ondary place, frighten away the public. Even the circus, the "amusement parks" of street railway companies and the five-cent theatres have "instructiveness" among their advertised attractions. For as a people we are glad to learn; and the education to be incidentally drawn from the public park is not of the sort, as we have seen, to destroy the pleasure and rest that the park is designed to give. Change of occupation and provision of a new and wider interest many times furnish the most effective rest and the highest pleasure. At the beginning of the discussion it was said that the park did not constitute the only form of provision for public recreation. The municipal theatre is common in Europe, and with us it is to be found in Denver and in some New England towns. The educational possibilities of the drama would manifestly offer in themselves subject for an essay. More frequently still, there are the recreation houses, such as those of the South Park system in Chicago; and there is a growing use of the school house after school hours for the recreative needs of its district. But all these recreation facilities gravitate so naturally toward educational use, a very significant circumstance by the way, that they usually are classed as distinctly educational rather than as merely recreative. For this reason, and because this volume has had to do with pleasuregrounds, it has seemed well to confine the inquiry here to parks, the least likely of all the provisions, as one might think, to have an educational function. But even the parks are only at their best, and only give the greatest pleasure, as they teach. OUR RECREATION FACILITIES AND THE IMMIGRANT BY VICTOR VON BOROSINI, When one spends a summer Sunday in a European small town. or village one often sees a large part of the population at some kind of a fête. In eastern Europe, especially in Russia and Slavic Austria, we see the workingmen and the peasants on their holidays dancing and singing; in Germany, Bohemia and Switzerland we have turner societies giving their performances, at which the whole town assists. Each province has at certain seasons special festas, at the time when the grapes are picked, or the hops are harvested, or when the grain is brought in. The harvesting fête is one of the old pagan offerings of thanks to the gods, full of simplicity and gracefulness. Not only Germans have this fête, but also Poles, Russians, Bohemians and Italians, each in a different way. Down in Italy, the male population, if not in a café, may be seen playing everywhere on Sundays the game of boccia. This game does not need much space; a small wooden ball is thrown, and each of the players tries to get his ball as near to it as possible. We all know what a rôle music and dancing play in the recreation of the Italians, Spaniards, Slavs and Germans. In large cities recreation on Sundays has to be taken in a different way, and has undergone quite a change, with the help of greater transportation facilities. The latter enable the people to get out into the woods for a nickel, or less, and every Sunday morning we see whole legions storm the trains or street cars, carrying with them the necessary family provisions, which are supplemented at the picnic grounds by coffee and beer procured at low cost. In Germany libraries, bathhouses, swimming beaches, the military maneuvre fields and armories, the gymnasiums which are attached to every school, parks and waterways provide ample space and opportunity for the recreation of the people free of cost, and in other progressive countries we find the same provision. What happens when these people come over to the United States? We all know that different nationalities, by preference, settle in special quarters of the city among their own kind. It is not because the part of the town is especially desirable and attractive; quite the opposite. The well-to-do move out into the suburbs, whence trains, street cars or automobiles bring them into their work and offices. The quarters deserted by them, and invaded by factories or business houses, become the homes of thousands of foreigners. It is very often the oldest part of the town, very solidly built over, though the buildings are not high. There is no provision for fresh air in the houses, the rooms are dark, streets narrow. The only open places are generally in front of churches. and old cemeteries. In the East we know many such quarters, where especially the Italians, Negroes, the Jews and Poles dwell. Have they any place for recreation? Their children, yes; for imaginative children will make use of any place and any thing for play, even in the overcrowded cities. The street is, and remains, their only playground in connection with the houses and alleys in the neighborhood. Grown-up people have very little time for outdoor play and exercise. The struggle to live is so intense, the day's work requiring the whole amount of their energy and vital force, and quite a number of the foreigners are not able, or not willing, to provide the necessary food for the continuous restitution of force to the exhausted body. In the habit of keeping to a certain form of diet, they are often unable to accustom themIselves to American food. Can they take recreation on Sundays and holidays as they used to at home? It depends on the kind of recreation each nationality wants. If one goes on Saturday morning to Hester Square in New York one will be reminded of certain parts of Cracow or Warsaw on a similar day. Venerable old Jews congregate there for the discussion of the Talmud, or the conditions in the old country; the younger generations' topics are politics, races or business. There is always some business going on, though Shabbes is the day of rest. Hester Square has the advantage of being in a thoroughly Jewish section of the town, so that peace is seldom disturbed by other races. Likewise, city squares in lower California will remind the traveler of scenes seen in southern Europe or Mexico, where a large percentage of the male population turns out on the piazza in the afternoon. This recreation strikes most people here as loafing. It is not objectionable to the American, while certain forms of celebrating the Sabbath are considered by him obnoxious. The We do not believe that it is an advantage for any national group to form a settlement all by itself. Though it offers the only place to the newly arrived foreigner where he feels safe to a certain degree and free from restrictions, it, at the same time, retards his adjustment and conversion to the ideas and ideals of his adopted home. His absolute freedom seems to be restricted here in two very different ways, by the police and by his own children. policeman was always regarded by the foreigner the representative of the law and government, not always dreaded, but often considered a friend and guardian angel, speaking their language and usually living in their part of the town. How different all this is here! The policeman is usually Irish or German, very few being of any other nationality; they all speak English, and are not willing, or not able, to learn another tongue. To some extent corrupt, they know that it is pretty hard to get anything from the foreigners for letting them do as they want to. They are bullied, ordered around, and arrested in no time. Recently, after a murder on the North Side in Chicago, over 190 Italians were arrested without formality in saloons where they took their time-honored form of recreation. The day was very cold; work they had not-where could they have gone but to "the poor man's club"? The children are taught in the public schools to a large degree that everything American is all right, and that most of the things that their parents brought from Europe are no good. It may not be said in this crude way, but in substance it is the same. The grown-up people sometimes forget their surroundings, and feel inclined to do things they did at home, dance, sing and play; and then the children often try to discourage the frolics of their parents, either because they think them ridiculous themselves, or for fear of the comment of the neighbors' children. The result is that singing and playing are done behind closed doors. The people shut themselves up in their homes when they feel particularly happy, or sad, thinking, perhaps, of their little hut in the mountains or on the plains, or their stone house by the sea. A reaction against this could be brought about by spreading public feeling of appreciation of the great moral and ethical value, and of the inherent beauty, of the ancient national and regional plays and pastimes. An encouraging beginning has been made in American cities through the play festivals, where a large number of spectators enjoy the dances and folk songs of an ethically mixed. crowd of children and grown-ups. For many years the citizens of the different countries have celebrated their national holidaysthe French, their 14th of July; the Norwegians, their day of independence from Sweden, the 17th of May; the Swedes, the old Germanic midsummer festival; the Germans had their turner fest and sängerfest; the Bohemians, their sokol, or turnings. The difference between the two kinds of celebrations, the play festival and the other, is that the latter are celebrated by one nationality. exclusively. The performers and spectators belong to the same group, the rest of the community not being excluded and not desired, while the play festival interests large differentiated groups; in fact, the whole population. By the very fact that the cooperation of their parents and kin is sought, that they appear in public, that afterward they see their pictures in the English papers and read a glowing account of the event, their whole attitude is changed. When they can say, "My mother danced the Tarantella," or "Father, the Czardas," or "Our Norwegian Choral Society was encored twice," much is gained for the child, the parents, and for the country. A The future lies in the children; give them as large an inheritance as you can, do not rob them of their associations with the old country and its amassed riches. Recreation in any form provided by public agencies in the United States does not tend to counteract the good influence and teachings of home and church, as many seem to think; on the contrary, it emphasizes them. certain amount of discipline is necessarily maintained at the playgrounds; selfishness cannot be indulged in, for every one must have a chance. Bad habits, such as uncleanliness of mind and body, will disappear, for fear of public exposure and scorn. The directors and social workers at the parks and playgrounds and recreation centers constantly try to improve the tone and the standard of their patrons, young and old. From May to October is the busiest season of the playgrounds in Chicago. Then the open-air facilities are taxed to their utmost, the gymnasiums, athletic fields and tennis courts, wading-ponds and swimming-pools. The playgrounds proper, with sandpiles and wad |