SIXTEEN] NOOKS AND CORNERS 
seen young collegians show at first the most as- 
toundingly untrained perception of the relation of 
things, and of spaces, and of the effect of a blow, 
yet after a while develop peculiar skill and aptness 
of judgment. They get a certain practical educa- 
tion from play which they are not getting from 
mathematics, or from psychology and physics. 
Dr. Woods Hutchinson takes the position that 
play is a provision of nature, intended to bring out 
not only physical, but moral and _ intellectual 
strength. “Exercise,” he says, “is literally the 
mother of the brain. Every play, worth the name, 
develops not merely strength, endurance, and 
sweetness, but also alertness, quickness of response, 
coolness, balance, wariness, and judgment that is 
both sure and swift.” The individuality of chil- 
dren must be taken into account. Some get play 
by working in their garden plots, while others are 
prompted by instinct to some sort of construction, 
and still others to caring for pets. While my shop 
is open I cannot induce one of my boys to join us 
at croquet. Some children are naturally marine 
biologists, preferring the frog-pond to an athletic 
field. While these are paddling in the water, others 
are naively devoted to trapezes and jumping bars. 
[355] 
