lessons?" Needless to say that child distinguished himself in after life.. But, it will be objected, "Remember! Remember! All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." Of course it does, and it is not for a moment proposed to add to the dullness of life. In fact, any such attempt would be a sheer betrayal of the magnificent opportunity which shouts for recognition on every side. Only we must first define what is work, and what is play, and discover in what proportion the two should rule. Overdoing either results in crippledom of body and soul alike. Our problem is in early years so to develop the whole of the child that he may live radiantly and leave his mark on his day and generation. Earthly existence, even if it be prolonged to extreme old age, is brief in comparison of what a single human being might accomplish if only his powers were duly proportioned to his possibilities. Now, the insensate cult of play is a tragedy, just because it robs the individual, the State, and the Empire of precious time and still more precious energy which should be concentrated on great ideals, instead of being frittered on despicably trivial achievements. Children are strangely clear-sighted in such matters. The five-year-old son of a diplomat in one of our Far Eastern Legations, finding that the dearly loved "Children's Hour" must be abrogated because his parents were on social grounds obliged to take their part in the tennis courts, ejaculated in disgusted displeasure, What! Ball again! Ball again!" He, of course, realized nothing of the importance of preserving friendly relations with all the members of the Diplomatic Corps. All he did realize was that for a mere game his beautiful time with his mother must be sacrificed, and in his heart pronounced judgment accordingly with the child's ruthlessness. or Waste is always to be deplored, but the colossal waste of human brains, energy, time, health, on so-called "play pleasure" is unworthy of a great and noble nation. For "play" and "recreation" are in no way synonymous. Recently a man who had returned from a strenuous holiday announced that he must immediately take a second one to enable him to recover from the effects of the first! The teachers in high schools complain that their girl pupils return after the week-end so exhausted by lengthy motor expeditions and the like that they are quite unfit for work; and the same holds good for both boys and girls after the Christmas holidays. So many dances, plays, expeditions, and dissipations have been crowded into the period which should have been recuperative, that the early part of the term is lost in endeavouring to repair holiday ravages. Is it fair to these young things to allow them thus to overtax their immature strength? If they were horses, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals would interfere. But because they are humans, injudicious parents work their will unrestrained, and each one endeavours to give its offspring what they call "a better time" than Jones Minor's father or Smith Major's mother provides for them. Is it not urgent that our recreation should be genuinely recreative? Something which will renew and refresh body and soul alike? And is it not worth while to consider whether the truest recreation is not creative, resulting in some tangible outcome which shall give the exhilarating sense of lasting achievement ? The creative faculty is latent in most children. Some may be found to aver that it would be truer to substitute "destructive" for "creative." But often destruction is merely the instinct to find out how a thing is made, how it works, with the lurking hope that the small delinquent will be able to put it together again. Why do we not develop the constructive instinct by every means in our power? The young human animal with its abounding spirits longs to express itself in some tangible form. too often stifle this wholesome ambition by abstractions, when the same lesson could have been far better absorbed if given in tangible form. We Arithmetic, the bug-bear of most children, becomes an exciting game when learnt through the measurements required for making a box; proportion is unconsciously imbibed; the purchase of the necessary wood provides the basis of economics; pennies are carefully saved towards materials; and the pride of the small workman over his completed job is unbounded. Other branches of the same subject can be taught through simple surveying. It is astonishing to find that few boys or girls are competent to use that most elementary of tools-a foot-rule-accurately. Yet it comes into many departments of after life. This side of education is given far more attention in elementary schools than in those of the more leisured classes. There the children's interest is not deflected by undue devotion to games, and it is surprising to find what is achieved by small maidens of ten years old in the way of colour schemes and designs, when they are allowed to select their own materials, cut them out, and embroider them entirely on their own initiative. The resultant frock or cap for a little brother or sister, or an overall for herself, shows how keen is the constructive sense when it is allowed fair play; and the designers in after life will be competent to revive once more the artistic embroideries and colourful works of art for which England in the early Middle Ages was so justly famous. we Surely productive recreation, by which is understood anything which abides, in contradistinction to the evanescent character of victories in games and many other amusements, is worthy of a great nation's consideration. We are still groaning under the overwhelming burden of the Great War. All the brains of the Empire are required in the service of our country if we are to rise to the height of the opportunity which is ours. Yet how are we training the so-called educated youth of our nation for industrial and constructive leadership? Intellectual force in the present day can only come into its full heritage when it is allied with practical experience. The quality of leadership is often finely developed in our leisured boys and girls, but if when the aforesaid intellectual equipment is complete the practical has still to be acquired, it means the loss of years which can be ill afforded, and which would have been saved had the two gone on concurrently. "But," it will be objected, "are you seriously proposing, when unemployment is already such an appalling problem, to flood the market with intellectuals who will render the congestion worse than ever?" Does it not occur to critics that possibly the state of things which we all deplore is very largely due to the lack of practical experience of the conditions which have produced so tragic a position among our legislators? To many of them, what is as easy as ABC to a craftsman is an unknown country. They are not unsympathetic, but frankly ignorant. Nothing was more salutary in the Great Strike than the knowledge it brought to thousands of gallant young Englishmen of what manual labour really means. They rose to the occasion and saved the situation, and, to do them justice, far from grousing, they made light of the hardships involved, especially to unaccustomed muscles. If throughout childhood and early manhood or womanhood all our youth were encouraged to make construction of one sort or another a part of their normal recreation, their view of life, not to speak of their utility, would be incalculably enlarged. Recently in a Peakland village a signal example has been given of what creative recreation can accomplish when intelligently led. A village hall had long been needed as a centre for social and religious life. The parishioners had ambitious views, but these were far larger than their pockets. So they decided to build the hall themselves after working hours. All through last summer they laboured, the Vicar as well as the rest taking his orders from the most expert among them. Unqualified success attended their devoted efforts. The hall was opened with a pæon of rejoicing in December. It seats about 400, has all the modern requirements, and the total labour bill (exclusive of lighting and heating) was 12s. The author had the pleasure of calling for three cheers for the Vicar and the men who built the hall," which, needless to say, were given with deafening unanimity. As the builders stood up to acknowledge their acclamation, the glow on their faces showed what the achievement meant to them. Many a cricket or football match had to go by the board, but the hall stands a perpetual monument to the vision of its creators, who have put the strength of their manhood to so patriotic a purpose, and the summer and autumn of 1927 will stand out for ever as the most joyous and fruitful period of their lives. The cavillers will, of course, ejaculate, "Then you propose to abrogate cricket and football and the like and bring back the old Puritan days when games and amusements of all sorts were taboo and life was drained of all its joyousness!" By no means! The very reverse is the case. Frolic is in the nature of all young things, and the camaraderie and public spirit evoked by organized matches are of the greatest value, in addition to their contribution to health and pleasure. It is all a matter of proportion. If some of the time devoted to evanescent relaxations were expended on something permanent-say, the erection of a cricket shelter or of a toolhouse-the same qualities of cooperation and subordination of self for the common good would be evoked, and something tangible would result. At present the Gospel of Play prevails. We seem completely to have lost our sense of values. We have in our Empire such an opportunity as was never given to any nation before, and we are apparently content that hundreds of thousands should fritter the leisure of the best years of their lives on trivialities, while, as in King Arthur's time, the " quest of noble deeds must come and go, while ye are following wandering fires." LaSurely it is time that we rose to the height of our responsi bilities! "When I became a man I put away childish things." In Dean Inge's burning words, "What have we done to fire the imagination of our boys and girls with the vision of a great and ancient nation? Have we even tried to make them understand that they are called to be the temporary custodians of very glorious traditions and the trustees of a spiritual wealth, compared with which the gold mines of the Rand are but dross ?" Creative recreation is far from being confined to such subjects as have been adumbrated. There is another sphere, woefully neglected, which is as salutary to health as to æsthetic achievement. The "Freedom of the Garden" is the rightful heritage of every human child, and if only this were more fully recognized, few need be debarred from a joy which, unlike other forms of recreation, may endure to old age. Nothing calls out the best and highest instincts more fully than the attempt to make things grow. The secrets of Nature are accessible to all who approach her with reverence, and richly does she reward her devout worshippers. It is not too much to say that a true gardener must be the epitome of all the Christian virtues, love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control; and even a beginner gradually acquires them, without a suspicion of the silent coercive force of the teacher. The inbred longing of the child to create is aptly epitomized in the lines: I'm tired to death with stupid plays, So strong is this wholesome passion, that where no ground is available, astonishing results are achieved in pots on a window-sill; and in many an East End backyard, under the most unfavourable conditions, despite a constant war with cats, grime, and other enemies, remarkable little oases in the surrounding dreariness are created, to be a source of exhilaration not only to their creators, but also to the whole street, who share the brightness and the sweet scent of their neighbours' garden. In many elementary schools gardening is now a recognized part of the curriculum, though in most of them it is perversely restricted to boys, regardless of the fact that, should her lot be cast among rural surroundings, it is to the woman that the horticultural side of life will chiefly fall. If she marries a VOL. XCI 6 |