crowning the Queen of May. Music was furnished by the playground band and orchestra and the Examiner's Newsboys' Band. In the evening another large throng enjoyed an exhibition of folk dancing as presented by the foreign colonies, in which Spanish, Indians, Germans, Syrians and others took part. Various other holidays are celebrated at each of the centers. For Arbor Day the children of the nearby schools march to the grounds and engage in planting and in appropriate exercises. For Fourth of July patriotic exercises, band concerts and races are held. For Christmas there are evening entertainments, plays and Christmas-tree parties. Frequently kindergartens spend mornings at the playgrounds. Schools, churches, Sunday schools and orphanages often hold all-day picnics, and for these special games and sports are prepared in advance. On The work on the playgrounds is well systematized, for it is not sufficient to provide merely space and apparatus. The children are divided into junior, intermediate and senior divisions for various sports and games, and a great many match games are played. the last Saturday afternoon of the month each ground tries out its own individual and team records in athletics. On the following Tuesday are posted the records of all the grounds, together with the world's amateur records. At the beginning of its work the Playground Commission was able to secure as superintendent a man of college training, whose services have been invaluable. By his knowledge of the building trades he is able to save the department thousands of dollars each year. Still better, he is able so to organize the work of the grounds as to make it most effective. On each playground there are a man and a woman director, and, of course, janitor service is provided. At the Recreation Center there is, in addition, for gymnasium classes, a physical instructor, who is employed by the hour. An accompanist, employed by the hour, aids the physical work at all of the grounds where music is needed. A mechanic does repair work at all the grounds, erects apparatus at new grounds and performs various odd services. Neat gray uniforms are worn by men and women directors. All men employed in the department must be non-smokers, or give up the habit if acquired, for the sake of consistent example to the boys. Twice a month "play morning" is held, when the entire staff meets to practice games and talk over the work of the grounds. Once a month the staff, the volunteer workers and the commission meet at one of the centers for supper and evening conference, with city officials, educators and others interested in the work as frequent guests. The staff is a splendid set of educated young men and young women, who are vitally interested in their work and full of the spirit of service. They are educators of children, not mere caretakers of property. Their salaries are not yet on a par with those of school circles, but in time they surely will be, for having a right director is probably 90 per cent. of a playground's effective service to a community, letting 10 per cent. represent the equipment. Quite a number of young women and a few men have volunteered their services for leading clubs and assisting on playgrounds at certain hours. This is a very helpful and pleasant feature. It is difficult to find trained directors; but the University of California has recently created a special course to fit men and women for this work, and Stanford University has also made a move in this direction. In time, it is hoped, the scarcity of trained workers on the Pacific coast may be relieved. The superintendent has aided many schools and institutions with plans for playgrounds, and his advice is continually sought. Members of the commission and the superintendent are constantly called upon, both in and out of the city, to give addresses upon the subject of playgrounds. It is felt that the Los Angeles system has proven a great incentive to other cities of California to procure systems of their own. Many inquiries about the work are received, also, from other states. From all sections of Los Angeles come clamors for local playgrounds, grounds within walking distance. The heartiest support is given to the movement by the people and the press. The other city departments are most helpful and generous toward this new municipal undertaking. The community is awakening to the fact that a city should seize its opportunity to make better citizens by providing recreation of the right kind and under proper auspices. Public conscience and common sense are becoming alive to the folly of sending boys eight years old and upward to reform schools to spend their minority at a cost of $30 a month each, and this during a formative period when institutional life, at best, blights develop ment; whereas a well-supervised playground will direct the misused energy of dozens of boys into channels distinctly helpful to themselves and to the community. Nor is the preventive side of the work alone appreciated. It is perceived that these centers are a constructive force in the community. Good health and good habits are promoted and the brain made clearer to act. Opportunity for expression in music, drama and other forms of art is given. The family may enjoy the centers as a whole; and this bond, where there is so much individualism in the American family, is a very important thing. Healthy, normal social intercourse is promoted, and this, again, is a matter of consequence in an American community, where, with mixture of nationalities and constant change of residence, there are often few opportunities for old-fashioned neighborliness or for social traditions to take root. Most important where the children are concerned is the fact that in playtime rather than in working hours is character formed; and here on the playground fair play must be constantly practiced, self-control constantly maintained. This is the very essence of democracy. For to know how to associate, how to cooperate with one's fellows is the foundation of our national form of government. THE COLUMBIA PARK BOYS' CLUB, A UNIQUE PLAYGROUND BY EUSTACE M. PEIXOTTO, Many persons in the country to-day are coming to realize that a boy's play, far from being a negligible quantity, is well nigh as important a factor in his life as his schooling. In school a boy learns the facts that fit him to take his place in the world, but it is largely in his relations with his play fellows that his character is formed. "A boy is known by the company he keeps," and is largely formed by it. It was with this idea in mind that Sidney S. Peixotto started his boys' club work in San Francisco fifteen years ago, the fruition of which is the Columbia Park Boys' Club, which is to-day perhaps the most unique and highly developed institution of its kind in the United States. Instead of going at the problem of the city boy and his spare hours with the idea of what is "good for the boy" and what "he ought to do," the question in the Columbia Park Boys' Club has been first, what does the city boy want? What appeals to him? In other words the club aims to give healthful play of the kind boys really like, not the kind that people think they ought to like, but this play is so molded that its results are a vital characterbuilding force in a boy's life. That the club appeals to boys is shown by the fact that while many boys' clubs are seeking members, this club has its membership limited to the number that the workers can properly handle. There is also a large waiting list, taken care of by putting those wishing to join in a recruit gymnasium class to wait until there is a vacancy in the club. Other than this limitation of numbers, there is no restriction as to admission to the club. Boys of any nationality or creed are at liberty to join, although they are not admitted, except in unusual cases, over the age of fourteen or under the age of eight. The boys are expected to look upon it as they do their school; to repay what it gives them No dues are charged by the club. in the same way that they are expected to repay the state for what it gives them in the way of education, by loyalty and good citizenship, or, translated in the terms of the club, to have the right club spirit and to be a "good club member," with all that that is taken to mean, including living up to a high standard of behavior. A "good club member" must attend club regularly three times a week, once for his club night, once for gymnasium, and once for military drill or band practice. The latter two terms must be self-explanatory here, although much could be said about the work of the club along both of these lines. It has reached a high state of perfection. The words "club night" hardly convey an adequate idea to the uninitiated. The boys of the club are divided into groups of twenty-five each and thus formed into clubs, each meeting one night a week and having its own officers. These organizations last only for a year, when the members are redistributed. This saves cliques. The clubs carry on a tournament in all varieties of sport: baseball, basket-ball, track athletics, gymnasium competition and so on. The boys come to gymnasium in the same group as to their club night; that is, for example, the group that comes Tuesday to club comes Wednesday to gymnasium. On the club night proper, three activities are carried on. First comes the parliamentary meeting, then an hour's manual training work and then an impromptu act, the plot of which is made up beforehand but the dialogue of which develops as the play progresses. These are the three main divisions of the club-club-night, gymnasium and drill-but in addition to these, two bands, a drum corps and a chorus are maintained. Considerable attention is devoted to athletics, the outgrowth of the club's athletic work being the Public Schools Athletic League of San Francisco, through which it has been the prime factor in introducing sanely regulated athletics into the schools of the city. This organization has its headquarters at the club and the bulk of the actual work is done by persons also connected with the club. It may be said here in passing that the club has developed more and more into a school-boy's club, an adjunct to the public school. The effort has been constantly made to keep boys at school as long as possible and encourage them to do good work in school. The whole plan of the club is such that a school boy |