Health by stunts

Front matter

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

MACMILLAN & CO., Limited

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd.

Foreword

In 1914 the writer began an investigation in the Detroit PubHc Schools with the idea of conducting such athletics as boys would like, that could be done under existing conditions, and that would develop the boys. This investigation, which has been continued, has proved conclusively that the play of boys and girls has been on the decline.

Boys had no record of what they could accomplish. The old stunts and contests were not only not participated in, but were almost entirely forgotten. Boys were spending from one to three hours a day, sometimes seven days in a week, at picture shows or in other passive entertainment. They were not taking part in anything athletic. The number of records taken to measure the athletic ability of boys in Detroit has reached far past the million mark, and many interesting conclusions have been reached.

Modern conditions have not only made boys inactive, but have made people of all ages inactive. Under such conditions chronic disease is rapidly on the increase. Statistics in the United States Government reports, insurance companies, and the investigations of the Life Extension Institute of New York have shown this conclusively.

vi FOREWORD

The play impulse will continue to exist, though it must have greater 'opportunity of expression or the results will be very detrimental to the race as a whole. Beginning with the play impulse the boy must have somebody to play with, a place to play, and know something to play. If the boy has the impulse and knows something to play, he will make a strenuous effort to find companions or things and a place to play. It is necessary to make every boy bathe, clean his teeth, and leave his window up at night. Eventually an impulse is created within the boy which prompts him to do these things for himself. This is the point where "physical training leaves off and physical education begins. This is not habit. There is actually an impulse that prompts individuals to keep clean and .get fresh air even under adverse conditions.

Similarly play impulse must be developed to such an extent that it will prompt not only the boy but the adult to play practically every day of his life. If play cannot be had, this impulse must prompt the individual to other exercise, which partly takes the place of play. For exercise the following things must be accomplished ; how they are done is only secondary. The heart should heat at high speed for several minutes every day, and the digestive system should he turned wrong side up and severely shaken up. Whether this is to take place every day and what the duration of this

FOREWORD vil

strenuous exercise is to be, are questions which each individual must answer for himself. The time and amount will vary with the age of the individual. It may be five minutes or it may be twenty minutes a day, and it may be every day or every few days. Riding, playing golf, walking and such do not give the necessary exercise.

Other important things are these : good posture should be maintained. If work makes this impossible, then over-corrections should be made often during work. The body must be kept pliable. It must continue to retain wide range of movement of youth, with ease. The chest must retain elasticity. The ligamentary hang should be practiced in hanging by the hands and also by the knees. Good physical condition is dependent on retaining the elasticity of youth throughout the body.

There is a powerful impulse impelling our civilization onward and upward. It is a great pent-up force pushing forward our race. It began with man ; it will end with eternity. It is our individual and national power. It compels the individual and the nation to advance rapidly in some ways. Various influences act in directing this advance. We seem to be retarded, to slip backward in some phases of life at times, as individuals and nations, but always there is a great force behind pushing us somewhere, and we must direct this forward and upward in all problems of life.

viii FOREWORD

This great power may be first expressed in one or a few who direct the rest of us. It made us believe that the earth was round; discover America, find out the power of steam, fly in the air, swim under the sea, talk around the world. It urges us toward a cleaner cleanliness, a truer godliness, and a bigger social consciousness; to a broader democracy, and a greater patriotism. Let us direct one branch of this mighty force for all in searching for the Fountain of Youth, which can be found in following the right simple rules which lead to good health. Let each individual assume the responsibility for his or her own good health. It is easily attained and retained.

I wish to make special acknowledgment to Mr. H. E. Brown, who has revised the manuscript and assisted in every detail of its organization ; to Miss Ethel Perrin, Supervisor of Physical Education, for her assistance and cooperation in every phase of the work ; to Mr. L. M. Post, who has pulled with me many times on our team of two ; to other members of the department who have assisted enthusiastically with the boys^ work; and to Dr. C. E. Chadsey, former Superintendent of Schools, who has been the earnest supporter of physical education.

N. H. Pearl

Capt. U.S. Army

Introduction

One of the results of the Great War has been a sharp criticism of the work of the pubhc schools of the United States. In the early days of the selective draft, it was found that many young men were rejected for physical disabilities and deficiencies, many of which were unnecessary and could easily have been overcome or would never have been developed if a more intelligent system of physical education had been in general use in our schools. These criticisms were so sharp that already a marked effect on public school practice is being noticed. These modifications are in the direction of more liberal time allotments for physical education work and a recognition of the value of many forms of physical exercises at one time common in the life of the boy, but of late years, particularly in our more congested centers of population, neglected and to a large extent lost.

This volume is an effort on the part of two physical directors, who have had unusual opportunity for observation and experimental work with boys in the upper elementary grades and in the high school grades, to give to the public in convenient form plans to develop an interest in our boys in these activities

X INTRODUCTION

which have so often been neglected. It is also their hope that this book may reach the attention of many who as individuals; although in other activities, may profit by the instructions and directions.

It is often stated that the home ties under modern social conditions are being somewhat loosened through the failure of the father to get into intimate, confidential association with his boys. The great interest which all boys possess in stunts of various kinds makes it possible to overcome this tendency through participation in or direction of many of these activities.

In Detroit where these directors have been actively at work; it has been noted that in many cases the parents have developed an interest in these activities through the work of the boys in various public demonstrations. At the beginning of this work, the absolute lack of knowledge on the part of the boys of many of the most elementary stunts was startling, especially when it was noted that nearly all of these exercises were those which had been commonly practiced by the parents of these boys.

If this volume results in a nation-wide renewal of interest in these fundamental stunts and contests, the purpose of the authors will have been accomplished.

C. E. Chadsey,

Superintendent Chicago Schools formerly Superintendent Detroit Schools

Table Of Contents

PAGE

Introduction by C. E. Chadsey ix

CHAPTER

Chapter I The Great War As An Impetus

liNCE history began war has caused men to tighten their girthS; throw off the mantle of ease and sloth, renounce excesses, and steel themselves to hardships. War has halted in full tide the chronic habits of indifference and lazy acceptance of things as they are. A fighting nation is a nation lifted out of itself, raised above its petty faults. War is like a dash of cold water in the face, waking a nation to a realization of its assets and shortcomings. A people at war can no longer continue to drift sluggishly toward a vague, indefinite goal. The current of life becomes suddenly transformed into a steady, swift, purposeful movement, guided and propelled by a high enthusiasm that puts to shame any who are not at first caught up by it. This high enthusiasm makes weak men take stock of themselves and strong men glory in their strength.

Under the stress of war vast numbers of perplexing, irritating problems that have • embroiled thousands in endless, futile discussions become suddenly clear or

B 1

Human Arch (p. 133)

Human Arch (p. 133)

THE GREAT WAR AS AN IMPETUS 3

are swept away altogether. Everything is subjected to the one inexorable win-the-war test. It is wonderfully refreshing to a nation, even though it is crude and imperfect, to have one simple test to apply to all things. If it won't help win the war, there's an end ta it I

And when peace has come again, the high enthusiasm may die down, but a nation with its eyes even momentarily forced open cannot ignore what it saw nor soon forget the conclusions it drew. The tightened girth, the cleared eye, the hardened tissue, once attained, are too pleasing to be released without a struggle. The ease of forming judgments by one simple, applicable rule will be for a time difficult to give up.

In the field of physical education an advance that would have taken its broadest-minded advocates years to bring about, the conflict just terminated in Europe has accomplished in hardly more than one. The tremendous practical benefit of a nation physically prepared for any emergency has been vividly demonstrated. It is no longer necessary to explain painstakingly the need for physical fitness to the masses. We have an unanswerable reason at hand — ^Ho win wars our men must be physically sound." It is something which everyone understands, beyond which nothing need be said. There are more important reasons why the people must be physically fit, but it has required the Great War to convince our nation of this necessity. As a result we exerted great energy on our fighting forces and made great plans which should be extended to the masses in peace times.

One of the most unpardonable sins of the average brand of physical training has been its apparent failure to sift down to its irreducible minimum the objective of its work. Too often appearances seem to indicate that the main object was to master a set of more or less difficult exercises merely for the sake of the exercises, or to develop certain unessential uniformities : before being sure of fundamentals. If there was no agreement as to the chief objective before the war, the excuse for that is now past. In the enthusiasm and stimulation of the conflict there could have been no dissenting voice had such an objective been stated. Opportunity for coalition should not be allowed to slip by now that the fire of battle has died down. If all are in agreement on this one fundamental premise, — that first of all we should bend our energies to develop men who will be efficient citizens and effective patriots, — then the fogs of dispute may melt away and a new constructive program combining all the virtues of the past be possible.

First we must determine the essential physical characteristics of the men we are striving for, not all the multitudinous attributes which will aid them in this

THE GREAT WAR AS AN IMPETUS 5

fulfillment, but merely the essential physical characteristics that they must have, and see to it that a large proportion of our men develop these. Then, and not until then, can we with a clear conscience branch out into special fields of development.

It remains then to determine what we are to consider the minimum essentials with which physical education has to deal. In the first place, the body , must be in a given mechanical condition which may be determined within limits by knowing what the sort of man we are striving for will be called upon to do physically to maintain good health. Prescribed tests may then be applied periodically. Just as a locomotive's parts must be tested to see if they can stand the new strain to which they will be subjected, so the muscles, vital organs, and nerves should conform to the standard of performance at all times, set in relation to the necessary activities of the individual.

Besides a given standard of mechanical condition, there are essentials of mental and moral worth which can be influenced by physical education. The boy or man we turn out must have an Impelling Impulse toward developing :

I. Poise and control. 11. Confidence and initiative.

III. Capacity and ability.

IV. Social consciousness.

After that he may become an athlete^ an expert on the gymnasium apparatus, a wizard at Indian club manipulations, a past master of form in the execution of prescribed movements, or carry his physical education to whatever limits he may desire, but first let him be prepared for good citizenship.

It is the authors' contention that the tests for growing boys, to determine whether or not they are up to these minimum standards mentioned, should be natural tests that boys will apply instinctively without urging or directing. It is fast becoming an accepted doctrine that we should make use of the fundamental instincts of human beings ; i e. it is generally believed that we get better results by encouraging running, wrestling, throwing, and striking than by teaching dumb-bell and wand drills.

We do not have to search far for the natural measures of ability. A glance backward into the lives of the boys who grew up with our country and whose impulses led them to the natural tests of strength and general ability will open up a vast, rich field of physical activities.

It seems evident, from a brief survey of pre-war conditions, that we were hardly in a position to argue the finer points of physical education. We had not even approximated the standards for efficient citizenship. A close study of the play conditions of one of

THE GREAT WAR AS AN IMPETUS 7

our largest cities (Detroit), coupled with a consideration of the report of rapid increase in chronic diseases, made it apparent to the authors that a radical change of some sort was fast becoming essential to the health and strength of the nation. Investigation in Detroit led us to believe as stated in Chapter II that without a systematized and organized effort to perpetuate them, active games, sports, and contests would become obsolete in five years in any large community.

Reasons for the existing conditions were easily discernible but none the less alarming.

The following chapter covers in detail these conditions as they were found to exist before America undertook her colossal European task. Plans for awakening the youth of our cities to a larger interest in their play and so in their physical welfare which were under way before the Great War, are bound to be given an extraordinary aid if we will now move quickly to take full advantage of the opportunity. Along with a desire for a strong nation, we are sure to find tremendously increased pride in individual strength and general physical ability. If physical education is now ready with a plan of action to supply the national demand for physical efficiency, we shall have little trouble in carrying it out. On the other hand, if the lation, fresh from its strenuous efforts at home and ibroad, with its new craving for health-building activities, turns to us only to find the same wornout, tedious, exacting drills and gymnastic movements, the same bickering between factions, it cannot be held responsible for the excesses and absurdities to which it may turn.

It is, then, strictly up to physical education to meet promptly and effectively an emergency which may well prove to be the great turning point in its career. How best can we take advantage of the high enthusiasms and progressive fervor this conflict has given us? What simple, direct, and comprehensive plan of action can we offer that will turn these enthusiasms toward improving existing physical conditions and so make for a citizenship more capable of developing to its fullest extent its inherent possibilities for good? These are the questions which the succeeding chapters seek to answer.

I

Chapter II Existing Physical Conditions

N man's earliest recorded history we find him called upon to depend almost entirely on physical fitness in order to survive. The weak starved to death or were killed. Only the strong lived to perpetuate the race.

At a later period we find men living in communities and delegating the duty of fighting to comparatively a

few, while the rest were engagied in the vari- ^ ,.

^ ° ° Decline in

ous trades. But even here, wars involving a Physical large proportion of the men occurred with ^ ^^^ ^®^ sufficient frequency to keep alive in the race the vital qualities of grit^ courage, and hardihood through the medium of vigorous bodily exercise. Also, the trades men engaged in at that time required in most instances considerable physical activity.

Coming still nearer to our own time, through the path of history, we discover both an increase and a decrease in the number of active pursuits, and a corresponding rise and fall in mental and moral integrity. Rome, in its glory, carried physical activity to a high tos^^^i

Knee Dip (p. 96)

Corkscrew (p. 99)

Through Stick (p. 98) Toe Jump (p. Ill)

pinnacle ; its decline^ following the amassing of great wealth; led to the downfall of the Empire.

Even seventy-five or one hundred years ago in our own country (much more recently in some sections) the severity of conditions of life supplied the average man the necessary physical exertion. Hardships and fighting have always kept men in health and well-being. It is when the severity of conditions relaxes, when wealth begins to pile up, and sedentary occupations to increase, that we may reasonably look for a general social decadence.

In spite of the advantage we have gained by our brief plunge into the tremendous European conflict, we have reached a very dangerous point in our history as a nation. Unless we hasten to take advantage of the interest in physical well-being caused by the war and create a definite field for its expression in a national physical activity and a definite physical efficiency standard for all ages, there is little doubt that gradually we will slip back to our former state of increasing physical inertia. The frontiers have disappeared ; the forests where the ax rang out its peal of active well-being have melted away. The desert and the spell of the Yukon no longer help those in need of a spur to physical activity. We cross the frontier in a night, desert and all, in a Pullman berth. We go to watch golf matches and baseball games where the forests stood. Perhaps twenty men play while twenty thousand sit and watch them — and eat peanuts and grow fat.

What is true of baseball is largely true of other sports. The Yale bowl holds TO^OOO people and the football field itself accommodates but a score or so — of specialized athletes. The unpleasant suggestion of the gladiator or the bull fight and their thousands of spectators is bound to present itself. This is intended as no indictment of major athletic competitions, which have a valuable place in athletics as treated in the discussion of games in Chapter VIII. But the fact remains that we have come to the point where the majority of our joys and pleasures are to be had without real physical exertion. Our work is in sedentary occupations. Our very sports appeal to us only when others play them. Something vital is missing that was present a generation ago. What name shall we give to it ?

The active play impulse seems to be the broadest term that fits the case ; that is the essence of what is lacking. That is what we must strive to rejuvenate.

If proof is needed that there has been an alarming

decline in physical activities in the past decade, we

. have only to examine the report of Dr. Increase m *^ ^

Chronic Eugene Lyman Fisk, Director of Hygiene, Diseases j^-^^ Extension Institute of New York, showing that the chronic diseases are rapidly on the increase. The order of increase is : (l) Heart ; (2) Kidney and Urinary ; (3) Liver and Digestion ; (4) Nervous system. Of over 1000 industrial workers of average age — 32, examined in one city (Detroit), 53 per cent had hardening of the arteries, 72 per cent had either urinary or circulatory impairments, or both. Most of these workers were unaware that they were either in or near a serious condition. The United States Government report shows that the number of deaths from heart disease has increased 30 per cent since 1900. A large proportion of these cases are preventable or are subject to indefinite delay in their final action, providing proper stimulus can be given to physical activities. The vital organs must have the shaking up and the stimulation to proper functioning that is given by the right kind of physical exertion.

Elementary School Conditions

Nothing could show more clearly the passive state into which we are falling than the results of the physical tests applied to the boys of the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades of the Detroit Elementary Schools. From a study of the conditions there, the author came to the conclusion that without a systematized and organized effort to perpetuate them, active games, sports, and contests would become obsolete in five years in any large community. At first thought this may seem too radical a statement, but that the conclusion is justified must be apparent from an examination of the facts.

Large groups of sports formerly in common use were found to be completely forgotten and discarded. Lack of The old-time ^' stunts " that every boy used to " Stunts " have as a part of his daily activity, and upon which he used to depend for a large share of his amusement, were found to be practically unknown. Only a few of the most common ones had even been heard of. A glance at the chapter on ^^ Stunts, Individual and Combination^' will bring back to the minds of nearly all the men of thirty years or more the recol-§l lection of the splendid hours they used to have in springing one or another of these stunts on their companions. It is almost unbelievable that what was once such a ^ • large part of a boy's existence can so completely have§| been submerged in the short space of a decade or so.

A few of the stunts were known by name to some of l j the 5000 boys examined the first year. As a usual ' I thing, however, they seemed to consider that the stunts had no value for them personally. They were simply things they had heard of, not things they could try to possibly accomplish. The circus and the vaudeville stages are practically the only places where the Head Stand, the Hand Spring, and the Shoulder Stand are commonly seen. The sight of these stunts used to awaken and gain the interest of the average boy, who would take them home in his mind, and practice them in the back yard or in the barn until he became proficient enough to spring them on his playmates.

To-day there seems to be lacking the living spark that made the connection between stunts on the stage and the boys in the back yard. The self-confidence and eagerness to try anything new, and the intense competitive spirit aroused by the sight of something new in another's possession, seem almost to have disappeared. It was found that hardly a boy out of the 5000 had ever done such stunts as squatting on one foot and balancing on a chair, or jumping over a stick held in the hands. By far the larger number of boys had never tried to do more than a very few of the stunts listed in Chapter V. The eagerness with which they accepted any of these, when introduced by the Physical Education Department, showed that the breaking away from active sports has not been voluntary, and that under the right conditions the spark of response may be rekindled.

Athletic events are more familiar to the average boy of to-day than stunts, probably for the reason that certain chosen ones of these events are f os- jj^^ j^ack tered by our universities and colleges and so of Athletic kept alive. Wherever it is found that an event has been dropped out of college competition during the last ten years or so, it seems to have invariably followed that the event has also been dropped by all classes of boys, with the result that it is practically unheard of by the present younger generation. For example, the Hitch-Kick and the Hop -Step- Jump, both old-time college events, were found to be almost completely out of use by the younger boys. In fact, in only a few cases was there a boy found who could even begin the Hop-Step-Jump correctly. Some among them had heard of it, but to the majority the name conveyed not the slightest intelligence. The Hitch- Kick had to be worked on for a considerable time before the boys could use it at all. Both were obsolete events.

In every school there were found some boys whoj could not jump off a mark with both feet together. They would hop, or step, or simply fall off, when attempting a standing broad jump.

In running there were very few boys who could put' much effort into a hundred yard dash for the whole distance. Much determination might be apparent at the start of the sprint, but it seemed to fade from their faces at ten, twenty, or thirty yards, depending on the boy. On questioning them it was found that only a few had ever run that distance as fast as they could go; practically none had any idea how fast they could cover the distance, or even whom among their acquaintances they could beat. A visit to the play spaces revealed the fact that if there seemed to be the slightest chance of his being overtaken, the tendency was for a boy who was being chased by another to quit. On the other hand, if the chaser lost ground he quit. This was true in wrestling and all the rougher sports. Such conditions need no comment, — they speak for themselves.

Records taken by the author of all athletic events tried in the elementary schools the first year showed a pitiful lack of average ability. Of course some boys may be found everywhere who are able to do almost any of the things shown them. These boys either have exceptional athletic ability, or are blessed with fathers who are interested in keeping alive in their sons the amusements of their own youth.

The ^^ fighting instincV which has been brought

down through all the stages of civilization by physical

contests of one kind or another seems to be

The Lflck in danger of complete extinction among all of the

our present-day youths. With no compul- lighting sory military service in a democracy such as ours, and with every boy allowed to choose his own activities, a very large per cent have failed to avail themselves of the opportunity for keeping this invaluable instinct alive. The methods heretofore used by the boys in time of peace, such as wrestling, boxing, and all contests calling for actual personal contact, are seldom used by the boys of our modern elementary schools. Such simple, pleasurable methods of developing grit, courage, pep, and stamina as boxing hats, doing the Indian wrestle, or the "badger pull," or ordinary " catch-as-catch-can " appear to have gone out of the life of the modern boy. In our chapter on "Contests," a score or so of the favorite contests of all ages of our history have been described. All these have been tried on boys of the Detroit Elementary Schools, with the most excellent results. The amazing fact is revealed that outside of boxing and wrestling, which have been kept alive by professionals, very few boys had ever heard of any of them, much less tried them.

Boys now have few games outside of baseball, football, some form of tag, and a few hiding games. Pom pom

pull away, prisoners' base, blackman, highof Definite spy throw-the-bi, gray wolf, tally-ho, anti- Knowledge I_over, duck-on-the-rock, do2:-and-deer, foxof Games ^ ; &> ?

and-geese, hare-and-hound, wood-tag, tag-

in-trees, one-and-two-old-cat, cross-tag, crack-the-whip, bull-in-the-ring, skin-the-devil, wind-the-watch, and many others have completely passed away for the larger number of children. There should be enough games known, and sufficient play spirit in every boy so that no matter what the time of day, time of year.

place or space^ number of boys^ or weather conditions, play would be the continuous program during unoccupied hours.

In the old days boys had a game for every condition and every season. The first fall of snow was the signal for dog-and-deer, and fox-and-geese. The early spring winds brought out the kites and windmills, while later the running sap and peeling bark suggested the whistles.