HEALTH AND WELL-BEING 69 



The games and sports of childhood and youth furnish 

 much of the exercise essential to the development of healthy 

 and vigorous bodies. They make possible more enjoyment 

 in living, and greater ability to do well the labors that devolve 

 upon one throughout life. In rural communities a wide 

 range of wholesome occupations and out-of-door sports is 

 always possible; in towns and cities these opportunities are 

 more or less restricted. So important is play considered by 

 those who have at heart the interests of children and of 

 society at large that special effort is made in cities to provide 

 properly supervised sports and physical training for both 

 boys and girls. 



Aside from any outlays involved, the nature of one's em- 

 ployment in life should dictate very largely the forms of 

 recreation chosen. In a general way the best results are 

 attained from those amusements, recreations, and enter- 

 tainments in which there is the most of enjoyment and of 

 restfulness. The benefits from being an on-looker at games 

 and plays is very generally far short of what might result 

 from actual participation in them. This is especially the 

 case in active out-of-doors sports and occupations. No 

 one could reasonably think of being nourished by food eaten 

 by another, or of growing intellectually as result of getting 

 some one else to do his thinking for him. It is a great pity 

 for people to deceive themselves into being content with not 

 taking part in sports and other forms of physical exercises. 



Any excessive amount of time or attention given over to 

 amusements or to sleep constitutes intemperance in living, 

 even as does excessive labor of muscles or brain, or over- 

 indulgence in eating and drinking. 



It is the experience of the human race that besides the 

 natural rest periods given over to sleep, the welfare of 

 individuals throughout life requires an additional one day 

 out of every seven, approximately if not literally, in which 



