CHILDREN'S PLAYGROUNDS IN PARKS AND FORESTS 



By SMITH RILEY. District Forester 



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"The paths, the woods, the heavens, the hilis, 



Arc not a world today, 

 But just a place God made for us 



In which to play." 



HO of US but does not love the mountains with that we are walking in the 

 their- snow-capped i)eaks and forests and tuni- with God of the open air." 

 b 1 i n " 



streams ? 

 More and more we 

 are coming to real- 

 ize that the Na- 

 tional Parks and 

 Forests of o u r 

 country a r c na 

 ture's playground, 

 set aside as vaca- 

 tion joy lands for 

 little folks a n <1 

 big. John Muir 

 once said : 



"T h e tendency 

 now - a - day."^ t o 

 wander in tht; wil- 

 derness is delight- 

 ful to see. Thou- 

 sands of tire d. 

 nerveshaken, over 

 civilized people are 

 beginning to fii.d 

 out that going to 

 the mountains is going 

 home; that wilderness is a 

 necessity ; and tluit moun- 

 tain parks and reservations 

 are useful, not only as 

 fountains if timln-r .-uul ir- 

 rigating rivers, b u t as 

 fountains of life. 



"So we wander in search 

 of mountain wild flowers, 

 following the trails that 

 lead to the alpine meadows, 

 listening to the bird songs 

 as we pass, wrapped in the 

 peace of the perfect hills, 

 while all about us the infi- 

 nite beauty of things cre- 

 ated, the magic of the sum- 

 mer skies, the strength of 

 the far-flung bastons, the 

 ])urity of the eternal snows, 

 and the glory of the flow- 

 ers that bloom above the 

 clouds, bid us remember 



^■ " ■11 ^. ' 



11' WORK I\ 11 LL All; 



(_;c_)i_)ll 11 )K lil I- M 



Here we catch a glimpse of the Boy Scouts, in camp on the Pike National Forest in Colorado 

 at their regular morning exercises, part of the routine of camp life. 



A YOUNG EXPONENT OF LIFE IN THE OPEN 



Rosy-checked and happy, he typifies the value of the opportunity ofTt-rcl 



by the recreational use of the National Forests. 



freedom of the garden wild 

 There are numberless men 

 and women who 

 see in the open 

 only discomfort 

 and apprehension. 

 Such people are 

 largely dependent 

 upon the comforts 

 of life, having re- 

 ceived no opportu- 

 nities in the active 

 days of their youth 

 to acquire a taste 

 for the things of 

 Nature and the 

 great outdoors. 

 Big places make 

 big thoughts, and 

 big thoughts make 

 big men and wo- 

 men. Can we not 

 then offer the use 

 of our Parks and 

 Forests as ])laces 

 of education for 

 the citizens of this nation 

 in which to teach their 

 children the lessons of the 

 wilderness ? M o u n t a i n, 

 I rairie, and walking clubs 

 are developing rapidly 

 ihroughout the country. 

 These offer outings to 

 those grownups who have 

 developed an appetite for 

 outdoor life, but only occa- 

 sionally is it possible for 

 p;ircnts to have their chil- 

 dren accompany them. 



There are two noted or- 

 t:anizations, the Cam]i Fire 

 ( iirls and the Boy Scouts, 

 which take larger children 

 into the out-of-doors. The 

 children who join such 

 clubs have, as a rule, a nat- 

 ural taste for country or 

 mountain life, or have had 

 ()])|)ortuiiities to develop 



