the degrading and unmentionable things 
that took place in back yards before the 
playgrounds were established came to an 
end, for the children were drawn out of 
the back yard into the playground. The 
policeman on the beat said that the ques- 
tion of what to do with the children in the 
streets, and the danger from their playing 
there, was practically ended, for the chil- 
dren leave the streets for the playground. 
A mother w'ho seemed representative of 
others said that she felt safe about her 
children, for she knew where they were, 
out of the streets, away from the evil of 
the back yards and in the playgrounds. 
Therefore, from the mother’s and police- 
man's viewpoint they were successful, and 
for the evil of the back yards they became 
an efficient remedy. 
It is customary in discussing play- 
grounds or play opportunities to consider 
them as a center of a circle of influences 
of varying diameters, such as, a play- 
ground for small children has a radius of 
influence of one thousand feet ; one for 
larger children of two thousand feet ; and 
a baseball field of a mile, but it seems to 
me a clearer conception of their influence 
can be gained by considering a city as a 
great maelstrom of human life, with placid 
even currents in some parts, and strong 
rapids in others, and innumerable eddies 
and whirlpools caused by the conflicting 
and contrary directions of the different 
currents. In this malstrom child life and 
weaklings are too often caught and held 
helpless in the eddies and whirlpools. The 
extent of the influences of the playground 
depends upon the extent and vigor of the 
eddy it serves and cannot be measured by 
any geometrical form, for public play- 
grounds are needed most in the eddies of 
city life and not so much for the homes 
of those located in the even, placid stream 
of life. 
I believe in “free play,” and consider 
“directed play” a contradiction of terms. 
The word “play” in the latter is used with 
an abnormal meaning. I know I stand 
alone in my advocacy of “free play,” 
therefore, I have no right to discuss it in 
a public report. I refer to it only because 
it shows my viewpoint of recreation, and 
perhaps may influence my conclusion, even 
though I intend to make no statements 
which are not equally true with “directed 
play.” 
Recreation is that part of leisure time 
which is used by the individual or the 
community in nature’s own way; for de- 
velopment between the ages of birth and 
fourteen; for construction between four- 
teen and twenty-one; for formation be- 
tween twenty-one and twenty-eight ; and 
for the maintenance and renewal of the 
elasticity of life afterwards, which mono- 
tonous work or business tends to de- 
stroy. 
If I am right in my definition, then re- 
creation is a matter which concerns all 
PARK AND CEMETERY. 
ages and conditions and not limited to 
children, as it seems to be considered by 
many. 
Recreation in cities is a new problem. 
Heretofore, men and women were made 
under country influences, and afterwards 
lived in the city. The reverse of this fact 
is fast coming true. Up to the present 
time the city has not been able to produce 
fully developed men and women from boys 
and girls born in the city of parents who 
were born and lived continuously in the 
city. Rare indeed has been the exception 
to this rule. The time must come, and I 
believe soon will come, when cities will 
produce stronger and better men and 
women than the country ever did. When 
it does so, the recreation problem of cities 
will have been solved, for recreation is 
the road to this end. Recreation, then, is a 
constructive force of the first magnitude 
in city building equal to and co-ordinate 
with the other two great constructive 
forces, work and education. 
The city’s relations to these three forces 
differ widely. With work, the city sees 
to it that each man receives the reward 
for his efforts that is agreed upon, but 
leaves each, either as an individual or in 
combination, to make his own agreements. 
With education, the city sees to it that 
the young shall be properly trained and 
prepared for life. The city provides the 
means and compels attendance. The child 
has to go whether he will or no. 
With recreation, the city only provides 
the opportunity, and leaves it at the option 
of the individual, or the group, whether 
they use it or not. 
With these preliminary explanations, I 
will now state what seems to me some of 
the more important laws governing recrea- 
tion as related to cities : 
147 
1. If the opportunities for recreation are pro- 
vided to meet the needs of the people, they will 
be used up to the full extent of the people’s 
need. 
2. The variety and amount of recreation facili- 
ties needed is quite constant with each group of 
people living under similar conditions, and] varies 
but little in groups of ten thousand. 
3. The recreation desired by any condition or 
class of people will be supplementary and comple- 
mentary to their daily work and education, and 
while varying much as to groups, is quite con- 
stant within each group. 
4. If play facilities are provided too abundantly 
or not sufficient to meet the people’s needs, the 
group as a whole is weakened. There is propor- 
tion or balance between their needs and the means 
of satisfying them that will give the greatest 
strength and the best results. 
5. If any particular kind of recreation is pro- 
vided in too great abundance, it will become state 
and little used. If not enough, it will cause dis- 
cord. 
6. As a machine out of balance causes friction, 
unnecessary wear and cost to run, and in the end 
may destroy itself, so play facilities out of bal- 
ance cause trouble, are costly, and the facilities 
provided are often destroyed. Generally, when 
there is discord or destruction in recreation or 
park work, it is because they are out of balance, 
and the cause and remedy lie with the superin- 
tendent rather than with those in attendance. 
7. Every muscle, organ, function or attribute of 
the human being needs relaxation and recreation, 
and for each of these needs there are conditions or 
appliances to satisfy them. It is for the city to 
know and provide the opportunity. 
8. In the country each home provides its own 
water supply, sanitary conditions and recreation. 
Whether good or bad the individual was respon- 
sible, but in the city the individual cannot provide 
those things separately. It is a community inter- 
est, and the community as a whole is responsible 
whether they be good or bad, and it is responsible 
for recreation the same as it is for water, sew- 
erage, and the streets. 
While there are many and varied local 
difficulties and perplexities in recreation 
work, I have found none which did not 
seem to rest upon one or more of these 
general principles. 
I assume it is within the province of 
the Park Department as custodian of the 
park areas and therefore of much of the 
recreation opportunities, as they are now 
STORY HOUR AT FAIRGROUND PARK, ST. LOUIS. 
