FIFTY MILLION STRONG 



basis boy play activities was made in this country, but the 

 Boy Scout Movement enjoyed marvelous popularity in Eng- 

 land and her colonies following the Boer War, and the organ- 

 ization that is in such a flourishing condition in this country 

 today was imported from England after that country had 

 developed an American idea. The Camp-Fire Girl Movement 

 had its origin only a few years ago in this country and was 

 started that girls might have the same opportunity for normal 

 development along recreational lines as boys. These two 

 movements have become nation-wide and they are today on 

 so sound a basis that they have become a permanent factor in 

 the national life. If a boy becomes a scout or a girl a camp- 

 fire girl and they obey the rules and master the requirements 

 of the respective organizations, there is no doubt that they 

 will learn the duties and develop the fundamental virtues use- 

 ful in after life. So the purpose of each organization is to 

 make youth the brightest period of life at the same time that 

 preparation is afforded for adulthood. There are many other 

 organizations similar to these two, but not so well known, all 

 aiming to provide adequately for the play needs of boys and 

 girls. 



Now, the unfortunate thing about the three movements that 

 have just been considered is that they have made compara- 

 tively little progress in Rural America. One hears little, 

 though much more than formerly, of playground activities, 

 boy scouts and camp-fire girls in the villages and open country, 

 notwithstanding the fact that more than half the children of 

 the nation live in Rural America. These movements have been 

 urban movements, but there is just as great need of them in 

 Rural America. In a sense, the need is greater in Rural 

 America, for the reason that the play activities of Urban 

 America have become an added inducement for boys and girls 

 to leave the farms and the villages for the cities. As Dr. G. W. 

 Fiske felicitously characterized the situation in an address at 

 the Ohio State Y. M. C. A. Convention of 1916, " It is not so 

 much dollar-hunger as fun-hunger that takes boys from the 

 country to the cities." 



28 



