RURAL AMERICA 



ground movement, which has been called the greatest single 

 movement of the nation. The purpose of the movement is, 

 extending to child life an adequate opportunity to give the 

 play instinct normal expression. The movement was inau- 

 gurated at a time when the process of urbanizing America 

 was rapidly transforming the nation's life. But a period of 

 inactivity followed, which closed with a wonderful revival of 

 interest in the city of Chicago in 1898, since which time the 

 playground movement has become a dominant factor in 

 American life. The movement has gathered wonderful mo- 

 mentum in later years because playgrounds are proving to be 

 agencies for decreasing juvenile crime, increasing health 

 standards, promoting community spirit, and fashioning into 

 unity heterogeneous urban populations. They have become 

 both a constructive and a redemptive force and are contrib- 

 uting to a brighter national outlook on life. The boy or girl 

 who enjoys a normal play life during the formative years is 

 sure to be an optimist. If a man or woman can look back to 

 a childhood that had its share of play activities, the experi- 

 ences of youth are a source of perennial joy and pleasure and 

 the dark places of the later years are brightened by the 

 reflection from life's brilliant beginnings. Once a Harvard 

 graduate who had not made a very pronounced success out in 

 the great world consoled himself with the memory : " Well, 

 anyway I achieved a triumph in my student days on the base- 

 ball diamond." The victory of his youth saved him from 

 discouragement in the days when fortune turned her back on 

 him. And so it will save the youth of the nation in the next 

 generation. 



B. Boy Scouts and Camp-Fire Girls 



Two great organizations may be associated with the Play- 

 ground Movement of the nation, viz., the Boy Scouts and the 

 Camp-Fire Girls. The former had its origin at the time of 

 the Boer War and developed from the practical use made of 

 boys during the progress of the South African struggle. In 

 reality a beginning in the great work of putting on a happier 



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