231 
 
No. 87 
 
 Health, Education, Recreation 
 
 RECREATION THE BASIS OF ASSOCI- 
 ATION BETWEEN PARENTS 
 AND TEACHERS 
 
 CLARENCE ARTHUR PERRY 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF CHILD HYGIENE OF THE RUSSELL SAGE FOUNDATION 
 
 RS 
 •F- 
 
 An Address Delivered February io, 191 i 
 
 Before the Principals' Association of Graded Schools, 
 
 OF Washington, D. C. 
 
 Department of Child Hygiene of the 
 Russell Sage Foundation 
 
 400 Metropolitan Tower, New York City 
 
 ionograph 
 
SEP ii^i. 
 
V 
 
 
 Recreation the Basis of Association between 
 Parents and Teachers 
 
 One winter's evening several years ago, a tough walked into 
 a New York evening recreation center. He had gone there with 
 the avowed purpose of "cleaning out" the whole place, but on 
 observing the rather determined and capable athletes who were 
 present he gave up his idea, and stood watching some boys do 
 stunts on the horizontal bar. Presently the gymnast in charge 
 noticed him and asked him to take his turn with the others. To 
 his astonishment he found that he could not perform feats which 
 the others did with ease. The instructor gave him some points 
 and he improved. The next night he came again, and'the follow- 
 ing one also, each time making straight for the little group 
 around the horizontal bar. He soon became more proficient 
 than any of the other boys. 
 
 In the meantime the principal of the center had learned that 
 the new youth was the leader of a notorious gang which had long 
 terrorized the neighborhood. Seeking him out one night the 
 principal suggested that he might care to organize a basket ball 
 team among his fellows and take part in some of the match 
 games which were being held in the center. The boy brought in 
 his gang. In order to get up a team they had to hold meetings, 
 and the principal gave them the use of one of the class rooms. 
 To transact business it was not possible for all the boys to talk 
 at the same time. There had to be some order in the speaking. 
 The club-director gave them some assistance and presently 
 the leader of the gang found himself enforcing the ordinary 
 parliamentary rules that obtain in public meetings. 
 
 Having formed a basket ball team that played regular match 
 games the boys fell into the habit of meeting at the center. 
 The team was a nucleus, which, under the stimulus of a meeting 
 room, all their own, grew into a club. Besides holding match 
 games the new organization began to hold debates. In order 
 
 3 
 
to argue the members were obliged to obtain more information, 
 and searching for it led them into the library and into a perma- 
 nent interest in books. Thus, in time, the gang which had been 
 a terror to the neighborhood became an active athletic and liter- 
 ary society, and the one-time tough was its president. In such 
 ways as this the evening recreation centers of New York City 
 are accomplishing their work. Thus they are demonstrating 
 what the late Miss Evangeline Whitney, their organizer and 
 long-time director, believed to be one of their main purposes; 
 they are proving that for the boy in the city street the acquisition 
 of "the athlete's code of honor is a triumph over lawlessness, the 
 beginning of a citizen's conception of duty." 
 
 I have related this incident because of its significance as a 
 method of dealing with delinquent youths. Let us see now 
 just what means were used. In the first place the boy was 
 attracted and caught by satisfying one of his strongest interests — 
 admiration for physical prowess. The tough was proud of his 
 own strength and his respect was given immediately to the 
 gymnast who could surpass him. Instead of trying to kill this 
 instinct for feats of the bodj^ the recreation center exalted it and 
 provided more abundant means for its expression than were 
 furnished by the saloon or the street corner. 
 
 Again, the tough was proud of his leadership. His subjects 
 were only a gang of street boys, but ruling them satisfied his 
 natural desire for power. Instead of throttling this ability the 
 recreation center gave it, in the basket ball team and the debating 
 society, a wider and more dignified range of opportunity. In a 
 word, the center takes the keen, impetuous interests and powers 
 of lusty boyhood, and, in place of attempting to starve them out 
 of existence, it feeds them, develops them, and guides them into 
 wholesome and useful forms of activity. It is the psychological 
 method of leading lawless youths into the paths of upright 
 citizenship. 
 
 And yet what is the method that is still much used by people 
 in dealing with errant boyhood? Is it not that of reprimand, 
 humiliation, and repression? Whenever we can buttonhole the 
 reckless youngster we point out his misdeeds, dilate upon the 
 terrors of the future towards which he is surely moving and 
 offer him the choice of an immediate right-about-face or the 
 penalty of lifelong misery. He is doing wrong; he must be 
 made to do right and do it instanter. The logical way, obviously. 
 
but does it seem as efficient, as promising of results, as the way of 
 the recreation center? 
 
 Robert Louis Stevenson gave his view of these two methods in 
 his well-known essay "A Christmas Sermon." Says he: "There 
 is an idea abroad among moral people that they should make 
 their neighbors good. One person I have to make good — myself. 
 But my duty to my neighbor is much more nearly expressed by 
 saying that I have to make him happy — if I may." There you 
 have it in a nutshell. To try to make people good is the logical 
 way, but to make people happy is the psychological way, the 
 most effective way, of helping them to grow good. 
 
 How now does this theory of the best method to use in attempt- 
 ing to mold the lives of others apply to the business of planning 
 an organization of parents and teachers? In every combination 
 there must be some reason for the union, some mutual advantages 
 to be gained by coming together. The association must satisfy 
 certain interests of both groups, and the stronger these interests 
 are the more robust will the association be. What, then, is the 
 most vital set of interests which parents and teachers have in 
 common? What is the strongest tie that exists between the 
 home and the school? 
 
 If that question were put to a speaker who happened to be 
 near a blackboard he would, in nine cases out of ten, seize some 
 crayon, rush to the board and draw a diagram like this: 
 
 After wiping the dust from his fingers he would beam upon 
 the audience and say: "There you have it! It is perfectly 
 simple. A blood relation exists between the parent and his child. 
 Things related to the same thing are related to each. Ergo, 
 home and school are bound together, and it's the child that binds 
 
them both. It's the child which must be the basis of any asso- 
 ciation between parents and teachers." 
 
 Very well, suppose we have an association based on this prin- 
 ciple, — let us see how it works. You, a member and a conscientious 
 father, have just come home from a hard day at the office. After 
 dinner your son hands you an announcement from the principal 
 of his school. At eight o'clock to-night Professor So-and-So, of 
 such a university, will address the association upon "The 
 Spiritual Atmosphere in the Home and Kindergarten." All 
 parents, teachers and their friends are cordially invited to attend. 
 The discourse is to be about the two places which have the 
 greatest influence upon your child's character; it is to reveal the 
 highest aspect of the forces which are molding your child's life, 
 the offspring of your flesh and bone. 
 
 Just watch yourself as you read that announcement. Observe 
 how it draws ! Do you feel it pulling you up from the table, 
 pushing you into your overcoat, and sending you out to that 
 school? But why not? It concerns one of the things you love 
 most; it's designed to promote the highest welfare of that child 
 for whom you'd gladly give your life. But do you go? 
 
 Suppose you are a teacher. It's 4.30 o'clock in the afternoon. 
 You are just beginning to breathe naturally once more and you 
 happen to remember the notice which the principal had sent 
 around the day before, saying that on that evening the Reverend 
 So-and-So, not only a prominent clergyman but the father of a 
 conspicuously well-behaved family, would address the Home and 
 School Association upon "Does a Child Need Discipline or 
 Sympathy?" Now that is a matter upon which you need to 
 have all the wisdom that is extant. It's necessary to have it for 
 the preservation of order in your class room and for the display 
 of that proficiency which brings promotion. And yet does the 
 prospect of that meeting fill you with thrills of enthusiasm ; does 
 it quicken your progress homeward arid send you out again on 
 the wings of expectation? 
 
 On the other hand, what would have been the probable effect 
 upon that father and that teacher if an announcement worded 
 as follows had come to them? "At the meeting of the Parents' 
 Association on Friday evening Dr. Frank Lively of the County 
 Historical Society will give a lantern talk on ' Local Landmarks 
 and their Romantic Associations.' The Ladies of the Fort- 
 nightly Musical Club, whose assistance last year is so pleasantly 
 
remembered, will be present and favor us with several vocal 
 selections. During the social period following the stated program 
 there will be refreshments and informal dancing. You may 
 already have many acquaintances in the neighborhood, but there 
 are still some charming people whom you ought to know and who 
 would like to know you. Making their acquaintance might result 
 in new and treasured friendships. The schoolhouse belongs to 
 the people of the neighborhood and it can be used to enrich their 
 life as well as that of their children." 
 
 If the interests of the child form the guiding principle for the 
 promoters of a home and school association it is inevitable that 
 the program arranged by them will be filled with talks and lectures 
 that are prepared especially for, and aimed directly at, parents 
 and teachers; and only geniuses, capable of the highest platform 
 art, can prevent such deliverances from smacking of the righteous- 
 making motive. The irresistible tendency of speakers selected 
 from that viewpoint is to point out shortcomings, the higher 
 parental duties, neglected professional obligations and a multitude 
 of ways in which fathers, mothers and teachers can better them- 
 selves in their relationship to the child. My point is not that 
 such talks would not be good for the hearers. Their improvement 
 in precisely these respects is most essential to the progress of the 
 race. But however improving a talk may be potentially, it does 
 not improve people actually if they do not come to hear it. The 
 improving talk is the wrong kind of bait to use if you wish to 
 catch fish after sundown. 
 
 Social affairs, occasions that amuse, exercises that afford 
 recreation, doings which take the mind off from the troubles of 
 the day and strengthen both it and the body for the morrow — 
 these are the things which, in the margin of the day, engage the 
 interest of the majority of ordinary human beings. Teachers 
 are not simply implements for tilling the soil of the child's mind. 
 They are people of flesh and blood, of warm human sympathies, 
 and if parents meet them upon the ground of common human 
 interests, of like capacities for enjoyment, they will not only 
 know them better but they will find them more interesting. 
 Likewise fathers and even mothers prefer to be known as some- 
 bodies other than the mere progenitors of their children. 
 
 The keynote, the prime requisite, of every occasion held by a 
 home and school association should be enjoyableness — and this 
 quality should be sought for with all the skill of a commercial 
 
8 
 
 amusement provider or the ability of a hostess in the diplomatic 
 set. 
 
 What, now, are the means of recreation, of sociability, to be had 
 in a schoolhouse? Especially — I fancy someone is asking — how 
 can a group of grown-ups have good times in a building which 
 has neither auditorium nor gymnasium, nothing but a lot of class 
 rooms filled with fixed, uncomfortable children's seats? 
 
 It is a difficult situation, but the successful work of the Home 
 and School League in Philadelphia and of similar associations in 
 other cities where the older type of elementary school building 
 still prevails shows that it can be met. Iti such schools as these 
 the main reliance has to be placed upon the kindergarten rooms 
 and the eighth grade rooms. The difficulty about chairs in the 
 case of the former can be solved, when the school board will not 
 furnish them, by raising money through an entertainment in 
 some school that has an assembly room or by soliciting private 
 contributions. 
 
 The varied sources of enjoyment which are found in the average 
 city neighborhood and which can be drawn from by almost any 
 society of parents and teachers are well illustrated in a list of 
 sociable occasions taken from the annual report of the Boston 
 Home and School Association. 
 
 Entertainments held by Boston Associations 
 
 A Chorus of Civil War Veterans sang Camp Fire Songs 
 
 An Illustrated Lecture on "Lincoln" 
 
 An Apple Lecture, with apples for refreshments 
 
 A Travel Talk, illustrated by lantern slides 
 
 The High School Orchestra assisted with selections 
 
 A Musical Entertainment by Pupils, including Piano and Violin 
 Solos 
 
 A Double Quartette from the School gave several numbers 
 
 Local talent — musicians, elocutionists, banjoists — helped fre- 
 quently 
 
 A Playlet by the Children entitled "The Birds' Christmas Carol" 
 
 An Exhibition of Folk Dancing by Pupils 
 
 An Apron and Necktie Party (Dancing) 
 
 The reports of the individual associations frequently tell of 
 "tea and cakes served at all meetings," while one in particular 
 gives a suggestive account of how the business side of hospitality 
 is managed. "We have had coffee at most of the meetings, sold 
 
As the Author receives no royalties and the Department of 
 Child Hygiene makes no profit on the sale of this book we do 
 not hesitate to use this method to help put copies into the 
 hands of persons who we think ought to read it. 
 
 Order Form 
 
 19 
 
 Charities Publication Committee 
 105 East aand Street, 
 
 New York City, N. Y. 
 
 Gentlemen : 
 
 Enclosed with this find $ for which please 
 
 send me copies of ^he Wider Use of the School 
 
 Plants by Clarence Arthur Perry ^ at I1.25 each, postpaid. 
 
 Name 
 
 Street, Number 
 
 City, State 
 
 Send Check, Money Order, or 2-cent Stamps. 
 
 With a year's subscription to The Survey, ^2.75 
 (^Regular price for the two, $j.2^) 
 
 (over) 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 I THE WIDER USE 
 
 II EVENING SCHOOLS 
 
 III EVENING SCHOOLS ABROAD 
 
 IV THE PROMOTION OF ATTENDANCE AT EVENING SCHOOLS 
 V VACATION SCHOOLS 
 
 VI SCHOOL PLAYGROUNDS 
 
 VII PUBLIC LECTURES AND ENTERTAINMENTS 
 
 VIII EVENING RECREATION CENTERS 
 
 IX SOCIAL CENTERS 
 
 X ORGANIZED ATHLETICS, GAMES AND FOLK DANCING 
 
 XI MEETINGS IN SCHOOL HOUSES 
 
 XII SOCIAL BETTERMENT THROUGH WIDER USE 
 
us at a reduction by a store-keeper ; cream supplied at a reduction 
 by another member; sometimes paper napkins are given us, with 
 the name of the firm printed on. We make the coffee ourselves 
 on a gas stove at the school, and we wash the dishes ourselves. 
 Refreshments at an average cost $1.50 a meeting. We have 
 bought one hundred cups and saucers, $10.00; 144 spoons (at 
 wholesale), $4.00; plates, 40 cents; pitchers, 70 cents; and 
 before the next meeting shall have a coffee boiler. We have had 
 fruit punch once." 
 
 Nearly all public schools, high schools especially, have musical 
 organizations and talented pupils who would be stimulated 
 and given a desirable kind of practice by assisting at home and 
 school meetings. Likewise there are in every neighborhood 
 accomplished musicians, reciters and travellers, who, if tactfully 
 approached, will gladly give their services for the community's 
 benefit. Inexpensive resources for entertaining are abundant on 
 every hand and it requires only the right kind of organization 
 to make them available for the enjoyment of the many. 
 
 One of the best vehicles of enjoyment which can be utilized 
 in almost any kindergarten room and by any group of parents 
 and teachers is social dancing. As a physical exercise for adults 
 of sedentary habits there is none better. It not only makes the 
 arteries more elastic, stimulates digestion and strengthens the 
 lungs, but it frees the mind of worry and brings cheer into the 
 soul. For eight years now in Providence, Rhode Island, a group 
 of portly bankers, elderly merchants, and busy professional men 
 have been meeting weekly and taking lessons from an expert in 
 fancy dancing. The Highland Fling is their favorite dance. It 
 must be beneficial to them or they would not keep it up. Indeed 
 it would be difficult to find a group of men and women so old, 
 so dignified or so prominent in the world's affairs that they would 
 not be benefited by participation now and then in the good old 
 rollicking Virginia Reel. There is also probably no way in which 
 a superintendent of schools could more quickly and inexpensively 
 energize his corps of teachers than by arranging for them and 
 the people of the neighborhood a series of weekly dances in the 
 schoolhouses. Many people find more real fun in the frequent 
 and informal affairs than they do in the set dances, while several 
 lively waltzes and two-steps make an excellent finale for any sort 
 of a home and school meeting. 
 
 Another enjoyable general exercise which mixes well in any 
 
lO 
 
 program is group singing — congregational singing it is sometimes 
 called. This is one of the most successful features of the general 
 evenings in the Rochester social centers. The songs are thrown 
 on a screen by a lantern and the audience sings them with such 
 a will and vim that the Rev. Samuel M. Crothers of Cambridge, 
 the "gentle" essayist, on the occasion of a visit said he had not 
 heard such singing since the Civil War days. "You people," 
 said he, "have done a great thing. You have found a substitute 
 for the only good thing about war, so that war is no longer 
 necessary. The one justification of war is that it makes people 
 realize that they have a common bond, a common interest — and 
 they express that feeling in songs." 
 
 Suppose now that we have an association formed on the basis 
 of simple enjoyment; suppose that it successfully provides 
 recreation and amusement for its members — what results will 
 inevitably follow? In the first place its occasions will have large 
 attendances; it will be a strong association. The effects of co- 
 operation will react beneficially upon the mem.bers; they will 
 become more truly social in their interests. It is inevitable that 
 under such circumstances the parents and teachers will become 
 sympathetically acquainted. The two groups will spontaneously 
 talk about children. The parents will unwittingly absorb a 
 knowledge of class-room difficulties and the teachers will pick 
 up scraps of information about their pupils' home surroundings. 
 The fathers will see the kind of equipment the school has and 
 become more intelligent supporters of the superintendent's plans 
 for improving it. These are just a few of the things which will 
 happen from the very nature of the case in an association which 
 is built on the plan of furnishing, primarily, enjoyment. 
 
 But the meetings, the occasions of the organization, would fail 
 of giving the highest enjoyment if they did not lead somewhere. 
 A novel may have the most enthralling interest; its characters 
 may be drawn with surpassing skill ; its plot may be full of the 
 most tragic situations; but if its perusal does not leave us with 
 a clearer insight into the mystery of life, does not yield us a 
 sharpened sense of our rights and obligations, it fails to give the 
 highest pleasure. A play may afford two hours of bubbling 
 enjoyment, or an equal period of the most heart-rending tragedy, 
 but if it does not send us out of the theatre with a quickened 
 conscience and an energized will it fails to arouse in us the fullest 
 enthusiasm. 
 
II 
 
 And so with a home and school association, — its meetings may 
 be landmarks of happiness in our dreary lives, but unless they 
 at the same time make us feel that we are getting somewhere, 
 that we are accomplishing something more than just having good 
 times, then they will fail — not only to make us good, but to 
 exhaust their capacity for making us happy. 
 
 There are at the present time several movements which home 
 and school associations are promoting and in connection with 
 which much remains still to be accomplished. These are the 
 matters of public recreation, the institution of a sane but enjoyable 
 and significant manner of celebrating our holidays, medical school 
 inspection and school hygiene, of which open-air schools form 
 an important branch. While all these subjects center upon the 
 child they are so objective and scientific in character, so largely 
 matters of community administration rather than individual 
 obligation that they interest and do not repel. Being more or 
 less new to the teacher as well as to the parent, neither has the 
 advantage of superior knowledge and both can approach them 
 upon the terms of equality. They are admirably adapted as 
 subjects of discussion or promotion in connection with the regular 
 social and recreative work of an association, and occupation with 
 them will furnish the serious element that must be included in its 
 activities if they are to afford the most satisfying enjoyment. 
 
 One cannot peruse the reports of the larger federations of 
 parent-teacher associations without being amazed at the number 
 of important things they accomplish. The Philadelphia Home 
 and School League, which is made up of some fifty branch asso- 
 ciations and twenty-six affiliated organizations, supported and 
 ran during the winter of 1909-10 eleven social centers. It runs 
 a bureau of speakers and entertainers; has a school luncheon 
 department which is serving daily luncheons in four schools; 
 holds two annual conferences; and constantly throughout the 
 year it brings the grown-ups and the young people together in 
 the schoolhouses in enjoyable and profitable ways. Through the 
 efforts of the various branch associations the schools are receiving 
 new pianos, pictures, domestic science outfits, playground 
 apparatus and many other .valuable pieces of equipment. At the 
 same time a stream of information, advice and inspiration is 
 flowing into the homes which enables them to co-operate more 
 efficiently with the schools in the upbringing of children. 
 
 The Boston Home and School Association, to which reference 
 
• 12 
 
 has been made, not only furnishes large numbers of people with 
 most enjoyable social occasions, but it undertakes serious socio- 
 logical inquiries and performs other services of the greatest 
 importance to the community. 
 
 For example, its committee on theatres and amusements 
 investigated the manner in which some' 3300 school children 
 spent their evenings. The results, which were published, were 
 most significant and valuable to parents. Its hygiene committee 
 has exerted a strong influence upon the school officials to have 
 the school windows kept clean, thus helping to conserve the 
 eyesight of the pupils. The same committee has also performed 
 some very successful experimentation with penny lunches for 
 school children. They are now (iqio-i i) working in some twelve 
 schools, in each of which about 200 children are given penny 
 luncheons at the morning recess. Another one of its committees, 
 at the request of the city school board, prepared an elaborate 
 scheme for the wider use of school buildings. These are only a 
 few of the ways in which the Boston association is enriching the 
 social and intellectual life of the whole community. 
 
 In Auburn, New York, there is a federation of parent-teacher 
 associations which carries on each summer an extensive play- 
 ground work and which recently waged a successful campaign for 
 the addition of a probation officer to the staff of municipal officials. 
 In Houston, Texas, there is a most energetic group of mothers' 
 clubs and parent-teacher societies. They number only seventeen, 
 but in two years after starting they raised over $21,000. This 
 money was expended in serving hygienic lunches, equipping school 
 kitchens, purchasing pianos, and providing numberless other 
 things that were needed in school work but which could not 
 immediately be secured from the city. 
 
 One of the chief advantages of having an association on a 
 recreative basis and of having as features of its work the promo- 
 tion of the objective movements which have been mentioned is 
 that both of these things can be taken care of by people outside 
 of, but working in co-operation with, the school system. The 
 daily duties of the teachers are all they can perform and perform 
 well, and the association, in affording them recreative occasions 
 instead of opportunities for a lot of arduous work, is only perform- 
 ing a part of its mission and, incidentally, promoting efficient 
 class-room work. 
 
 Behind every successful organization in the industrial or com- 
 
13 
 
 mercial world there is some one personality of conspicuous force 
 and ability. And so in starting a parent-teacher association the 
 principal, or whoever takes the initiative, might well seek first 
 for an experienced leader. The chief requisites are leisure, 
 organizing skill, executive ability and a capacity for hard work. 
 In making the proposal there should be pointed out not only the 
 good such a person could accomplish but the power that would 
 be wielded and the social rewards that would ensue. The latter 
 may not seem a high motive, but it is one of the strongest 
 forces back of the large achievements in politics and business, 
 and there is no adequate reason why it should not be used in 
 pushing a home and school association. 
 
 To be most efficient a meeting of parents and teachers — and 
 the provision of a series of these constitutes the chief business of 
 an association — should have the principal qualities of a work of 
 art. It should afford delight to the senses in ways that also 
 satisfy the needs of the soul. 
 
 Suggestions for Starting an Association 
 
 Organizers of parent-teacher associations can obtain model 
 constitutions and by-laws, as well as other assistance, by address- 
 ing the National Congress of Mothers (806 Loan and Trust 
 Building, Washington, D. C). Home and School (Christopher 
 Sower & Company, Philadelphia), an attractive little volume by 
 Mrs. Mary Van Meter Grice, the president of the Philadelphia 
 League, contai-ns many suggestions that would be helpful in 
 starting this work. Useful information will also be found in the 
 Wider Use of the School Plant (described on a following page). 
 Chapter XI of which is largely devoted to the doings of these 
 and similar organizations. 
 
Some of the Pamphlets that can be Furnished 
 
 by the Department of Child Hygiene of 
 
 the Russell Sage Foundation 
 
 400 Metropolitan Tower, N^w York City 
 
 Athletics 
 
 50. Inter-High School Athletics. Earl Cline. 
 
 58. The Functions of College Athletics. Chancellor James R. 
 
 Day. 
 63. The Law of Amateurism. Clark W. Hetherington, 
 
 69. History of the Administration of Inter-Collegiate Athletics 
 
 IN the United States. D. A. Sargent, M.D. 
 72. Athletics in the Public Schools. Lee F. Hanmer. 
 
 Festivals and Celebrations 
 
 53. May Day Celebrations. Miss Elizabeth Burchenal. 
 
 60. A Sane and Patriotic Fourth. Mrs. Isaac L. Rice. 
 
 68. Celebrating Independence Day. August H. Brunner. 
 
 70. Independence Day Celebrations. Gulick, Orr, Gardner and 
 
 Hanmer. 
 
 Use of School Buildings 
 
 51. The Wider Use of the School Plant. Clarence A. Perry. 
 
 52. Public Lectures in School Buildings. Clarence A. Perry. 
 56. Vacation Schools. Clarence A. Perry. 
 
 83. The Community Used Schoolhouse. Clarence A. Perry. 
 85. Evening Recreation Centers. Clarence A. Perry. 
 
 Play and Playgrounds 
 
 1. Games Every Boy and Girl Should Know. George E. Johnson. 
 
 2. Landscape Gardening for Playgrounds. Charles Mulford Rob- 
 
 inson. 
 
 18. Why We Want Playgrounds. Governor Charles E. Hughes. 
 
 19. Play and Playgrounds. Joseph Lee. 
 27. New Jersey Playground Law. 
 
 49. Playground Construction. Lorna H. Leland. 
 
 75. School Gardens. Mrs. A. L. Livermore. 
 
 Recreation 
 
 67. Popular Recreation and Public Morality. Luther H. Gulick, 
 M.D. 
 
 76. Exercise and Rest. Luther H. Gulick, M.D. 
 
 84. The Exploitation of Pleasure (A Study of Commercial Re- 
 
 cre.\tion). Michael M. Davis, Jr., Ph.D. 
 
Department of Child Hygiene 
 Russell Sa^e Foundation Publications 
 
 MEDICAL INSPECTION OF SCHOOLS 
 
 BY LUTHER HALSEY GULICK. M.D. 
 
 DIRECTOR OF PHYSICAL TRAINING OF THE NEW YORK PUBLIC SCHOOLS; AND 
 
 LEONARD p. AYRES, A.M.. Ph.D. 
 
 FORMERLY GENERAL SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS FOR PORTO RICO 
 
 "Lucidly exhaustive and admirably arranged." — The Nation. 
 
 "A notable contribution both to medicine and to school administration." — 
 Erie Dispatch. 
 
 "An important contribution to the cause of Education." — Journal of Edu- 
 cation. 
 
 Third Edition. Price, postpaid, $1.00 
 
 LAGGARDS IN OUR SCHOOLS 
 
 A Study of Retardation and Elimination in City School Systems 
 BY LEONARD P. AYRES. A.M.. Ph.D. 
 
 FORMERLY GENERAL SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS FOR PORTO RICO; CO-AUTHOR 
 OF MEDICAL INSPECTION OF SCHOOLS, AUTHOR OF OPEN AIR SCHOOLS. 
 
 "Mr. Ayres has given life to his figures and character to his diagrams." — 
 American Industries. 
 
 "Such a book, at once readable and scholarly, scientific and popular, critical 
 and constructive, is typical of the best in educational literature." — The Indepen- 
 dent. 
 
 "It is the most important specific study of school conditions that has been 
 made by any one." — Journal of Education. 
 Third Edition. Price, postpaid, $1 .50. In lots of six, $1 .00 each, postpaid 
 
 THE WIDER USE OF THE SCHOOL 
 PLANT 
 
 BY CLARENCE ARTHUR PERRY 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF CHILD HYGIENE, RUSSELL SAGE FOUNDATION 
 
 " The book bristles with interesting information and saUent quotations." — 
 The Chautauquan. 
 
 " It is full of definite ideas as to programme and schedules of expense in- 
 volved." — The Psychological Clinic. 
 
 " It is a stirring story." — Literary Digest. 
 
 "An able delineation of one effective means of social advance." — Annals of 
 American Academy of Political and Social Science. 
 
 Price, postpaid, $1.25 
 
 CHARITIES PUBLICATION COMMITTEE 
 
 105 East 22d Street, New York City, N. Y. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 RUSSELL SAGE FOUNDATION Pf/. _0 0_1A ^05 
 
 nil' -J 
 
 140 5 4 
 
 Wider Use of the School 
 
 s-i Plant a===:^ 
 
 By Clarence Arthur Perry Illustrated Price Postpaid $1.25 
 
 Public Money Pays for our costly, hand- 
 some, well equipped school buildings. To get 
 the best results from this investment they must 
 be kept open longer than seven hours a day. 
 In many cities the day instruction is now sup- 
 plemented by other activities which yield large 
 dividends in social and civic service. 
 
 The Community Owns the Schoolhouse. 
 It is the natural neighborhood center, day and 
 evening, the year round. It can be used eft'ec- 
 tively for a surprising number and variety of 
 gatherings. It can serve the whole neighbor- 
 hood and bring back to the taxpayers who paid 
 for it a rich return in recreation, education and 
 good citizenship. 
 
 The Department of Child Hygiene of 
 the Russell Sage Foundation commissioned 
 Mr. Perry to do this work. He has brought 
 together the hard-won experience of many cities 
 which have opened their schools to the people. He gives a practical outline of organi- 
 zation, cost and administration of "wider use." The introduction is by Dr. Luther H. 
 Gulick. 
 
 School Extension of this Sort was given a special session at the last meeting of 
 the National Municipal League and has been widely discussed by Public Education 
 Associations, Parent and Teacher Associations, Settlements and other organizations. 
 Mr. Perry's book furnishes just the information needed to give the movement impetus. 
 The chapter titles tell the story : 
 
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 SSF 
 
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 /N.' "1 
 
 
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 ^^ 
 
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 1 
 
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 T/ie Community- Used Schoolhouse 
 
 The Wider Use 
 
 Evening Schools 
 
 Evening Schools Abroad 
 
 Promotion of Attendance at Evening Schools 
 
 Vacation Schools 
 
 School Playgrounds 
 
 Public Lectures and Entertainments 
 
 Evening Recreation Centers 
 
 Social Centers 
 
 Organized Athletics, Games and Folk Dancing 
 
 Meetings in School Houses 
 
 Social Betterment Through Wider Use 
 
 i2mo. 42^ Pages 5/ Illustrations Price Postpaid, $1.25 
 
 Send Check, Money Order or two-cent Stamps to 
 
 Charities Publication Committee 
 
 Publishers for the Russell Sage Foundation 
 105 East 22d Street New York