Character Through Recreation

Front matter

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Preface

THE importance of the subject presented, together with the newly awakened interest in play, should be sufficient reasons for the appearance of another book dealing with the problem of amusements. The following pages owe their inspiration to the offer of the American Sunday-School Union for prize manuscripts dealing with the relation between recreation and character. The author confesses also toa lively interest in the subject, from many years’ experience with young people,—those most vitally concerned with play life.

Avoiding a philosophical treatment of the subject, —which field is already covered by various excellent treatises,—he has endeavored to confine himself to a concrete presentation of the results accomplished in the various phases of uplifting and profitable entertainment. Though, in some degree, actual. methods are outlined, the book does not pretend to be a compendium of entertainment plans, many comprehensive works already filling that field also. Its design is rather to show a vital connection between amusement and the well-being of society, — a kinship between recreation and righteousness, —and to plead especially for the exercise of the normal function of play in young life, which shall build a new generation, physically, intellectually,

8 PREFACE and spiritually superior to those of former times. The treatment of the theme, while alluding to some of the forces in amusement life which are destructive, is, in the main, positive in tone, the cultivation of the higher ideal being always in mind. In presenting the subject largely by illustration and example, the writer has hoped to make the book both entertaining and suggestive, in order that young people may come to its pages with interest and leave them with inspiration.

In addition to a year of special study, the gatherings of twenty or more years’ contact with young life have here found a place. A large amount of correspondence, many personal conversations, and a wide consultation of books of various authors, as well as magazine and periodical literature, have been necessary. To many of these sources of information ample credit has been given in the body of the book. For material on the history of play, I especially desire to acknowledge my indebtedness to Groos’ Play of Man, Van Rensselaer’s The Devil’s Picture Books, and George E. Johnson’s Education by Plays and Games. In the final revision of the manuscript, various suggestions of the editor of publications of the American Sunday-School Union, Rev. James McConaughy, have been of great value. The assistance of librarians and correspondents, as well as the encouragement and criticisms of friends, are also gratefully acknowledged.

HowaARD PALMER YOUNG.

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Contents

Pray A UNIVERSAL INSTINCT .

Tue New VALUE OF PLay

Sports THat KILL.

Chapter I Play A Universal Instinct

THERE are common springs of thought and action among all races. Chief among these are the voice of conscience, the instinct of self-preser-

vation, and the spirit of play. ‘The activities of

life which grow out of these universal inheritances, —worship, war, and recreation,—each have their part in building character, both individual and national.

There are many who have spoken concerning religion and its character-building effects, and no

small number who have magnified the value of war, both offensive and defensive. Few, however, have spoken of the influence on character of the play-instinct of man. An examination of the history of play,—a tracing of its origin and progress,—will reveal its connection with both patriotism. and piety, and prove its value as a

Play natural and necessary character-molding influence. Manifesting itself in a thousand different forms, the play instinct speaks convincingly of its naturalness and necessity. So early are its evidences discovered in racial history that we may well believe that play was an earlier art than labor. If, as many believe, the progress of the child’s development is a reproduction of the common life of the race, it is probable that men played before they learned to work.

The basic principles of play are woven into the legendary history of men. The zmaginatie element, so manifestly present in amusements, is a prominent feature of the earliest stories of national life. Indeed, the earlier races exceeded the present peoples in their exercise of the im-. agination.

The literature of all nations begins with poetry —the language of imagination and emotion. If we examine only the folklore of the early inhabitants of America, we shall find that among the Indians imagination occupied a prominent place. Interwoven with the basic belief in the Great Spirit were the traditions of the Happy Hunting Ground, where the sports of the Indian brave might be continued even after death. The Indian languages are rich in the use of words in the imaginative or playful sense. When instructing his pale-face brother how to find his bearings if lost in the forest, the Indian guide takes him to

Imaginative traits in earlier races the base of a large tree and, calling attention to the heavy growth of moss on one side, says, “South side tree no carpet; north side, much carpet.” The speech of Pushmataha, a celebrated Indian chief, addressed to the French nobleman, Lafayette, when they met in Washington, D! C., is characteristic in its poetic diction :

“Nearly fifty snows have melted since you drew your sword as a companion of Washington. With him you fought the enemies of America. You mingled your blood with that of the enemy and proved yourself a warrior. After you finished that war, you returned to your own country, and you are now come back to revisit the land where you are honored by a numerous and powerful people. You see everywhere the children of those by whose side you went to battle, crowding around you and shaking your hand as the hand of a father. We have heard these things told in our distant villages, and our heart longed to see you. We have come; we have taken you by the hand and are satisfied. This is the first time we have seen you; it will probably be the last. We have no more to say. The earth will part us forever.”

The dramatic beauty of these lines is heightened by the fact that just after this meeting death claimed the Indian chief. His farewell message to his companions is similarly couched in figurative language: ‘“‘ When you shall come to your home, they will ask you, ‘Where is Pushmataha ?’ and you will say to them, ‘He is no more!’ They will hear the tidings like the sound of the fall of a mighty oak in the stillness of the woods.”

The graphic word picturing of the story-teller’s art, which also belongs to play life, seems to have been another natural gift among early and untutored peoples. Probably many of the Indian tribes could furnish entertainers who vied with those of civilized races, being artful in the use of language like the Indian whom Longfellow describes :

Story-telling as an amusement

** Very boastful was Iagoo ; Never heard he an adventure But himself had met a greater ; Never any deed of daring But himself had done a bolder ; Never any marvelous story But himself could tell a stranger.’’

Further manifestations of the dramatic art are found in the multitude of rude war dances of savage peoples, in which stories of the batile and the chase are presented, often with weird musical accompaniment. Indeed, the gift of mimicry and imitation, which belongs to the actor’s part, is often found well developed among those to whom later-day culture has imparted no artistic touch.

A considerable part of the life of the ancient races was taken up with the problems of defense and attack. The instinct found in our later-day

Jighting plays was a part of their native character. Primitive games were doubtless akin to the scenes of warfare which filled so much of their life, and were perhaps similar to a popular play among the Thracians of which Gutsmuth tells us. This game reflects, of course, the barbarism of an early and degenerate age. One of the players is required to stand on a round stone, with his head through a noose suspended from above. A sharp sickle is put in his hand, and at an unsuspected moment the stone is kicked from under his feet. He can save himself from death by hanging only by cutting quickly with the sickle the rope that suspends him.

What has already been said concerning the abstract ideas of play as a part of the thought life of early races, may with even more confidence be asserted concerning the material evidences of play.

From the scattered relics found among the different nations, it is possible to write a very interesting history of the recreational life of man. Playthings of both children and adults have been unearthed by the spade of scientific investigation, and widely severed lands bring mute witness to the universal love of amusement. Boys’ tops have been found in the excavations of ancient Troy. They were known, too, among the Germans from the earliest times. The baby’s rattle

Play a universal characteristic finds its counterpart in the graves of prehistoric children, and its progenitor has been discovered in a snail-shell filled with small pebbles, buried with the mummy ofa child in Peru. The schoolboy’s marbles are cosmopolitan in character. Polished stones, supposed to have been used as marbles, have been found with the bones of children in the old German burial-urns. Boys upon the streets of ancient Rome used to play marbles as they do in the open places of our American cities to-day.

Relics of dolls as the playthings of children have been found in many nations. Among the ancients these miniature representations of the human form were made of clay and earth, of wood, bark, cloth, and other materials. In the Berlin Museum, forming a part of an interesting ethnological exhibit, is a wooden doll with movable legs, and a crocodile, also of wood, with movable jaws. These were taken from excavations in ancient Egypt. In medieval Europe, in ancient Rome and Greece, and among savage races, the doll was everywhere found. It is thought by some to have had an early association with religious life, for it has sometimes proved difficult to separate the idol of the adult from the doll of the child. Groos tells of his possession of an old Indian doll which appears to have been used as a protection from evil spirits by grown-ups, as well as a toy for children.

The boy who performs, to the delight of less venturesome companions, on his high stilts, does not know that he is following a long train of ancient peoples who have thus elevated themselves above their fellows. Walking on stilts was practised by the Greeks and Romans, while in China to-day they are also most skilfully used. Stilts are not unknown in Africa, and Andree says they are found all over the world. China and Japan excel in kite-flying, it being a national game in the Celestial Kingdom. We note also the importation of the kite into Siam, and the fact that it is found among the people of the South Sea Islands. Among the relics of the past in the Berlin Museum are paper kites from the Soudan.

Both written records and oral tradition bring us additional proof of the early prominence of play in adult as well as in child life. Although the system of modern athletic sports, as known in the schools and colleges of to-day, saw its beginnings only about a hundred years ago, it is known that athletics formed a considerable part of the training of the intellectual Greek centuries before the Christian era. Indeed, trained athletes were a professional class in that cultured nation as early as 850 B. 0. Wrestling was zealously cultivated among the ancient Egyptians, as it is to-day among the Japanese. In Japan the contestants who take part in plays of the fighting sort are

Play among the ancients trained with great care. In this training heredity plays no small part, as the profession is handed down from father to son through many centuries. Hence, the Japanese are proficient wrestlers, and the prize-fight is popular among them. Like the bull-fight in Spain, the prize-fight in Japan isa national sport, while various authorities testify to its presence among the Indians, the Hawaiians, the Burmese, and the Eskimos.

Our popular athletic games are not really modern, but inheritances from people and times of old. Tennis is probably the oldest of all the ball-games. Its origin is uncertain, but it first appeared in Europe during the Middle Ages. It was popular among the French nobility, who are said to have borrowed it from the Italians. The English in turn adopted it from the French. The name of the game is said to be French in origin, being derived from the expression “ Tenez/” which was used by early French players in serving the ball. The antiquity of the game is testified to by Horace, the Roman bard, who tells of Mecenas playing tennis while on the journey to Brundusium.

The early beginnings of baseball are traced back to the game of stoolball, a special Easter game, which was religious in character. Joseph Lee says, “In the diocese of Auxerre it was an ancient custom to play in the church on Easter

Early origin of modern sports onday a solemn game of ball while singing thems appropriate to the season.” ' The more mediate predecessor of our national game, hower, is the English game of rounders. Football is supposed to have had its origin in ily during the Renaissance, when physical exere became popular with all classes. Games nilar to the modern popular scrimmage on the idiron are found among various peoples. An lian writer of 1555 tells of a game resembling otball which required that the players. have oes with soles of buffalo-hide. A game which vy have been related to football is thus described Forbes as popular on the island of Sumatra: “The young people amuse themselves upon the lage green with a ball-game called sémpak, in 1ich they vie with one another in the display of sasured and elegant movement, in the presence the girls and the public generally. About enty youths arrange themselves in a circle and ep a large hollow ball, skilfully wrapped with ttan, in the air by hitting it, as it descends, with 2 side of the foot ; they are not allowed to touch with anything else. In delivering the blow the y is thrown almost perpendicularly into the air, tile the body assumes a horizontal position, and > beauty of the movement consists in the fine ing which restores the body to an upright sition without upsetting the player.” Joseph Lee, American Play Tradition and Our elation to it.

Leaving the field of sport and entering the quieter arena of dramatic art and social life, the same universal interest in pleasure is found to possess the minds of men. The children of Jerusalem, playing wedding and funeral on the streets of that ancient city, were referred to as an illustration in one of the discourses of the Master of men; but centuries before that time both children and adults were carrying on the mimic life of the playground and the stage for their own pleasure or for the entertainment of their fellows. Traces of the theater are found a thousand years before the Christian era. While this institution is seen in its best form among the more cultured nations, we find that the element of dramatic representation existed in various ways among all the ancient peoples. The exciting war-dance of the braves around the camp-fire was but a theatrical exhibition of their deeds of prowess.

The dance in its various forms is perhaps as widely known as any amusement we have to-day. Probably the earliest forms of dancing were associated with religious worship, but both sacred and secular dances are found at an early date. The religious character of the dance is still preserved in the less enlightened countries, but among the more cultivated nations dancing remains simply as a form of pleasure.

We might thus go through the entire catalogue

Theater and dance early popular of the diversions of men, and find a common bond which unites all races in the universal pleasure instinct. Indeed, as already indicated, the various plays and games, which have attained an international character, show a lively communication between the various peoples,—sometimes where history is silent concerning any affiliation. As an instance of such communication of far-severed lands, let us note that the Mexicans of a time previous to the coming of Columbus possessed a game called patollz. The similarity of this ancient game to the Eastern game of backgammon, and its relation to chess as well, have led to the supposition, amounting to a fair argument, that Asiatic influences were felt among those Western peoples before the time of the Spanish discoverer.

However much or little the games of one country may have influenced another, it is certain that the sports and pastimes of a people have an effect upon national character. The character of the Greeks was no doubt influenced by their games at Olympia. Originally instituted as a means of unifying the otherwise contending states of Greece, they accomplished more than their object in building, for the Grecian people, asymmetrical physique which the world has long admired. The warlike disposition of the Roman was no doubt intensified by the constant witnessing of the gladiatorial combat. Such amusements fed the pugnacious spirit

Effect of play upon national character of the Roman until his love for war became his own destruction. Some lesser amusements of the Romans also betray the same recklessness of nature. Fond of games of chance, they fell victims to the vice of gambling. The lack of fine feeling may be seen in the Biblical reference to the soldiers who “drew lots,”—doubtless throwing dice,—for the seamless robe of the Master while he suffered the agonies of the Cross.

Some one has pointed out an essential difference between the pastimes of the Greeks and the Romans. The Greeks were actors, while the Romans were spectators. No Greek, even though of noble birth, was ashamed to compete for the Olympic crown. The Roman patrician, however, was seldom found in the arena. Certainly the Greeks possessed a cleaner play life than did the Romans, and this higher order of amusement was also accompanied by a higher refinement.

The downward course in the pleasure life of the ancient world from the Olympic games to the ignoble scenes of the Roman amphitheater is noted by the historian. The lack of discrimination in the kind of amusements, and the accompanying dissipations of an effete civilization, wrought ruin to great and mighty nations. Present-day history is not without examples of nations destroyed by their pleasures. Spain has held to her bull-fights, her cock-fights, and other debasing cruelties, while her territory has gradually narrowed, and her country,—in the point of literacy at least,—represents a medieval past. On the other hand, the United States has eliminated the lottery and the duel, and subjected other amusements to more or less strict supervision; it has also developed, through its Christian statesmen, a high code of ethics and public morals. For years our nation has set an example in standing for that world-wide peace which is yet to find full realization on the high plane of human brotherhood, afar from the cruel game of war.

Chapter II The New Value Of Play

PROBABLY never since the popularity of the Olympic games in ancient Greece has there been such an awakening to the true value of play as at the present time. The discussion of the effect of amusements upon character, once confined to a narrow circle of moralists, is now enlisting the interest not only of multitudes of educators and philanthropists, but of thousands everywhere by whom national ethics is counted a vital asset.

The present revival of the play spirit is in marked contrast to the atmosphere of seriousness which seems to have been characteristic of Americans of an earlier day. In an article published in a leading magazine of thirty years ago, Edward Eggleston attempted to defend Americans against the charge of an English writer, that the people of this Western land are “an overworked race, incapable of amusing themselves.” The simple pleasures cited by Eggleston as proofs of the ability of our people to play are so trivial

The present-day awakening

Play in America a generation ago that one is inclined to wish that talented man of letters could see present-day America as it goes about to enjoy itself. While the charge of “ grimness and lack of joyousness in merrymaking ” may have been too sweeping a criticism of our people at that time, it is certain that the changes in the amusement life of America in thirty years would probably now cause a very different estimate to be given.

In earlier days it was often customary to think of play as a waste of time, and in the thought of many it was akin to idleness. Beyond the physical exercise derived from sports, there was little value attached to the outdoor games and plays which are now so popular. Doubtless there were many young Americans who had their desire for some coveted form of pleasure “nipped in the bud” with the same irate temper as that manifested by the old New York gentleman who forbade his daughters engaging in the newly popular sport of sleighing, or “sleeing” as it was then called. Taking the girls to the attic and compelling them to remain seated in rocking-chairs, with windows open that they might have the full benefit of the icy atmosphere, the testy old man cavorted about, cracking his whip over the backs of imaginary steeds. When he judged that his daughters’ desire for sleighing was sufficiently cooled off, he took them to the living-room below, where hot drinks were administered and they were admonished to thaw out “and leave ‘sleeing’ for those who were too warm.”

This tendency toward the serious no doubt influenced early American life to such a degree that sports were considered unseemly, unless there was in them some practical element. Hence we find as the prominent recreations of leading men of a generation ago, hunting, riding, fishing, driving, etc. Only a few indulged in the more frivolous pastimes. Senator Roscoe Conkling had some reputation as a boxer, while Hannibal Hamlin at the age of sixty-three was an expert dancer, and Lyman Trumbull and Schuyler Colfax excelled as croquet-players. The spirit of the age is reflected in the statement of Samuel J. Tilden to a literary friend, when asked concerning his constant seriousness of manner,—‘ J never had any childhood.” Though we would not say that the period in question had no facilities for joy-making, we may be sure that the spirit of sport, even with adults, is more evident to-day than in the days of our fathers.

Little more than a generation ago the two institutions, the School and the Church, whose ob-

‘te ject was. the building of the best Former indiffer- Character, were doing nothing to ence of School ee and Chinn minister to the play life of the

young. The system of organized athletics as an element of school and college life was unknown, or at least not generally popular.

In the public school, the activities of the youth outside of book-study were confined to the “ pieces ” of the Friday afternoon literary program, or the undirected amusements of the school playground.

The Church, if not unfriendly to the indulgence of social play, was indifferent regarding its value. Doubtless there were few who would have sympathized with the extreme view of the relation between play and religion as expressed by Francke, of Halle, an educational organizer and philanthropist of considerable note in the eighteenth century. He said: “ Play must be forbidden in any and all of its forms. The children shall be instructed in such a manner as to show them, through the presentation of religious principles, the wastefulness and folly of all play. They shall be led to see that play will distract their minds from God, the Eternal Good, and will work nothing but harm to their spiritual lives.” While this extreme was never reached, it is certain that the Church as a whole seemed to think that its duty to mankind was accomplished when it had performed its ministrations to the soul. If either adults or children desired to play, let them seek elsewhere for the opportunity as well as for direction. For a good many years past the Church has been content simply to point out the dangers of certain forms of amusements, and it has been only within very recent years that any organized effort has been made on the part of the various denominations to suggest forms of amusements for young people and to superintend them in their recreations.

There is a well developed notion among the leaders of thought that the attitude of Christendom on the subject of amusements has been too negative, and that a more affirmative message better befits ‘the age. As an evidence of the changing sentiment of the Church in its approach to the amusement question, a comparison of the statements of a leading denomination on the subject, at different periods, may not be out of place.

The first utterance was placed in the book of discipline of this great denomination in the year 1872. It forbids, under pain of trial and expulsion, any member of the church from engaging in “dancing, playing at games of chance; attending theaters, horse-races, circuses, dancingparties; patronizing dancing-schools; or taking part in such other amusements as are obviously of misleading or questionable moral tendency.”

The second declaration of this same denomination on the question of amusements was first promulgated in the year 1904. The gist of this declaration follows: “Improper amusements and excessive indulgence in innocent amusements are serious barriers to the beginning of the religious life and fruitful causes of spiritual decline. Some amusements in common use are positively demor-

Changing attitude of the Church alizing and furnish the first easy steps to the total loss of character. We therefore look with deep concern on the great increase of amusements and on the general prevalence of harmful amusements, and lift up a solemn note of warning and entreaty, particularly against theater-going, dancing, and such games of chance as are frequently associated with gambling; all of which have been found to be antagonistic to vital piety, promotive of worldliness, and especially pernicious to youth. We affectionately admonish all our people to make their amusements the subject of careful thought and frequent prayer, to study the subject of amusements in the light of their tendencies, and to be scrupulously careful in this matter, so as to set no injurious example. . . . We deem it our bounden duty to summon the whole Church to apply a thoughtful and instructed conscience to the choice of amusements, and not to leave them to accident or taste or passion. he

The difference between these two declarations marks the changing thought of a generation regarding the Church’s attitude toward the amusement question. The first is prohibitory; the second is advisory. Then again, this latter declaration, while not “throwing down the bars,” as many of the more liberal might wish, permits the individual conscience to assert itself, and is, therefore, somewhat more affirmative than the former utterance.

Various influences have led the Church to a larger regard for the play life of mankind. The Young Mens Christian Association was probably the most effective teacher of the need of a gospel that reached the physical and the social side of young men and boys. For many years past it has appealed to the physical side of young life with its gymnasiums, and to the social side by an active interest in sports and amusements.

It may be said that with the organization of the wide-spread young peoples movement in our churches began the first serious effort to furnish an all-round development for the youth under Christian auspices. Though there were several organizations more or less local in character previous to that time, the new era of the Church’s interest in youth began with the rise of the Christian Endeavor movement in 1881. A number of denominational societies also sprang up, each, in common with the Christian Endeavor, having a department of work specially devoted to the directing of the recreation of its members. Valuable suggestions concerning proper amusements are constantly given in the periodicals of these young people’s societies, and various books of games and plays furnish the basis for a healthy amusement life.

We have entered an age where the Church,

What the Church is doing for play to-day thoroughly awakened to the needs of the entire human being, is endeavoring to touch all sides of the individual. The cnstitutional church, with its multiplied activities and many-sided approach to humanity, is no longer an experiment, and the time will doubtless come when churches everywhere will incorporate some of the features of institutionalism. The changed attitude of the Church toward social life has necessitated new equipment. The modern church is built with rooms for social enjoyment and with apparatus for physical development. Often a gymnasium ‘occupies a prominent place in its basement rooms, and many churches are kept open every evening in the week with varied social activities. The white-walled meeting-house, with its properly pointed spire, standing demurely among the marble gravestones of the city of the dead and sheltered by weeping willows, is unfitted to the newer age. The church-building of the present day has lost its sepulchral whiteness, and has ‘moved on to a prominent corner to stand among the living, with open doors each day and night, and with a message of good cheer to all who pass by.

. This change has not been accomplished without some protest on the part of certain ones who fail to appreciate the spirit of the times. A certain estimable Christian lady, when I showed her the new church kitchen and dining-room and the rooms for social recreation, commented that she ‘always doubted the spirituality of a church that had a basement.”