

THE GEOGRAPHY OF GAMES 



121 



try, and commerce, to 

 weld these motifs into 

 a game that puts a 

 premium on skill, yet 

 admits of infinite va- 

 riety ; that rawest 

 youth or trained ath- 

 lete may play; and 

 that Presidents and 

 office boys steal away 

 to watch. 



THE PLAYGROUND' 

 BIRTHPLACE 



If the Greeks paved 

 the way for classic 

 art by teaching adults 

 to play and Great 

 Britain followed in 

 her footsteps with a 

 more spontaneous and 

 democratic fervor, 

 America now appears 

 as the most forward- 

 looking nation in her 

 attention to children's 

 playgrounds. In fact, 

 the playgrounds for 

 children may be con- 

 sidered the distinctive 

 contribution of this 

 country to the world's 

 play. 



To gather statistics 

 of play is like count- 

 ing the sands of the 

 sea or the children of 

 the nation ; but it is 

 significant of the 

 awakening interest in 

 play to note that in 

 1 91 8 more than 400 

 cities maintained 

 nearly 4,000 p 1 a y- 

 grounds, and the chil- 

 dren who found relaxation on 340 of 

 these playgrounds from which reports 

 were had on any one day would have 

 numbered scarcely less than the total 

 population of Boston. 



Moreover, this was but a fraction of 

 the opportunities for normal play, for it 

 does not take into account the thousands 

 of boys' clubs and provisions for their 

 special clientele which churches, parishes, 

 private schools, and organizations like the 



Photograph by Paul Thompson 



TAKING A HEADER AT A FANCY DIVING MEET 



An officer of Captain Cook's crew tells how, on a trip to the South 

 Sea Islands, he handed some beads to a six-year-old youngster and 

 they fell into the water. The child plunged from her canoe after 

 them. Other trinkets were thrown into the water and the native 

 men and women dived for them, showing such skill and staying 

 under the water so long that the English "could scarcely help re- 

 garding them as amphibious." 



Y. M. C. A., Boy Scouts, Knights of 

 Columbus, and numerous others make. 

 One of the most characteristic adjuncts 

 of the American school, city, town, or 

 country district is its playground ; and 

 few are the city parks where the old 

 "Keep Off the Grass" signs have not been 

 superseded by invitations to play, and 

 special provisions for games. 



There is nothing artificial about the 

 games taught to children on American 



