C 231 
 P33 
 opy 1 
 
 No. 85 
 
 Health, Education, Recreation 
 
 EVENING 
 RECREATION CENTERS 
 
 BY 
 
 CLARENCE ARTHUR PERRY 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF CHIIJ5 HYGIENE, RUSSELL SAGE FOUNDATION 
 
 Published by the 
 
 Department of Child Hygiene of the 
 
 Russell Sage Foundation 
 
 400 Metropolitan Tower, New York City 
 
 MonofrapK 
 
 31-1-25 
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY CHARITIES PUBLICATION COMMITTEE 
 
Some of the Pamphlets that can be Furnished 
 
 by the Department of Child Hygiene of 
 
 the Russell Sage Foundation 
 
 400 Metropolitan Tower, New York City 
 
 Folk Dancing 
 
 28. Folk and National Dances. Luther H. Gulick, M.D. 
 35. Report of the Committee on Folk Dancing. Miss Elizabeth 
 Burchenal. 
 
 86. Organized Athletics, Games and Folk Dancing. Clarence A. 
 
 Perry. 
 
 Recreation 
 
 67. Popular Recreation and Public Morality. Luther H. Gulick, 
 M.D. 
 
 84. The Exploitation of Pleasure: A Study of Commercial Re- 
 creation. Michael M. Davis, Jr., Ph.D. 
 
 87. Recreation the Basis of Association Between Parents and 
 
 Teachers. Clarence A. Perry. 
 
 Athletics 
 
 50. Inter-High School Athletics. Earl Cline. 
 
 63. The Law of Amateurism. Clark W. Hetherington. 
 72. Athletics in the Public Schools. Lee F. Hanmer. 
 
 Use of School Buildings 
 
 51. The Wider Use of the ScHOpL Plant. Clarence A. Perry. 
 
 52. Public Lectures in School* Buildings. Clarence A. Perry. 
 83. The Community-Used SChoolhouse. Clarence A. Perry. 
 
 

 v^>^ 
 
 EVENING RECREATION 
 CENTERS* 
 
 By clarence ARTHUR PERRY 
 
 ACROSS the deserted spaces of Tompkins 
 l\ Square Park ^ January storm was sweep- 
 ■^ *■ ing. The benches were empty; the iron 
 play apparatus stood stark and useless within its 
 enclosure while, farther on, the chutes, swings and 
 sand-heaps furnished sport only to the chilling night 
 winds. A few persons, tight-buttoned and shiver- 
 ing, were moving rapidly along the asphalt walks. 
 One passer-by, however, struck by the sharp con- 
 trast between this scene and the one which had 
 greeted his eyes during a former visit to New York 
 in the month of July, stopped and looked about. 
 
 Then the benches had been filled with tired men 
 smoking their evening pipes and women watching 
 their babies in nearby go-carts, while in the less 
 illuminated spots young couples were engaged in 
 conversation. On the playgrounds noisy, happy 
 children were climbing and swinging, or digging 
 in the sand. The grass-plots were occupied by 
 groups of tiny toddlers attended by older sisters 
 and, here and there, an exhausted laborer lay 
 stretched out on a newspaper fast asleep. It 
 had seemed on that warm night as if the bursting 
 
 *This pamphlet is a reprint of Chapter VI 1 1 of the "The Wider 
 Use of the School Plant," by Clarence Arthur Perry. 
 
 3 
 
tenements which hemmed in the park had over- 
 flowed, depositing their cramped and perspiring 
 inmates upon its hospitable sward. 
 
 As now the traveler started down East Ninth 
 Street he wondered how that surplus humanity 
 was stowing itself when the summer annex to its 
 living abode was no longer habitable. The tene- 
 ments were no larger and their occupants no fewer 
 than they had been in July. Where could the 
 boys and girls of these homes find space for recrea- 
 tion on a winter's evening? This question, made 
 all the more insistent by the sight of narrow build- 
 ings, small windows, ugly fire-escapes and gar- 
 bage receptacles — placed in front because there 
 was no driveway to the wretched court in the 
 rear — was still pressing for an answer when his 
 attention was attracted by a five-storied edifice of 
 brick and stone whose dignified architecture con- 
 trasted strangely with the surrounding squalor. 
 The two end wings of the building came out to the 
 sidewalk and were connected by a high brick wall 
 that was surmounted by an ornamental stone cop- 
 ing. In the middle of this wall was a wide gateway 
 approached by several steps leading up from the 
 sidewalk, through which could be seen a small 
 courtyard and the central part of the building. The 
 ground floor and the one above it were brilliantly 
 lighted. Some boys came running up the steps 
 and passed on towards the main entrance. The 
 building was plainly a school house, but these lads 
 did not have the appearance of evening pupils 
 
 4 
 
and so, driven by curiosity, the passing stranger 
 followed them inside. 
 
 The entrance room, pleasantly warmed by 
 steam radiators, appeared to be as wide as the 
 building, but though entirely devoid of furniture 
 the effect of its natural spaciousness was lessened 
 by heavy pillars which supported the upper 
 stories and broke up the vast concrete floor into 
 more or less distinct sections every one of which 
 was now occupied by an animated group of boys. 
 Immediately in front a number of youths standing 
 in a circle were passing a ball as large as a pump- 
 kin, back and forth, while a lad in the center 
 attempted to intercept it. Just beyond, a pre- 
 occupied group were engaged in a game of shuffle- 
 board. Over on the right a dozen boys took 
 turns at tossing rings of rope, each aiming to pitch 
 his quoit over the point of a stake which hung in a 
 frame at the middle so that it oscillated back and 
 forth. Nearby was a quartette of youngsters 
 with toy racquets playing ping-pong around a 
 long table. 
 
 A room on the right was equipped as a gymna- 
 sium. At one end two lines of eager little fellows 
 stood waiting their turns to participate in the 
 lively potato race then in progress. To give the 
 event novelty the clean, well set-up young man in 
 jersey and "gym" trousers, who was conducting 
 it, had each pair of starters lie face up on a mat at 
 the head of the lane through which they were to 
 run. When he cried "Go!" they sprang to their 
 
 5 
 
feet and darted for the potatoes with the greatest 
 agility. The contestant who first finished gather- 
 ing his vegetables into the waste-basket set at the 
 starting-place made a score for his side which was 
 chalked on the floor amidst the lusty cheers of his 
 co-players. Across the room was a line of older 
 boys following their leader in a series of "stunts "on 
 the horizontal bar while at the farther end others 
 amused themselves vaulting over a buck or swing- 
 ing on the flying rings. "At seven-thirty, when 
 the boys first come in," explained the teacher, 
 "they are allowed a few minutes of free play. 
 Then we put them through a stiff setting-up 
 drill. All-round development is our aim." 
 
 The visitor was next conducted through the 
 main hall to a more brilliantly lighted room in the 
 rear which was comfortably filled with groups of 
 boys sitting round small stands and tables. Some 
 were playing checkers while others were deep in 
 the intricacies of chess; parchesi, authors, geo- 
 graphical and historical card games were also in 
 use, and so intent were most of the players that 
 few noticed the presence of spectators. This was 
 called the "quiet-games room." In the farther 
 end was a long table at which sat a number of 
 youths poring over magazines and newspapers. 
 Nearby a businesslike young man was recording 
 and giving out books to some eager lads standing 
 in a line which was being constantly replenished 
 by those who had made their selections from 
 the shelves. One carried off "Robinson Crusoe" 
 
 6 
 
while the next received "The Boys of '76." 
 "Treasure Island" was obtained by a third, and 
 a youth of more serious mien asked for a book that 
 would help him prepare for the Civil Service ex- 
 aminations. The books formed one of the travel- 
 ing libraries which belong to the New York Public 
 Library and were changed at regular intervals. 
 
 The left wing of the building contained an im- 
 mense room similar in appearance to its counter- 
 part but entirely without apparatus or mats. 
 Except for ten active fellows in jerseys, short 
 pants and rubber-soled shoes, and a man with a 
 whistle, its floor was clear of persons up to the 
 fringe of spectators, one or two rows deep, that 
 lined its edges. High up on the end walls were 
 the familiar iron hoops and twine nets which con- 
 stitute the narrow goals of basket ball. At that 
 moment the rush of the players was halted by the 
 shrill whistle of the referee and a curly-headed 
 youth was given the ball to make a "try" for the 
 goal because of a "foul" committed by the other 
 team. The ball struck the hoop, circled around 
 it and finally dropped through the trailing net. 
 Thereupon the crowd in the opposite corner emit- 
 ted a deafening outburst of cries, cat-calls and 
 applause. "Those are the Wingate rooters," re- 
 marked the principal. "That point ties the score." 
 
 "And who might the Wingates be?" asked the 
 visitor. 
 
 "One of our clubs. Their team is defending 
 this goal while those representing the Saranac 
 
 7 
 
Athletic Club have the other. You see all the 
 fellows who come here are asked to join a club. 
 We have now twenty-two of them. After these 
 fellows get through, the Young America and 
 the Roosevelt clubs will have a chance to play 
 and meanwhile the Cosmos and the Levity clubs 
 are having their turn in the gymnasium. By 
 organizing the boys into societies we are able to 
 arrange a schedule whereby everybody has an 
 opportunity to enjoy systematically all of the 
 privileges. My staff consists of two gymnasts, 
 one game-room teacher, and one club director. 
 There are 475 boys and young men in the build- 
 ing this evening and the benefits they receive cost 
 the taxpayers about four cents apiece." 
 
 After ascending a flight of stairs visitor and 
 guide passed down a long corridor and presently 
 found themselves in an ordinary class room. The 
 teacher's place was occupied by a young man with 
 a gavel, while at his side sat the secretary writing 
 in a blank book. Scattered about the room be- 
 hind desks were a score of alert youths listening to 
 the report of the arrangement committee con- 
 cerning an "open meeting" of the society soon to 
 be held. A card in the hands of one of the boys 
 was labeled "Membership Card" and bore the 
 owner's name, the number of the "evening recrea- 
 tion center," a column for each of the nine months 
 from October to June in which to note attendance, 
 and these words: "Dreadnaught Literary and 
 Athletic Society." On the back, above the names 
 
 8 
 
of the principal and the club director, appeared 
 the following legend: "Remember — that the suc- 
 cess of your club depends upon your regular and 
 prompt attendance. That membership entitles 
 you to the Basket Ball and Athletic Privileges." 
 
 Several other class rooms held similar clubs. 
 Some were composed largely of one race, others 
 included Italians, Hebrews, Hungarians and Poles 
 as well as Irish and Yankees, all working har- 
 moniously together. Their occupations were as 
 varied as their features. Errand boys, factory 
 hands, store clerks, stenographers and high school 
 students mingled with "toughs," just plain boys, 
 and Sunday school scholars. The members of the 
 Whittier Society were hearing one of their number 
 recite Lincoln's Gettysburg address, while the 
 director of the Lowell Club was giving a lecture on 
 the plays of Shakespeare. Across the hall the 
 Princeton Pleasure Club, an athletic organization, 
 was consistently realizing its nominal purpose in a 
 vociferous and exciting election of officers. In the 
 Hamilton Forum a debate upon the resolution 
 "that immigration be further restricted" was 
 in progress. The affirmative was being upheld 
 by Messrs. Perkovitz and Gruenbaum, and their 
 speeches showed a delightful unconsciousness of 
 the possible effect upon their own fortunes which 
 would have resulted from an earlier enactment of 
 the proposals they were now urging with such 
 noisy "patriotism." 
 
 Each club met in this way once a week from 
 9 
 
7-30 to 9.45, and on the other evenings (except 
 Sundays) the members were at liberty to come 
 for games and gymnastic exercises. While the 
 greater number of the clubs had been formed at the 
 outset for athletic purposes, nearly all had grad- 
 ually developed into literary and debating societies 
 and a few were so energetic that they had obtained 
 " the use of class rooms for a meeting place during the 
 summer evenings when the other privileges of the 
 center were not available. One of the functions 
 of the club director was to organize new societies 
 and for this purpose the game rooms downstairs 
 served as recruiting grounds. 
 
 A part of the building somewhat removed from 
 the group of class rooms used by the clubs con- 
 tained the study room. The boys in the other 
 departments had all been fourteen or over, no 
 pupils of the elementary schools being allowed to 
 become members of the clubs or enter the game 
 rooms if it could be helped. This room, however, 
 was used exclusively for day-school children 
 and was nearly filled with boys, all sitting at 
 desks, with books open before them, sometimes 
 two in the same seat. Some were writing, some 
 were talking in low tones with their neighbors, and 
 others were quietly studying. A woman teacher 
 with an intelligent face and kindly manner moved 
 quietly about the room, now and then saying a 
 few words in response to an appeal from a pupil, 
 and giving the kind of counsel that stimulated 
 rather than replaced effort. The children came 
 
 10 
 
simply to study in quiet surroundings the lessons 
 assigned to them in the day schools. It was en- 
 tirely voluntary on their part, and the privilege 
 was given only to those who had attained the 
 fourth grade, at which time home-work begins to 
 be required. Before admission each one was 
 obliged to present a card signed by his principal, 
 containing his name, age, address, school, grade 
 and the subjects needing study. To be admitted, 
 children had also to bring their books. The room 
 was not open Friday, Saturday or Sunday eve- 
 nings. "We have an average of about sixty-five 
 boys every evening and some of them have told 
 me that since coming here they have received 
 'A's' on their reports for the first time in their 
 lives," the principal explained. 
 
 After expressing his appreciation of the things he 
 had seen the visitor registered his name and passed 
 out into the night. The wind had died down, but 
 it was still bitterly cold. The street was dark and 
 empty. At the gateway he looked back at the 
 light streaming from the school house windows, and 
 then went on his way. 
 
 THE NEW YORK CENTERS 
 
 During the season 1909-10, thirty-one evening 
 recreation centers were maintained by the Board 
 of Education in the boroughs of Manhattan, the 
 Bronx and Brooklyn. With the exception of five 
 they were open six nights a week from October 
 to April. The use of these five was continued two 
 
 1 1 
 
evenings a week until the beginning of June. The 
 aggregate attendance for the season reached 
 2,165,457, making a nightly average of 12,985 for 
 all thirty-one centers. Study rooms were avail- 
 able at twenty-seven of the centers, bathing 
 facilities at twenty-four, and the staff of principals, 
 teachers, gymnasts and other employes numbered 
 nearly 200. One-third of the school buildings de- 
 voted to this enterprise were for the entertain- 
 ment of women and girls only, and they enjoyed 
 the same opportunities as their brothers except 
 that the gymnasium was more often used for folk 
 dancing than for athletics, though games of basket 
 ball and wand drills were occasionally held. 
 
 For most of the men and boys the gymnasium is 
 the principal attraction, with its exercises on the 
 mat and on parallel and horizontal bars; though 
 in large centers, like that at Public School No. 188 
 on East Third Street, basket ball, indoor baseball 
 and track sports are also very popular. Policemen 
 and firemen are frequently found wrestling at the 
 High School of Commerce, while in another center 
 there is a special "gym" class for deaf mutes. 
 For several years athletic tournaments have been 
 held, the fmal contests taking place in one of the 
 large armories. One winter a local newspaper 
 offered medals for boys and pins for girls as prizes 
 in a series of basket ball games and athletic sports. 
 Immediately the best players were organized into 
 midget, middle and heavy-weight teams and the 
 inter-center contests began. During the pre- 
 
 12 
 
liminaries fifty athletic meets and 250 games of 
 basket ball were played, each successive event 
 heightening the general enthusiasm. The finals 
 took place in the Twelfth Regiment Armory before 
 a large audience which cheered to the echo the 
 winners as they received their prizes at the hands 
 of a representative of the newspaper that donated 
 them, and of the wife of the president of the Board 
 of Education. During the annual meet of 1909 
 there were from one to three entries from each 
 boys' center in every contest and it was reported 
 that "no more enthusiastic audience ever filled 
 the vast building." 
 
 That year the total number of active clubs was 
 575, and while their names indicate a predominant, 
 initial interest in some one field such as literature, 
 debate, athletics, civics, the drama, or glee and 
 orchestral music, the regulations under which they 
 are organized induce uniformity and these dis- 
 tinctions are tending to disappear. Except for a 
 few adult clubs devoted to civics or purely social 
 diversions they are all scheduled for periods of 
 gymnastic training, athletic sports and quiet 
 games. Each club is also required to hold a 
 weekly business meeting under the supervision of 
 the club director, and to possess some knowledge 
 of hygiene, civics and American history. 
 
 The variety of instruction given in these clubs 
 is well shown in the following extract from the 
 1906 report of Miss Evangeline E. Whitney, who 
 had charge of the recreation centers during the 
 
 13 
 
period of their remarkable growth, namely from 
 1902 till her death in January, 1910. "The 
 range of books read in the clubs extends from fairy 
 tales and historic stories to Ruskin and Ibsen. 
 We have scores of young men and women who 
 critically study economics and Shakespeare; and 
 many that make but slow mental advancement. 
 In the latter class the teachers prepare illustrated 
 talks on nature, the dress of different countries, 
 their implements of industry and of war; tell 
 thrilling stories of adventure; introduce topics of 
 public interest and thus lead them into debates 
 which send them to the library for information. 
 One teacher who had several clubs of bright office 
 boys could not get them to undertake any literary 
 work until he stimulated their ambition by re- 
 citing selections learned in his own youth. The 
 effect of his fine elocution brought the desired 
 results, and essays, orations and debates were soon 
 forthcoming. One night he recited 'King Robert 
 of Sicily.' After he had finished there was a 
 moment of tense silence, then a boy got to his feet 
 and thus addressed the club: 'Fellows, I don't 
 care what some people say, we've got to believe 
 that there's a God in Heaven. Yes, fellows, there's 
 a God in Heaven all right, and He's watching 
 us and keeping tab on everything we do, and 
 you can't bluff Him, or get away from Him; 
 so, fellows, it's up to us to make good, that's 
 all.' . . . Instruction has been given, by 
 means of improvised dialogues, on how to make 
 
 H 
 
proper applications for positions in various offices 
 or business houses, how to perform successfully 
 the duties of a toastmaster, and to formulate 
 terse after-dinner speeches. Rules of etiquette, 
 correct phraseology, and many subjects of kindred 
 nature have emphasized the importance of ob- 
 serving the gracious forms of social life." 
 
 One of the more ambitious clubs composed of 
 ex-high school boys took for its weekly discussions 
 such subjects as "a comparative study of the 
 drama of the Greeks, Romans, early and modern 
 English, German and French." The Alcott Club 
 of a girls' center in the heart of the East Side, dur- 
 ing the past winter gave a dramatization of two 
 scenes from "Little Women" for which a stage 
 was formed by curtaining off one end of the capa- 
 cious game room, and use was made of "proper- 
 ties" brought from the members' homes. In one 
 or two other centers, playlets and comediettas 
 have also been given. The practice of public 
 speaking is encouraged by declamation contests 
 and debates. One year, teams from various cen- 
 ters met in twenty-five discussions of live topics, 
 and upon the conclusion of the final debates ebony 
 and gold-mounted gavels were presented by a 
 newspaper to the winning clubs, one to the young 
 men and the other to the young women. The 
 same paper also gave handsome medals to the 
 two who received highest honors in a declamation 
 contest held that season. 
 
 An attractive little paper containing prize 
 15 
 
stories and gossipy notes from neighboring clubs 
 is published by the Gavel Club of Public School 
 172, and the Irving Literary Society of No. 188 
 has started a publication of similar character 
 called the Observer. Among the other activities 
 common among the clubs may be mentioned con- 
 certs and literary entertainments to which the 
 members invite guests, banquets given in honor 
 of their instructors, and occasional balls given by 
 those groups which have some social strength. 
 One of the East Side girls' clubs acts as an auxiliary 
 to the Ambulance Service Society connected with 
 a nearby hospital, and it is a common thing for 
 clubs to apply the money raised at social functions 
 to the needs of ill or unfortunate comrades. 
 
 At Evening Recreation Center No. 188 the 
 Lassie and Travelers' clubs were allowed to ask 
 their young men friends one Wednesday evening 
 to attend a dance. The behavior of the couples 
 was so satisfactory and the occasion so enjoyable 
 that a series of weekly dances was planned. The 
 principals of two neighboring centers recommended 
 a number of gentlemanly boys who with the girls' 
 clubs mentioned formed a dancing class. An 
 executive committee of five boys, and an equal 
 number of girls was appointed to pass upon the 
 names of proposed members, who had to be well 
 endorsed before they could be presented. The 
 dues were five cents a week payable by the mem- 
 bers of both sexes and the funds thus raised not 
 only met the expense of providing a violinist and 
 
 16 
 
As the author receives no royalties and the Department of 
 Child Hygiene makes no profit on the sale of this book we do 
 not hesitate to use this method to help put copies into the 
 hands of persons who we think ought to read it. 
 
 Order Form 
 
 191 
 
 Charities Publication Committee 
 105 East lid Street, 
 
 New York City, N. Y. 
 
 Gentlemen: 
 
 Enclosed with this find |. . . . . for which please 
 
 send me . . . , copies of Wider Use of the School 
 
 Plant, by Perry, at I1.25 each, postpaid. 
 
 Name 
 
 Street, Number 
 City, State 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS 
 
 I. THE WIDER USE. 
 
 II. EVENING SCHOOLS. 
 
 III. EVENING SCHOOLS ABROAD. 
 
 IV. THE PROMOTION OF ATTENDANCE AT EVENING SCHOOLS. 
 V. VACATION SCHOOLS. 
 
 VI. SCHOOL PLAYGROUNDS. 
 
 VII. PUBLIC LECTURES AND ENTERTAINMENTS. 
 
 VIII. EVENING RECREATION CENTERS. 
 
 IX. SOCIAL CENTERS. 
 
 X. ORGANIZED ATHLETICS, GAMES AND FOLK DANCING. 
 
 XI. MEETINGS IN SCHOOL HOUSES. 
 
 XII. SOCIAL BETTERMENT THROUGH WIDER USE. 
 
of waxing the floor, but left a surplus large enough 
 to afford the members additional enjoyment 
 through entertainments and outings. At these 
 weekly reunions members of the center staff gave 
 instruction not only in the regular waltz, two-step 
 and lanciers but also in folk dancing. Strict 
 supervision was exercised and young people seen 
 dancing in an objectionable manner were cau- 
 tioned and shown a more decorous way. 
 
 During the season of 1909-10 there were six 
 centers where mixed dancing classes were held, 
 several of them becoming so popular that waiting- 
 lists were made up of applicants who could not 
 be accommodated on account of the restricted 
 space. Dr. Edward W. Stitt, who has succeeded 
 Miss Whitney in the charge of the centers, relates 
 that on the evening of St. Patrick's Day he visited 
 an East Side dancing class and found 150 young 
 people enjoying themselves in a wholesome man- 
 ner, while in a notorious dance hall across the way, 
 both larger and easier of access, there were only 
 thirty on the floor. 
 
 So remarkable an innovation as social dances 
 maintained in public school buildings and or- 
 ganized by employes of the Board of Education 
 was not made without some preliminary experi- 
 menting. For several years there had been social 
 occasions when the girls assumed the role of hostess 
 and entertained boys of known character and 
 proved gentlemanliness. Musical entertainments, 
 amateur theatricals, athletic exhibitions by the 
 
 17 
 
boys, checker contests and other table games were 
 the chief amusements at these assembHes. Danc- 
 ing was enjoyed occasionally, but it was the folk 
 dances and others that contained the game spirit 
 rather than the waltz or two-step which were 
 indulged in. As these social affairs progressed 
 their effects became noticeable. One principal 
 wrote: "We have watched many of our girls 
 change from the silly attitude toward the boys to 
 that of practical indifference, or open, frank com- 
 radeship, and have seen the boys, who at first 
 came in untidy of dress and unclean of person, 
 appearing with clean linen and hands, tidy clothes 
 and freshly shaven faces." 
 
 The beneficial results of the club activities show 
 themselves in unexpected directions. A civic 
 organization composed of forty young men and 
 women resolved to work all summer for cleaner 
 streets in the neighborhood of school and home. 
 Several years ago a club of boys was formed with 
 the purpose of working "for the betterment of 
 the Italian race in America." With a roll of over 
 200, meeting weekly in hired rooms for mutual 
 improvement, and with many charter members 
 returning monthly to their former director for 
 counsel, this club has grown to be a civic force of 
 incalculable influence. One of its early regulations 
 made attendance at evening school obligatory 
 upon the members, and so close is the connection 
 between education and the work of the recreation 
 center that the latter has come to be regarded, to a 
 
 18 
 
certain extent, as a recruiting ground for the public 
 night schools. 
 
 Concerning the aid afforded by these play centers 
 to the social assimilation of the large masses of 
 foreigners in our population, Mrs. Humphry Ward 
 has contributed some interesting testimony. At 
 a banquet given her by the Playground Associa- 
 tion of America, she thus describes a visit to 
 one of the centers: "We found a thousand girls, 
 divided in the same way between active physical 
 exercise and club meetings (by the way, while 
 one of the boys' clubs was debating Mr. Bryce's 
 American Commonwealth, the girls were discuss- 
 ing Silas Marner) ; and, in the third, perhaps most 
 remarkable of all, five hundred girls were gathered 
 debating whether you should retain the Philippine 
 Islands, with a vigor, a fluency, a command of pa- 
 triotic language and feeling which struck me with 
 amazement. Here were girls, some of whom could 
 only have arrived in your country a year or two 
 ago, and all of them the children of aliens, ap- 
 pealing to your Anglo-Saxon forefathers, and 
 talking of your Revolutionary War and the 
 Monroe Doctrine, of liberty and self-government, 
 with an intensity of personal appropriation such 
 as no mere school teaching could have pro- 
 duced. It was as though I was in the presence 
 of those children whom you will remember in 
 the story of the Pied Piper — the children whom 
 the Pied Piper led to the mountain, which 
 opened and closed upon them again, entomb- 
 
 19 
 
ing a whole generation. Browning had heard 
 vaguely that somehow and somewhere they re- 
 emerged. And here they are! The parents have 
 been entombed and imprisoned for generations. 
 But their children are now free— they are in sun- 
 shine. Hence, this energy, this astonishing sense 
 of power and life." 
 
 Miss Whitney's annual reports to the city 
 superintendent record many instances of striking 
 changes in the character of the young men who 
 have patronized the centers. "Last fall, a noted 
 'tough' of nineteen years strolled into a center for 
 the declared purpose of 'clearing the place out.' 
 He discovered that a few determined athletes had 
 something to say about that, and subsided into 
 a quiet observer of the evening's sports. The 
 principal noticed that he became a regular at- 
 tendant, and invited him to join a club. He did 
 so, and was told about the study room — the 
 longed-for oasis in his desert life. Earnestly he 
 applied himself to take a civil service examination, 
 and when the term closed in May, he was ac- 
 ceptably filling the position of a junior clerk in one 
 of our city departments."* The following inci- 
 dent selected out of " scores of incidents " that came 
 to her notice demonstrates clearly Miss Whitney's 
 belief that no matter how bad a young man may 
 be, the acquisition of "the athlete's code of honor 
 is a triumph over lawlessness, the beginning of 
 a citizen's conception of duty." "One club of 
 
 * Report of the City Supt. of Schools. New York, 1906, page 364. 
 20 
 
street loafers organized last winter," she wrote, 
 "seemed as unpromising as any we ever attempted 
 to reform. The leader, a swaggering, unclean 
 fellow, fortunately had 'the vulnerable heel.' 
 He began to observe expert performances, then 
 to obey instructions, until pride and skill were so 
 developed that by the end of the season he out- 
 ranked all the athletes in his center and made his 
 club equal with the best."* 
 
 That the benefits to character are not confined 
 to the male sex alone is shown by the following 
 statement in her report of 1908: "One of the 
 marked instances of the year was the rescue of 
 what the police designated 'one of the worst gangs 
 of girls on the East Side.' In the club of twenty 
 young women, now tamed and decent, one would 
 not recognize the hoydens of a few months ago." 
 
 Considering the important part played by ath- 
 letics it is not surprising that gymnasts should be 
 favored when selecting workers for these centers. 
 The ability to secure immediate respect from street 
 boys gives a leverage not possessed by women, 
 though many of the latter have been highly suc- 
 cessful. It has been found that altruism is a prime 
 qualification for the principalship and herein lies 
 the usual secret of the woman worker's power. 
 The degree to which the work has been organized 
 is illustrated by the fact that weekly and monthly 
 reports are regularly sent to the superintendent's 
 office covering the attendance, contests, debates, 
 
 * Report of the City Supt. of Schools, 1909, page 551. 
 21 
 
books read and activities in general. In the study 
 rooms the teachers use a card-system, reference to 
 which tells them just the kind of assistance each 
 pupil needs. 
 
 The centers as a whole are administered by a 
 corps having the usual grades of superintendent, 
 inspector, supervisor, principal and teacher, but 
 in spite of the uniformity to be expected from so 
 much system and so large an organization, each 
 center has individuality, due to the character of 
 the building, the personnel of the staff, and the 
 kinds of people who frequent it. 
 
 Inspectors begin with a salary of ^i 500 which in 
 six years is automatically raised to $1750, the other 
 employes being paid as follows: 
 
 Recreation Center Salaries 
 
 Supervisors 
 Principals 
 Teachers 
 
 Assistant Teachers 
 Teachers of swimming 
 Librarians . 
 Pianists 
 
 ?6.oo per day 
 4.00 per session 
 2.50 
 
 1-75 
 2.00 
 2.50 
 2.00 
 
 In 1909 the expense of the thirty-one centers in 
 New York was $79,565.74, which with a daily 
 average of 12,084 persons cost the taxpayers 
 $6.58 for each participant in the season of fun and 
 healthful enjoyment. 
 
 BEGINNINGS IN OTHER CITIES 
 
 For several years the Newark, New Jersey, 
 Board of Education has maintained a recreation 
 
 22 
 
center in one of its buildings that is open four 
 evenings a week from 7.30 to 9.30, to both school 
 children and older people. The privileges afforded 
 are those of a gymnasium, reading and quiet- 
 games room, and four people are employed to 
 supervise and give instruction. In addition the 
 gymnasiums of two other schools have been used 
 during the evenings, while in several buildings 
 classes in folk dancing have been open to the girl 
 pupils immediately after the close of the afternoon 
 session. The expense of this work during 1908-09 
 amounted to ^1553.49. In Chicago during the 
 1909-10 season two evening recreation centers 
 were established under the charge of day-school 
 principals, which, without the advantage of as- 
 sembly rooms or gymnasiums, were nevertheless 
 very successful. The wide corridors gave the 
 boys space for basket ball and the girls gymnastic 
 opportunities. There were study rooms for those 
 who wished them, a double room for reading and 
 single ones for choral singing, illustrated lectures 
 on travel, and folk dancing. Volunteer workers 
 assisted the principals in the conduct of these 
 activities, which were carried on only two evenings 
 a week. In other schools permission has been 
 given to use the gymnasiums for basket ball and 
 indoor baseball games upon the application of 
 responsible persons and societies. 
 
 In Philadelphia, Milwaukee and several other 
 cities enterprises having similar features have been 
 carried on, but since they are locally known as 
 
 23 
 
"social centers" their description has been re- 
 served for the following chapter. The gymnasium 
 classes under trained teachers held in several of 
 the Cincinnati buildings have already been men- 
 tioned in the discussion of evening schools, but 
 in addition voluntary organizations are allowed 
 the use of four other buildings in which to conduct 
 debating clubs and wholesome recreations for 
 boys. In St. Louis, through the co-operation of 
 the Public Library and the Board of Education, a 
 reading room for young people is opened three 
 nights a week in one of the public schools. 
 
 The Playground and Social Service League of 
 Newton, Massachusetts, maintained during the 
 summer evenings of 1909 a quiet-games and 
 reading room in the Bowen School, and in Port- 
 land, Maine, a similar work is conducted by the 
 Fraternity House social workers. In many cities 
 undertakings of this sort go by the name of "boys' 
 clubs" which are usually organized and supported 
 by voluntary organizations or philanthropic in- 
 dividuals. In Cleveland, the Daughters of the 
 American Revolution have the use of one school 
 building in which they conduct three juvenile 
 clubs; Syracuse has two clubs which are sup- 
 ported by public-spirited persons and directed by a 
 former Y. M. C. A. man with a medical training. 
 An illustration of the origin of such a club is 
 found in Pittsburgh where the principal of the 
 Oakland District School threw open several class 
 rooms for evening study. While the attendance 
 
 24 
 
was fairly good it did not come up to expectations, 
 but meeting in that way developed a social co- 
 hesiveness among the boys that, finally took the 
 form of an organized club with pronounced ath- 
 letic tendencies. Indeed "athletic" is the touch- 
 stone of success in work with boys, and the skilful 
 director not only lays emphasis upon physical 
 training and organized sports, but, like the Buffalo 
 worker in charge of the Evening Club of School 29 
 which gave a "horseback fight" and bar-bell drill 
 at the spring playground demonstration in Con- 
 vention Hall, he sees to it that his boys are stimu- 
 lated by frequent public exhibitions, 
 
 LONDON EVENING PLAY CENTERS 
 
 In thirteen of the London County Council 
 schools, play centers open to boys and girls be- 
 tween the ages of five and fourteen are maintained 
 five evenings a week, from 5.30 to 7.30, and for 
 an hour and a half on Saturday mornings. The 
 occupations afl'orded comprise various kinds of 
 handwork such as cobbling, woodwork, basket- 
 work, painting, plasticine modeling, needlework 
 and knitting. But work is not all, or even the 
 main thing, at these places. In a quiet room 
 draughts, halma, picture-lotto, puzzles, deck 
 quoits, brick-building, fish ponds, and many other 
 games are provided; toy-rooms contain dolls and 
 teasets, bricks, engines, block puzzles and picture 
 books for the little ones, while the toddlers 
 amuse themselves in the "babies' room" which is 
 
 25 
 
furnished with small chairs and light, low tables 
 instead of with desks and seats. A library stands 
 ready to supply story and picture-books. In the 
 large, bright halls the older girls make merry 
 singing "The Keys of Canterbury," "Mowing 
 the Barley," or playing some of Mrs. Gomme's 
 games, like "London Bridge" or "Here we come 
 up the Green Grass." The exercises of the " Drill 
 Classes" are interspersed with dances, and when 
 the measures of Sir Roger, an Irish jig, or a Danish 
 dance begin to sound through the room the hap- 
 piness of rhythmic motion seizes little bodies 
 which usually feel only fatigue and the shame 
 of raggedness. For the boys there are calis- 
 thenic drills and exercises upon the apparatus of 
 the school gymnasium. Cricket during the sum- 
 mer and football during the autumn and win- 
 ter months are encouraged by play leaders, and 
 many matches in these sports are held Saturday 
 mornings on the school playgrounds. 
 
 The use of the buildings, lighted and heated, is 
 furnished by the London County Council, but the 
 work is carried on by an Evening Play Centres 
 Committee composed of twenty-two members, 
 including representatives of the nobility, official- 
 dom, the Church, and society. The organizer of 
 the movement, Mrs. Humphry Ward, is the chair- 
 man, honorary secretary, and treasurer of the 
 committee, and it is from her report for 1909 that 
 the following account of the organization of the 
 work is taken : " Each centre is under the direction 
 
 26 
 
of a paid superintendent, who is responsible to the 
 Play Centres Committee, and is assisted by both 
 paid and voluntary workers. . . . The chil- 
 dren attached to each centre are chosen, in the first 
 instance, by the teachers of the four or five schools, 
 as the case may be, within easy reach of the centre, 
 who are asked to make the need of the children 
 their basis of choice. Each child attends a centre 
 normally twice a week, but a third attendance is 
 allowed for the library or quiet games, or for a lan- 
 tern lecture, while in the case of children coming 
 from neglected homes, or whose parents are obliged 
 to be out at work until late in the evening, arrange- 
 ments can be made for their attending the centre 
 every evening. The evening is generally divided 
 into two sessions of one hour each, attended by dif- 
 ferent sets of children. At three centres, however, 
 we work on a one-session time-table, only one set of 
 children being admitted during the evening, but 
 remaining for an hour and forty minutes. Each 
 child, on joining a play centre, is registered and 
 given a colored badge, which admits him to one of 
 the two sessions on two nights in the week. Thus, 
 a blue badge admits to the first session on Mondays 
 and Thursdays, a yellow badge to the second ses- 
 sion on Tuesdays and Fridays. Many of the 
 Wednesday children attend as a rule on Saturday 
 mornings; but Wednesday is a one-session eve- 
 ning — that is to say, only one set of children is 
 admitted, but they remain for an hour and a half, 
 changing occupations at half-time. The centres 
 
 27 
 
are open during forty weeks in the year, from 
 September to July." The benefits of the centers 
 now reach between 9,000 and 10,000 children; 
 their maintenance depends upon the annual con- 
 tribution of over $15,000, making the cost per 
 child approximately $1.50 a year. 
 
 Readers of " Robert Elsmere" will be interested 
 to learn that this undertaking is an offshoot of 
 that scheme of pioneer philanthropy in which the 
 brave clergyman found the solution of his pain- 
 ful problems, and which is foreshadowed in the 
 following passage: "And sitting down again on a 
 sand-hill overgrown with wild grasses and mats of 
 sea-thistle, the poor pale reformer began to draw 
 out the details of his scheme on its material side. 
 Three floors of rooms brightly furnished, well lit 
 and warmed; a large hall for the Sunday lectures, 
 concerts, entertainments, and story telling; rooms 
 for the boys' club; two rooms for women and 
 girls, reached by a separate entrance; a library 
 and reading room open to both sexes, well stored 
 with books, and made beautiful by pictures; 
 three or four smaller rooms to serve as committee 
 rooms and for the purposes of the Naturalist Club 
 which had been started in May on the Murewell 
 plan; and, if possible, a gymnasium." 
 
 This institution, then a vision in the mind of the 
 author, received embodiment afterwards through 
 her own efforts in a now well-known social settle- 
 ment and became a starting-point for many new 
 activities, of which that undertaken by the Evening 
 
 28 
 
Play Centres Committee is but a single example. 
 The origin of this enterprise can best be described 
 in the words of its prime mover : " I n 1 897 the Pass- 
 more Edwards Settlement, in Tavistock Place, 
 started some evening classes and games, as a 
 counter-attraction to the. life and loafing of the 
 streets, for the children of the neighboring ele- 
 mentary schools. These classes have now de- 
 veloped into a large Children's Recreation School, 
 or Play Centre, open five evenings in the week 
 for an hour and a quarter, and from 10 to 
 12.30 on Saturday mornings. . . . The suc- 
 cess of this work led, in the winter of 1904, to the 
 raising of a Fund and to the formation of a Com- 
 mittee for the establishment of Evening Play Cen- 
 tres in Council School buildings, in some of the 
 poorest and most crowded parts of London." 
 
 The aim of the Committee is to secure the per- 
 manence of its work through its adoption by the 
 public authorities, and to this end Mrs. Ward is 
 working most ardently, expending her energies 
 not only in personal championship, but also in 
 documentary appeals, distinguished by literary 
 charm and convincing facts. These are addressed 
 to the London County Council and to the English 
 public through the medium of The Times. The 
 government school inspectors have already filed 
 encouraging reports about the handicraft work in 
 these classes, and although the party of economy 
 in the Council still (January, 19 10) stands in the 
 way of full support, the hopes of the Committee 
 
 29 
 
have been raised by a small government grant 
 recently made for light woodwork. 
 
 THE MOVEMENT ELSEWHERE IN ENGLAND 
 
 Upon this topic the 1909 report of the Evening 
 Play Centres Committee contains the following: 
 " But, in addition to the growth of our own centres, 
 we have to report the spread of the movement out- 
 side our Committee. Lord Iveagh has opened a 
 centre in Dublin; the large play centre attached 
 to the Jewish Free School in Whitechapel has been 
 opened, and is working admirably; another centre 
 has been organized by the governors of the Peo- 
 ple's Palace, Stepney. For these centres we have 
 been able to supply superintendents trained for 
 a longer or shorter time under our Committee. 
 Fresh proposals also are constantly being made to 
 us." In support of the latter statement the re- 
 port then tells of applications for assistance which 
 had been received from Paddington, Berm.ondsey 
 and Deptford. 
 
 The Recreative Evening Classes Committee of 
 Manchester, which is organized under the presi- 
 dency of the Bishop of Manchester and includes 
 the mayor and several titled personages among its 
 vice-presidents, has a sub-division known as the 
 Children's Happy Evening Section. This body 
 has surrounded itself with a band of voluntary 
 helpers who carry on weekly entertainments in 
 school buildings and other suitable quarters for 
 the benefit of the neighborhood children. The 
 
 30 
 
season's program includes concerts, gramophone 
 entertainments, competitions in singing and recit- 
 ing, contests in draughts and skipping rope as well 
 as battledore and shuttlecock, and other games. 
 Football and cricket are played in the basements 
 while in the quiet room the children amuse 
 themselves with bead-laying, crayon drawing, 
 and similar occupations. Three municipal schools 
 were used during the season of 1908-09 at which 
 the weekly attendance ran between 200 and 250. 
 
 The Bradford Cinderella Club which has for its 
 object " the feeding, clothing and entertainment of 
 poor children," describes in its 1908-09 report a 
 similar enterprise: "One of the most interesting 
 departments of our work is the provision of 
 'Treats,' consisting of tea and entertainment, to 
 parties of poor children almost every Saturday 
 during the winter months. During last winter 
 we organized twenty-five of these treats to parties 
 of 300 children in all the poorer quarters of the 
 city, in schools which were kindly lent us for the 
 purpose." They find that a "treat" for 300 
 children costs between ^18 and ^19. 
 
 As has been suggested already there are, in both 
 America and England, undertakings not men- 
 tioned in the present chapter which nevertheless 
 provide recreation during the evening in school 
 buildings. Their activities are predominantly 
 social in character and they thus belong more 
 properly under that title. The line of demarcation 
 between the recreation and the social center is 
 
 31 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS • ] 
 
 020 773 116 A 
 
 difficult to draw, but the obvious necessity of 
 some sort of classification, if they were to be dis- 
 cussed separately, made an attempt at definition 
 obligatory. For the purposes of this study, there- 
 fore, a recreation center has been regarded as an 
 institution providing chiefly those pleasurable 
 activities wherein the enjoyment is always de- 
 pendent upon the use of some article or apparatus, 
 or involves physical exercise in accordance with 
 certain rules or standards, and is little affected by 
 personal distinctions. In the social center, on 
 the other hand, the enjoyment is more contingent 
 upon the mutual companionability of the indi- 
 viduals participating, demands little or no ap- 
 paratus and involves intellectual rather than 
 physical performances. No existing institution, 
 of course, provides activities wholly confined to 
 either one of these classes, but usually one type has 
 been sufficiently emphasized in excess of the other 
 to furnish the basis of a working classification. 
 
 References 
 
 Ward, Mrs. Humphry: The Play-Time of the Poor. Reprinted 
 from The Times. Smith, Elder and Co., 15 Waterloo Place, 
 London. Pages 28. Price twopence. 1906. 
 Evening Play Centres. Reprinted from The Times. Spottiswoode 
 
 and Co., Ltd., New-Street Square, London. Pages 17. 
 Annual Reports of the Evening Play Centres Committee, 25 
 Grosvenor Place, S. W., London. 
 
 Whitney, Evangeline E.: Annual Reports as District Superin- 
 tendent in charge of Vacation Schools, Playgrounds and Eve- 
 ning Recreation Centres, contained in the annual reports of the 
 City Superintendent of Schools, New York City, from 1904-1909. 
 Vacation Schools, Playgrounds, and Recreation Centres. Pro- 
 ceedings of the National Education Association, 1904. 
 
 See also the annual reports of the voluntary organizations men- 
 tioned in the text, 
 
 32 
 
■?S3 
 
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 020 773 116 fl 
 
 HoUingo: Corp.