have, his legs bowed and twisted. The
child who is hurried out of the imaginative period
of development will have a bowed and twisted
mind. Forced development is dangerous. " When
I was a child, I spoke as a child, I thought as a
child; lut when I became a man, I put away
childish things." It is better to train children to
be good children, than it is to train them to be
good men.

CHAPTER V.
PLAY AND THE SABBATH.

SHOULD CHILDREN PLAY ON THE SABBATH?

"I must not work, I must not play,
Upon God's holy Sabbath day."

THE child's muscles are set for action. God
created them so. To teach a young child
this doleful rhyme is to work against all the
natural God-given instincts of his life, and nothing
will do more to drive from his heart a true love
of and reverence for the Sabbath day.

A false distinction between work and play, and
a misconception of the proper place and use of
play, are responsible for much that has been
harmful to the child and destructive to his love
for the Sabbath day.

The child must not be governed by the same
standards as the adult. What may be wrong for
the child's father may not necessarily be wrong
for the child himself.

Ii6 THE POWER OF PLAY

The child who, in the period of riotous imagina-
tion, tells remarkable stories of his fancy, is not
to be judged a liar, as his elder brother would be.
NOT is the little child who shows no sense of shame
to be branded as grossly immoral.

God looked upon David as a man after His
own heart ; yet David practised polygamy. David
lived in the comparative childhood of the race,
and God did not judge him by an adult standard.
The history of the race is repeated in the child.

Shall the children be allowed to play on Sunday ?
If the parent judges by an adult standard, the
reply will probably be in the negative.

Play on the Sabbath day may, in itself, be no
more immoral than eating, or sleeping, or walking.
The object of a parent should be to breathe into
the child's Sabbath the spirit of reverence. Play
may be the very best means of imparting to the
child a genuine love and appreciation for the day.
Through play on the Sabbath the child may
receive his first experiences in nursing the sick,
helping the missionaries, teaching a Sunday-school
class, and other activities which, in reality, are
impossible for the little child.

Our Puritan forefathers judged all ages by adult
standards. They did not appreciate the fact that
there is play and play; they forgot that play was
not in itself an evil , they forgot that one " do "

PLAY AND THE SABBATH 117

was worth a thousand " don'ts " in the eradication of
evil : hence the absolute prohibition, the drawn blinds,
the ultra-puritanical Sabbath, now happily past.

Since play in itself is not immoral, the question
is, How can we use it for developing righteousness ?

Froebel says, " I can convert childish activities,
occupations, amusements, all that goes by the name
of play, into instruments for my purpose." Here
is the parent's opportunity. The muscles of the
child are set for action : " all Consciousness is
Motor ! " God never intended the child to be quiet
on the Sabbath. If He had, He would have
created him with less energy on that day than on
any other. Since these muscles are set for action,
and the child longs to be doing something, teach
him the Bible through his love of action. Give
him Bible blocks, and set him to manufacture
tabernacles and temples. Through his love for
movement, develop his morals and train his intellect :
have him build an Eastern house, a sheepfold, a
tomb, a city wall, gates, etc. Dissected Bible maps ;
pictures of Bible animals, with Bible references to
them noted in the margin ; pictures of Bible trees,
birds, butterflies, bees, etc., are useful to have on
hand for Sunday occupations. Have the children
paste in a scrap-book a picture of some Bible story,
and then write their version of the story on the
opposite page.

THE POWER OF PLAY

Child-study has shown us that the riddle-and-
puzzle interest in children is greatest at nine
and thirteen years of age respectively. At

«
«
I

AGE 4

8 tO 12 14 16 IB 20

PUZZLE INTEREST
PIDDLE

this time Bible riddles and puzzles, enigmas and
acrostics, can be used to teach him Bible facts.
Bible pictures may be pasted on cardboard,

PLAY AND THE SABBATH 119

then cut into numerous pieces and made ready
to put together at some unoccupied hour. A
sand-table is invaluable for making mountains,
rivers, and lakes, and together with the blocks for
building cities, temples, houses, sheep-folds, etc., a
few woolly toy sheep, with some crooks cut
from paper for shepherds, and some small sticks
for people, will not cost much, and will do wonders
towards developing the religious imagination of the
child.

The journeys of Jesus traced in the sand map
of Palestine will never be forgotten. The more
the child learns through "the muscle sense," the
more he will remember. Eeserve many of these
games especially for the Sabbath day. Put them
away during the week. Keep what might be called
a "Sunday reserve." They will come with great
freshness on the Sabbath.

Nature is a wide-open door into the child's life.
His natural love for animals, and his interest in
butterflies, bees, beetles, birds, and such like, is a
splendid point of contact. The marvellous revela-
tion of God in the abundant life all about us, and
the child's natural interest therein, should help
toward an easy solution of the problem of Sunday
occupations.

Again, the child who impersonates another, enters
into the experiences of that other life. Imper-

120 THE POWER OF PLAY

Bonification is one of the first steps to future know-
ledge. The child who in her play with the doll
impersonates the mother will, as never before, study
the actions of the real mother with the baby.
She now has a new interest, her observation must
be keener. She seeks to train her muscles to do
as that real mother does. The child who hears a
story and never impersonates the hero or heroine
of that story, will not be greatly helped by it.
The story will soon be forgotten. It is what we
do that we remember best. It is muscle-
training that builds character. Muscle-training
is will- training. The will is the putting into
practice power of the life.

It is said that Florence Nightingale's first
surgical case was the binding up of a dog's
broken leg. The desire to help the dog had been
inspired by her make-believe nurse play. Could
one find a better occupation for the Sabbath
day?

The child who plays nurse to the sick doll
never forgets the art of nursing. One who makes
up a bundle, fastens it on the doll's back, and calls
her doll " Christian," will never forget the Pilgrim's
Progress.

By the right use of the play-instinct the parent has
it in his power to develop that which the child lacks
and to strengthen the weak places in his character.

PLAY AND THE SABBATH 121

To summarise : —

1. The Sabbath should be a Happy Day. — Rest is
not idleness. Rest comes from doing things that
are delightful, rather than from slothful indulgence.
Not only give the children things to do, but give
them pleasant things to do. All that is pleasant
is not wrong. We are in danger of presenting the
Sabbath day to the children in such a way that
they will dread it. We tell the children that they
ought to love it, but we often insist upon occupa-
tions which make the day most distasteful. Make
the day a happy one. Sympathetically study your
child. If this were done, and reasonable and right
occupations provided, there would be developed in
one generation a reverent and holy love for the
Sabbath day.

2. The Sabbath should "be a Home Day. — It
should be the father's day with the children. It
should be a relief, rather than an additional burden,
to the mother. The pity is that the door of larger
social life has been opened. The Sabbath should
be a family day; social, and largely social, but
practically limited to the family ; a day of rest
from all social cares ; a day when, as a family, all
worship together in the house of God ; a day of
such busy, happy, home activities, that it will
become endeared to the children ; a day upon
which the sweetest fragrance of home memories

122 THE POWER OF PLAY

will be unmarred by tedious tasks and unscarred
by unnecessary admonitions.

Francis G. Peabody, writing on the Effect of the
Home upon the Boy, says : " It is not, as many
suppose, his bad companions, or his bad books, or
his bad habits : it is the peril of homelessness. I
do not mean merely homelessness, — the having no
bed or room which can be called his own, — but
that homelessness which may exist even in
luxurious houses : the isolation of the boy's soul,
the lack of anyone to listen to him, the loss of
roots to hold him to his place and make him
grow. This is what drives the boy into the
arms of evil, and makes the street his home and
the gang his family ; or else drives him in upon
himself, into uncommunicated imaginings and
feverish desires. It is the modern story of the
man whose house was empty ; and precisely
because it was empty, there entered seven devils
to keep him company. If there is one thing that a
boy cannot bear, it is himself. He is by nature
a gregarious animal ; and if the group which nature
gives him is denied, then he gives himself to any
group which may solicit him. A boy, like all
things in nature, abhors a vacuum ; and if his
home is a vacuum of lovelessness and homelessness,
then he abhors his home."

3. The Sabbath should be a Holy Day. — The life

PLAY AND THE SABBATH 123

of the parent permeates that of the child. Emerson
says, " Your life thunders out so loud, I cannot hear
what you say." " Show me the parent, and I will
show you the child."

The Christian parent whose holiness does not
reach down to a tolerant regard for others, who
has not learned to suggest into the lives of his
children the sweet influence of a true Christian
gentleness, will probably never be able to impart
to them a reverent regard for God's day. An
orthodox puritanism alone will not carry a reverent
spirit into a child's life. A father who goes to
church simply because he feels he ought to, and
the mother who prohibits certain activities on
the Sabbath because she wants to make the day
different from other days, will not succeed in
imparting a holy devotion to God and His day.
Only those who live on a high plane of devotion
to God, whose lives are being changed by their
religion, and whose love and gentleness are
revealed in every word and act — only such will
be able to convey to the child a spirit of true
reverence for the Sabbath day.

Printed by MORRISON <fe GIBB LIMITBD, Edinburgh.

BEAUTIFUL BOOKS FOR BOYS AND GIRLS.

GENTLE JESUS.

A Life of Christ for Little Folks. By HELEN E. JACKSON.
With handsome Panel Picture on side. Six Coloured and numer-
ous other full-page Illustrations. Fifth Edition. Small 4to, cloth.
Price 2s. 6d. net.

Family Churchman. — "It is no small achievement for the author to have
succeeded where so many have failed — to have succeeded in telling the life of
Christ in a way sure to be enthralling for the little ones."

Christian Million. — " It would be impossible to put a better book into the hands
of children."

Nottingham Free Press. — " There is a fascination in the style of writing which
will commend itself to our little folks, and even older ones will read it and find it
hard to leave off. . . . Every religious parent desirous of training up his children in
Christian principles and in Christlikeness should put this book in their hands in early
years."

North British Daily Mail. — "This is one of the most attractive lives of our
Saviour for the little ones that we have been acquainted with. The numerous illus-
trations merit special praise."

Bradford Observer. — " ' Gentle Jesus : A Life of Christ for Little Folks' ... is
a sumptuous book. . . . The narrative is told with great simplicity, and the pictures
are above the average."

Teacher s Aid. — " Few books have excited our admiration more than this. It is
a beautifully simple life of Christ written specially for little folks — the text following
the New Testament, version. It is illustrated most freely and artistically, and is a
perfect model of a useful and attractive reward. In its way there is nothing better."

TALKS ABOUT JESUS AND HIS FRIENDS.

By ALEXANDER SMELLIE, M.A., Author of "Men of the
Covenant," etc. With handsome Panel Picture on side. Six
Coloured Illustrations and numerous other full-page Illustrations.
(Uniform with " Gentle Jesus.") Third Edition. Small 4to, cloth.
Price 2s. 6d. net.

Christian Commonwealth. — "The style of the work is a distinct advance upon
ordinary productions of this character."

Dundee Advertiser. — "A companion volume to an excellent ' Lifa of Christ for
Little Folks ' has just been issued. This work is intended for older children, and
portrays Jesus in the midst of His companions, instructing their intellects and trans-
forming their lives. The present volume, as well as its predecessor, should be pro-
vided for every home in which there are children."

Bristol Mercury. — " This is described as a volume for the older children, and the
opening chapter thoughtfully and seriously points out to them the influence which
their companions must have upon their life and character. The book is reverently
written, and with very deep feeling."

Sheffield Daily Telegraph. — " Wise parents will get the book, digest the text, and
utilise the pictures : so doing, their children will be gainers, and they themselves will
reap advantage."

Colchester Mercury. — " The book is written in a singularly pleasing style, and
should become a great favourite with our young folks."

Christian World. — " Sunday reading is still a desideratum in many households,
and this book ought to be studied with advantage by those who teach in Sunday
Schools or give addresses to children. There is not a chapter without a literary
charm."

LONDON : ANDREW MELROSE, 16 PILGRIM STREET, E.G.

RETURN TO the circulation desk of any

University of California Library

or to the

NORTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY
Bldg. 400, Richmond Field Station
University of California
Richmond, CA 94804-4698

ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS
2-month loans may be renewed by calling

(510)642-6753
1-year loans may be recharged by bringing books

to NRLF
Renewals and recharges may be made 4 days

prior to due date

DUE AS STAMPED BELOW

JUN231995 OCT28

2005

SENT ON ILL

SEP 1 8 2003

U.C. BERKELEY

JAN o 9 2008

VB 0499*

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY

Internet Archive Audio

Featured

Top

Images

Featured

Top

Software

Featured

Top

Books

Featured

Top

Video

Featured

Top

Mobile Apps

Browser Extensions

Archive-It Subscription

Save Page Now

Full text of "The power of play : a discussion on the place and power of play in child-culture"

See other formats