GAMES AND PLAYS 



2373 



GAMES AND PLAYS 



Private Game Preserves. Because of the 

 existence of many private estates which have 

 survived from the Middle Ages, there are in 

 Europe large numbers of areas where game is 

 preserved that the aristocracy may indulge in 

 the traditional sport of hunting. In America 

 private preserves are less common. That of 

 the Roberval Club, in the Laurentian Moun- 

 tains north of the city of Quebec, contains 

 more than five hundred square miles of forest, 

 and there are a number of others belonging to 

 sportsmen in the United States and Canada 

 which contain several thousand acres. Other 

 private game preserves are maintained by 

 lovers of wild life who wish to prevent the 

 extinction of buffalo, waterfowl and other 

 beasts and birds that are prey for the hunter, 

 unless protected. 



Game Reservations. National, state and pro- 

 vincial governments in America have taken 

 steps to preserve the native }auna of the con- 

 tinent by setting aside large tracts where the 



animals may live unmolested. Among these 

 are the national parks, the largest of which 

 are the Jasper Park in Alberta, containing 5,450 

 square miles; the Rocky Mountains Park, in 

 the same province, with an area of 4,320 square 

 miles; and Yellowstone Park, in the United 

 States, 3,348 square miles in extent. The Laur- 

 entides Park of the province of Quebec is 

 slightly larger than the Yellowstone. Thou- 

 sands of wild animals make their homes in 

 these parks, among them elk and buffalo, deer 

 and antelope, mountain sheep, moose, bear and 

 beaver. The largest game reservations in the 

 world are those of the British government in 

 Central Africa, where the rhinoceros, the hip- 

 popotamus and other strange beasts are native. 

 See, also, BIRD, subtitle Government Protec- 

 tion oj Birds. C.H.H. 



Consult Hornaday's Our Vanishing Wild Life; 

 Circular 87, United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture, "National Reservations for the Protection 

 of Wild Life." 



'AMES AND PLAYS. Time was, not 

 more than a few generations ago, when play 

 was looked upon as an almost unmixed evil 

 necessary at times, to be sure, but by no 

 means to be encouraged. Children wanted to 

 play, and most parents were not hard-hearted 

 enough to keep them from it entirely, though 

 looking upon it as a waste of good time 

 which might have been far better employed in 

 some useful occupation. Even to-day elderly 

 persons are found who look back to their 

 childhood almost with bitterness because of 

 the dull work-a-day lives they were forced to 

 lead, unrelieved by the joyous sports natural 

 to youth. The son of a preacher' of the old 

 school declares that whenever in his boyhood 

 he began the most innocent of plays his father 

 called him into the house to sing, "My God, 

 my heart I bring to Thee." This father did 

 not understand the value of play. 



At present there is danger of the pendulum's 

 swinging too far in the other direction and of 

 the child's having too much play, but the wise 



teacher or parent can regulate that matter 

 easily. Of course, with a child, the difference 

 between play and work is one of mental atti- 

 tude the play is often far more strenuous 

 than are his simple tasks, and calls for more 

 concentration, but he does it joyously because 

 he has the play attitude toward it. 



Value in Play. Why is it that the educa- 

 tional world, blind for so long to that par- 

 ticular phase of children's activities, has now 

 come to look upon play as so important that 

 special provision is made for it in the course 

 of studies? And why are large cities providing 

 public playgrounds and attendants who can 

 teach the children interesting and healthful 

 games? The explanation of these changes in 

 policy is in the recognition of the truth of 

 Froebel's statement that "Play is not trivial; 

 it is serious and fraught with deep meaning." 

 "If this be true," the teachers and the chil- 

 dren's welfare committees have argued, "if 

 play really is a serious matter, then it is worth 

 the serious attention of grown people." 



