Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 4.djvu/177

 THE MOVEMENT FOR SMALL PLAYGROUNDS.

With children as with adults character more clearly reveals itself in leisure moments than in busy ones. Watch men at their pleasures, at cards ; watch children when they do not think themselves observed, and selfishness and greed and disregard of rights manifest themselves.

In a playground with proper supervision children for their own good soon recognize that they must regard others' rights, and that in order to enjoy themselves they must permit others to do so ; that they must respect property which they have in common as well as that of one another ; and these habits help to build up men who make good citizens, carrying the same principles into adult life.

While this has been called the children's age, they have not yet been accorded their full rights. Place to play is one of these. Teams and traffic and the hungry builder have claimed all open spaces for their own. Property is more considered by the law than person, and even an empty lot which tempts the boys to use it as a ball ground at the same time invites the inter- ference of the police, lest windows be broken or passers-by be struck. The school yards and basements offer excellent space for play. It would seem to be an extremely poor financial policy which has millions invested in buildings that are idle one- quarter of the time; yet this is the short-sighted policy of the majority of our school boards. It is questionable whether any private enterprise outside the church would be content with such management.

In several cities, under private management, school yards have been opened to the children during the mornings of July and August. Boston was the pioneer, and the Massachusetts Emergency and Hygienic Association has for two years main- tained playgrounds, each of which is under the supervision of one or more kindergartners, according to the number of children

'59