File:Street-land; its little people and big problems (1915) (14801654093).jpg

Identifier: streetlanditslit00davi (find matches)
Title: Street-land; its little people and big problems
Year: 1915 (1910s)
Authors: Davis, Philip, 1898-
Subjects:
Publisher: Boston, Small, Maynard
Contributing Library: Robarts - University of Toronto
Digitizing Sponsor: University of Toronto

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-LAND The street habit itself is not nearly so injur-ious, physically at. least, as the indoor habitprevalent during certain seasons of the year.How to reach the children who need outdoorlife most is still an issue; but the diversifiedplayground, with its sand boxes, its gardenpatches and its swings, is gradually winning allclasses. An immigrant child sees in the groundsfringed with grass and shrubs his favorite park,the sight of which often calls forth the excla-mation: This is just like the old country!The least touch of green brings sweet mem-ories of hayfields and verdant pastures—oncehis playground. While he is a stranger to thetenement, he is no stranger to a blade of grass.Although American baseball seems more diffi-cult the longer you look at it; yet, given the op-portunity, an immigrant boy soon learns to playit,—even in Yiddish if need be. The relation between playgrounds and street-corner loafing is as intimate as between childlabor and delinquency, or between unemploy-
Text Appearing After Image:
STREET LIFE: A PROGRAMME 249 ment and misemployment. Therefore, in thesedays of recurrent emphasis on vocational guid-ance, it is important to note the value of nat-ural guidance, through play, to the discoveryof ones real strength in a given occupation.Vocational counselors would do well to advisewith playground supervisors fully as much aswith school teachers in order to discover whatlife work children are best suited for. The useful playground also enjoys the priv-ilege of giving the kind of moral guidancewhich is needed to counteract rampant streetvices. The important first step in this direc-tion, following the precedent of the school, isto keep saloons, pool rooms and all other viciousinfluences at a safe distance from the play-ground. Here is an opportunity for setting upstandards of decency which the streets so eas-ily confound and for which we so often blamethe children. Certain immediate improvements are neces-sary to make our playgrounds what they oughtto be. Some are playg

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