FORTIETH ANNUAL REPORT. 37 



said, ''Boys, I have you fitted out for a playground now." The boys 

 were all interested, yes, deeply interested. Then the Judge gave them a 

 good fatherly talk and said, ''I am not going to commit you to jail; I 

 am not going to send you to the work house, but I am going to let you 

 go back and try it over again, believing that when you have a good ])lace 

 for a playground, where you will not be molested, you will do the right 

 and square thing." 



Well, that playground was secured and it has been used to the very 

 best advantage. These boys, the very oues Avho were up before the 

 Judge, are among those who use it, and a better lot of boys it would be 

 hard to find; and in months since that time there has not been a single 

 boy brought into the court from that locality. 



Is not that playground worth something in the maintenance of law and 

 order? Has it not a large value in the making of good citizens? Surely 

 we must reckon with it in the development of human character since 

 we recognize it as one of the chief elements in the reduction of crime. 



We have accoui]>lished a great deal in the way of playgrounds in some 

 cities in this United States, and it is because Ave have interested the wom- 

 en in connection with their club life to investigate along these lines, and 

 when they become imbued with the real benefits to accrue from play- 

 grounds they are not slow to take hold of the matter and act. Some- 

 thing good and great is coming out of the study which the women are 

 carrying on, because they are mothers of the boys, and I welcome with 

 a great deal of joy the results of this investigation, tl^e results of the 

 methods that shall be developed in the interest of child life for the re- 

 duction of crime. And I welcome also the men and Avomen Avho will 

 give their own lives to the development of this thought in American 

 growth. Conservation of forest is good; conservation of water is all 

 right; but the conserv'ation of human minds and hearts is far greater. 

 We are reaching the vieAvpoint Avhich establishes in our jmrposes the fact 

 that the greatest of all problems in conserA'ation is the proper salvation 

 of the child. 



We taik in connection AA'ith play of duty of happiness; that is. the re- 

 sponsibility, the obligation Ave have to ourseh^es and to give to others the 

 happiness that every human being should haA^e as a legacy. If Ave pur- 

 sue this line of thought and endeaA^or to weave it into our actiA'ities we 

 shall above all other things demonstrate not the duty of happiness but 

 the happiness of duty. 



"Straight is the line of duty, 

 Curved is the line of beauty. 

 FolloAv the one and thou shalt see 

 The second ever folloAving thee." 



