Class _LZB3d— Book .C •: Copyright W . COFiHtGIfT DEPOSIT. RECREATION FOR TEACHERS OR THE TEACHER'S LEISURE TIME IHome anfc Scbool Series Edited by PAUL MONROE Curtis: Education through Play. Curtis: The Practical Conduct of Play. Curtis : The Play Movement and its Significance. Curtis : Recreation for Teachers. Cloyd: Modern Education in Europe and the Orient. Howerth: The Art of Education. Kilpatrick: Froebel's Kindergarten Principles Critically Examined. Miller: Education for the Needs of Life. RECREATION FOR TEACHERS OR THE TEACHER'S LEISURE TIME BY HENRY S. CURTIS, Ph.D. AUTHOR OF " PLAY AND RECREATION IN THE OPEN COUNTRY " EDUCATION THROUGH PLAY " " THE PRACTICAL CONDUCT OF PLAY " AND "THE PLAY MOVEMENT AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE" Neto gork THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1918 All rights reserved 'Cg Copyright, 1918, By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Set up and electrotyped. Published September, 191 8. SEP 2b \m Norfoooti Prfss J. S. Cushing Co. — Berwick & Smith Co. ,-^Iorwood, Mass., U.S.A. ©01.4503534 \ . TO THE TEACHERS OF AMERICA FOR HEALTH, GROWTH, AND THE JOY OF LIFE PREFACE At this moment of history, when we have cast all our hopes and ideals into the great conflict on which hangs the fate of Democracy, when we are bending every effort to win the war and it seems to us that nothing much matters except to win the war, it may appear almost disloyal to offer to the teachers of the country a book on recreation. Surely this is a time for work and not for play. This must be the first thought of many. But shall we not say rather that this is a time for efficiency ? If play will help us to win the war, let us have it, and the fact is that play will help us to win the war. The play movement has been officially promoted in Ger- many for the last twenty-five years as a war measure. Of all our young men who are called to the colors about one third are rejected as physically unfit, and of those who are accepted fully half the time of training is spent in putting them in physical condition. We are now spending about ten cents per capita for the play of our children, but the Commission on Training Camp Activities has raised three dollars per capita, thirty times as much, for the recreation of the soldiers in the ranks, and at some of the camps at least the soldiers have an hour and a half to two hours a day in organized games as a means of developing physical efficiency and team spirit. It is necessary that those who are coming on to fill the places of those who vii viii Preface have gone to the front shall also have this training. This feeling has been reflected in laws passed during the last two years in the states of New York, Rhode Island, New Jersey, and California, making a requirement of from two to five hours per week of play and physical training for all children. This has been done primarily as a war measure. About half our play problem is with the teachers. If they get an enthusiasm for sports and outdoor life, this spirit will soon pervade the student body and we shall not have so much physical unfitness. Both on the part of the teachers and children better health and a more vigorous life are now demanded. It has been difficult to find a name for this volume which will cover the subject matter. In some ways " Leisure Time" would be a better title than " Recreation," as practically all the teacher's time outside of school hours is planned for. But one of the major efforts, also, is to indicate ways in which teaching itself may be made more enjoyable, and new elements of pleasure brought into work. The purpose has been, in general, so to organize the teacher's leisure time that she may get from it a larger life, more experience, and the opportunity to study and enjoy herself. In a perfect adjustment to individual needs, the problem of recreation for everyone is an individual problem. Recre- ation should furnish to every man and woman relief from the monotony and strain of work, and give expression to those impulses and desires which have lain dormant in daily life. To some extent, therefore, the recreation of each individual should differ from that of every other individual, and that of each profession from that of every other profession. But, in a general view, these differences are largely negligible, and the Preface ix recreation needed by all professions whose work is indoors is much the same. The recreation here outlined is well adapted to all adults and to college and high school students, as well as to teachers, though perhaps the need is greater among teachers than others. The feminine gender has been used throughout, because more than three-quarters of our teachers are women. But some one may say that the recreation recommended is unduly strenuous and adventurous for women, and better suited to men. Women have often hesitated to do many of the things spoken of. But we are on the eve of a new era, ushered in by woman suffrage and the world war. It will offer to women an equal opportunity for life, occupation and experience. Woman is going to demand that she shall not be unnecessarily handicapped by her sex, but shall be allowed to do anything which she is qualified to do. We are ceasing to regard timid- ity either as a virtue or as a feminine attraction. All the recreation spoken of can be had without taking a single moment from proper working hours, by the better organization of the teacher's leisure time. The aim has been to emphasize a purpose which will include not merely success in school work, but also success as an individual and as a member of society. There are doubtless some who will think that, if the leisure time and play of teachers is made exciting, they will neglect their work ; that while they are teaching the multiplication table they will be thinking of what they are going to do after school. This is a criticism which may be made against any form of recreation, and an argument which has often been advanced against high school and college athletics. It is al- ways a question whether we shall bring our recreation down to x Preface the level of drudgery, or try to raise our work to the level of play. It has been the hope of the author that the recreation point of view will help to give teaching itself something of a play value. It is certain that health is essential to this, and love of children, plus daily recuperation from the labors of the day. But, if the teacher finds her work drudgery, she is in all the greater need of recuperation when the day is over. It has been difficult so to treat the activities described that there should not be much repetition, since such exercise as walking and canoeing can obviously be taken equally well on afternoons, Saturdays, Sundays, or during the summer va- cation. In order, however, to avoid repetition as much as possible, each of these main activities has been treated some- what intensively in one of the chapters, and briefly mentioned in the others. By reference to the index, the reader will be able to find a complete discussion of any particular type of activity in which he may be interested. Walking has been dealt with in five or six different chapters, and to many it may appear that the prominence which is given to it is not justified by its play value. As an academic question this would be debatable, but, when it is considered that walking is practically the only form of outdoor recreation which most teachers take, the reason for its prominence is apparent. The author wishes to acknowledge, with thanks, the help he has received from Superintendent Alvin N. Cody, of Flint, Michigan, Superintendent James O. Engleman, of Decatur, Illinois, Superintendent John H. Beveridge, of Council Bluffs, Iowa, Superintendent Vernon G. Mays, of St. Joseph, Missouri, Superintendent M. E. Pearson, of Kansas City, Kansas, and Superintendent J. N. Adee, of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Preface xi Their assistance in collecting information as to the use made of their teachers' leisure time, has been of great assistance. His thanks are due also to all those who have generously loaned pictures for use in illustrating this volume. Henry S. Curtis. Olivet, Michigan May, 1918. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. Why Recreation Is Necessary i For health : — nervousness ; tuberculosis. For personal attrac- tiveness. For growth. For success. For the enjoyment of life. II. Reducing the Strain of Teaching . . ' . . . .14 Hygienic conditions : — medical inspection. Segregating atypical children. Smaller classes. The curriculum. A study of things rather than words. More activity. Organized play and athletics. Play for the teacher's own sake. School excursions. Scholastic sub- jects. Sympathetic supervision. III. Factors in the Enjoyment of Teaching 31 Good health. Work not too hard. Discipline. The love of knowledge. The love of children. IV. What Sort of Recreation Do Teachers Need? ... 43 Recreation of 148 teachers of Flint, Michigan. Recreation of 146 teachers of Decatur, Illinois. Recreation of 68 teachers of Oil City, Pa. Recreation of 65 teachers of Keosauqua, Iowa. What is fatigue? The rebuilding process. The teacher's special problems: — physical ; mental. V. After School 61 Activities of 230 teachers of Kansas City. Activities of 150 teachers of Johnstown, Pa. Loafing. An avocation : — gardening ; the raising of chickens, pigeons, or rabbits ; the teacher as a chauf- feur. Outdoor sports : — horseback riding ; bicycling ; driving ; walking ; canoeing or rowing ; swimming. Winter sports in the North : — skating ; coasting ; skiing and snow-shoeing. Games : — games with children; croquet; bowling on the green; tennis. Dinner servitude. A list of activities after school : — fall ; winter ; spring. xiii xiv Table of Contents CHAPTER PAGE VI. The Teacher's Evenings 87 Activities of 292 teachers of St. Joseph, Missouri. Work : — housework ; teaching ; Scouts, Camp Fires ; and social center. Study. Reading. Society : — the teachers' club house ; the social center ; the teachers' benefit. Play : — dancing ; theaters and movies ; music; fancy work; cards; bowling; volley ball, indoor baseball and basket ball ; billiards ; moonlight outings ; the new time. The need of a survey and plan. VII. Saturday 105 Activities of 230 teachers of Kansas City, Kansas. Activities of 150 teachers of Johnstown, Pa. Walking excursions : — when shall walks be taken? the educational excursion; other trips. Recre- ation programs : — rules of the Mazama Club ; outlines of local walks. A county recreation survey. The automobile. The aero- plane. Hunting and fishing. List of recreative activities for Satur- day afternoon. VIII. Sunday 133 Rest. Worship. Active recreation. Society. Reading. The old-time Sabbath. IX. The Week-ends and Short Vacations 141 Week-end travel : — by train ; by trolley ; by boat ; on horse- back ; by automobile ; on foot ; a program of week-end walks. The night's lodging. The camp fire. The week-end visit. The week- end camp. The municipal camp and farm. The teachers' club house. Christmas and Easter vacations. X. The Teachers' Institute 159 An institute for the study of the locality. The chautauqua insti- tute. The institute program as recreative. Exhibitions. After the sessions : — shopping ; a play period ; excursions ; the hospitality of the town; social opportunities; the teachers' picnic; a swim; the teachers' club. Evening recreation : — the institute reception ; moving pictures and theater, a musical program. The calendar of the institute. A continuation school for city teachers. XL The Summer at Home 178, Activities of 85 teachers of Council Bluffs, Iowa. The need of a plan. The care of little brothers and sisters. The care of the sick., Table of Contents xv CHAPTER pACB Social life. Reading. Study. Play and the open air. The psy- chology and sociology of the hammock. Conclusion. XII. Summer Work Rest as a change of occupation. Work as a means of education. What kind of work? The new point of view. Available occupa- tions :— housekeeping ; agriculture; canvassing and insurance; waiting; serving as tutor or governess, as director of a summer camp or walking trip, as guide, as a playground director. XIII. Summer Teaching . Comparison of salaries. The summer school. Program of the summer school : — scholastic work ; industrial crafts ; art ; music ; entertainments ; Boy Scouts and Camp Fire Girls ; organized play and athletics; gardening; civic work; nature study trips; visits to industrial plants; walking trips; camping out; the school farm. Attendance. The old school plants. The solution of the child prob- lem. The choice of teachers. XIV. Summer Play Visiting. Camping out. The summer resort: — at the shore; in the mountains. The chautauqua. Travel : — on foot ; by bicy- cle ; by motorcycle ; by canoe or motor boat ; by train ; by steam- ship ; by automobile. XV. Recreation at Summer Schools The problem of summer quarters : — a summer chautauqua. Sum- mer schools for special subjects : — marine biological laboratories; summer schools of art ; schools of surveying ; classes in geology and physiography; other traveling summer schools. Recreation now being offered at summer schools : — University of Utah; Normal School, Emporia, Kansas; Normal School, Kearney, Nebraska; excursions at Columbia University, University of Michigan, and Harvard. The week-end camp of the University of Colorado ; Agri- cultural College, Fort Collins, Colorado ; camping out at the Uni- versity of Wisconsin. The program of the summer school. A recreation survey. School dormitories. Cooperation among the different departments. A director of recreation. A special fee. Better use of leisure time. The selection of a summer school. 187 197 21S 247 xvi Table of Contents CHAPTER PAGE XVI. Conclusion 270 What and when? A larger life. A national walkers' club. A director of recreation. The training of the normal school. Teach- ing as an ideal profession. Recreation will result in better teaching. The solution of three fundamental educational problems. Bibliography 283 RECREATION FOR TEACHERS OR THE TEACHER'S LEISURE TIME CHAPTER I WHY RECREATION IS NECESSARY Throughout the centuries man has been dreaming of the time when he should be emancipated from continuous toil. The labor unions strove for decades to reduce the working day from twelve hours to ten, and finally to eight, and every new gain has been hailed as a triumph of the spirit which gave an opportunity for recreation and education and the family life and all of those things that make life worth while. The teacher already has this gift of leisure toward which the world has so long aspired. She has absolutely ample time for recreation; and teaching, with its intimate contact with children and its opportunity for service, might well become the ideal life towards which the privileged classes would aspire. It should keep the teacher in perfect health, should cause her to increase up to full maturity in physical strength and vigor and in that beauty which comes with health and vitality. On the intellectual side, teaching should lead to that fullness of knowledge which might warrant a high academic degree. From the contact with children which it gives and the training involved in organizing social and play activities, it should be recognized as a preparation for wifehood and motherhood. But leisure, this great and peculiar advantage of the pro- fession, is largely wasted, because the teacher has no plan for it, and usually takes whatever comes to her in the way of recreation. 2 Recreation for Teachers There are five rather obvious reasons for the recreation of teachers. They are : that the teacher may maintain her health ; that she may be personally attractive ; that she may continue to grow mentally ; that she may be successful as a teacher; and that she may enjoy life. While recreation does not furnish the complete answer to all of the problems involved, it is an essential element in all, and to some it may be a full solution. Health We have usually sought to guide into teaching those with the highest academic standing. In our training schools we have placed the emphasis upon methods and courses in psychology, but the teacher's health and social qualities are always among the largest elements in her success. There have been two noteworthy studies of the teacher's health during the last decade. The first of these was by Dr. Terman of Leland Stanford University; the second, by Dr. Wood of Columbia. While they do not cover exactly the same ground, they are in substantial agreement wherever the fields investigated coincide. Dr. Wood's study was made for the New York State Teachers' Association in 191 5. The conclusions are based on the replies of 2169 teachers. The number is insufficient, but the conclusions seem at least probable. He says : "According to teachers' reports in regard to their general state of health, 31% are not sufficiently vigorous to meet successfully the con- tinuous strain to which teachers are subject, i.e., 21.4% report 'Energy sufficient for ordinary work, little resistance to colds or periods of extra strain.' As to their general state of health 10% report 'Chronic ill health ' or ' Vitality low, inclined to worry over work, daily routine seems heavy.' Why Recreation is Necessary 3 u 3°-3% of teachers report their health worse at the time of answering the questionnaire than when they began to teach. "59-7% of teachers report health disorders during the 5-year period preceding 1914-1915. "82.8% of teachers report minor health disorders at the time of the investigation in 191 5. 45.9% of teachers report nervous disorders, either at the time of the investigation in 191 5 or during the 5-year period preceding 1914-1915. When answering the question, 'How does your health compare with your health when you began teaching ? ' many teachers report 'more nervous now' or 'same except for nerves.'" Their supervisors hold practically the same opinion in regard to these matters as the teachers themselves. "Supervisors report that more than a third of their teachers belong in one of the following four classes : (1) 'nervous/ (2) 'irritable/ (3) 'low in vitality/ (4) 'affected with other handicaps.' " 16.3% are classed 'nervous/ 11.4% 'irritable/ 9.2% 'low in vitality/ 3.4% 'affected with other handicaps' — a total of 40.3%. "90% of the causes of this impairment of efficiency is attributed by the supervisors to ill health or unhealthful living and teaching con- ditions. " From consideration of the above reports of teachers and supervisors relative to amount of ill health among teachers, the conclusion seems warranted that about 30% of teachers are below the standard of physical health requisite for those intrusted with the instruction of children." Nervousness The most characteristic ailment of teachers is "nerves." In regard to nervous troubles among teachers, Professor Terman quotes from statistics of Steenhoff in Sweden, the following : 1 Male Elemen- Female Elemen- Female Infant tary Teachers tary Teachers School Teachers Nervous troubles 32.5% 36% 31-2% 1 The Teacher's Health. 4 Recreation for Teachers "We are also informed that 2.5% of the active teaching staff of Sweden are sufferers from neurasthenia of a ' pronounced mental type,' and that nervous disease causes 50% of the absences lasting two years or over. The Swedish Tuberculosis Committee had already reported (1906) that 1.17% of the Swedish female teachers in active service were sufferers from tuberculosis." In almost exact agreement with these statistics are the opinions of the New York teachers in regard to their nervous condition. "45.9% of all teachers report 'nervous disorders.' The larger per- centage of the following groups that report disorders are significant. " 59-3% of teachers reporting conditions detrimental to health have nervous troubles — 134% more than the percentage of the whole group of teachers that report nervous disorders." This condition is shown all too often in a strident voice, a quick temper, and morbid worry. " Under the Superannuated Teachers' Act of England in 1899, almost exactly one third of the breakdowns are ascribed to neurasthenia. In the city of Amsterdam the records show that leaves of absence were due, in thirty four per cent of the cases, to nervous affections." Teaching often predisposes to indigestion and constipation, caused mostly by worry and a sedentary life. Tuberculosis Teachers are peculiarly subject to tuberculosis. In Den- mark no teacher may be appointed without a special examina- tion of her lungs, nor may she be reappointed without re- examination. The percentage of teachers afflicted is found to increase with their years of service at a rapid rate. While the average number of deaths from tuberculosis in this Why Recreation is Necessary 5 country is only about 140 per 1000, the average number of female teachers dying of tuberculosis in Canada in each 1000 is 570, of male teachers 299; in the United States, among female teachers, the average number, while it varies in our large cities from 272 in New York to 452 in Baltimore, in the entire country, including rural teachers and others, is 256. 1 It is estimated by Terman that from one and a quarter to one and a half million children in the United States are taught by tubercular teachers. Showing the Deaths from Pulmonary Tuberculosis Out of iooo Deaths from All Causes Printers and pressmen Female teachers in schools Stonecutters .... Dressmakers and seam- stresses Saloon-keepers and bar- tenders Policemen, watchmen, and detectives .... Farmers, planters, over seers Lawyers Physicians and surgeons Clergymen .... Balti- Wash- ington, New York Brook- Phila- Boston more D.C City lyn delphia 429 342 437 37o 377 430 452 395 272 336 441 477 432 333 398 423 261 496 396 386 385 350 405 388 213 30S 296 295 223 276 183 187 190 169 161 113 141 175 207 128 103 83 119 125 102 236 139 90 204 103 120 113 135 90 138 120 153 91 140 83 Average 398 396 391 385 268 167 139 130 128 121 Apparently the great majority of all cases of tuberculosis are contracted during the period of the elementary school. 1 These figures are taken from Terman's The Teacher's Health. Professor Terman gives the following table compiled by Professor Oldright of the University of Toronto, from the census returns of the United States. 6 Recreation for Teachers Forty-five per cent of the children in the first grade and eighty-five per cent of the children in the eighth grade in Baltimore reacted to the tuberculin test, while forty-five per cent in the first grade and ninety-three per cent in the eighth grade reacted in Chicago. This does not necessarily mean, of course, that these children have tuberculosis, but merely that the tubercle bacillus has found lodgment in their lungs. It was estimated, however, by one of our foremost authorities, at the International Con- gress on School Hygiene which was held in Buffalo in 19 14, that there were then one million tubercular school children in the United States, — approximately five out of every one hundred children, or one in twenty. Under these circum- stances millions of tubercle bacilli must be floating in the air of nearly every classroom all the time. The children also bring in much dust upon their feet, and all class movements stir this into the air. There is much chalk dust, which is especially irritating to the lungs, and besides this, there are many impurities from the breath and bodies of the children. The breathing of air containing im- purities of any sort makes the lungs less resistant to tuber- culosis, as has been shown in the studies of tuberculosis in the dusty trades. 1 In classrooms where there is no way of humidifying the air, it is unnaturally dry. This dry air takes the moisture from the lungs and throat and makes them less resistant to all forms of germ attack. The teacher at her work is using a very small lung capacity, and the cells in the lower part of the lungs are almost entirely 1 See "Tuberculosis in the Dusty Trades" Studies, Department of Com- merce and Labor. A Greek Pageant at Northwestern University Why Recreation is Necessary 7 unused. It is these unused air cells which are first attacked by the tubercle bacillus. The answer to this situation is plain. Teaching is a dan- gerous occupation for any one with a tubercular tendency. Such a person should be deflected into some other profession. But if she finds herself in it, her remedy is to live in the open air as much as possible and develop her lungs by systematic exercise. Professor Terman and Dr. Wood are in substantial agree- ment as to the solution of this health situation for the teacher. They both find that it is necessary for her to go more into the open air and to take vigorous exercise every day. Personal Attractiveness A few years ago there was a series of tests upon the teachers attending the summer school at the University of South Dakota. It was found that a large percentage of them were nervous, and that most of them had less than the normal number of red corpuscles in their blood. They were anaemic from living indoors. A chief motive for the system of physical training of the Greeks was personal beauty. There was a feeling that it was a moral obligation for every one to bring his body to the highest state of perfection and to maintain it there, because it added to one's sense of self-respect and personal dignity, and because a community made up of beautiful individuals was a more attractive community than one made up of ugly people. Every teacher has a right to be good-looking. There are school boards that will pay a handsome teacher considerably 8 Recreation for Teachers more than they will pay a homely teacher. We are accus- tomed to criticize such school boards, but there is no place in life where a handsome woman cannot obtain more than a homely woman can, whether it be as an actress, a stenographer, or a saleswoman. It is reasonable that school boards should pay more. The handsome woman finds her discipline easier on that account, she is much more likely to be personally copied by her pupils, and all her lessons are taught with the force of a pleasing personality. Apart from her clothes, if the teacher is to be as beautiful as she may be, she must have perfect health. She must maintain an erect posture, have a clear skin, and a bright eye. If she will take one or two hours of vigorous exercise in the open air every day, in most climates she will get a good complexion. If the exercise is the right kind, she will get her head and shoulders back, spring in her step, and vivacity of expression. She need not be flat-chested. It is as easy to develop lung capacity as the biceps. Physical training cannot greatly change the outlines of the face and figure as laid down by heredity, but it can do enough to be worth considering. It is said that the short legs of the Japanese are due to their habitual sitting upon the floor and the absence in recent years of vigorous athletic sports. Boyer found at Annapolis that the height of the naval cadets could be increased one and one half inches by systematic exercises after the age of eighteen. We have some evidence, also, that confining school work actually stunts growth. European statistics show that the growth, both in weight and height, of seven-year-old children who are in school is less than that of the seven-year-old children who are out of school. The evidence seems at least to favor strongly the conclusion that Why Recreation is Necessary 9 any person who lives a vigorous athletic life up to the age of twenty or twenty-five will be somewhat taller and heavier than he would have been had his life been sedentary. Most teachers have obtained or nearly obtained their growth before they enter teaching, and the exercise which is necessary for them is not to increase their height, but to maintain their health and improve their figure. Exercise has always been regarded as the only rational cure for obesity. But it acts as a corrective in both ways, since it reduces the flesh of the obese and increases the weight of the lean. In regard to grace, or the beauty of movement, the evidence is more conclusive. Only where the movements are light and rapid and so interesting that they become a real expression of the personality does any activity meet the conditions for the development of grace. The two activities which best satisfy this need are play and dancing. Drudgery and overwork always produce awkwardness. The Greeks had a saying that a man will remain young just as long as he plays. The spirit of play is the spirit of childhood. The teacher who has forgotten how to play seems old in spirit and is so thoroughly out of sympathy with child life that she cannot speak the language in which the child is thinking and acting. Grover Cleveland used to say that every one should retain throughout life an enthusiasm for some kind of sport, because this is the only way that one can be a good comrade. Friend- ships do not grow largely out of work, but mostly out of play. The athlete is nearly always a better companion than the grind, and more popular. Every form of recreation suggested in this volume will develop companionableness and social acceptability. They all intensify friendships. io Recreation for Teachers No teacher can allow herself to become sick and cross and overwearied and still be a good companion. In order that her company may be sought for, she must be buoyant, elastic, and full of life. Overwork develops a heavy, non-resilient attitude of mind, while play brings out those qualities which make for companionableness. If we should give a close psychological study to any teacher of children toward whom she is indifferent or hostile, we should find her developing a dictatorial attitude and an antagonistic response. If she goes into her classroom to maintain order and to teach arithmetic and geography, holding herself responsible only for scholastic results, she will get pedagogic creases in her character and personality. I find it is common for teachers to try to conceal their profession when they go among strangers. I heard recently of a party of teachers who went down from St. Paul to St. Louis. They had agreed that they would not let any one know they were teachers, but when they came out of the station and started up the street, a small newsboy saluted and said, " First reading class stand and recite." Growth There are many who regard teaching as a sinecure. It is a profession with a short working day and week, with many holidays, and at least three vacations. There is many a business man with a working day of ten or twelve hours and a working year of fifty or fifty-two weeks, who longs for such a life of leisure and freedom. However, in opposition to this opinion we have the fact that the working life of the teacher is short, the age of retirement being, in England, fifty-three Why Recreation is Necessary n for male teachers and fifty for female ; in Saxony, for male teachers forty-nine, and in Hesse, fifty-one. School boards in many of our cities refuse to employ any new teacher who is over forty-five years of age. 1 When we consider that the age of greatest achievement, the period during which the great men of the world have achieved their greatest triumphs, is the decade between fifty and sixty, we must realize that a life that calls for the retirement of the teacher at fifty has in some way been unduly strenuous or injurious to her best growth and development. 2 This must seem anomalous to those who look upon teaching as a sinecure. But those who are most convinced that teach- ing is a "snap" are always the ones who have not tried it. It has been estimated that the strain of one hour's teaching is equal to that of two hours of study. This is probably not an overestimate where the class is large, with its average per- centage of stupid and incorrigible children. If, then, we multiply the hours of our five-hour day by two, we have the equivalent of a ten-hour day, with the correction of from six to twelve thousand papers per year and the preparation of the lessons left over ; which will make the equivalent of a working day of eleven or twelve hours. The teacher must have every sense alert. She must hear every sound and whisper, she must see everything that is going on, she must teach and perceive the reaction of thirty or forty children to her teach- ing, and at the same time she must maintain discipline and please the public, the principal, and the superintendent. The teacher's work is not subject to the same standards of criticism that are applied elsewhere. The merchant must 1 Terman : The Teacher's Health, p. 18. 2 Dorland : The Age of Mental Virility. 1 2 Recreation for Teachers buy and sell so as to make a profit or he will go to the wall. The doctor must cure his patient ; the lawyer must win his case, and in his plea he has to meet others with training and experience equal to his own. The teacher, on the other hand, is dealing with immature minds, and her work is subject largely to the criticism aid standards of the immature. If the lawyer or doctor becomes skillful, his fees will rep- resent the appreciation of the public of that fact. But the salaries of teachers are largely fixed. An elementary teacher in any of our great cities may become the most skillful teacher in the United States, and still teach on to the end of her days without any acknowledgment in the way of salary or recognition for this superiority. The only motive which she usually has for success beyond that demanded to hold her position is her interest in the welfare of her children. While we find Carnegie and many similar men blossoming out at sixty-five or seventy into statesmanship which their earlier years did not show, the teacher is superannuated long before attaining this age. While recreation is not the complete answer to these con- ditions, it is an essential element in it. The teacher, in order to grow, must continue to study; but perhaps her greatest difficulty is that her work tends to become routine and causes no new mental reaction. To avoid this, she should lay it aside completely at frequent intervals, through some absorbing recreation, that she may come back to it with a fresh point of view. Success The product asked of the school is becoming more and more a social product. We no longer expect that the teacher shall Why Recreation is Necessary 13 teach arithmetic and geography alone. It matters not how skillful she may be in her teaching, or how high a percentage she may secure in the examinations ; if she is cross and nervous and mean-spirited, we shall not be satisfied with the result, because we know that the arithmetic and the geography will not compensate for the constant model of unlovely qualities which has been set before the children. School boards would generally refuse to employ a woman who is slovenly or dirty in her dress or whose morals are bad, or a man who they know drinks. It is also necessary that the teacher should be a wholesome physical type, that she should love those things that children ought to love, and do the things that children ought to do. If we can get a real love of the outdoors and its activities instilled into our teach- ing force, we shall largely solve the problem of organized recreation and of outdoor activities for children. The teacher with an enthusiasm for outdoor life will be, on that account, a more wholesome model to set before children. She will be more popular and more copied. But this is not all. Her health and vitality will be a large ele- ment in her success in teaching arithmetic and geography and every other subject; for without health she cannot have enthusiasm or buoyancy or attractive ways. Enjoyment of Life But in a large way we do not need any reasons for recreation. The teacher should do those things which she loves to do because it is in such experiences that life itself finds its ful- fillment and satisfaction. It is only thus that she can be contented and happy. CHAPTER II REDUCING THE STRAIN OF TEACHING For the conditions which have been disclosed, there are three possible remedies : the school may be improved so as to reduce the strain; the teacher may be better prepared for her work, so that she will not find it so difficult ; or there may be fuller provision for recreation. There can be no really satisfactory solution that does not take into account each of these remedies. Hygienic Conditions In any profession where there are so many breakdowns, despite a short day, and so much absence on account of sickness there must be something unhygienic in the conditions of the work. As the children and the teacher are living and working under practically the same conditions, we must suspect that a system which breaks down the teacher is also a source of strain for the children. There is no possibility of providing wholesome conditions for children without also pro- viding wholesome conditions for teachers. Anything which will aid in the solution of the one problem will aid in the solu- tion of the other also. It may be remarked that conditions are very much better now than they were forty or fifty years ago ; that our school buildings have been wonderfully improved ; and that the sanitary arrangements now provided were not even dreamed 14 Reducing the Strain of Teaching 15 of at that time. Our curriculum, also, is much more varied, and a majority of the subjects are more interesting and are better taught than they were a half century ago. This is all true ; but we must remember, on the other hand, that fifty years ago the large majority of the teachers and children were in rural schools which were in session only three or four months during the year. With such a short year, and in the country, neither teachers nor pupils need suffer under the strain of a program which is very poorly adapted to them ; but when we lengthen the school term so that it includes nine or ten months of the year, it is necessary that the program shall be reasonably well adjusted to the nature of the child and the teacher. When there is so much discussion of the advisability of lengthening the school day, and when the school year may soon be eleven or twelve months, it becomes increasingly important that the hygienic conditions shall be the best, and that the curriculum shall be one which permits a normal life. During the past education has been mainly a by-product of experience. Such education has always been held to be practical and effective. The school of the future will also offer more opportunities for doing things and having experi- ences. Medical Inspection The children come from homes of every sort, and in many there is little attention to hygiene. They are brought together in a classroom where the emanations from their bodies and the breath from their lungs are mingled with dust from the floor and the blackboards. The air is usually overheated, and nearly always too dry. There is often an insufficient amount 1 6 Recreation for Teachers of sunlight, and in general the conditions are ideal for the multiplication of germs. It is necessary to the teacher's health that the children shall be healthy. Five minutes after the school has begun, under ordinary conditions of ventilation, the teacher is breathing some air which has already passed through the lungs of every child in her class. Any one in a room where some one is smoking has ample proof of this, for it takes only a moment for the exhaled smoke to penetrate into every part of the room. It is well known that children's diseases, such as diphtheria, scarlet fever, whooping cough, measles, mumps, and chicken- pox, are spread largely through the school. If the teacher is to escape contact with them, it is necessary to see that children afflicted with them are kept at home. In order to be really safe, she must be able herself to diagnose the contagious diseases. It is a wise precaution in the new syllabus of physical training in the state of New York which requires the teacher to inspect all of her children every morning as to cleanliness, condition of their clothes, and any appearance of disease, and requires every child to undergo a medical examination each year and present a doctor's certificate before his admission to the class- room. Inspection of this sort should do much not only to pre- serve the health of the children and correct their physical de- fects, but also to safeguard the health of teachers. There should be medical inspection for the teachers no less than the children. In a number of our state universities there is a provision whereby the students pay a small fee at the beginning of the year and in return receive the attention of the school physicians and free hospital service for the entire year without further charge. Some such provision should be made for the teachers, either with or without a fee, so that Reducing the Strain of Teaching 17 at any time they can go to this doctor for an examination, a prescription, or medical attendance. It is impossible that any classroom should be a hygienic place, if 'the stale breath of the children, with all its odors and germs, is to be bottled up and kept at a temperature of seventy or more degrees. It is necessary that the air should be fre- quently changed and that as much of the school work as is consistent with efficiency should be done in the open air. Open-air schools have not only shown a great diminution in colds and affections of throat and lungs, but they have reduced anaemia and increased the scholastic attainment. The teacher benefits by these conditions no less than the child. In probably one half of the United States the open- air school is feasible for almost the entire year, and through- out our country it is feasible for at least half of the year. The drinking water at the schools is often the source of contagion. In country schools there is seldom connection of toilets with sewer or septic tank, and often the pump is only a short distance away. The common drinking cup is still found at many schools. A few years ago a bacteriological examination was made of the drinking cups in one of the high schools in the District of Columbia. The sediment in these cups was found to contain billions of germs of tuberculosis and pneumonia. A portion of this injected into two guinea pigs resulted in one dying of pneumonia within a couple of days, and the other of tuberculosis within a week. The bubble fountain is a hygienic necessity for the teacher no less than for the child. Every school should, of course, have ample toilet and washing facilities for the children and the teacher, in the interest of both cleanliness and health. Every school should l8 Recreation for Teachers be provided with paper towels. The common towel is a practical means of conveying skin or eye disease. Public towels are forbidden on railroad trains and in hotels in nearly every state, but they are still found in many schools. The common bar of soap is perhaps still more unhygienic, and liquid or powdered soap should everywhere be provided. The closed toilet seat should be prohibited in all public places, for reasons that should be obvious. One of the conditions of which very many New York teachers complain is the lack of separate toilet facilities. In nearly all of our new schools there is a teachers' room, which is generally provided with a couch and usually with separate toilet and drinking fountain. This provision should be universal. In some of our newer city schools the teachers are provided with a dining room adjoining the domestic economy room. They sit down at a table and may have warm soup, and tea or coffee, if they like, to go with their lunches. All this they prepare at very slight expense, and incidentally have a social half hour at least together. In some cases the lunch is served at cost by the students of domestic economy. The lighting of the school sometimes subjects the teacher to severe eye strain. This is true in general where there are windows in the back of the room, or where the lighting is inadequate. The color of the walls, also, in the long run probably has an appreciable effect. The dark colors usually make the room too dark. Red is usually regarded as a nervous irritant. A light tint of green is an excellent color in most cases. The schoolroom should be protected from both the noise of the street and the noise of other classes. This means, in Reducing the Strain of Teaching 19 most cases, that the school must be placed in a good-sized plot of ground. Sometimes the walls and floors, also, should be deadened in order to prevent the exercises in one class- room from disturbing the others. Segregating Atypical Children The class method presupposes typical children. Every one, however, is aware that children differ much from each other. For this presupposition to work out with even tolerable success, it is necessary that the children who vary most from the standard shall be segregated from the others. This means that there must be special schools or classes for dullards, for incorrigibles, and for bright children. Pressure has been brought to secure these special classes for the dullards and the incorrigibles, because no teacher wishes them in her class ; but there has not been the same effort to segregate the bright children, because every teacher wants their help to bring up the average standing. Nevertheless, as Joseph Lee has said, the common curriculum for these children is little better than an intellectual hobble-skirt. A large percentage of them are seriously harmed by having their pace set to that of the slower children. Professor Terman, in his Binet- Simons tests of the children of Palo Alto, found that practically everywhere the bright children were in grades lower than their mental ages. These children are apt to be mischief- makers when they do not have enough to do. Smaller Classes Another element of strain for the teacher in many schools is the size of the class. The law in Denmark and Scandinavia 20 Recreation for Teachers now fixes the maximum size of classes at thirty-four in the cities and forty in the country districts. In many of our city systems the new schools are being built with only thirty- six seats in a classroom. Not only do large classes impose a strain on account of discipline, but the large numbers always involve a large number of papers to correct as well as a larger number of backward and incorrigible children, and make it less easy for the teacher to understand and sympathize with individuals. The Curriculum As I look back on my own childhood, it seems to me that the least educational part of it was spent in the rural school. We had the three R's, and little else. In reading, we had selections from the masterpieces of literature. We learned to write, but we were living at home with no one to correspond with. We did not write compositions and had little use for this accomplishment. We learned to do sums in arithmetic, but I have thus far had little use for what we then learned. In geography, we learned the names and location of many cities, rivers, and mountain ranges, of which most of us had never heard, outside of the geography. In history, we learned paragraphs by rote which were practically nothing but chapter heads. They gave no picture of events, and were just about as illuminating and instructive as a page of the dictionary. Not more than a third of the words in our spell- ing lessons belonged to our vocabulary. The education we received was almost entirely out of adjustment with our world. President Suzzallo has said that we have made more prog- ress in education in the last decade than we did in the previous Reducing the Strain of Teaching 21 eighteen centuries. Everything gives promise of still greater growth in the future. A Study of Things rather than Words The old-time school came to us from the Renaissance. It was essentially a study of words — grammar and language — and what the children got out of it was largely words. Com- missioner Claxton says that when he was Superintendent of Schools in the city of Asheville, a girl came to him and wanted to be admitted to the sixth grade, but she said, " I do not want to take geography because I know all about the geography." "Well," he said, "where are the Allegheny Mountains?" "The Allegheny Mountains are in the eastern part of the United States; they extend from northeast to southwest." "Did you ever see the Allegheny Mountains?" "Oh, no." She was born on the side of Mt. Mitchell, the highest peak in the range, while Asheville itself is in the center of the range both ways, but she had failed to make the connection between the things in the geography and the things outside. Too much of our study has been of this type. Yet there is little in geography which we cannot find illustrated locally. On any hillside or near almost any mud puddle, we can find watersheds, watercourses, soil erosion, and similar things. We have wagon roads and trolleys and railroads over which local products are borne to the centers of population. We have people from different states and countries. We have a local government with police department, fire department, etc. The history of every locality is a cross section of the history of the United States, and gives a natural interpretation of it. 22 Recreation for Teachers The mathematics which is actually used in any locality — the common buying and selling and making of change, the calculation of distances, areas, and the like — is easily taught and interesting to children. The place to begin is nearly always with a study of nature and living forms, such as rocks, plants, birds, and animals. Little children are interested in almost any story that Nature has to tell. While it may be interesting to the children in a manufactur- ing town in Massachusetts to know of the wheat fields of the Northwest, it is more practical for the children of Waltham to know how watches are made. Yet children often grow up with little knowledge of the productions or industries of their own locality. This is not so largely true abroad. The information which children collect from observation of the world and its activities around them is quite as signifi- cant as anything which grown people observe. Children from six to ten years of age are generally very well informed about everything that is going on in the neighborhood and have a pretty accurate idea of its significance. How foolish, then, does it seem to see one of these children reading, "Does the ox like hay? Yes, the ox likes hay. The ox is in the stall," etc. More Activity As the most common affection of teachers is nervousness, so the relief which is most needed is relief to the nerves. School conditions are very unnatural so far as the child is concerned. He naturally spends nearly all his energy in physical activity. He has few inhibitions and wishes to talk about anything which interests him. His interests are pri- Reducing the Strain of Teaching 23 marily in doing things. It is this requirement of inactivity which places the greatest strain upon the teacher. To-day gardening is being introduced or has been introduced into most of our larger school systems. There are two phases of this work. One is the raising of flowers and the beautifying of the grounds of the schools and private yards. To the child the flower is a message from Nature's heart. He often talks to it and kisses it as though it were another little child. The love of beauty comes naturally to him. Then, there is the raising of vegetables. Agriculture is one of the oldest occupations ; it is still by far the largest. It makes the child acquainted at first hand with our chief foods, or at least some of them. It gives reasonably good exercise in the open air. It furnishes employment for idle hours and idle hands during the summer months and makes it possible for the village and the city boy to do actual work. Under intensive cultivation a garden fifty by one hundred feet in size will furnish to a small family vegetables of a better quality than would otherwise be secured. Just now this phase of gardening is a patriotic duty. The modern school contains many forms of hand work which were once common activities of the race, but which lapsed with the advent of the factory system and the division of labor. These include drawing and painting, weaving, raffia, basketry, clay modeling, and pottery. As school occupations, these allow considerable freedom of conversation and move- ment. It is scarcely necessary to defend manual training and do- mestic economy. They are part of our pedagogic doctrine; they are being rapidly introduced into our schools, and we can be reasonably certain that they will soon be given to all 24 Recreation for Teachers children. In them, also, there is natural interest, more freedom of conversation and motion, and little strain for either the teacher or the child. We have neglected music, but a new era is upon us. There is now a supervisor of music in most of our larger school sys- tems ; there are many fine choruses in high schools and elemen- tary schools and many good school bands and orchestras. We are beginning to credit private music lessons at school. Through the greatly improved victrolas and phonographs, it is possible to acquaint children with the great music of all time. Music is adding a new element of interest and relief. Nearly all of our new high schools have a stereopticon, and a considerable proportion of them have also a moving pic- ture machine. It seems likely that in time most of our schools will be so equipped, and that much of the instruction in geography, history, and science will be given in this way. Such instruction may well cut one or two years from the time of the elementary school, and considerable strain from the teacher's day. The little child is a natural actor. He wishes to impersonate most of the people he sees and to dramatize all the interesting events. When the circus comes to town, he usually plays cir- cus for the next month or so. Every one is familiar with the constant tea parties, doctor's visits, and the like, which appear on the child's little stage. We have often made acting dim- cult and uninteresting to children by requiring them to learn set words, but they are under no such necessity. A group of children, after hearing an interesting story, like Jack and the Beanstalk, or Cinderella, once read or told, are often quite ready to dramatize it. They feel no embarrassment because they do not remember the words. Acting makes the story Reducing the Strain of Teaching 25 more vivid and real, and such stories are seldom forgotten. Dramatics and dramatic readers are being used more and more. Organized Play and Athletics The school of the future will have more and more organized physical activity. In Germany, for several decades, three hours of play and physical training have been required in the weekly program of all elementary schools. In 191 5, the state of Illinois passed a law requiring one hour a week. In 191 6, the state of New York passed a law requiring two hours and forty minutes a week, afterwards increased to five hours and forty minutes. In 1917, the state of California passed a law requiring two hours a week. The schools of Gary have long required from five to twelve hours a week of play and physical training, according to the grade of the children. And the program of the English preparatory and public schools, for several decades, has included about twelve hours a week. Swimming will soon be on the program of many of our ele- mentary schools. No one is allowed to graduate from a number of our universities without learning to swim. In Boston, swimming is required for high school graduation, and in some cities it is required in the elementary schools. The great difficulty in the past has been that there have been no adequate facilities, but most of our new high schools and many of our new elementary schools have swimming pools either built or planned. In London, for twenty-five years or more, the children have been taught to swim in the public swimming pools by their regular teachers. Such a school should offer to children and teachers a fairly 26 Recreation for Teachers normal life. But we must also have a normal hygienic length of school periods and a better organization of the intermissions. In studies of the fatigue of school children, the aesthesiometer has shown that fatigue increases rapidly after a period of about forty-five minutes, as do also mistakes in arithmetic and other subjects. By law in Prussia, a forty- five minute class period must be followed by a fifteen-minute recess. However, in many cities like Berlin and Dresden, the work period is only thirty minutes for the first three grades. Professor Leo Bergstein of Vienna, perhaps the fore- most authority in school hygiene, has said for many years that forty-five minutes should be the maximum for an ele- mentary school period. Dr. Koch, the great authority on tuberculosis, in his address at the International School Hygiene Congress at Buffalo in 1914, said that forty-five minutes should be the utmost limit of a school period. Most of our prominent hygienists in this country have long said the same. In our high schools, normal schools, and colleges, the periods are mostly forty or fifty minutes in length. We realize that these older persons have far greater powers of inhibition than little children. Nevertheless, there are many schools where there are no school intermissions except the one at noon, and in the great majority there is only one fifteen- minute recess in the forenoon and in the afternoon. This usually means that even little children have periods of ninety minutes, which is just double the legal maximum in Germany. It is necessary to the welfare of both the teacher and the children that at the end of each thirty or forty-five minute period they should go out into the open, fill up their lungs with air that has not been breathed before, and throw off the strain of enforced physical inactivity. Reducing the Strain of Teaching 27 Where there is shop work, cooking and regular periods in the gymnasium or on the playground, it would be desirable, prob- ably, to lengthen the period and possibly also to shorten in such cases the corresponding play periods. This would allow the children to have their intermissions at different times, and the playground might be in use practically all the time without being overcrowded. Play for the Teacher's Own Sake Teachers as a body should resist any tendency to place the general organization of play, especially at recess times, under physical directors. The qualities which are most essential in play leadership are a love of play, sympathy with and under- standing of children, and ability to become one of a group. The teacher who can play with her children in this spirit should find the recess no less relief than they. Every teacher should have some preparation along the line of play in the normal school, both in learning the games and in the study of play as the dominant motive in child life and education. There is almost no other way in which she can get that intimate touch with children which results in a sympathetic understanding of their motives. Since the teacher needs play no less than the child, the directing of the play of her own children offers the easiest possible solution both of the problem of organized play for the child and that of recreation and fresh air for the teacher. School Excursions For nearly half a century they have been taking the children in Germany on excursions to visit the shops, factories, public 28 Recreation for Teachers buildings, and other places of interest in the locality ; there are also trips which take the children into distant provinces and sometimes require three or four weeks. Such walking trips are now being organized under the Boy Scouts and the Camp Fire Girls, and in connection with nearly all of our larger playground associations ; and more and more they are getting into the schools. We may confidently expect a great advance in this direction in the next decade. Scholastic Subjects While these new subjects will occupy a considerable space in the school of the future, they will not crowd out the three R's. On the contrary, it seems likely that these subjects will be more completely mastered than in the school that was devoted exclusively to them. The ordinary school requires all children to make the same progress in all subjects. But Dr. Burke, of the Normal School at San Francisco, has found that some children, pursuing their own pace under the method of individual instruction, will often cover the half year of ninety-five days in arithmetic in nine or ten days, while others may take as many as one hundred fifteen or one hundred twenty days for the work, and the same is true in every subject. Dr. Burke says that under his method, where children are allowed to follow their natural rate of progress, no children fail to make their grades, and there has not been a case of discipline in the school of six hundred in more than a year. All of the teachers say that this modified Montessori method, which omits the class reci- tation and seeks to stimulate and assist children individually, relieves the teacher of most of the strain of the schoolroom.. Reducing the Strain of Teaching 29 While I hold no brief for the Montessori method, I am con- vinced that the school of the future will give greater freedom of motion, will offer a greater opportunity for individual variation, and will be much more like life than has been the school of the past. These features of the Montessori schools, at any rate, we may well utilize as far as possible. Sympathetic Supervision The teacher must be reasonably free to follow her own methods so long as she gets results. For the superintendent or principal to prescribe the details of teaching is little less than a crime. So, also, if the teacher feels that the powers above are seeking to find fault and that she always has adverse criticism to fear, it may take most of the pleasure out of her work. The teacher is in danger of going to sleep ; she needs stimulus ; but she must always feel that the criticism which she receives is sympathetic, and that the superintendent is interested in her welfare no less than in the welfare of her children. "But man, proud man, dressed in a little brief authority, Plays such fantastic tricks before high Heaven, As make the angels weep." Shakespeare. On this point Dr. Wood says, "9.5% of the school condi- tions reported by supervisors as most detrimental to the health and general welfare of teachers are classed under ' apprehension of teachers ' — ' fear of supervisors or of criticism ; unpleasant relations between teachers and superior officers ' ; i uncertain tenure'; ' single trustee as hiring official/ etc." 1 1 " Report of New York Commission on Health of Teachers." 30 Recreation for Teachers The picture of the future which has been given is not a mere dream. All the lines of activity which have been mentioned are being rapidly introduced in our different cities and towns. This new school will be a much better place, both for the children and the teacher, than was the school of old. It will allow considerable physical activity, and much more con- versation and social life among the children. The study of real things will develop spontaneous interests. So far as the teacher takes part in these activities and mingles in a more social way with her children, the new school should relieve her of most of the strain under which she has hereto- fore worked. CHAPTER III FACTORS IN THE ENJOYMENT OF TEACHING If a fortune were left to every teacher in the United States to-night, how many of them would appear on time at their schools to-morrow morning ? How many would apply for their positions again next year? I suspect that the pro- portion would not be large. If, on the other hand, a fortune were left to each of the clergymen, the lawyers, or the doctors, a much smaller proportion would probably give up their work. Such a condition indicates either that the school is not adjusted to the teacher, or that the teacher is not adjusted to the school. We have already indicated some of the changes in the school which are necessary if teaching is to be a really enjoyable profession. In this chapter we are to consider the changes which are necessary in the teacher. There are many in the teaching profession who should never have become teachers. A person may pass a very good examination in the common subjects and still be poorly fitted. People with tubercular or nervous tendencies should avoid teaching, as should unsocial people who do not like children. But probably the chief subjective reason for teachers' failure to enjoy their profession is that they have been in- adequately prepared. They have not really mastered the sub- jects which they are teaching and they have had no adequate training or experience in methods which would help them to 31 32 Recreation for Teachers do their work easily. We have here the question of vocational guidance and vocational training. This is fundamental to the problem which we have in hand, because the teacher's need of recreation grows out of hard school conditions and her own inadequacies. So far as her work is her play, recrea- tion becomes less necessary. One of the most determining factors in happiness is temperament. There are those whom nothing depresses, whose spirits bubble over on nearly all occasions, whose buoyancy always magnifies pleasures and discounts pains, until all life is bathed in sunlight ; there are others whose sky is always overcast. When we wake up in the middle of the night, it often seems as though our prospects were as dark as our chamber, but these forebodings are usually dispelled by the morning. At times when we are dyspeptic or bilious or when things go wrong, the whole horizon seems dark. There are people whose temperament is such that the future always seems gloomy. In our lives from day to day there are pleasures and also pains. If we dwell on the pleasures and overlook the pains, life seems pleasant ; if we put the emphasis on the pains and forget the pleasures, life seems very wretched. This is just the difference between the pessimist and the optimist — the optimist gives his attention to the pleasures, while the pessimist dwells upon the pains. We must learn to disregard the things that are unpleasant. If a tooth begins to ache, and we think about it, the pain will soon become intense ; but if we read an exciting novel or go to a picture show, we may forget the tooth. When we get up on a winter's morning in a cold room, if we think of how cold we are, we are very uncomfortable ; but if we think only of getting Factors in the Enjoyment of Teaching 33 dressed and getting down to breakfast, we scarcely notice the cold. We all see life through blue glasses at times, and there are some of us who always see the future in this way. We probably all know people who would be perfectly sure that a certain venture were coming out wrong, if the chances were even ; and there are certain times when all of us are thus minded. We must learn to discount our conclusions by our own personal equation. If we are in a despondent mood, we must add twenty-five to fifty per cent to our hopes of success. If we are of a melancholy temperament, we must always add twenty-five to fifty per cent of sunshine to make our expectations match the probabilities. It is difficult to learn to discount our personality in this way, but it can be done, and for many it is essential to happiness. The belief that disaster is impending always tends to pro- duce it. If the teacher believes that she is going to lose her position and goes before her principal and superintendent and the school board in the attitude of mind which this belief will engender, the expected will probably happen. Moreover, this anticipation of coming evil makes any person a dis- agreeable companion. There is little difference between play and work except in the spirit in which it is done. The little boy builds his play- house in the yard, and Michael Angelo builds St. Peter's. The child draws on the sidewalk, and Raphael paints a Sistine Madonna, and there is no less of joy in the achievement of the artist than there was in the play of the child. The little girl plays with her doll, and if it squeaks and can say "Mamma," she thinks it a wonderful doll. But the baby laughs and cries, and every day he has a new word, a new 34 Recreation for Teachers action. The baby is the most wonderful piece of play ap- paratus that ever came from the hands of the Almighty. We are accustomed to think of the mother as working when she is caring for her baby, but in fact the mother with a little child is the most perfect picture of play that there is any- where in the world. We all as children used to play at teaching school. If we can carry this same spirit into our ac- tual teaching, we shall be much more successful than we can be under any other conditions. We have been accustomed to say that the preacher is called to preach, though we have not usually said that the teacher is called to teach. But exactly the same call comes to the teacher and the preacher alike: the call of joy in their work. No person ever did a great piece of work anywhere and found that work drudgery, for it is the joy which we have in our work that leads to success. If the teacher does not and cannot find pleasure in teaching, she had better give it up, for it is quite certain that she will never be successful in it, that she will be wronging herself and her children as long as she continues to teach. If a man were a savings bank, he might be rewarded in money for his work, but just so far as he is a spiritual being, he can be paid only in spiritual values. If his soul finds no reward in the work itself, his life will be wasted, no matter what his gains. The teacher must seek for her deepest satisfaction in her teaching. Every one degenerates under drudgery. There is no possi- bility of a satisfying life unless one finds in his work something of enjoyment. " Write it upon thy heart," said Emerson, " to-day is the best day in all the year." If our lives are to be worth while, it will be because the individual days have been worth while ; for " our to-days and yesterdays are the blocks with which we build." Factors in the Enjoyment of Teaching 33 To a very considerable extent the question whether we shall find our work play or drudgery is a matter of suggestion. We all remember the case of Tom Sawyer and the fence he had to paint. He told the boys there is nothing quite so delightful as to paint a fence, and they gave him their tops and mouth organs and jew's-harps for the privilege of painting the fence. But if, on the other hand, he had told them there is nothing quite so disagreeable as painting a fence, he probably would have had to pay them as much as they were glad to pay him. Whether or not the teacher is to enjoy the painting of her fence depends largely upon her mental attitude. There are five subjective conditions which are essential to the enjoyment of teaching. These are : that the teacher shall have good health; that she shall not work too hard; that she shall be a good disciplinarian; that she shall love knowledge ; and that she shall love children. Good Health No person can find work pleasant when he is full of aches and pains and lassitude, when everything done is the result of a conscious effort. The teacher must have some reserves of energy for what she has to do. Work Not Too Hard Teachers are very conscientious as a rule and ofttimes very ambitious. I have known women to teach day school and night school, keep house, carry on special courses on Saturday morning, and attend summer school. No boy would want to play even baseball for ten or fifteen hours a day. If it came to that, baseball would become drudgery. All kinds 36 Recreation for Teachers of play become work if carried on for too long hours and with too great effort, and all kinds of work become drudgery under exactly the same conditions. The teacher who would enjoy her work must not be continually overworking. But over- work is often a question of the amount of preparation which one has had. An adequate preparation and experience may make work light which otherwise would be a serious strain. Discipline It is usually the discipline of the schoolroom that imposes the greatest strain. No teacher can enjoy her work unless she is a fairly good disciplinarian. Otherwise an undue amount of her energy will be given to the discipline, and fric- tion with the children will almost inevitably result. The Love of Knowledge If the teacher is to love to teach, she must possess the knowledge that she is to impart, and she must also have a vital interest in it. If we set the teacher whose preparation has been in mathematics to teaching French, or assign the French teacher to mathematics, the work is likely to be drudgery to both. We know how devoted Agassiz was to science. He often forgot his meals and "did not have time to make money." Such a love of knowledge is practically always a love of some particular branch of knowledge. It is doubtful if there can be any love of knowledge in general. There may be a love of history, but it must be a history that portrays real life vividly. There may be a love of botany, but it is not possible to develop it from a description of flowers. The same principle applies to most forms of knowledge. Factors in the Enjoyment of Teaching 37 Textbooks are useful as guides, but if we make them the sole subjects of our study, the knowledge gained is usually dead. Children of four or five are intensely interested in every- thing that has to do with the natural world. Their questions cover almost the entire range of knowledge. But these same children in high school are often almost entirely indifferent. Their very desire to know seems to be dead. We have given them abstract ideas rather than facts. We have taught geography out of a book, without becoming ac- quainted with the concrete geography of our own neighbor- hood. We have begun with abstract numbers in arithmetic and disregarded the problems of the child's daily life. We cannot make knowledge attractive in this way. But the teacher who takes children to visit factories and industries and stores, who studies birds and flowers and rocks in the neighboring fields, who brings to light the early history of the locality, will have a new invigorating contact with actual things which will keep her mind alive and growing. Such contact will almost inevitably lead to further study and to a new love of knowledge. The information it yields will also be a valuable social and business asset to her. The Love of Children Teaching is fundamentally an expression of the parental instinct. It has grown out of an interest in the child and a hope for his future. The love of children is the most neces- sary characteristic of the teacher who really loves her work. Ideally, she should see her teaching as a task placed in her hands by the Master, and look into the eyes of her children with hope and aspiration for their future, realizing that their 38 Recreation for Teachers success and happiness will be largely determined by the spirit and efficiency of her work. The great teachers have nearly all been of this type. Every soul demands a sympathetic environment for its unfolding. There are few experiences which are more en- nobling than motherhood. Many of us have seen a superficial and trifling young woman turned into a responsible and capable matron by this experience. It brings to the feminine nature that one experience to which all its deeper aspirations respond, and out of which the finest qualities of the human mind and spirit come. We do not always find that teaching is equally ennobling. It is essential to any sort of educational success that there be an atmosphere of sympathy between pupil and teacher. Children will not learn even arithmetic from a teacher whom they do not like, and when it comes to those more subtle ele- ments of training which involve habit and character, an un- popular teacher is apt to be a negative force. Every day that the teacher spends surrounded by feelings of indifference or dislike will produce a crop of unamiable traits and responses in her own character. She will all un- consciously become less pleasant in her ways, less courteous, and less considerate, and even the lines of her face will grow hard and disagreeable. In mere self-protection, she must in some way manage to like her children and be liked by them. Recently I heard of a teacher who, in speaking of her children, said she " just hated the little brats." I am sure that neither this teacher nor her children enjoy the school. No teacher can afford to teach such a class, and no parents should allow their children to remain in such a class. However, love is much like the wind that "bloweth Factors in the Enjoyment of Teaching 39 whither it listeth." We cannot love or abstain from loving at our own behest. Is it possible for this spirit to be developed in the teacher ? This is perhaps the greatest mission of child study. We fail to love people because we do not understand them. If we can really enter into the nature of any one and understand his motives and desires, we almost always sym- pathize with him. If any one is skeptical, let him consider how easily we sympathize with the heroes of stories. The teacher who will study her children and their home life, es- pecially if she will play with them, will almost inevitably come to love them. The child in the typical classroom is a caged animal. It is only when the teacher gets out on the play- ground that she sees the real and lovable child. Sympathy and kindliness grow only in a spirit of cooperation. They can be developed only where the teacher and the children do many things together. Teaching is usually only a temporary occupation. The teacher is soon married and a mother. Experience in teaching should be an excellent preparation, both physically and spirit- ually, for motherhood. The teacher who takes part in the games and physical exercises of the playground should be- come strong and well. The teacher who learns to under- stand and love children will have gained the best possible preparation to care for children of her own. The most important period in the life of every child is the period be- fore the beginning of school, and here the mother is his only teacher. But, some superintendent is sure to say, the purpose of the schools is not to enable the teachers to have a good time. Whether they enjoy their work or not is of minor importance ; their efficiency is the important thing. There is something 40 Recreation for Teachers fundamentally wrong in the constitution of the world and the profession if the things that are essential to the enjoyment of teaching are different from the things that are essential to efficiency. It is not possible for the teacher to put forth her best efforts unless she enjoys her work. All of the suggestions which have been offered for making the teacher's work more pleasant will help also to make it more efficient. Now some teacher is probably thinking, "My enjoyment of teaching is not dependent chiefly on the things enumerated. If I am to enjoy my work, I must have a secure position; I must be thoroughly prepared in the subjects that I am to teach; and I must be sure that the principal, the super- intendent, and the parents approve of me and my work. It is necessary that the children should like me, but I do not see that it is necessary for me to like them." This is a common point of view, but all of these conditions are mere reflections of the teacher's own attitude. They represent, in the main, things with which she is not directly concerned. It is not her duty to be respected, but to be worthy of respect ; not to be loved, but to love. If the sun but shines, the moon will give back the reflection. No one can allow herself to become anaemic and nervous and fretful by neglecting her health, and be a proper teacher of little children. If it comes to a question of our placing in the schoolroom a wholesome, joyous personality with com- paratively little pedagogy, or an anaemic, dyspeptic, cross Ph.D. with all the pedagogy in the world, most of us would choose the former teacher. The most important thing that the teacher takes into her classroom is herself. Let us hope that our children may be taught by one who, in addition to a full professional training, has also the grace and the vigor Factors in the Enjoyment of Teaching 41 of a wholesome personality. Such a teacher is a joy to see and a joy to recite to, and only such a teacher may go on to old age, ennobled by her work, finding it ever a joy and a means to a larger life. If, then, we have a schoolroom which is beautiful, well lighted, heated, and ventilated, with proper drinking water and toilet facilities, where health conditions are properly supervised, where school periods are not too long, and where there is an abundance of organized play, domestic economy, manual training, gardening, excursions, and the like, and if the teacher also has good health, is not overworked, has sympathetic supervision, is a good disciplinarian, is adequately trained, and has a love of knowledge and a love of children, she may find nearly all the recreation she needs in her work itself, and may go on to old age growing more attractive and wholesome from day to day and year to year. But, for every one of these conditions that is lacking, some compen- satory recreation will be necessary. If the schoolroom is poorly ventilated, if the classes are too large, if the periods are too long, if the children must be kept constantly inactive physically, if the teacher's health is poor or her work is too hard, if she is a poor disciplinarian, if she does not love the subjects or the children which she teaches, recreation will be necessary in order to throw off the strain caused by each of these deficiencies and to normalize her health. One of the greatest compliments I ever received came to me as the director of a playground on the East Side in New York City. From the beginning of the day to near its end, I had been organizing one game after another for four or five hundred children. At about four o'clock a small boy came to me and said, "Teacher, isn't it funny ; you come here and 42 Recreation for Teachers play all day long and have a good time and then you get paid for it." I believe a successful lawyer or doctor or clergyman finds the work of his mature years no less interesting than the baseball of his boyhood. May we not hope that this will some day be true also of teachers ? CHAPTER IV WHAT SORT OF RECREATION DO TEACHERS NEED? Play is the result of the instinct or tendency to pursue the activities of our forefathers. These activities are con- ventionalized at present in the form of games. They serve in a general way to educate the individual in the activities of the race. Recreation, on the other hand, does not have this serious purpose, but is intended, as the name signifies, to re-create wasted or fatigued powers. Teachers need both play and recreation. Most of them come to their profes- sion under-developed physically and without adequate reserve force. It is therefore not enough merely to replenish, from week to week, their used-up energies. The following statistics were gathered from responses to the simple question — "What do you do for recreation in the fall? winter? spring?" No names were signed. Al- though the numbers are not large, there is such close agree- ment between them that it seems likely that they are reliable and typical. It will be noticed that in all these tables there is almost no evidence of cooperative recreation or of activities that are planned. Evidently the teachers are taking just what comes along. It is equally evident that the activities selected are poorly suited to their needs. Thus, while nearly one hundred per cent of all teachers should play some vigorous games 43 44 Recreation for Teachers Recreation of 148 Teachers of Flint, Michigan fancy work Fall Winter Spring Sewing 33 38 17 Crocheting 22 34 17 Tatting 1 2 1 China painting 2 o o Totals 58 74 35 SOCIAL RECREATION Visiting 22 30 16 Cards 5 H 5 Billiards o 2 o Dancing ££ 35^ 13 Totals 38 81 34 PASSIVE RECREATION Reading 95 100 84 Lectures 15 37 n Concerts 9 27 o Music 26 19 17 Movies 40 60 37 Theater 10 22 8 Entertainments 15 12 n Totals 210 277 168 DRIVING Riding 23 o 5 Driving 4 o 10 Motoring 21 o 17 Sleighing __o 4^ _o Totals 48 4 32 Totals 88 73 4 2 167 68 24 2 59 153 279 63 36 62 137 40 J* 655 28 14 38 _4 84 What Sort of Recreation do Teachers Need? 45 Recreation of 148 Teachers of Flint, Michigan — Continued EXCURSIONS Fall Winter Spring Totals Nutting 1 o o 1 Picnics 1 o 8 9 Nature study 1 o 8 9 Trips £ 4 2 7 Totals 4 4 18 26 AVOCATIONS Gardening 2 o 14 16 . Housework 8 5 4 17 Totals 10 5 18 33 SPORTS Canoeing 1 o 8 9 Horseback riding 4 o o 4 Roller skating 2 2 1 5 Skating o 28 o 28 Coasting o 6 o 6 Swimming o o 2 2 Fishing o o 2 2 Camping o o 2 2 Ice boating o 1 o 1 Walking 106 43 91 240 Totals 113 80 106 299 GAMES Bowling o 2 o 2 Football 5 o o 5 Baseball o o 4 4 Basket ball o 8 o 8 Tennis 7 o 23 30 Games 1 2 o 3 Totals 13 12 27 52 46 Recreation for Teachers Recreation of 146 Teachers of Decatur, Illinois fancy work Fall Winter Spring Totals Fancy work 10 26 7 43 SOCIAL RECREATION Visiting 11 11 6 28 Cards 8 18 6 32 Parties o 2 o 2 Clubs 3 3 4 10 Dancing 8 19 7 34 Totals 30 53 2 3 IQ 6 PASSIVE RECREATION Reading 72 79 57 208 Lectures 4 3 2 9 Music 15 16 12 43 Movies 34 38 21 93 Theater 21 ^$ 13 67 Entertainments 4 9 5 18 Totals 150 178 no 438 DRIVING Driving 27 6 26 59 AVOCATIONS Sewing 10 13 7 30 Gardening 5 o 15 20 Housework 8 7 7 22 Church 5 6 4 15 Sleep _3 _^ _3 _£ Totals 31 29 36 96 What Sort of Recreation do Teachers Need? 47 Recreation of 146 Teachers of Decatur, Illinois — Continued SPORTS Fall Winter Spring Totals Canoeing 3 o 3 6 Horseback riding 1 o o 1 Skating o 20 o 20 Coasting o 2 o 2 Swimming 2 1 7 10 Camping 1 o o 1 Track work o o 2 2 Bicycling 1 o o 1 Coaching 6 6 6 18 Kodaking 1 o 2 3 Rowing o o 3 3 Military o o 3 3 Walking 93 70 85 248 Totals 108 99 in 318 GAMES Golf 9 o 7 16 Tennis 29 o 41 70 Games 9 4 10 23 Totals 47 4 58 109 Recreation of 68 Teachers of Oil City, Pennsylvania fancy work Sewing 3 Crocheting 9 Tatting „ . . 4 Embroidering _S_ 21 SOCIAL RECREATION Visiting 4 Cards 8 Dancing 5 Literary club _4 21 48 Recreation for Teachers Recreation of 68 Teachers of Oil City, Pennsylvania — Continued PASSIVE RECREATION Reading 31 Music 6 Movies 15 Theater 1 53 DRIVING Driving 7 EXCURSIONS Bird study 3 Trips 2 5 AVOCATIONS Gardening 1 Raising flowers 2 Caring for lawn 1 Raising chickens 2 Herding sheep 1 Housework 10 SPORTS Canoeing 4 Horseback riding 1 Coasting 2 Swimming 4 Camping 1 Hunting 2 Kodaking 1 Walking 33 48 What Sort of Recreation do Teachers Need? 49 Recreation of 68 Teachers of Oil City, Pennsylvania — Continued GAMES Bowling 8 Baseball 1 Basket ball 1 Tennis 6 16 Recreation of 65 Teachers of Keosauqua, Iowa fancy work Crocheting 4 SOCIAL RECREATION Dancing 11 Music 3 Singing _i IS PASSIVE RECREATION Reading 12 DRIVING Riding 1 Motoring 7 8 AVOCATIONS Gardening 1 Housework 2 3 SPORTS Skating 5 Swimming 5 Walking 52 62 E 50 Recreation for Teachers Recreation of 65 Teachers of Keosauqua, Iowa — Continued GAMES Baseball 19 Indoor baseball 2 Basket ball 5 Volleyball 6 Tennis 11 Croquet . . 1 Games 14 18 and take part in some form of sport, far less than ten per cent take part in any kind of sport outside of walking, and not more than ten per cent in most of the lists play any kind of games, reckoning each season of the year separately. Passive recreation and fancy work, which have little to offer to teachers, practically always rank much higher than sports and games. In any well-ordered life, visiting, reading, sports, and games should each have at least one hundred per cent of all teachers in each period of the year. Even this would be a very meager minimum, because most vigorous people take part in more than one kind of sport and play more than one kind of game. However, if we take the various recreational activities of all the teachers together, we have a fair composite picture of what every one should do. It would not really be extreme, if each teacher should, in the course of the year, take part in all of the activities here outlined. The only rural group represented in these tables is Keo- sauqua, Iowa, and it will be seen that sports and games occupy a more prominent place with them than they do in any of the other lists, and that, on the whole, their recreation is not far wrong. What Sort of Recreation do Teachers Need? 51 In practically all these groups, the three principal forms of recreation are reading, walking, and moving pictures, with the exception of the rural group at Keosauqua, Iowa, where moving pictures do not appear among the forms of recreation. It may be questioned, however, how far any of these so- called recreations are recreative ; it appears in the Flint group, for instance, that the walking mentioned is the walking to and from school, since there is an almost complete lack of various excursions which would be taken in connection with walking trips out of town. What is Fatigue? Ever since the classic study of Mosso on fatigue, it has been understood that its phenomena are due primarily to the toxic products which are left in the body by exercise. In any ac- tivity the tissues involved are torn down, and the old cells are thrown into the circulation, to be cast out through the lungs, the urine, and the sweat glands. It is owing to this waste that the red blood of the heart becomes blue, the fresh water which we drink becomes charged with urea and other substances, and our underwear becomes stained and mal- odorous. The vigor of each tissue is in proportion to its newness. The muscle must be constantly destroyed by ac- tivity and rebuilt by recreation. Mosso found through his series of experiments that after this process of cell destruction has gone on rapidly for a time, it becomes impossible to eliminate the waste products as fast as they are formed. They clog and poison the system, and the person begins to feel fatigued. It was found that, if the blood or the waste products of a fatigued dog are injected 52 Recreation for Teachers into the body of a normal dog, the second dog will immediately show all the characteristics of fatigue. But if the waste products are washed out of the body, fatigue does not ensue. This shows how necessary perspiration and the other excre- tions are to health. Probably all of us have at times taken violent exercise, and then have retired without taking a bath, and perhaps wearing the same underwear. Often we have found ourselves stiff and sore the next day and perhaps almost as tired as we were at the end of the exercise. At other times, after a period of hard work or play, we have taken a bath with vigorous massage and have found ourselves within an hour as fresh as we were in the beginning. Where the waste products are not removed from the skin, they are apt to be reabsorbed into the circulation. It is not merely the people who are working hard, or taking part in violent athletics, in whom this destruction of tissues occurs. It is a process which is continuous for every one, but the rate is in proportion to the vigor of the activity. Even if one is taking little exercise, and that not of such a nature as to cause perspiration, the system is likely to become clogged with waste products, until he has a feeling of lassitude and a disinclination to effort. The Rebuilding Process While the destruction and elimination of old muscle tissue is necessary to strength, it is just as necessary that there shall be periods of rest or relative inactivity and of sleep, for recuperation. In our sleep the destructive processes have nearly ceased, but the vital forces are also largely at rest. What Sort of Recreation do Teachers Need? 53 The respiration is slow, the heartbeat is weak, and rebuilding goes on slowly. If the person has been working or playing hard physically, so that the fatigue is general, the best form of recreation may be a period of complete inactivity or sleep. But if, on the other hand, his fatigue is mental, or affects only a part of the muscular system, the most rapid recuperation comes not from complete repose, but from a stimulation of all the activities of the body (to their highest effectiveness), without an excessive use of those muscles or faculties which are to be renovated. Nearly all of the recuperative processes belong to the youth of the race. A return to primitive conditions is always restful, while the conditions of civilized life in a great city tend usually to nervous instability. Practically all the sounds of nature — the rustle of the leaves, the breaking of the waves upon the seashore, the songs of the birds, the myriad voices of forest and stream — come as a balm to the tired spirit and bring healing on their wings ; but the creaking of machinery, the rumbling of wheels, the sounds of the city streets, all jar upon us. This contrast is as true of sights as of sounds. It is difficult to build up strength amidst the lights and shadows of the town. On the other hand, the sight of clouds and blue sky, of flowers and green trees, of the distant sea, are all restful. It is the same with activities. Practically all play and most forms of recreation are derived from the activities of our ancestors and go back to primitive life, mostly to the hunt and chase. The work of the factory, the activities of the street and office, often involve a constant nervous irrita- tion; while to row upon the river, to walk on its banks or 54 Recreation for Teachers through the forests, or to climb the mountain, brings rest and soothing. Most of the recreation which the city offers is indoors, in air denied by the breath of others. The moving picture and the theater are not recreation in the sense which we have defined the word. They allow us to forget our cares and wor- ries, but they also involve a considerable nerve strain and do little rebuilding. No one could recuperate by continuous attendance at the theater. Perhaps the only artificial enter- tainment which may be counted as a real period of rebuilding is music. Music, although not a natural sound, is soothing and restful. Other than this, about the only forms of recrea- tion in the city which can be counted as recreative in this larger sense are games — baseball, tennis, and the like — and such sports as swimming, skating, and rowing. The Teacher's Special Problems physical conditions On the physical side, the teacher needs relief from the bad air of the schoolroom ; from standing still, which is often more wearying than walking; and from the nerve strain of teaching and discipline. To overcome the effects of vitiated air and standing still, the teacher should get out of doors at the close of school, and take exercise which will fill her lungs with good air. To eliminate waste and give a good complexion, the exercise should produce perspiration, and should be followed by a bath. To counteract nerve strain, the exercise should be in the open air, and if possible in a place where flowers can be seen and the birds and the wind in the trees can be heard. During What Sort of Recreation do Teachers Need? 55 recreation as well as work clothing and shoes should not be too tight. The physical system should be kept in good work- ing order. Glasses should be worn if necessary to avoid eye strain. To overcome the tendency to tuberculosis, the teacher should be out of doors as much as possible and develop her lungs by proper exercise. Almost any form of outdoor games, such as baseball or tennis, will meet the requirements which have been mentioned, as will also such sports as skating, coasting, swimming, and long walks into the country. It is doubtful, however, if there is any better form of exercise for teachers than playing games with their own children, provided they are really fond of the children and do not find discipline difficult. There are, however, many forms of recreation which do not meet the needs which have been enumerated in this section, and thesej unfortunately, are those which teachers usually select. For instance, walking to and from school in the city, while better than riding on the street car, is not the most desirable form of recreation because the sights and sounds of the city streets are not restful. The dodging of automo- biles and street cars at the crossings is apt to bring an element of strain, and the teacher going to and from her work is apt to have her thoughts still on her school and consequently to get little real relief. Reading, which is the favorite form of recreation among teachers everywhere, offers none of the conditions which are demanded. Fancy work is indoors and not very strenuous physically. The moving picture involves eye strain and often a general nervous irritation. 56 Recreation for Teachers MENTAL CONDITIONS But the teacher's problem is not primarily that of physical fatigue. While she is standing much of the time — and many teachers are fatigued by this — her weariness in the main is a fatigue of the attention due to teaching and maintaining disci- pline at the same time. She seldom drops her school work when it is over, but continues to think and worry over it. The first condition of any successful recreation for her is that it must be interesting enough to cause her to forget her school. If we wish to dwell on any idea, it is best for us to remain on the spot where it was first impressed upon us ; but if we wish to forget it, we should get away from any place which has associations with it. The tired teacher should leave her schoolroom as soon as possible after school, and it may be best for her to avoid the company of teachers. Most people probably find their recreation in society. There is nothing that can do more to dispel our own cares and worries than to be able to enter sympathetically into the lives of others. There is no form of travel which brings with it so great a change as the ability to become another person for a time, to lead his life and feel his hopes and ambitions. But this possibility is given only to one who can put himself in another's place. The person who has the opposite tendency, who shuts him- self up within himself to ponder and brood, will find recrea- tion almost impossible. Even a change of place is not suffi- cient, ofttimes, because his mind is not turned outward upon the world; as Holmes says, "He sits down beside the Pyra- mids to resume the conversation he had dropped two weeks before in Boston." What Sort of Recreation do Teachers Need? 57 Anything that fixes the mind upon itself, any fear or pain, whether physical or mental, distracts it from work and from play and prevents efficiency in either. If the teacher has the stomach ache or any other pain, it is likely to keep her from successful work in history; no less will it decrease the enjoyment of tennis or a country walk. Exactly the same is true if the pain is mental. But, unfortunately, many of us allow ourselves to be diverted by very slight distractions which should not normally interfere with our work or our play. One reason for this, so far as play is concerned, is that many of us never learned as children to love play. It is not so easy to cultivate an enthusiasm for it after the age of ten or twelve. Few of us are ever able to throw off our worries and fears entirely. As we go forth to our work, to our play, to meet our fellows in society, or to seek rest in sleep, we have in the background of our minds a certain feeling of unsuccess in regard to things we have attempted, of remorse for wrongs we have done, or of fear for the future. This shadowy back- ground prevents us from putting all of our energy and soul into our work, prevents us from being spontaneous in our play, from going to our friends with open-hearted and full sym- pathy, and from having untroubled sleep. Anything that enables us to get rid of this residue of strain and foreboding will add greatly to our effectivenesss everywhere in life, and will furnish the one condition under which we may have really spontaneous play. Perhaps the most fundamental consideration in recreation is that one must keep his mind open. Many people go out with their minds so focused upon themselves, their present worries and their fears for the future, that their minds are almost hermetically sealed to new perceptions. The world 5 8 Recreation for Teachers remains to them a closed book; they neither see the glory of sunrise or sunset nor hear the harmonies of nature. It is equally important that one shall keep his heart open ; for, after all, the appreciation of nature as well as of one's fellows belongs primarily to the feelings rather than the in- tellect. Such appreciation brings an intimate sympathy and feeling of unity with nature and with men. The teacher should be a democrat and take a genuine interest in the lives of those she meets, if she is really to enjoy her recreation period. Napoleon said his mind was arranged like a bureau of drawers ; he drew out one when he wished to attend to that subject, and pushed it back when he was through. When he wanted to go to sleep, he closed all the drawers and sleep ensued almost immediately. If this might be true of teachers, if they could lock their cares in their desk when they left it for the day, or even close the algebra drawer before opening the history drawer, it would add a hundred per cent to their efficiency. The mental conditions which are essential to success in recreation are exactly the same as those necessary if one is to succeed in work, in society, and in sleep. To secure the best results, the person must come to his play with the feeling of work well done and a holiday deserved ; he must have a good conscience; he must drop the tension of his purposed achievements out of his muscles; and, ideally, he must be an optimist and a believer in God. Before he can get real relaxation, he must do his work to his own satisfaction ; he must right the wrongs he has committed, or secure a sense of forgiveness or forgetfulness in regard to them so that they shall not arise like ghosts to trouble his leisure. No one can What Sort of Recreation do Teachers Need? 59 go forth to his play followed by a feeling of duties undone or wrongs committed and find relief. Macbeth says, "A nest of scorpions is my mind, dear wife." Such thoughts make both rest and recuperation and good work impossible. The optimist has a great advantage over the pessimist because he is always looking for things to turn out well. The pessimist can never have complete relaxation or relief, because he is always imagining some evil lying in wait for him for which he must be prepared. He never dares to throw off the strain of effort. It is very helpful to the teacher's relaxation to have a secure position and the prospect of a pension. Recreation does not consist so much in what we do or where we go as in our frame of mind. The teacher should get into a habit of doing her work so thoroughly that she is satisfied with it. She should finish it within a given time and then drop it absolutely. If she has in mind some pleasure to be enjoyed when her work is done, and has anticipated it a little, her mind, in relinquishing its work, naturally springs forward to the pleasure to be enjoyed, and the work is forgotten. Planning and anticipation are both essential to the success of recreation. Teachers are the most conservative of people. They are so by the very nature of their work. It is difficult for them to get new points of view. But growth does not come mainly as an accumulation but rather by a series of bounds. A new point of view brings with it a whole new field of mental de- velopment. We strike a lead, as it were, and work it out with profit ; then we go on with the barren digging through unrewarding rock until another lead is struck. The person who never takes any recreation, who carries the thought of 60 Recreation for Teachers the day over to the morrow, who thinks of his business in- terests Sundays and other times, seldom sees his work from this new angle on which his larger growth is so dependent. In order to secure this result, it is necessary to the teacher that her recreation shall cause complete forgetfulness of her daily work, so that she may come back to it again, not merely refreshed, but with a new mental attitude. CHAPTER V AFTER SCHOOL It should be written in the teacher's bible that the period from the close of school until supper time is given to her to recuperate and is sacred unto recreation. There are teachers who find themselves nearly as fresh at four o'clock in the after- noon as they were at nine o'clock in the morning, but most of them are too tired to do effective school work after four. Some of them would rather do fancy work than play tennis or go for a walk, but it is well for them to remember that fancy work has little health value ; that a certain minimum of out- door exercise is essential to health; and furthermore, that the teacher who takes her recreation with a knitting needle is not likely to have that attitude toward outdoor life and activities which should be cultivated in children. Above all other things, the teacher should be a wholesome person to copy and should be in sympathy with the desires and the activities of childhood. The period after school is one of the chief times for the recreation of teachers everywhere, but it differs greatly in suitability at different times of the year and in different sections of the country. Along our northern border in the early part of June it will be light until nearly ten o'clock at night, while in the same section about Christmas time it will be dark soon after two o'clock in the afternoon. Thus 61 62 Recreation for Teachers this northern section offers great opportunities for recreation during the spring, but very poor facilities during the late fall and the winter. Undoubtedly the place where afternoon recreation is most appropriate and most satisfying is in the southern part of the country, for there the summer and the winter days do not vary much in length, and the time from four to eight is apt to be the pleasantest part of the day during the whole year. Not only is the temperature more agreeable then, but there is a romance surrounding the hours of sunset which lends them a peculiar charm. The new daylight-saving rules add greatly to the opportunities for after-school recreation in spring. The following tables show what the teachers are doing during these hours in two of our middle-sized cities. Activities of 230 Teachers of Kansas City, Kansas, between Four and Six in the Afternoon school work School work 48 School work — ■ from 30 minutes to an hour . 40 School work — one hour or more .... 47 Study 2 Grade meeting 1 Lectures 2 Music practice 25 Drawing club 2 Art 1 Story-telling 3 Nurses' aid 1 Camp Fire 3 175 After School 63 Activities of 230 Teachers of Kansas City, Kansas, between Four and Six in the Afternoon — Continued HOUSEWORK Getting dinner 31 Sewing 23 Mending 3 Housework 46 103 FANCY WORK Fancy work 6 ON STREET CAR Half hour or more 43 SOCIAL RECREATION Visiting and calling 8 passive recreation Reading 102 Resting 67 Shows 1 170 driving Driving 7 SHOPPING Shopping 8 EXCURSIONS In woods 8 Nature study 7 15 AVOCATIONS Gardening IS 64 Recreation for Teachers Activities of 230 Teachers of Kansas City, Kansas, between Four and Six in the Afternoon — Continued SPORTS Walking 50 Walk from school 26 Skating 6 Swimming 1 Recreation 7 90 GAMES Tennis 13 Games • _£ 15 Activities of 150 Teachers of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, from Four to Six in the Afternoon school work School work 2 School work — from 30 minutes to an hour . 5 School work — one hour or more . . . . 72 Study 2 Music practice 9 Drawing 1 Teaching 4 95 HOUSEWORK Getting dinner 25 Sewing 6 Mending 1 Errands 4 Housework 11 47 After School 65 Activities of 150 Teachers of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, from Four to Six in the Afternoon — Continued FANCY WORK Fancy work 2 on street car Half hour or more 8 social recreation Visiting and calling 6 Dressing for dinner 7 13 passive recreation Reading 47 Resting 27 Shows 1 Sleep 10 "85 MOTORING Motoring 2 SHOPPING Shopping 11 AVOCATIONS Gardening 7 SPORTS Walking 67 Gymnasium work 4 GAMES Tennis 2 F 66 Recreation for Teachers These facts were collected in response to the simple question, "What do you do between four and six in the afternoon ?" The replies were given about the first of May. No names were signed. It was understood by the teachers that the investigation was in regard to forms of recreation. The lists given can hardly be an understatement of the average recreation which these teachers are taking. One hundred thirty-five of the Kansas City teachers men- tion school work as one of the important activities during this period ; one hundred two give various forms of house- work. Much the same is true of the activities of the teachers of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The Teacher's Special Problem The teacher has a peculiar problem of hygiene. All day long she has been breathing the breath of thirty or forty pupils in her classroom ; she has been sitting at her desk or standing still in her work; she has had that peculiar nervous strain which comes from teaching a class and maintaining discipline at the same time. She needs to get out of doors and fill her lungs with fresh air; she needs to get new red corpuscles into her blood ; and she needs to throw off the strain of her teaching. It is evident that in this list of activities there is practically nothing to help her to better health or even to give her relief from the strain of her teaching. If the teacher stays on after school correcting papers and doing other school work, she may be able to put in an hour or an hour and a half in this way, but to gain this time, which is not very satis- factory for school work, she usually sacrifices her evening, unfitting herself for any effective study at that time. After School 67 There are many conscientious teachers who feel that it is their duty to stay in order that they may help backward children or others who for some reason have got behind in their work. This shows a splendid spirit of helpfulness, and as an occasional thing it may be all right, but it must be re- membered in general that the children as well as the teacher have been a long time in school, and that both need to get out of doors. There ought to be some means whereby the teacher can help these children during the regular school hours. It should not be the practice of teachers to keep children after school, not only because in keeping the child the teacher is also keeping herself, but also because the child's time after four does not belong to her but to himself and his parents. If she keeps him, the parents cannot tell when he ought to get home. This allows him to play along the way or go to places where he ought not to go. It should not be the custom of the principal or the super- intendent to hold many teachers' meetings during this period. There are times when a meeting after school may be necessary, but these meetings should usually be short. There is in some quarters a feeling on the part of certain teachers that they may be criticized by the school board or superintendent if they leave school immediately after the chil- dren are dismissed. Teachers are usually conscientious and do not wish to give the impression that they are slighting their work. On this subject Dr. Wood, in his Special Recommen- dations on the Welfare of Teachers, says : "There should be better provision of facilities, especially in cities and large towns, for physical exercise and recreation of teachers. Sociability among teachers should be encouraged and fostered whenever possible. Principals and superintendents could have a definite influence here if 68 Recreation for Teachers they chose to exert it. It is quite common for teachers to feel that their superior officers disapprove of teachers' spending time in recreation, especially in the afternoons. And, unfortunately, the attitude of some of those in administrative positions seems to justify this assumption. But generally teachers are mistaken on this point ; and it is urged that principals and superintendents make definite recommendations to their teachers in regard to healthful recreation." And again, in the final recommendations to the Commission, he gives the following as essential : "Rigid adherence to the habit of devoting a part of every day to healthful recreation, this is the part of a teacher's program that should never be neglected. The recommendation to teachers made by an urban superintendent to use the hours between 4 and 6 p.m. for recreation and outdoor exercise is sensible advice and should be followed with few exceptions." It is notable that these conclusions of the New York Commission agree almost completely with the study of Professor Terman on the teacher's health. He says : "If the teacher would be healthy, she should take daily exercise, pref- erably of the play type." And again, " An important antidote is to reserve certain hours each day for a vacation from professional habits. This recreation ought therefore to become the teacher's religion. It should involve play, the very essence of which is creativeness and a relaxation from habitual routine." College professors and high school teachers seldom remain after school for their school work in the same way that ele- mentary teachers do, and there can be little doubt that this is merely a custom of elementary teachers. Moreover, a custom ''better honored in the breach than in the observ- After School 69 ance" ; for all the work which the teacher does then could be done better and more quickly at some other time. By this we do not mean that the teacher should always have her coat and hat on at the time of dismissal and leave the building with the children. There is no need of any undue haste; but within fifteen or twenty minutes after the close of school, in general, the teacher should be away. Most rural teachers do their own janitor work. The sweeping and dusting must be done after school, because if it is done in the morning or at noon, the air will be filled with dust while the children are at their seats ; but this work should not take over fifteen or twenty minutes. Half of the problem of relief lies in the mental habit formed. Every teacher should aim at complete relaxation between the hours of four and six. As soon as the time comes she should spontaneously drop her work and feel that she has nothing to do but to enjoy herself. She should go out with her mind and heart utterly open to the impressions of the moment. In her conversation she should try to forget herself and enter into the lives of others. On a walk, she should fall back into the life of sensation, inhale the odors of the flowers and the meadows, listen to the song of the bird, the gurgling of the brook, the rustle of the leaves, dwell upon the color of the flowers or the sunset, and feel atingle with the soft touch of the breeze. Consciousness absorbed in sensation brings as complete relief from care and as much direct recuperation as is possible. 70 Recreation for Teachers LOAFING While I am not an advocate of loafing in general, there are times when loafing is justified, and the very best thing for a teacher of low vitality may be to return home immediately after school and rest or sleep for half an hour or so. This should put her in a condition to enjoy the remainder of her afternoon and evening. An Avocation The teacher's working hours at school amount to only 25 out of the 168 hours of the week. She has her late after- noons and Saturdays free. This gives her abundance of time to follow some fad or special interest of her own. It is highly desirable that she should have one. GARDENING Gardening has often been advocated as an ideal occupation for teachers. It gives them moderate exercise out of doors, and can be usually practiced in the yard itself, so no time or money is wasted in going and coming. It is also reasonably remunerative. I recently heard a physician speak of gardening as an ideal form of exercise. It is far from that. It involves a stooped posture, a cramped chest, and rounded shoulders. It is not usually vigorous enough to quicken the breathing or cause perspiration. It does little to develop the lungs or the heart. If the teacher is worrying over her position or her work, she will carry her worries into the garden with her, and they will become more acute as she plies the hoe or trowel. Garden- o CO o u < o PQ After School 71 ing does not satisfy ideally the teacher's need of recreation, but if she comes from her school work without any tendency to weariness or worry, it may be a desirable form of after- noon activity, though it should never be the teacher's only recreation. The flower garden is more restful than the vegetable garden, because there is an appeal in flowers which there is not in potatoes or onions. We all have a peculiar animistic feeling toward flowers. Little children often talk to them and kiss them. They think that they suffer when not watered, and that they are thankful when cared for. The tending of a bed of flowers has much the same value in moral training that the care of a dependent individual might have. The companionship of flowers is wholly restful. THE RAISING OF CHICKENS, PIGEONS, OR RABBITS Whatever the teacher does after school should be a real avocation. If she does not like to work in the ground, garden- ing is not for her. If she has a fondness for chickens or pigeons or rabbits, they will be better. Rabbits have peculiar advantages in the city, as they make excellent pets. They can be fed upon almost any of the table waste, and this, with the grass from the lawn, may be quite sufficient to keep a considerable number. They will thrive in a comparatively small box. They multiply rapidly and furnish meat which many regard as equal to chicken. It is more interesting and more profitable to raise fancy varieties of chickens, pigeons, or rabbits than the mongrel or common stock. A teacher of my acquaintance clears be- tween three and four hundred dollars a year from a 72 Recreation for Teachers chicken ranch of about forty thoroughbred black Leghorn chickens. THE TEACHER AS A CHAUFFEUR I have often been surprised that the teacher is not more often the chauffeur in communities where the children are taken to the consolidated school by motor bus. The teacher needs the open air, and she can be relied upon to give personal supervision to the children. Driving is an excellent form of recreation after school, as it compels the teacher to drop her school work. Where the teacher owns her own automobile, it is possible for her to be a jitney driver between four and six. This is the time when there is the greatest demand for extra trans- portation, and there are many places where there are groups working at some outlying factory without adequate street car service who would be glad to be carried into town in this way. It may be said that women teachers at any rate should not drive a jitney, but there are a considerable number of women drivers in the West. Women are operating the street cars in Germany and England, and there seems every proba- bility that women after the war will take up more and more activities which previously have been followed only by men. However, the great opportunity for the teacher with an auto- mobile is not to drive a jitney on the street, but to take special parties on excursions to neighboring cities, or other points of interest. O o w o en H w o C/3 w u o After School 73 Outdoor Sports horseback riding Horseback riding is excellent sport. It is vigorous, good for dyspepsia and constipation, and exciting enough to take the mind from work. Its great disadvantage is its expense, as the cost of a horse is considerable, as is also the monthly cost of maintenance. However, this does not absolutely prohibit horseback riding. For the rural teacher who can pasture her horse at her boarding place and ride back and forth to school, a horse may involve little expense. There are many places in the South where riding horses are available for teachers. For the consolidated schools it should be feasible for a group of teachers to have at least a horse or two, which might be used at times for cultivating the garden, but which could be used also for riding. In the cities where it would not be practicable for an indi- vidual teacher to keep a horse, it might be possible for a group of teachers to hire one cooperatively for the season, each having the use of it on certain days or at certain hours. BICYCLING A few years ago it was a common sight to see a group of teachers start out on their bicycles soon after school. It is to be regretted that this has gone out of fashion, as bicycling was excellent exercise and gave the teacher an abundance of open air with an opportunity for nature study and the de- velopment of community knowledge at a minimum of expense. Bicycling is still popular in Germany and Japan, and it may 74 Recreation for Teachers be that we ought to promote bicycling for what it might do educationally both for the teacher and for the children. DRIVING If the teacher owns an automobile or has the use of one, she will usually find it pleasant to drive on certain afternoons after school until supper time. Where the roads are good she can cover twenty to forty miles in this time. If a group of five to seven teachers go out together and share the expense, a forty-mile trip should not involve an expense of more than twenty-five or thirty cents for each. WALKING Walking usually appears as either the first or second most popular form of recreation. It is to be suspected, however, that much of this walking is the mere walking to and from school. If the teacher on her way to school is thinking about her day's work and wishing she didn't have to do it; and if, on her way home, she is thinking how bad John and Mary were or how irritating the principal and superintendent were, and is wishing it were Friday instead of Tuesday, this walking is not to be considered as recreation. But if, on the way to school, she looks forward to her day with joy and returns from it with happy memories of how good Mary was or how thoughtful John was, she may find even such walking beneficial. It may be noted in the reports of the Kansas City teachers that a large proportion of them spend from half an hour to an hour on the street car going and coming each day. This time is not usually restful, and it practically prevents the After School 75 teacher's getting any other form of recreation before supper. Street car fares for 22 days in the month would be $2.20, and the time, if it is only an hour a day and we value it at only 25 cents, would be worth $5.50. This makes an extra expense of $7.70 due to the fact that the teacher is living at a distance from her school. Moreover it is much better for the teacher to live in the neighborhood where she teaches, because she will understand the home life of her children better and become a real member of the community. It is a great mistake for teachers in the city to live two or three miles from their schools, if it can possibly be avoided. In the country, on the other hand, there is not so great an objec- tion to the teacher's living at a considerable distance from the school, as walking is much more recreative there. A walk of four or five miles a day would give to each teacher about the exercise which she ought to have. However, the condition of the roads or the weather may make this inex- pedient. In general, however, a walk which does not lead to or from the school will be more likely to bring up restful associations. Walking in the city is never satisfactory because of the hard pavements and the dodging of automobiles and street cars at the crossings. The city teacher, however, can often go into the country or to one of the parks on the street car. Perhaps the best thing for the country teacher would be to go home frequently with the children, to visit them and see the pigs and chickens and rabbits. Occasionally she may well stay to supper and get acquainted with father and mother. A walk of this kind gives an opportunity for more intimate acquaintance with the children and leads to that kind of under- standing which often develops into personal friendship. 7 6 Recreation for Teachers Some day we shall be wise enough to allow the teacher to dismiss her school occasionally at two or three o'clock in the afternoon, and take the children to some point of interest, to collect flowers, to study birds, or to play baseball. CANOEING OR ROWING Where there is a lake or river, it usually plays a part in the teacher's recreation. Both canoeing and rowing are admirable exercise, and they are interesting enough to divert the mind. A canoe is not expensive, and it gives constant opportunity for excursions, picnics, and fishing trips. In the Normal School at San Diego, California, many of the students belong to barge crews. While these boats are all eight-oared, they will hold twenty people comfortably, and usually two crews at least go in a boat so that they can change off when tired. There are many whale boat crews among the high school girls and boys in Oakland. These boats have from eight to sixteen oars and give an opportunity for nearly all the young people to learn to row. It would be admirable if there were several such boats belonging to the board of education in every city where there is an accessible body of water. These boats might be used by high school students for rowing as regular class work. It would be almost impossible to find anything that would be better exercise, and there are always opportunities for picnics and camping in connection with rowing of this sort. If such rowing were provided for the students, it should be available for the teachers also. In many cities it ought to be possible for the teachers to organize a canoe club. If the city is located on a river with- After School 77 out many dams or waterfalls, a one or two days' trip up-stream or floating down might be delightful. When the day's or week's trip is ended, the canoe may be put on a freight car and sent home at a cost of from fifty cents to a dollar or two. SWIMMING Swimming does not appear largely among the recreations of teachers. In the past the facilities for it have been very inadequate, but now there are good swimming pools in most of our new Y. M. and Y. W. C. A.'s, and in the majority of our new high schools. They are being provided more and more in connection with our new elementary schools also. Swimming is one of the features that is coming into education throughout the world. This sport is most refreshing during the warmer months of the year, and there is a social spirit in a group of swimmers which nearly always leads to a good time and acquaintanceship. Teachers may be able to arrange for the use of the swimming pool at the high school on certain afternoons or evenings, or they may go to the Y. W. C. A. instead. During the winter especially, swimming is one of the most feasible forms of exercise. Winter Sports in the North The most difficult situation for after-school recreation is found in the northern part of the country in the late fall and winter. By the time school is out it is practically dark. It will probably be so cold that the majority of teachers will not care to go for a walk, and while there are cases where they can skate or coast, these are the exceptions. It is difficult in many places to find any suitable form of outdoor exercise. j 8 Recreation for Teachers In school systems where there is a good gymnasium, probably the best solution is to meet there two or three afternoons a week and play games or have gymnastics, folk dancing, or swimming. This would give the needed physical exercise and mental relief, but it is indoors. SKATING Many teachers feel that their children ought to stay in if the temperature is low, and they themselves do not go out more than necessary. However, children left to themselves are apt to play outdoors nearly as much in winter as in other seasons. Indeed they usually look forward eagerly to the time for snow. The person who is warmly dressed may be just as comfortable outdoors in cold weather as in summer. I recently asked a boy of seven, who had returned within the year from California, whether he would rather live in Cali- fornia or in Michigan, and he replied that he would like to live in California in the spring and summer, but he wanted to be in Michigan in the winter so that he could play in the snow. Where ice is accessible teachers may well spend an average of three or four hours every week in skating. COASTING Most teachers seem to feel that coasting is undignified, befitting a boy of six rather than a mature young woman of twenty. However, it is often an advantage for the teacher to slough off her dignity for a while and become more simple and human. Before the war, there were hundreds of to- bogganing and skiing associations for adults in Germany, Austria, and Scandinavia. After School 79 SKIING AND SNOWSHOEING Dartmouth has been the leader in winter sports among the colleges, and has developed a winter carnival that has attracted attention throughout the country. The interest is now so keen that a large number of students go every winter on snowshoes or skis for cross-country hikes at week-ends, and even occasionally on longer trips into the White Mountains. In the week-end trips, it is sometimes necessary for the party to sleep out in the snow, though they aim to spend the night at one of the special shelters which have been prepared for this purpose. At their annual carnival there are races on snowshoes and skis, obstacle races, and jumping contests, and then the novel ski-joring race in which the ski runner is drawn by one or two horses. In the festival of February, 191 7, the competitors were Dartmouth, Williams, and Middlebury Colleges, Hanover High School, and Bishop College of McGill University, Canada. Teachers will not as a rule have as much vitality or athletic ability as students in a college like Dartmouth, but it would scarcely be possible to devise anything that would do more to set sluggish blood to circulating and to promote a good digestion than a cross-country trip of this kind. It is just the kind of stimulus which the teacher needs after her long hours in the schoolroom. Nothing else will give her so good a complexion. We have always said that the great advantage which the North has over the South is the stimulus of the cold. 80 Recreation for Teachers Games games with children Not one of the one hundred forty-eight teachers from a Michigan city mentioned playing with children even as one of her minor forms of recreation, and this despite the fact that many of them mentioned housework, which would not ordinarily be considered recreative. Nevertheless one of the very best forms of recreation that the teacher can have, if she loves children and is fairly vigorous, is to stay after school to play such games as prisoner's base, pullaway, the ring games, volley ball, and tennis with the children on the school grounds. I have myself taken part in nearly every form of sport and game which is mentioned in this chapter, but I have never found anything either more enjoyable or more fully recreative than this. Incidentally it may be remarked that the teacher can often add ten to twenty dollars to her month's salary in this way. CROQUET There is a tendency to regard croquet as over-ladylike, but there is much to be said for it as an occasional form of outdoor play. To the older and stouter teachers, who may not care to play tennis or to row on the crew, it offers a mild form of recreation in the open air which is about what they require. It is a good social game and allows visiting nearly as freely as a cup of tea. There are times, also, when women are not in condition for vigorous exercise, and croquet is admirable for these periods. After School 81 BOWLING ON THE GREEN Most of the early cities of this country were provided with bowling greens, and to-day in most of the cities of Scotland, England, and Holland, well-patronized bowling greens will be found. The same is true of many of the cities of Canada. A considerable number have been laid out, also, in Boston and New York during the last few years. Bowling is more vigorous than golf but appeals to people of about the same age. It requires a piece of ground about 125 feet by 100 feet in size, on which a perfect turf is maintained. It is an ad- mirable form of recreation for the older teachers. GOLF There are always a few teachers in the larger cities who belong to the golf club. But golf is generally too expensive both in time and money for teachers. The annual member- ship fee is seldom less than twenty-five dollars and is often twice that amount, and the links are so far out of town that much time is wasted in going and coming. TENNIS The best game for teachers is tennis. It offers excellent exercise in the open air and is sufficiently exciting. Nearly every teacher in the city should belong to a tennis club. However, there are many cities where there are almost no tennis courts, and in few is the number adequate. Teachers may join a tennis club already established or they may or- ganize a club which will lease or build courts. It may be feasible to build courts in the yards of some of the resident teachers. 82 Recreation for Teachers The school system, however, must more and more plan for the recreation of teachers as well as children. With the larger school grounds being secured it should be possible to have a tennis court in connection with every school. Cer- tainly all high schools should have several courts. It should always be possible for the teachers to play tennis either after school or on Saturdays, though some prefer to get up early and play before breakfast. The teacher who will play tennis for an hour a day should not get dyspepsia or constipation or consumption or any serious disorder. No student should be allowed to graduate from any normal school who has not learned how to play this game fairly well. If students learn to love tennis in the normal, it is likely that they will continue to play afterwards. Dinner Servitude From four until eight o'clock every day should be devoted to recreation by every teacher. During this time she should not undertake any serious scholastic work or study. These four hours, practically half a day, should be ample to keep her in splendid condition. However, a teacher in a large city, who must ride on the street car for forty minutes in order to get anywhere, and who must come back to a six or six- thirty supper, will have only a half hour or so for recreation before meal time. Now, supper is not really so necessary as we are apt to feel. Most of us are eating too much, and if we should occasionally go without a meal, it would not do us any harm. However, it is not necessary for the teacher to fast in order that she may use the time from four to eight as a unit. If she will take some bread and butter and bacon for a picnic supper, After School 83 it may be even more enjoyable than a home dinner. With these four hours as a unit, it is possible to go fishing or hunting or rowing or swimming every day. Three or four hours of fishing is ample, and no one cares to row or canoe for a longer time. Another way is to go to a neighboring resort for four hours, or to motor with others to a town twenty -five or fifty miles distant and dine there, returning in that most delightful time of the day when the sun is setting, to find that she has taken no time from her working hours. If she is still more ambitious, she may occasionally dine and spend the night away. At the University of Colorado, in the summer of 191 7, the writer suggested to his audience that they go up the mountain the next afternoon, and have the evening lecture on the mountain top. There were from 250 to 300 people present, nearly all of whom were teachers from the high schools and grades of Colorado and adjacent states. I thought that possibly thirty or forty might like to go, but to my surprise, 190 had signed up by ten o'clock the next morning, and paid the fifty cents necessary to cover the expense of the two meals and the transportation of blankets. At four o'clock the next afternoon, the time set for starting, a drizzling rain was falling; nevertheless some 170 people appeared and fell into line for the three or four-mile walk to the top of Flagstaff. The rain continued until about half past six, and most of us were pretty wet by that time. Not more than two or three of the company turned back. We quickly built a roaring fire, and thanks to the dry climate of Colorado were soon thoroughly dry. Before sitting down to supper every one was instructed to find as soft a place as possible for the night. Our supper consisted of sandwiches made on the spot from fresh rolls 84 Recreation for Teachers and beefsteak which we broiled on special grates which the University had sent up, with oranges and coffee for dessert. After supper the company sang songs for an hour around the camp fire, having a thoroughly good time, and growing somewhat uproarious at times. Following the lecture was an hour of story-telling under the direction of the Dean of Women, and then we spent a half hour in sight-seeing. Below us to the left, at a distance of about forty miles, could be seen the lights of Greeley. Perhaps twenty-five miles in the same direction were the lights of Longmont, while almost beneath our feet lay Boulder and the Chau- tauqua grounds. By walking a few rods to the other side of the mountain, we could see the city of Denver, thirty miles away, through a glory of illuminated haze punctuated with occasional bright lights. At about half past eleven the company broke up for the night, though not all to sleep. It was a night worth lying awake to see, for the light of the moon sifted down through the trees, throwing weird shadows along the mountain, while the stars stood out with a brilliance possible only when they are seen from a mountain top. In the morning we arose at four o'clock for the sunrise, and were well repaid. We saw the first auroral flashes of the dawn shooting up from below the horizon ; and the clouds turn yellow and then red ; until the eastern sky became a sheet of fire which was reflected on more than a hundred storage reservoirs in the valley below till each of them seemed the crater of a five volcano. We had finished our breakfast of eggs, sandwiches, coffee, and oranges, by half past five, and by seven most of us were back again in Boulder. After School 85 This trip occupied the time from four o'clock of one after- noon until seven o'clock the next morning. In the company there were only two men. Such a trip might be taken on any school day from almost any city or town. A List of Activities after School In the Fall: Skiing Playing games with children Sleigh riding Walking home with children Coasting Going with children on na- Skating ture study trips and excur- Playing basket ball, volley sions ball, handball, and indoor Going out for picnic suppers baseball in gymnasium Walking Swimming in a natatorium Horseback riding Moving pictures Bicycling Motorcycling In the S P Hn Z : Automobiling Playing games with children Canoeing and rowing Gathering flowers Playing tennis Studying birds Basket ball Making collections of flowers, Volley ball butterflies, and minerals Nutting expeditions Visiting factories, industries, Picnics and corn roasts and points of scenic and Hunting and fishing historic interest in the neighborhood In the Winter: Walking Playing games with children Horseback riding Walking Bicycling Snowshoeing Motorcycling 86 Recreation for Teachers Automobiling Raising rabbits or chickens Canoeing and rowing Driving an automobile Playing tennis, volley ball, Swimming basket ball, (indoor) base- Hunting and fishing ball, croquet, bowling, golf Taking camera trips for Gardening pictures. CHAPTER VI THE TEACHER'S EVENINGS So far as possible the teacher should so organize her day that the evening shall belong to her. It is her great oppor- tunity for progress. While she often uses this time for correcting papers and preparing lessons, it would be better if such work were done in the morning, so that the evening might be free for the pursuit of those activities in which she is especially interested or which are essential to her progress. In some cases the teacher has no room of her own, and often her room is too cold in winter for studying or reading com- fortably. A satisfactory private room is a fundamental requirement and should be insisted upon. In order to find out what teachers were actually doing during the evening, the following brief questionnaire was mimeographed and distributed in St. Joseph, Missouri : From seven to ten p. M., in six week days, there are eighteen hours. Considering the different seasons of the year, how many of these hours do you estimate you spend, in : Housework ; correcting papers ; preparing lessons ; study ; reading ; visiting ; moving pictures ; theater ; dancing ; cards ; fancy work ; teaching ; practicing music ; sports ; games. No names need be signed. A tabulation of the answers follows : 87 88 Recreation for Teachers Activities of 292 Teachers of St. Joseph, Missouri, in the Evening school work Correcting papers Preparing lessons Studying . . . Teaching . . . Totals . No. OF Total No. Average Average Teachers of Hours per Week per Day Hrs. Min. Min. 173 394-nr I.40 13 219 6l7H 2.06 21 200 504 1.56 ioi IO 26 602 1,6025- 4.62 53i OTHER work Housework . Sewing . . Church . . Red Cross . Totals 172 II 7 4 486^ 36i 12 7 i-39 7i 2 12 i6i 194 54iror i.39t 5 2 i7f Fancy work . Knitting . . Totals FANCY WORK 119 49 249i i54i 54 3i| si 168 403! B3i I3f PRACTICING MUSIC Practicing music I 112 I 244i 50 8* SOCIAL RECREATION Visiting . . Dancing . . Cards . . . Totals 208 20 42 487H 57f 270 S69tV 1.40 i6| 4t 5 6 12 2 i-56f i9i The Teacher's Evenings 8 9 Activities of 292 Teachers of St. Joseph, Missouri, in the Evening — Continued PASSIVE RECREATION Reading . . . Theater . . . Moving pictures Lectures . . . Concerts . . . Totals . No. OF Total No. Average Average Teachers of Hours per Week per Day Hrs. Min. Min. 278 1 080 \ 3-42 37 72 92| 19 3 156 22ofk 45 7* 6 II 4 4 TT 3 4 5i6 I4l6j| 4.11 47i SPORTS Walking . . Gymnastics . Sports . . Totals 6 6i 2 8 36 54 44 68^ 14 *i Games GAMES 32 I 4oHI ii It will be seen from these tables that the St. Joseph teachers are spending one hour and forty minutes per week on correct- ing papers ; two hours and six minutes in preparing lessons ; and one hour and fifty-six minutes in study ; that all together they are spending about an hour a day on school work. Dancing and cards form a very small element in their lives. Passive recreation occupies nearly a hour a day, while sports and games together total only twenty-two minutes a week, an amount which is negligible. These figures are obtained by dividing the number of hours by the total number of teachers answering the questionnaire. The number of hours 90 Recreation for Teachers accounted for are a little over seventeen per week. There is probably too much time spent on school work, and too little on study, visiting, reading, and sports and games. Work There are five main activities which must find a place in any normal program for the teacher's evenings. They are: work, study, reading, society, and play. As to what proportion of the time shall be given to each of these, no general rule can be made. The teacher who finds her work pleasant and easy during the day may devote more time to work or study in the evening, while the teacher who finds her work hard and unpleasant during the day should devote more of her evenings to play. The proportion of time given to these various activities should also vary considerably with the season of the year and the section of the country. HOUSEWORK Housework occupies one hour and thirty-nine minutes of the St. Joseph teachers' week. A considerable proportion of all teachers live at home. It is natural that they should help to get supper and to do the other housework. Even where teachers are boarding in private homes, it is proper that they should assist at times. If the amount of this work is not too great, it should be a form of relaxation. But there are many teachers who are doing all the housework both for themselves and for brothers and sisters or dependent parents. This is undoubtedly too much, unless the teacher has a light program or unusual vigor. Even if it does not overtax her physically, it will leave insufficient time for recreation and (4 W H % W U «5 h-l O o Z o H -75 o PQ The Teacher's Evenings 91 social life. As to the effect of such work, the New York report says : "Twelve per cent of the outside conditions reported by teachers as most detrimental to their health and five per cent of those reported as most detrimental to their efficiency are 'home cares, duties, or worries.' Seventeen per cent of the outside conditions reported by supervisors as most detrimental to the health and general welfare of teachers are ' home cares, duties, or worries.' One supervisor gives 'house-work required of teachers living with parents.'" It will be noticed, also, that a considerable proportion of the teachers put down housework as one of their means of recreation. As to whether housework shall be work or play depends upon the spirit in which it is done, and also on the teacher's training in this direction. TEACHING In the city there is often an opportunity to teach evening school. There are many teachers who can stand this physi- cally without ill health or a feeling of overfatigue, but I question whether there are any who can stand it mentally. Teaching during too many hours uses all the energy which might otherwise go to growth, and the almost inevitable result is mental stagnation and arrested development. SCOUTING, CAMP FIRES, AND SOCIAL CENTERS As opposed to the teaching of the three R's, little can be said against the teacher's becoming the Guardian of a Camp Fire or a Scout Master, or a director of activities at a social center or settlement. These occupations call into play different faculties ; they tend to loosen up the teacher's mental machin- 92 Recreation for Teachers ery and keep it from setting hard and fast along conventional lines. The social opportunity and training which come through such activities should lead to a closer sympathy with children and be a real preparation for social leadership. Study The evening is the teacher's great opportunity to make progress. Probably two or three evenings of every week should be devoted to study. It may seem radical to suggest that the teaching process is not educative. But where a teacher takes a certain grade and keeps it until her work becomes routine, she generally suffers arrested development. A young man and a young woman graduate from high school at the same time. The young man goes on to a good-sized farm, while the young woman takes a fifth grade and teaches year after year without further study. At the end of ten years the young man will probably have learned more from his farm and will have a broader outlook upon life than the young woman from her teaching. Routine teaching does not educate the teacher. It is necessary that she shall continue to study. Reading Reading appears as a main form of recreation in the state- ments from all cities. It is usually the chief form. Whether it shall be restful or not is largely determined by the teacher's method. If she feels that a certain book must be mastered for an examination, the reading required will almost inevitably be work ; but if, on the other hand, she takes up the same book with a desire to know what it contains The Teacher's Evenings 93 without any feeling of obligation towards its contents, and reads on with spontaneous interest, such reading may well be play. The teacher should be in touch with what is taking place in the world, in order that her instruction may be adapted to life. She should read a daily paper, and some good weekly or monthly summary of important events such as is found in The Outlook, The Literary Digest, The World's Work, The Review of Reviews, or The New Republic. Every teacher should be familiar with the best literature of childhood, as a part of her own education as well as to enable her to tell certain of these stories to her pupils. It has been the custom to decry novel reading, but moderate novel reading has much to recommend it. An unread novel should often lie on the teacher's table to be taken up when she wishes to forget her work or to pass a rainy afternoon. The novel is a means of vicarious experience, of putting ourselves in the place of others and realizing what their lives are like. As such it may furnish valuable training for the teacher, often giving her as much power of insight as a study of formal psychology. Novels should not be read rapidly, but the episodes should be allowed to linger in the mind, that the reader may come to appreciate the characters and the plot and may work out her own solution of the situations. There come to most of us times when the world seems to have gone wrong, when the principal or superintendent is hard to please, when the parents are irritating, and the children troublesome — and we want to forget everything. At such times the exciting novel has a real mission. It enables us to lay aside our troubles and rest until their bitterness has passed. 94 Recreation for Teachers Society The insight which comes from a full social life is often more effective in helping us to understand people than any psychology which can be gotten from a textbook. The teacher's personal influence is largely determined by her social tact. The superintendent should promote the social life of his teachers. Teachers should plan to have their meals in company where the conversation will be pleasant and stimulating. This social period may well last from six until eight in the evening. Nearly every one likes to sit about an open fire. A group gathered about the fire, telling stories, cracking nuts, and pop- ping corn, as we see pictured in Whittier's Snowbound, is at its best socially. Such pipe dreams as rise when the storm is whistling outside often point the way to the future. One of the great weaknesses of teachers, as of other people, is the lack of a clear idea of what they wish to do or to be. We all need time to dream. Every town of six hundred inhabitants or more should have a teachers' club. Teachers should organize to discuss their problems, to determine the proper social and hygienic and scholarly conditions of their work, to secure adequate salaries, to plan for recreation, and to improve conditions for the children. For this purpose they should meet from one evening a week to one evening a month. It would be fine if they might occa- sionally have a dinner together at the high school. Following the dinner and a social half hour, there should be a paper and discussion, after which the teachers might separate into The Teacher's Evenings 95 sectional meetings. Every teacher should be expected to present a reasonably scholarly paper at least once a year. It is essential to the teacher's development that she shall come into contact with the standards of the outside world. She should meet with her peers after the day's work is done, that she may have that sort of stimulating touch with reality which the lawyer and the doctor get in their daily work. Supposing the time selected for meetings to be Wednesday night, there might be, on the first Wednesday of the month, a debate ; on the second Wednesday, dancing, games, and swimming ; on the third Wednesday, a lecture ; and on the fourth, another social program. Each of these might well be preceded by a cooperative dinner. Many forms of recreation will be impossible without organization. Moreover, most teachers wish to take their recreation with their friends rather than by themselves. In every good-sized city there should be a tennis club, a rowing club, a nature study club, an excursion club, and an automobile club. Not all of these need be organized in any one year, but a teacher who is in a rowing club this year might be in a tennis club next year, and possibly an automobile club the year following. It is not necessary that the member- ship of such recreation clubs should be limited to teachers. On the other hand, it is desirable that the teacher should organize the recreation of the community as well as her own. It is not best for teachers to associate merely with one another, and most of the members of these clubs would get more enjoyment and more benefit if there were more men than could be secured from the teaching staff. g6 Recreation for Teachers THE TEACHERS' CLUBHOUSE Ever since Dr. Claxton has been Commissioner of Education, there has been a growing movement for the teacherage, espe- cially in connection with the one-room rural schools. Recently this has broadened into a demand for an apartment house for the teachers connected with consolidated schools. Perhaps the time is not far distant when we shall also have a teachers' residence or clubhouse in connection with many of our larger city systems. A number of years ago, the city of Frankfort, Germany, built a special teachers' quarter for its pedagogues. I doubt if it is desirable for teachers to live by themselves. I am sure that there is often an advantage in their living in the community in which they are teaching, but I am also confident that there is a real need of a teachers' clubhouse in most cities. Nearly everything established at the universities comes down sooner or later to the public schools, and we may confidently expect that just as the university professors have their club, which is a social center for the faculty and the residence of a few of the younger members, so our public schools will soon have their clubhouse, which will serve the same purpose for the teachers. Ideally such a clubhouse might be made to serve the needs of city teachers as almost nothing else could. It should have, if possible, an entire block of ground, with provision for tennis, bowling, and croquet. There should be an audi- torium, ample dining rooms, social rooms and parlors, a gymnasium and swimming pool, and dormitory facilities for a number of teachers. Such a clubhouse would give the teachers an altogether new social standing in the city. It The Teacher '5 Evenings 97 might serve as a place for teachers' meetings and institutes and lectures and for the demonstration of new pedagogical methods. Here visiting teachers and lecturers should be entertained; here new teachers and transferred and sub- stitute teachers might reside. The parlors and dining room should be accessible to all the force for receiving company, giving parties or entertainments, and taking friends to dinner. The initial expense of erecting such a building would be considerable. The board of education should be as much interested as a cash register company or a steel company or any other of the industrial organizations which have so largely erected such buildings for their employees, though of course they are not equally free in the use of the funds which are intrusted to them. It seems likely that such buildings might be given to cities if it were understood that they were desired. There are always people who are ready to do striking things, and a new type of building for the teachers of the children would offer a special appeal. Splendid clubhouses for soldiers have recently been built or rented, mostly with funds raised locally, in the cities adjacent to the cantonments, though these cantonments will probably be occupied only for a short time. The public should be as much interested in the welfare of teachers as of soldiers. It is not unlikely that one of the educational foundations might be as much interested in starting such a movement as in the apartment house for the consolidated school. It is also possible that the teachers might secure the funds either by getting contributions, or by giving benefits or general entertainments, or by selling stock, as city and university clubs usually are doing. The rooms and other facilities might rent for enough to pay interest on the investment. The idea 98 Recreation for Teachers is so practical and desirable that its realization is almost in- evitable if it is once plainly impressed upon the popular imagination. If the Teachers' Clubhouse were built with such dormitory facilities as the Y. M. C. A. affords, it might offer a solution for some of the most serious problems of recreation for teachers. It is difficult for women to travel alone with a feeling of safety and propriety, but if there were in each city such a building where they would be welcome, they would have a new independence. Such a club might be self-supporting, even at rates considerably below the ordinary hotel charges. They might thus become acquainted with the city teachers and with the work in the schools, and meet prominent people. The teacherages at the one-room rural school, the teachers' apartment houses at the consolidated school, and the teachers' clubs in the cities might form an ideal system of accommoda- tions for visiting teachers. For this end to be adequately realized, there should be some national organization among the teachers corresponding to the Wandervogel of Germany. It should involve a dis- tinctive uniform or badge, which would insure recognition and hospitality to all members. Such an organization might stimulate wonderfully the development of recreation through- out the country. THE SOCIAL CENTER The social center also should be helpful to teachers. It ought to be a place where they could exhibit the work that their children have been doing and subject it to the stand- ards of the outer world. The opportunity of meeting the parents and of taking part in choral singing, moving pic- The Teacher's Evenings 99 ture exhibitions, dancing, and games should also be ap- preciated. In the rural communities most of the social life often gathers around the entertainments given by the school, and even spelling matches, debates, and community singing often have an important social value both to the teacher and the children. THE TEACHERS ' BENEFIT It would be to the advantage of the teachers if there should be a Teachers' Benefit, which should be a recognized annual event, and serve as the show-window of the teaching force. Such an entertainment might take the form of a drama or readings given by different teachers or a glee club concert or a musicale. I have seen a number of programs of this kind and have usually found them quite as well worth attend- ing as the performances at the theater. They serve to bring the teaching force before the public, and in the end are sure to give it an improved standing in the community. For a benefit of this kind, it would often be possible to secure the cooperation of the best theatrical talent gratis or nearly so. The profits might go toward securing a country club or a city club, or teachers' pensions, or the general good of the schools. The public would gladly buy the tickets even at a fairly high price, and the proceeds should be considerable. If these funds were allowed to accumulate, they would in time become adequate in themselves for the purposes mentioned. ioo Recreation for Teachers Play DANCING Dancing is eminently social and tends to develop intimacy. Folk dances in the open air satisfy all the needs of exercise and play arising from the teacher's occupation. Teachers are dancing more and more, but there still are many com- munities in which this recreation is not sanctioned by public opinion, and there probably are none in which some people will not think somewhat less highly of the teacher if she is known to attend public dances. Dancing seems to be a negligible factor in the recreation of the teachers of St. Joseph. THEATERS AND MOVIES Probably nearly every city teacher goes either to the theater or the moving picture show once a month or oftener, and many of them go several times a week. Teachers ought to attend the movies, and they should also go to standard performances by good actors. If they will choose for this amusement the period immediately after supper or rainy or disagreeable afternoons, when they cannot be outdoors, they can usually see all the movies that are worth seeing without taking any time which might be usefully employed in other things. About once a month, or it may be once a week, it may be worth while for the teacher to attend the standard theater; but she will usually go either Saturday afternoon or evening, and this would not interfere with any of the other projects outlined. On the whole, most teachers are getting as much of this form of recreation as they should ; many are getting more. The Teacher's Evenings 101 MUSIC Music is restful to most people. If the teacher is expert enough so that music is a means for the expression of her feel- ings, to play or to listen to good music for half an hour will often be a great nervous relief. Where there is a good victrola or phonograph fifteen minutes or a half hour spent with it may also prove restful. Nearly all find a musicale more rest- ful than a lecture, and to many operas and musicales have a great recreational value. FANCY WORK Crocheting, tatting, and embroidery ought always to be taken up only when all other means of recreation have failed. Fancy work involves no invigorating exercise, but uses the little accessory muscles, calling for difficult nervous coordi- nations. CARDS Cards are better than fancy work, in that they generally cause the person to forget her worries. BOWLING With the growing use of the schoolhouse as a social center, the school bowling alley may become common. There are already alleys at a few of our new high schools. Where there is opportunity for it, bowling after school may be excellent. There are also many cities where the men may use the bowling alley of the Y. M. C. A, 102 Recreation for Teachers VOLLEY BALL, INDOOR BASEBALL, AND BASKET BALL During the winter, when it gets dark soon after four, the teachers may well stay after school, if there is a gymnasium, and play volley ball, indoor baseball, or basket ball. Basket ball will be found too vigorous for most teachers, but volley ball should not be. If the ground is lighted, volley ball can be played out of doors at night, also, during the entire year. BILLIARDS Few teachers have access to a billiard table in their own homes, and the conditions are not usually such at public pool and billiard rooms that women teachers can go there. I know of none in the Y. W. C. A. buildings, though they are common in the Y. M. C. A.'s. Though billiards is mentioned by a small percentage of the teachers, this game will probably always have a limited popularity. MOONLIGHT OUTINGS The distinctive condition of recreation at night is the dark- ness. However, during the late spring, in the Northwest it is light enough up to nearly ten o'clock to play most of our common games. But the great opportunity for evening recreation out of doors has always been moonlight nights. These have usually been appreciated and often well utilized. There is no other time when a row is quite so delightful, or when a walk through the woods or fields has a greater feeling of mystery and wonder than when the full moon is overhead. A sleigh ride, with the moonlight on the trees and snowclad hills, is an enchantment. The Teacher's Evenings 103 PLAY AT NIGHT However, the conditions of evening recreation have changed greatly in the last decade. Within that time most of our new high schools and many of our elementary schools have secured gymnasiums. There are also splendid facilities in con- nection with nearly all the new Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A. buildings. In many cities there is a system of playgrounds, with field houses and similar facilities, which are adequately lighted for evening play. With our new systems of lighting, it is possible to play even tennis at night, while football, basket ball, volley ball, and indoor baseball can be played nearly as well then as by day. THE NEED OF A SURVEY AND PLAN Teachers will not usually know what facilities for recreation exist in their city unless a recent survey has been made. If they are not in a position to call in an expert, they might make such a survey cooperatively. Bodies of water avail- able for rowing and fishing, swimming pools and beaches, tennis courts and clubs, and similar facilities should be included. If, when the teachers are assembled, each one is asked to name any swimming pool he knows of in any public school, Y. M. or Y. W. C. A. building, park or playground, a fairly complete list of such pools should be secured. A list of public tennis courts located either at schools, Y. M. or Y. W. C. A. grounds, or in the public parks might be made out in a similar manner. Not all the facilities needed can be secured at once. A plan should be made, which may require several decades for its accomplishment, with provision for a clubhouse in the 104 Recreation for Teachers city, and a country club for week-ends. There should be charts and maps indicating the points of interest and places suitable for picnicking, camping, rowing, swimming, playing tennis, and other outdoor sports. Clear ideas and plans tend to execute themselves. V If a group of teachers wish to organize for recreation, the first move should be to appoint a Recreation Committee. This committee should collect the programs of such clubs as the Mazama Club of Portland, Oregon, the Sierra Club of San Francisco, and the Appalachian Club of Boston, study the rules for the excursions taken by these clubs, formulate a plan, and report to a later meeting. It will not be wise to attempt anything elaborate at first. CHAPTER VII SATURDAY Every teacher should get into the habit of taking at least a half holiday on Saturday, and this should be so much her custom that as soon as Saturday noon comes she will automati- cally throw down her work with the sense of relief which is so large a part of any real vacation. It may be necessary to the growth of teachers that they should study on Saturday morning, but this should not be allowed to carry over into the afternoon. There is no other profession or class that has two whole holidays each week. Most people have a Saturday half holiday during the summer only. The half holiday and Sunday should be sufficient to keep teachers in condition. The following replies from teachers in Kansas City and Johnstown were written in reply to the simple question, " What do you do on Saturday afternoons?" No names were signed. While the numbers represented are not large, it is believed that these answers are in the main trustworthy and typical. It will be noticed in examining these tables that a large proportion of the teachers in these cities do not take a half holiday on Saturday. A considerable proportion carry on school work of one kind or another, and if housework be con- sidered along with the occupations grouped under "work," it would appear that practically all teachers do some kind of 105 io6 Recreation for Teachers Activities of 230 Teachers of Kansas City, Kansas, on Saturday Afternoons school work Preparing school work 24 Grade meetings 20 Institute 2 Music lessons * . 10 Lectures 12 68 HOUSEWORK Sewing 87 Mending 38 Washing 7 Ironing 15 House cleaning 15 Housework 71 233 SOCIAL WORK Settlement work 1 Camp Fire work 2 Church work 1 4 FANCY WORK Fancy work 9 WORK Tending store 2 Gardening 26 Work 13 4i Saturday 107 Activities or 230 Teachers of Kansas City, Kansas, on Saturday Afternoons — Continued passive recreation Theater 11 Matinees . 47 Concerts 5 Entertainments 5 Reading 63 Resting 24 155 SOCIAL RECREATION Making calls 33 Club meetings 13 Social q 55 DRIVING Driving 20 SHOPPING Shopping 134 EXCURSIONS Excursions 6 Week-end in country 8 Nature study 8 Picnics 5 27 SPORTS Walking 58 Skating 1 Swimming 1 Gymnasium 1 Out-of-doors 5 Camping __i 67 GAMES Tennis 13 108 Recreation for Teachers Activities of 150 Teachers of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, on Saturday Afternoons school work Preparing school work 3 Literary club ' 2 Study . . 2 Teaching 1 Music lessons 1 Art League 5 Practicing music _3 17 HOUSEWORK Sewing 18 Mending 8 Ironing 1 House cleaning 1 Housework 22 WORK Tending store 6 Gardening . 3 Work _6 FANCY work Fancy work 1 China painting 1 2 PASSIVE RECREATION Theater 15 Reading 4° Resting 10 Sleeping _i 70 Saturday 109 Activities of 150 Teachers of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, on Saturday Afternoons — Continued SOCIAL RECREATION Making calls 6 Club meetings 2 Social £1 DRIVING Motoring 2 SHOPPING Shopping 78 EXCURSIONS Nature study 2 SPORTS Walking 40 Skating 1 Bathing 1 Hunting 1 Fishing 1 44 GAMES Tennis 1 Games £ 2 work. It will be noticed, also, that passive recreations, such as the theater, reading, resting, and the like, are much more prominent than more active forms ; that practically the only no Recreation for Teachers sport that appears is walking ; while in both cities shopping appears as the most prominent single form of recreation. It is evident that this program of activities has, in the main, little health value. It would not help the teacher to fend off tuberculosis, or establish her nervous system, or give her the energy and vitality which she needs for her week's work. It is evident that Saturday afternoons in these two cities have not been planned for, and that the recreation taken is in general poorly selected and quite in- adequate in amount. This arises more from a lack of the spirit of play and planning than it does from any want of opportunity. In the country it would be well for the teachers to seek to develop such rural pageants and festivals as the peasant peoples of Europe have long had. These are well typified by the Harvest Festival, and usually consist in a general merrymaking of the whole community, with singing, dancing, and much light-heartedness and jollity. Walking Excursions Walking is the one form of outdoor recreation that has practically universal application. No teacher who is young enough to teach is too old to walk, although there are many who would not enjoy tennis or perhaps even bowling. Nearly all devotees of walking are accustomed to walk alone. Stevenson especially recommends this, and few of the famous walkers have sought companions. The person who walks by himself can go where he pleases, can travel fast or slow as he chooses, can meditate or whistle according to his mood. But, on the other hand, unless the teacher has a deep love Saturday 1 1 1 of nature, she will be very likely to dwell on her school prob- lems unless she has some one to converse with. It will probably be necessary to organize a walking club if teachers are to walk as much as they should. This club should lay out a program for Saturday afternoons running through the entire year, with occasional two-day trips. There should be some one in charge of each trip whose duty it should be to make the necessary arrangements, and to be familiar with the things to be seen. WHEN SHALL WALKS BE TAKEN? We teachers are a very conventional people, and this question doubtless seems unnecessary. Of course the time to walk is about nine o'clock in the morning or two or three o'clock in the afternoon, so that we shall get back by lunch or supper time. If the weather is unpleasant, we will stay at home. This is a good prescription for walking with the least effort and seeing the things that everybody else has seen, but it is not a good rule for any one who would develop an enthusiasm for walking. The answer that I should make is that the time for walking is at any hour of day or night during every season of the year ; for the person who walks only in the spring will miss the glories of the autumn, and the person who walks only by daylight will miss the moonlight effects. From the appearance of the first faint streaks of dawn on the horizon until a couple of hours after sunrise in the spring is the most delightful time for walking. It is then, when the dew is on the grass, when the birds are singing and the squirrels are hurrying about on fences and through the treetops, that 112 Recreation for Teachers nature is most attractive. It requires an effort to get up at three o'clock for a walk, but the reward is practically a trip abroad, for this morning world is nearly as strange to most of us as Japan or China. Another cardinal principle with most of us is that walking is for pleasant weather. Few of us would think of walking in a rain- or snow-storm. Nevertheless each of these has its attractions, and to the person who is properly clad involves no discomfort. A few years ago I was spending part of the summer in Scotland. We averaged about fourteen showers a day. After waiting for pleasant weather for a day or two, I decided that if I was to see Scotland,' I must disregard the weather and proceed as though all days were pleasant. I soon discovered that everybody else was doing the same, and several times I met parties on a walk of a dozen miles or so through a rainstorm which had lasted the entire morning. There is no time when one can take a pleasanter walk than during a heavy snowstorm, if the wind is not too strong or the cold too severe. When the snow slants down among the branches of the pine and eddies about the tree trunks, it is one of the most charming spectacles of nature. It will be noticed from the tables on pages 106 to 109 that teachers do not walk much during the winter; walking is apparently supposed to be a fall and spring activity. This is mere tradi- tion. A walk in the summer will not always improve the teacher's appearance, but a walk of an hour, a day when the thermometer is down to zero can be guaranteed to furnish a rosy complexion. Most people do not think of walking in warm weather, but the person who walks fast on a hot day develops a perspiration which cools him off. He does not mind the heat as much as though he were loafing. I have Saturday 113 ridden a bicycle many days in succession from fifty to ninety miles a day when the thermometer stood at nearly a hundred in the shade and have never suffered from it. The time which seems least opportune to most of us for walking is at night, and yet the night has its own attractions. Most people appreciate a summer's evening when the stars are bright overhead or when the moon shines upon mountain peaks or lakes or snowclad hills and trees. But there is a charm, also, in the wildest night. Some of my pleasantest walks have been through blinding thunderstorms when the road was absolutely concealed except when flashes of lightning illumined it for a moment only to drown it again in darkness made doubly intense by the previous flash. THE EDUCATIONAL EXCURSION If the teacher is to bring a vision of the world to the child, she herself must have had some initiation into its mysteries and be in sympathetic touch with its problems. The world of books is vague and unreal in and of itself, except as it is illumined by direct contact with things. The portion of the earth with which we are most concerned is the one that lies about us. Our knowledge of it is gathered mostly through observation. Some day we shall require that the teacher be reasonably well informed in regard to the locality in which she is living, and that she use that locality as the key and interpretation to all the rest. More and more, also, we shall expect of teachers that they shall not merely instruct the children in the printed page, but that they shall also show them how to read the larger page of nature, and to study and understand the community in which they are living. 1 14 Recreation for Teachers The educational excursion is not new. Of those in Boston Superintendent Dyer writes : "We have specified in our curriculum in the primary schools, first, second, and third grades, certain excursions, which are strongly recom- mended. These are to visit places of interest historically, museums, and places of geographical importance. There is also a small fund called the Hyatt Field Memorial Fund for geographical excursions to defray the expense of children who cannot provide their own transportation. "We have a Children's Museum with a fine natural history collection, and with profitable walks and surroundings, excursions to which are stimulated upon a volunteer basis. Kindergarten teachers are en- couraged to assist teachers of primary grades in going with their classes. Of course in the kindergarten the excursion is a required part of the work, but above the kindergarten, so much cannot be said. In my opinion excursions are of great benefit in order to form basal notions on the part of children, and especially in this vicinity in connection with history, as well as with nature study." Director Frank P. Goodwin, of the Social Centers of Cin- cinnati, writes as follows : "The school excursion has a recognized place in the curriculum, in connection particularly with the study of geography and local community life. Whether or not the children go depends upon the attitude of the principal and the teachers. There are very often classes from the upper grades who go on from one to a dozen school excursions each year. Classes in the upper grades visit industrial plants, commercial houses, and places of civic and vocational interest. Pupils of all the upper grades usually visit the Cincinnati Art Museum and the Zoological Garden. "The number of excursions does not average one trip per month for each child, but the development is rapid and I am of the opinion that we shall soon reach that average." Superintendent Wirt says of the work in Gary : "The school excursion has a recognized place in our curriculum. All the children in grades i to 12 go on these excursions, and the average number of trips is at least one per month for each child." Saturday 115 Superintendent Alderman says of the work in Portland, Oregon : "We do not have regular days for excursions for our school children, but a great many excursions are made at the discretion of the principal. Visits are made regularly to the Art Museum, where the children are taken through and given a talk by a docent employed by the school board. Excursions are also made with the principal or teachers, and in many cases with the manual training instructors, to manufacturing plants of all kinds around the city. We have in mind a plan to work out some such school journeys as those taken by German and Japanese children, but the plan has not yet been perfected." Such excursions are taken on Saturday from all of our principal summer schools throughout the country. Although educational in their purpose, they are no less recreational on that account, for almost any one finds the seeing of new things one of the best forms of recreation. The walking trips should include all the principal factories and industries of the city, such as the car shops, the auto- mobile factories, the coal mines and quarries, the chicken ranches, etc. The owners of these industries will in general welcome groups of teachers to their shops and factories, and the teachers will find this one of the most interesting forms of travel. If it becomes the practice to take children to see the various factories and other industrial plants about the city, not only will the teachers gain a new influence through the impressions which they may give in regard to these institutions, but the social standard at these places will be raised. It will become a matter of pride with owners and managers that their factory shall be so fine as to compel favorable comment from those who visit it. n6 Recreation for Teachers The teacher in the city usually wishes to go to the Saturday matinee. I see no reason for criticizing this choice as an occasional form of recreation, but if instead of going to the theater every Saturday afternoon she should sometimes visit an automobile factory, or a brick kiln, or a poultry farm, she would probably find her afternoon just as interesting and a great deal more instructive. The information which she would get in this way would prove helpful in her school work, and the price of the theater ticket would still be in her purse. There should be geographic excursions to see the neighbor- ing lakes, rivers, and mountains, the forms of erosion, the different products raised in the locality, the forms of trans- portation, water power, and similar facilities. There should be trips to points of historic and literary interest, and others whose sole object is to see beautiful views. Probably the most delightful walks in the spring will be those connected with some form of nature study. Every teacher certainly, and most children of ten, should have a pretty complete collection of pressed flowers of the locality. Such a herbarium is easily made, is a beautiful souvenir upon the table, and is always of interest. There are also many sections of the country in which collec- tions of pressed flowers would have a ready sale at a good price. Flowers may also be mounted on heavy cardboard, covered with glass and passe-par touted, so as to make a beautiful decoration for a mantel or the wall or mounted between two sheets of glass as a transparency to hang against a window. I recently purchased a couple of daisies mounted in this way with a fern leaf for $1.50. The expense of mount- ing such a souvenir cannot be over ten or fifteen cents, and the time required not over ten or fifteen minutes. In places Saturday 117 where there are many beautiful flowers, as there are in Colorado and California, such work might well become a source of considerable income, especially where there are resorts in the neighborhood. It is well, also, for the teacher at times to take with her a trowel and a basket so that she, either alone or with the chil- dren, may transplant to the school yard the common wild flowers. There are many schools which now have a pretty complete collection of the plants of the locality. These can be used constantly for nature study, for drawing and paint- ing, and for bouquets. Under such conditions the children come to have a very intimate acquaintance with flowers and their names become household words. To love the beauty of the flower is quite as important for the child as to master cube root. A year ago our small boy of six attended a school on the outskirts of Los Angeles. There were growing in the yard of this school many common wild flowers, which were used for nature study and bouquets. The children learned the names of the flowers, and my small boy became my chief source of information in regard to them. Teachers generally appreciate flowers and the desirability of knowing their names, but are not so much interested in butterflies and other insects. However, these can be mounted in cotton or on pins, in boxes with glass covers especially prepared for the purpose, at very slight expense, and are always interesting things to have, especially in a schoolroom. They are also salable, and the teacher who would get in touch with any of the large department stores might find these mounted insects in many localities a source of considerable income. I recently spent nearly half a day in St. Louis and afterwards n8 Recreation for Teachers about as much time in Chicago in attempting to secure some mounted butterflies, finding that a single large butterfly mounted on milkweed silk or ordinary cotton often costs from two to five dollars, and that plaques and trays on which but- terflies, dragon flies, and other beautiful insects were mounted on milkweed silk, under glass, might cost fifteen or twenty dollars. Such a collection is ofttimes very beautiful. Every school and probably every classroom ought to have a small museum showing both the flora and the fauna and the common rocks and minerals of the locality. Children are intensely interested in making such a collection, as the teacher should also be. One of the pleasantest occasions for getting out of doors is the bird walk. Children will be glad to join you on such trips, and the knowledge acquired will be directly beneficial. Many teachers are now keeping a record of the appearance in the spring of the different birds on their northern migrations, and the time of their leaving for the South in the fall. If this can be supplemented by the making of bird houses at school and the feeding of birds on the window sill or elsewhere, it will often add much to the interest of the school work, as well as give the children the proper attitude toward the birds. In taking a bird study walk, it is an advantage for the teacher to have a pair of field or opera glasses. If she will carry also a small tablet or card and put down the names of all the birds seen, she will probably be surprised to find how many she can list in one afternoon. She should soon get a fairly complete list of the birds of the locality, and know their names and something of their habits. It is always of interest to notice the kind of nests which different birds make, and the materials which they use, the way they protect Saturday 119 their nests and the way their method of nest-building has grown out of their manner of life, especially their method of securing food. To develop a love of nature and learn her secrets, the person must live with her. Naturalists are accustomed to go into the woods and there sit perfectly still until all the wild things come around them, regarding them as peaceable members of the wood community. All wild creatures are suspicious of anything that moves, especially when it is large and apparently dangerous ; they will not reveal many of their secrets unless one will sit among them until they feel acquainted. One will often be surprised to find within half an hour how life teems in a section where there seemed to be no living thing at the time he came. OTHER TRIPS All of these excursions should be enjoyed, for the fact that they have an ulterior object should make them more rather than less interesting. The gratification of the instincts of curiosity and discovery is one of the universal forms of play. We thus play hide-and-seek with nature. But, besides the specific educational journeys, there are many other trips which the teacher should take. In most sections there is an opportunity in the fall to go nutting with the children. Such an excursion, with the climbing of the trees to shake off the nuts, the gathering of them from the ground, and the eating of a picnic dinner, is enjoyed by all children and all child-minded people. In the fall a corn roast is a good excuse for an outing. I have often taken a party of two or three hundred teachers out on a three or four mile walk, with a corn roast at the end. 120 Recreation for Teachers We have played games and had a delightful supper, singing songs afterwards and returning together in the evening. Almost any one who is not overcivilized will enjoy such a trip. Still more universal in its appeal is the picnic, for it is possible wherever shade and water may be found, either in the fall or the spring. Unless the weather is very hot there should be a bonfire. If bacon or frankfurters are roasted, they will add to the supper, and a few toasted marshmallows serve as an excellent dessert. Any of these outings may be taken in connection with a canoe trip or a trolley ride ; but in some localities a trip by carriage or automobile will be necessary. Recreation Programs As we have tried to indicate, where there is no plan for the recreational life of teachers, they tend to follow the line of least resistance and fall into forms of recreation which are largely passive. The best test of the Saturday's recreation is that it shall leave the teacher so well rested that she goes back to her work on Monday morning in as good condition as she was at the beginning of the year, and that her weariness shall not increase with the weeks of school. If this result is to be accomplished, the recreation of the year must be planned and outlined, and many outdoor forms must be provided. It might, at first, be difficult to make up a full year's program, but as these trips develop and programs expand, it should be possible in time to frame a series which might run through several years without repetition. A program should naturally begin with trips to points of interest in the city and its immediate environment. The Saturday 121 next series very likely would be from centers along trolley lines, where the walk to some point of interest would start at a distance of ten to twenty miles from the city ; or it might be from some point along a railroad line, or a place to which the party would be taken by automobiles. If each year the series of outings were printed, the file, in the course of ten or twenty years, should include a pretty complete list of all the points of interest within thirty or forty miles of any city. It would be found, in most localities, that this list would include pretty nearly every kind of thing that can be seen anywhere in the world, except a few cathedrals, historic battlefields, and the like. For the guidance of those who are planning recreation programs, some of the rules from the Mazama Mountain Club of Portland, Oregon, are given below, as well as sample out- lines of local walks from various cities. RULES OF THE MAZAMA MOUNTAIN CLUB OF PORTLAND, OREGON, WITH RESPECT TO LOCAL WALKS Each person attending the local walks is expected to observe the fol- lowing rules and recommendations : 1. Leader. The leader will usually wear a blue and white hatband during the trip. He will walk at the head of the party, the others fol- lowing. He may appoint one or more lieutenants to assist him in con- ducting the trip, and he should have the cooperation of these lieutenants and of the party in general. His telephone number will be given for the convenience of those seeking particular information about the coming trip. 3. Discipline and Deportment. All persons on the Sunday trips are expected to refrain from all boisterous conduct and loud noise, and to observe respect for the Sabbath. It is not to be lost sight of that the Mazama organization is one with high ideals, and that there must be dignity of deportment in keeping 122 Recreation for Teachers with its standards. These requirements are particularly to be observed where the party comes in contact with the general public, and when special cars are not used. Fences and other property must not be dam- aged and gates must be closed. 5. Clothing and Equipment. As a rule, no special attire is needed for the half-day walks, though the committee recommends clothing suitable for the woods. Low-heeled, comfortable shoes are a necessity. On all-day hikes, stout or outing clothing should be worn, and stout boots, which are better if fitted with Hungarian or hob nails. On the camping trips, each person must furnish his own blanket, suitable to the weather conditions. An electric flash light or a carbide light is a very great convenience at night in camp. 6. Lunch. On all-day trips, each person must take his own lunch, or in case a commissary is provided, pay his proportional part. He should take cup, spoon, and knife and fork. The leader will usually ar- range for hot coffee for lunch. It is a Mazama principle to leave camp sites in good order and all are requested to share in this responsibility. It is very desirable that each person carry a full-sized cup for drinking along the way, as well as for use at lunch, so that he need not depend on the courtesy of others. 8. Route. The walkers are expected to arrive at the meeting place promptly in order to begin each walk at the appointed hour. The leader may mark turns or indistinct trails by scattering pieces of paper. Red paper strewn along, or pieces of red cloth tied to convenient objects, will be distinctive marks for Mazama trails. 9. Scenic Points. All are reminded that one object of these trips is the viewing of the many natural scenic attractions found along the way ; therefore, each one should be watchful for these attractions, and instead of hurrying over the walk, should stop long enough at the prom- inent viewpoints to enjoy the beauties of nature. 10. Nature Studies. In order that all may avail themselves of the splendid opportunities afforded on many of the outings to study nature at first hand, whenever arrangements can be made some qualified person will be assigned to point out the features of educational value and to lead in a discussion of them. Where localities of historical interest are visited, talks on their significance will be invited. Saturday 123 OUTLINES OF LOCAL WALKS From Portland, Oregon. Mazama Mountain Club. No. 12. Moonlight walk, Wed., Mar. 7. Washington Park — Arlington Heights. Meet at 23d and Washington streets at 8.00 p.m. Walk through Washington Park, over Arlington Heights, and follow trail along ridge of hill between Canyon and Barnes roads. Return to city by Barnes Road. Affords fine view of city by moonlight. Walk about five miles. Nettie G. Richardson, leader. From San Francisco, California. Sierra Club. 15. June 23d (Saturday) — Rattlesnake Camp. Take 8.15 a.m. Sausalito boat and train for Mill Valley. Walk via Pipe Line to Rattle- snake Camp and lunch. Return via Bootjack Trail and Muir Woods to Mill Valley. Distance, 11 miles. Round trip to Mill Valley, 40 cents. Dorothy Doyle, leader. From New York. Appalachian Mountain Club. April 14, White Plains. N. Y. Westchester and Boston R. R., 133d St. and Willis Ave., at 1.48 p.m. (shuttle train from 129th St. on Third Avenue El.). Buy ticket one way to White Plains, 25 cents. Back country roads. About 6 miles. N. Y. at 5.53. Mary Goddard Potter, Mae H. Beattys. From Boston. Appalachian Mountain Club. Thursday, April 19. Patriots' Day. North Station, 9.35 a.m., for Rockport, Cape Ann, Pigeon Cove, and Annisquam. 8.5 miles, shore and road. Boston from Gloucester 6.25. Bring lunch and cup. Coffee and wagon provided. H. E. Grigor, H. H. Whitney. Every city should have a schedule of excursions similar to these. It is not to be expected that a hundred per cent of the teachers will go ; even if only five or ten per cent do, it will 124 Recreation for Teachers still be worth while. A new esprit de corps will develop, and the teachers who participate will be benefited both physically and socially. If the membership is not limited to teachers, these trips may be a means of introducing a new enthusiasm for outdoor life into the whole community. A County Recreation Survey In planning such a schedule we are met by the almost in- superable objection that no one in the locality knows what the points of interest are, and that the teachers usually consider that there is nothing of interest in the neighborhood. In order that the teachers may have a plan for satisfactory recreation covering the year, it is necessary that they should know what the attractions of the vicinity are. The prep- aration of such a local Baedeker would seem to belong logically to the county superintendent. He is interested in the welfare of the teachers, and in visiting schools he becomes acquainted with actual conditions. The Wandervogel of Germany and various other walking associations have been working for nearly a generation upon local walking maps, until now there are such maps for nearly every section, showing the condition of the roads, the points of interest, the places where fires can be built and water secured, the best places for spending the night, and the like. It ought to be possible for the superintendent to issue such a guide without the ex- penditure of much time or money. Perhaps he should begin by sending to all of the teachers a brief questionnaire somewhat like the following. Will you please describe and locate any point or points of historic, literary, or scenic interest in this county with which you may be Saturday 125 familiar; also any interesting industrial features, such as factories, stock farms, poultry farms, new crops, mines, quarries, water-power developments, and the like ; also points of geographic interest, as valleys of creeks or rivers showing interesting forms of erosion, strata, and the like. From the information gathered in this way, combined with the knowledge of the county superintendents and deputies, it should be possible to make up a pretty complete inventory. Then, a list should be made of all the common birds with which teachers should be acquainted, one of the common flowers, and one of the common rocks and minerals. There should also be some general map showing rivers, lakes, resorts, forests, mountains, and the like, the roads and their condition, places suitable for picnics and bonfires, and places where one might spend the night, with prices. The Automobile Comparatively few teachers appreciate the opportunities for good times which are brought to their doors through the auto- mobile. Yet any place within fifty miles, along a good highway, can be reached in two or three hours; and within fifty miles of almost every city or town in the United States there are dozens if not hundreds of places of scenic, literary, historic, geographic, or industrial interest. Within this range, also, are dozens of splendid places for hunting and. fishing, for gathering flowers, for camping out, and similar activities. The person with an automobile is the true knight errant of the present, and the world lies before him. It is not always realized, although it is an actual fact, that the auto is much our cheapest mode of transportation. The 126 Recreation for Teachers entire cost, including gasoline, lubricating oil, and depre- ciation, for a company of five, should not exceed three cents a mile on the best roads ; and probably not more than five cents, or a cent a mile for each passenger, on such roads as are generally found throughout the country. It is suggested that teachers organize themselves into auto clubs in any way that proves convenient and congenial to themselves. Each company should contain a driver, and if possible also an automobile owner. This is not strictly neces- sary, however, as an automobile with driver can often be hired for the day for from five to seven dollars, and a distance of ioo to 150 miles may be covered. Recently the writer drove with four teachers from the University of Nevada at Reno around Lake Tahoe in Cali- fornia, a trip of 150 miles. We started early and bought our breakfast at a railroad restaurant along the way for about fifty cents each. Reaching the lake at a little after ten, we spent an hour or so at the main pier and the big hotel, purchas- ing souvenirs and admiring the views down the lake. We drove on to Emerald Bay and had a picnic dinner at Cascade Falls. After a stay of about an hour, we went on around the lake to Inspiration Point, where the road is carried on a platform at a height of about 400 feet along the edge of a sheer cliff overhanging the lake. Here we saw a storm sweep down the lake and had a wonderful view of the mountains on the other side partially hidden by mists and clouds. All along the way, both coming and going, there was a riot of wild flowers of many varieties and hues, and much of the way back lay along a narrow road some thousand or more feet above the valley. We stopped at Carson City and saw the Governor for a few minutes, had a fine swim, and ate our dinner at one Saturday 127 of the warm baths near Reno, and reached home at about eight o'clock. The entire expense of the trip was about $2.25 for each person. The Aeroplane It may seem premature to offer any suggestions in regard to recreation by means of the aeroplane, yet as soon as the war is over there will be an enormous number of machines and aviators available for commercial and pleasure travel, so that the rapid development of air traffic is almost certain. Even to-day there is an air route laid out between Dayton, Ohio, and Indianapolis, Indiana, with lighting places every seven miles for landing and for repairs and supplies. A simi- lar route is now being laid out from the Pacific Coast to New York, and it seems possible that the time is not far distant when such routes will be common. Mr. Wright is now work- ing on a device to enable his machine to start and stop in a shorter space, and he says that travel by aeroplane will soon be nearly as cheap and practicable as by automobile. The aeroplane puts the world at the disposal of the aviator as no other vehicle can possibly do. He is tied to no routes, and can travel at a speed of 150 miles an hour. Within the next five years it may be possible to have breakfast in New York and supper in London, or if one chooses to explore, to have his breakfast in Boston and his supper in Greenland, and the next day be chasing polar bears around the North Pole. However, it seems likely that aviation will be the sport of the rich for the next decade at least, rather than the pastime of school teachers. 128 Recreation for Teachers Hunting and Fishing It may be said that thus far we have slighted the men in our planning, for we have usually spoken of the teacher in the feminine gender, though most of the recreations suggested are equally well suited to men. Fifty years ago it might have been said that almost the only forms of recreation in America were hunting and fishing, and even to-day, outside of automobiling, these are the principal forms for rural men and boys. Hunting has often been criticized as a cruel sport. How- ever, no one familiar with hunters could regard them as brutal. Comparing our methods of killing domestic animals with our methods of killing wild animals, there is no creature which would not prefer to die as do the latter. To be caught like a pig in a pen and stuck with a knife has none of the sport of struggle or the thrill of escape through which all present species have survived. The pig has no chance ; he cannot escape, and there is a sordidness about his death which is entirely lacking from the fate of the deer or the rabbit, which matches its wits against those of the hunter, though it comes to grief in the contest. If the people of America should agree that from this time on no one would hunt, rabbits would find it no more delightful to be caught by foxes and wolves, skunks and weasels, hawks and eagles, and other predatory animals, which know no closed season, than to be laid low in the man-led hunt. The hunting of men has more of tenderness in it than the denizens of the wild themselves employ. We must remember in this connec- tion the story of the woman who was boiling the lobsters alive. Some one came along and asked her if it was not cruel to cook Saturday 129 them in this way, and she replied : "Oh, they don't mind it; they are used to it ; we always cook them so." If all animals as well as man should cease to hunt, the time would not be far distant when overproduction would mean wholesale star- vation ; and slow death by starvation is much more dreadful than the swift impact of the bullet. Hunting has much to recommend it as a form of recreation. It takes the sportsman into the woods, gives him abundant exercise, teaches him to observe, and often leads to a serene mind. The hunter of to-day, when game has become scarce, must find a day spent in the woods a reward in itself. He may sit down on a log or a stone and watch the wild creatures about him until he learns many of their secrets. We must remember that the pioneers were all hunters, and this was true alike of the Cavaliers of the South and the Puritans of the North. It was this type of men who made America and fashioned its ideals. The Revolutionary War, although it found the men of America without knowledge of military tactics and drills, still found them not unprepared because they had learned to shoot, and knowing how to shoot is about half of military preparedness. There is likely to be a new enthusiasm for hunting resulting from the military training which is coming in. Perhaps in the interest of this preparedness all the shot- guns should be gathered in and scrapped, and hunting should be allowed only with a rifle. This would prevent the imme- diate destruction of our smaller game, and would at the same time teach hunters to shoot straight. There are many who do not care to hunt with a gun who might be very much interested in hunting with a camera. It is not easy to get good pictures of animals and birds 130 Recreation for Teachers in their native haunts, and it requires much skill and patience, but a real lover of nature will find his efforts well repaid. Although a milder sport than hunting, fishing has a some- what broader appeal, largely because there are many more women who like to fish than there are who care to hunt. Fishing, like hunting, appeals to one of the fundamental instincts through which the race has survived. It stirs the imagination and awakens portions of the mind which would sleep on forever were it not for this special stimulation. It also is an excellent form of recreation. The person who sits idly at the waterside may carry his cares with him ; but the person who goes forth with rod and line to drop his hook where even a few nibbles reveal the presence of fish, is not usually so troubled. Our hunting and fishing instinct is so strong that at the first bite our cares are forgotten and we think only of the sport. List of Recreative Activities for Saturday Afternoon This chapter has covered only a few of the many activities that may be carried on on Saturday afternoons. Other activities will be found in the chapters which have gone before or which follow. The complete list includes such activities as the following : In the Fall: Fishing Canoeing Swimming Rowing Walking Sailing Driving Motor-boating Motoring Hunting Horseback riding Saturday 131 Bicycling Educational excursions to factories and other points of interest Picnics Corn roasts Nutting trips Bonfires Camping out Kodaking Games, as football, basket ball, volley ball, indoor baseball, handball, bowl- ing, and tennis Playing games with children Reading Picture shows Musicales Theaters Visiting In the Winter: Walking Snowshoeing Skiing Sleighing Motoring Skating Tobogganing Games indoors, as basket ball, volley ball, indoor baseball, handball, bowling, bil- liards, cards Games outdoors, as hockey and soccer football Games with children Swimming Moving pictures Musicales Theater Visiting Reading I : the Spring: Walking Canoeing Rowing Sailing Motor-boating Bicycling Horseback riding Motoring Excursions for bird study, collection of flowers, col- lection of insects Geographic and industrial ex- cursions Picnics Bonfires Camping out, etc. Outdoor games, as playing games with children 132 Recreation for Teachers Indoor baseball Visiting Volley ball Dancing Basket ball Moving pictures Handball Musicales Hunting and fishing Theater Cards CHAPTER VIII SUNDAY Sunday is one of the greatest institutions of our civili- zation. It allows us to drop for a time our work and worries and brings rest and rebuilding. We come back refreshed on Monday with a new perspective, to find, ofttimes, that the perils that beset our path have disappeared. We do not usually think of Sunday as a day of recreation, and yet in the large meaning of the word it is the one great day of re-creation throughout Christendom. One cannot do better in this connection than to quote from the De Coverley Papers the sentiments of Sir Roger in regard to a country Sunday. "I am always very well pleased with a country Sunday, and think, if keeping holy the seventh day were only a human institution, it would be the best method that could have been thought of for the polishing and civilizing of mankind. It is certain the country people would soon de- generate into a kind of savages and barbarians were there not such fre- quent returns of a stated time in which the whole village meet together with their best faces, and in their cleanest habits, to converse with one another upon indifferent subjects, hear their duties explained to them, and join together in adoration of the Supreme Being. Sunday clears away the rust of the whole week, not only as it refreshes in their minds the notions of religion, but as it puts both the sexes upon appearing in their most agreeable forms, and exerting all such qualities as are apt to give them a figure in the eye of the village. A country fellow distin- guishes himself as much in the church-yard as a citizen does upon the 133 134 Recreation for Teachers Change, the whole parish politics being generally discussed in that place, either after sermon or before the bell rings." Rest Sunday is the one day which is reserved from toil for the great majority of people, and the only time for the recreation of many. Rest is a large element in all recreation, and Sun- day is a day of rest for several reasons. People do not get up as early as at other times. There comes with Sunday a feeling of relaxation, that it is not necessary to go to the regu- lar task, that there is no beckoning finger or impelling goad which drives us on to labor. This sense of relief, the feeling that there is nothing which must be done, is in itself of tre- mendous value. Not only have we a sense that we have escaped from the necessity of labor, but we do everything in a more deliberate way ; even the walking on the streets is not so rapid as on other days. The automobilists do not go so fast, the coach- man and driver instinctively take a slower pace. We even read more slowly, and this slowing of the mind and all other activities down to their normal pace is in itself a great saving of energy. We all instinctively find relief from care and worry, to some extent at least, on Sunday, though this is fully accom- plished only when there is also in the day an element of reli- gion. Worship Six teachers of the Flint group mention going to church as one of their chief forms of recreation. Most of the elements which enter into church attendance are recreative. The Sunday 135 "dressing up," the leisurely walk, the observation of other people who are on their way, the Sabbath greetings, and the social atmosphere of the occasion, are genuinely recreative, as are also the conversation at church and the music. In the church everything is restful. The dim light, the low music, the quiet, the decorum with which everything is carried on, tend almost inevitably to a quiet and poise of mind which are essential to self-knowledge and to the deeper needs of the spirit. Perhaps the services of the Catholic and the English churches are on the whole more restful than those in the Evangelical churches, for a deep emotional tone pervades the responses and the edifices themselves, which is peculiarly soothing to the spirit. Even though our attachment to the church is superficial and we go to show our new bonnets and clothes rather than to find inspiration and peace, the spirit of the service reaches down to every one, in greater or less degree. Most of us have at least a faint sense of fatherly care and drop our worries more or less as a result of the service and prayer. It is unfortunate that we have here so few great cathedrals, for there is something in the cathedral's gloom and beauty which is peculiarly soothing and inspiring. To sit for an hour amidst the vast arches, the great statuary, the wonderful windows and paintings of a great European cathedral is to be immersed in the very spirit of worship and of peace. During the Middle Ages the church held frequent fiestas and pageants and religious holidays, and these provided nearly all the social and recreational opportunities which the people had. Then there were the pilgrimages to the Holy Land and to 136 Recreation for Teachers the various shrines scattered over Europe; these were the great adventures and offered the main opportunities for ro- mance and travel. Perhaps no better opportunity for rest is ever offered than comes through the monasteries and convents of Catholic countries. It is the custom of many Catholic people to go to these convents and monasteries during Lent or at some other time when they wish to recuperate from hard work, or from a strenuous social season. The religious atmosphere about these old buildings leads to quiet and meditation. It would be good for us all if we could occasionally spend a week at a place of this type. Perhaps some day we shall be wise enough to build modern monasteries, or cure halls, or sanitariums, or whatever you will, where people may go for quiet and rest and meditation, amid scenes which sug- gest the great events of the past or the beauty and the wonder of the present. Valley Forge, for instance, or the site of the Temple to the Pioneers along the Columbia Highway, or some mountain top, might be an admirable site for such a temple of contemplation and re very. Active Recreation There are many who feel that any form of active recreation on Sunday is inappropriate. But the unquestionable tend- ency of the present is in the other direction. We are breaking away from the blue laws of Connecticut and the Sunday of the Pilgrims and Puritans to a Sunday which, as Jesus said, was made for man. The Fourth Commandment says "In it thou shalt not do any work" but does not prohibit play. The European Sabbath has usually consisted of two parts Sunday 137 — a holy day and a holiday. The morning has been devoted to religion, and the afternoon to play. Nearly all the great athletic festivals and very many at least of the great dances have taken place on Sunday afternoon or evening. The changing opinion is indicated by the fact that, while Sunday baseball was forbidden in most of our cities two dec- ades ago, there are now many cities where official baseball, on Sunday afternoon, is promoted by the city fathers. I have recently seen a Presbyterian minister out coaching his own ball team on Sunday afternoon. A large number of our municipal playgrounds are open on Sunday, and in some of our cities the playgrounds and swimming pools at the schools are also open. However, for the adult it does not seem as though active forms of recreation were the most profitable for this day. The teacher is in a unique position in that she has two holi- days every week, and plenty of other time for her active play. There are certain forms of recreation which have always been held appropriate for Sunday, although we have not always recognized them as play. Among these may be mentioned visits to art galleries, which are so common in all of our cities that Sunday is always the "big day." There is an intimate connection between admiration and adoration, between beauty and worship ; the effect upon the spirit of looking at a beautiful picture or landscape is very similar to that of worship. Sunday afternoon is the time when most families go for walks in the city parks, as it is the time also for country walks. A mountain top or a high hill is a peculiarly appropriate ob- jective. 138 Recreation for Teachers A walk is planned for every Sunday afternoon by the Mazama Club of Portland, Oregon. Teachers participate in many of these walks. The following are two examples : Sunday, Nov. 12. Parkrose-Columbia Trip. Leave 5th and Washington streets on the Rose City car at 1.15 p.m.; go to end of line and take Parkrose carline to its end. Walk out Sandy Road one or one and a half miles, thence north across fields to Columbia River, thence down the river two miles, thence back to East 826. street to take street-car. Walk about seven miles. Sunday, Dec. 17. Oregon City-Oswego Trip. Leave on Oregon City car at 1.00 p.m. and go to Oregon City. Cross to westerly side of the Willamette, view the falls, then tramp over the river road to Oswego, where take train arriving in city at 5.20 p.m. Walk of seven miles. Railroad fare, 40 j£. Society Sunday is a social day. It is the only time during the week when there is no call of business to take the father from home, no school lessons to drive the children into seclusion. Sunday afternoon is the time when the largest number of automobiles are in use. For the stranger teacher with no automobile and no family connections, it may be a period of great loneliness ; but if she can go for the afternoon to the woods to gather flowers or to commune with herself, this may be her one way to peace and to that mental poise and calm which He at the basis of all great natures. For the teacher's own welfare the rural custom of going home on Friday night to spend Sunday is excellent, if it does not involve too much housework for the returning daughter, because it brings a change of thought with the change of environment and allows the home circle to be drawn together. From the point of view of the school and the com- Sunday 139 munity, however, it is not best for the teacher to spend all of her Sundays in this way. Sunday afternoon and evening furnish the opportunities for most of the love-making among teachers, as among others. There is something in the spirit of the day which makes it peculiarly appropriate for it. It is also a decided safeguard against those perils which surround intimacy between the sexes. Reading Many teachers are accustomed to save up their reading as well as their letter-writing for Sunday. This is all right if they do not then feel a sense of obligation in regard to it and can read or write in much the spirit in which a person would take a stroll on Sunday afternoon. We are peculiarly addicted to the Sunday newspaper in America, but this cannot be approved. The newspaper repre- sents the essence of those cares and worries from which we should escape on Sunday. We cannot expect that most people will devote their Sundays to reading the Bible, though it is desirable even from the recreational point of view that every one should spend part of the day in this way. But if we will read some inspiring poem or essay or any form of literature which has a somewhat less realistic or sordid point of view than we find in the daily papers, it will be better for us. The Old-time Sabbath The old-time Sabbath extended from sundown to sundown. There is something to be said for a Sabbath of this kind, for the reason that the person is apt to throw off his cares and 140 Recreation for Teachers sense of effort as soon as his work is done on Saturday ; he feels then as though his time to rest had come. Moreover, with the coming of Sunday evening, there is a sense of the approach of new duties, and the teacher often feels that she must spend some time then in going over her lessons for the coming week. Perhaps we should have a better Sunday if we went back to the old-time standard and had it begin at six o'clock Saturday evening and end at six o'clock Sunday evening. In regard to recreation, the teacher may well occupy the golden mean. As a day of rest Sunday is necessary to her nervous stability and her mental sanity and growth. Even if she is studying and teaching at the same time, she must not devote much of this day to mental work. The riotous, boisterous day, filled with that kind of merri- ment which one sometimes finds among rather frivolous young people, is condemned as recreation no less than as a Sabbath, for it does not permit, much less promote, that mental peace and quietude which are so essential to the de- velopment of poise and personality. But we must condemn no less the type of Sunday which shuts youth up in a sort of prison and forbids it to do anything enjoyable. The Puritan Sabbath does not furnish the kind of relief that is needed, and it inevitably leads to a hatred of the day and often of religion itself, on the part of the young. Jesus, as well as his followers, went from place to place on Sunday, the same as on other days. Indeed, they sometimes violated, for good cause, the Sunday regulations of the time so that they were severely criticized by the scribes and Pharisees. CHAPTER IX THE WEEK-ENDS AND SHORT VACATIONS In other chapters we have dealt with recreation on Saturday and Sunday, but the problem of the week-end is somewhat different from that of the two days that compose it. The week-end means the time from the close of school on Friday to the beginning of school on Monday, which is three nights and somewhat more than two full days. Treated as a unit, it is a third of a week and enough to constitute a short vaca- tion in itself. While we should not recommend the week-end outing as a regular thing for teachers, there are days when Heaven " tries the earth if it be in tune," when it seems almost a sacrilege to stay indoors, and when the teacher may be justified in deserting church to be with nature in fields and forests. Then there are times when the teacher has personal prob- lems to solve, when she needs to get away from her family and friends and be by herself. Such an opportunity as the week- end affords may be essential to her poise and peace of mind. There are times, too, when she is overwearied, when the school and the children have begun to jar upon her, and when she feels that she is slipping back in health. At such times a week-end in the country or in the mountains will often do wonders to set her on her feet. 141 142 Recreation for Teachers Week-end Travel by TRAIN In the majority of my work I spend five days in a locality, leaving for my next appointment on Friday night. As soon as I have left the scene of my labors I throw off all tension, and the next two days are days of complete ease of mind. To many teachers such a trip occasionally would bring great relief. BY TROLLEY Throughout New England, Indiana, Ohio, and parts of Illinois, almost any town within a hundred miles can be visited by trolley. Traveling in this way you need not go to the city but can stop off where you will. A few years ago we spent most of the summer at Worcester, Massachusetts, and took our recreation in trolley rides. We went to nearly every town within twenty miles and to a good many that were farther away. We found the rides interesting, and by tak- ing walks from the places to which we trolleyed we could cover nearly every country road and every factory within a twenty-mile radius. The trolley car does pretty well for an automobile if you have no other at command. BY BOAT There is no outing that is more delightful than a boat trip, especially a trip on a river. Along most of our navigable streams boats run during the warmer weather, making trips which vary from an hour in length to two or three days. Out- side the meals and stateroom, the expense of these trips is The Week-ends and Short Vacations 143 usually slight. A group of teachers who will take their lunch together may have a splendid time in this way, at very slight expense, on almost any Saturday from April to November. If there is a congenial party, perhaps a trip in a motor boat, with fishing, camping, and cooking, may bring as complete relief as anything that can be suggested. ON HORSEBACK In the South it is often feasible for teachers in either town or country to go on horseback for a ride of a couple of days. The objective may be some resort or the home of a friend twenty or twenty-five miles distant. Horseback rid- ing is stimulating enough to almost compel one to lay aside his worries. BY AUTOMOBILE The automobile is increasing in popularity and cheapness. It has already become one of our greatest means of trans- portation, and with good roads it will probably soon be the very greatest. We have scarcely begun to realize the possibilities of the automobile in the way of travel. We have envied the railroad president and millionaire who were able to journey about with their friends in their own private car, but Mr. Ford has made their joy possible for any one who has #450 at his disposal. If a group of teachers will cooperate for automobile travel, this is much cheaper than the railroad. In any section with good roads it should be possible for a group of five to hire an automobile for two days for ten dollars, provided one of them is a capable chauffeur herself. It makes a pleasant outing to drive a hundred 144 Recreation for Teachers miles to the city, attend the theater Saturday night, go to church Sunday morning, and come back in time for supper Sunday evening. Such a trip, including all expense of meals and hotel bill and theater, should not cost more than five dollars for each and might cost a dollar or so less. In pleasant weather it might be more stimulating to carry a tent and camp out for the night. It should be possible to visit many places of interest in the way of factories and other industrial developments along the way, and to make collec- tions of flowers, study birds, and the like. An automobile can be so made that the front seat folds back into a bed. If a mattress and bedclothes are carried on a trailer or in a dust-proof package, this will furnish the necessities for two or three who could not sleep in the auto- mobile. During week-ends most of the beaches of Southern Cali- fornia are thronged with autoists from the cities. In many cases they sleep in their autos, and they often carry a special tarpaulin which is thrown over the car so as to make a tent at the side. In many cases, also, a strip of canvas is run around the automobile so that it may be used as a bathing booth when the occupants wish to go swimming. ON FOOT But after all, the pleasantest way to travel is afoot. The best books of travel that have ever been written have been books on this subject. There is no other method which enables one to become a part of the country to the same extent. It is often desirable to pursue a course parallel with a trolley line, so that one can ride at any time that he becomes tired, The Week-ends and Short Vacations 145 though if the party is not too large, the passing automobile offers a still better method of relief. The rural teacher has peculiar advantages for walking, because she is in an environment of nature, away from hard sidewalks, automobiles, street cars, and everything which jars upon the nerves. Walking upon an unyielding surface is not restful, as a country road ordinarily is. While the teacher should live in the community in which she is teaching and become a vital part of it, there can be no objection to her walking home on certain week-ends when she lives in the neighborhood. Most teachers would not wish to walk far Friday evening, but along any well-traveled road a twenty-mile walk is a simple proposition, because one is sure to catch a ride most of the way. It involves no serious hardship either for the teacher to start from her school at four o'clock, walk until half past six, have a picnic supper by the roadside, and walk on until she reaches home, though of course the pleasanter way would ordinarily be to start out on Saturday morning for a long walk of this kind. The country roadsides of America, to one who has learned to see, are always full of interest. They do not suggest the historic legends that gather around so many spots in Europe ; there are no castles and few historic battle fields; but for one who is interested in a developing country and its resources and products, no roads are more interesting. Observe what is being raised in the fields, the apparent size of the farms, prosperity as shown in buildings, the condition of the fences and stock. If any one will put down what he sees in a day's walk, he will find by evening that he has a pretty full record of the wild life of the locality. There will be the tracks of many animals in the dust or the mud of the road, there will 146 Recreation for Teachers be animal burrows and trees evidently inhabited by squirrels or other animals. The automobile also, unfortunately, leaves a pretty full record of the fauna behind, for one may find in a day's travel along almost any road many creatures that have been run over. These will include snakes, frogs, turtles, and chickens, and sometimes rabbits, skunks, and squirrels. The road itself keeps account of nearly everything that is carried over it. Lumps of coal, kernels of wheat and corn and oats, wisps of straw or hay help to write the record of the thoroughfare. There will also be evidence of cattle, sheep, horses, dogs, cats, and other animals that have passed. In order to enjoy walking the person must be comfortably dressed. Shoes should have low, broad heels, and for moun- tain climbing hobnails are usually an advantage. Some recommend that shoes should always be made to order, and doubtless this is true for people with weak arches or tender feet. Clothing should be plain and strong, so that it will not show dust readily or be easily torn. Women should not wear skirts that are too light or too long, nor should they wear corsets. The underwear should be of the same color as the skirt. One difficulty with many walkers is that they undertake to carry too much baggage. There is no place where the Latin name of " impedimenta " is more appropriate than for any kind of baggage on a walking trip. Reduce the load to a sandwich and an orange, if possible. It is not pleasant to sleep in one's underwear in hot weather, but two thirds of the world undoubtedly does so, and if one will take a sponge bath before retiring it is no great hardship. Practically all lovers of walking are accustomed to carry a cane or alpenstock. They do this for the most part not for any assistance it ren- The Week-ends and Short Vacations 147 ders in walking but for company. Women are apt to be timid about walking, but in general there is no sufficient reason for such timidity; they are usually safer walking in the coun- try than they are returning home evenings in the city. We shall hope that women will acquire greater self-reliance in these days of war. This is being demanded of them more and more, not merely on account of the war, but also because they are going into all sorts of occupations where they must meet men and compete with them under all conditions. There are perhaps places in the South where women cannot walk much by themselves, but there are not many other parts of the country where women are not reasonably safe. A small automatic revolver may add to the teacher's sense of security, especially at night, and when dogs appear along the way. A friend of mine, who was formerly a teacher of art in one of the Wisconsin normal schools, found herself later not very busy in Southern California and took up a desert claim in the section above San Bernardino. The nearest house was at first several miles distant. She employed from one to five men in improving her ranch and also in starting improvements for others who came in later to take up claims. Her cabin contained only two rooms, one of which had to serve as a bedroom for herself and the other for her help. She carried an automatic revolver but tells me she never had occasion to use it, nor was she ever afraid. A difficulty about a walk which lasts several days is the baggage, as the teacher may visit places at which she will not wish to appear in her walking clothes. This, however, is not a serious difficulty, as one can send on in advance six pounds anywhere within the first mail zone for ten cents, and a larger package at a proportionately lower price. It is 148 Recreation for Teachers no real extravagance when underwear is ready to wash, to buy new garments, and send the soiled ones home by mail. The mistake oftenest made by beginners is attempting to walk too far. The trip should not be taken to see how far one can walk, but rather to see something. The distance covered should seldom exceed ten miles a day, which is the average daily walk of the Sierra Club. A PROGRAM OF WEEK-END WALKS There ought to be a program of walks around all of our larger cities covering the week-ends during the pleasanter parts of the year. The following outlines give a hint of possi- bilities. BY THE MAZAMA CLUB, PORTLAND, OREGON Sat.-Sun., Jan. 13-14. Larch Mountain. Leave Union Depot on O-W. R. & N. train Saturday at 11.20 p.m. Special car will be side- tracked at Bridal Veil. Walk over road to Palmer, then over trail to summit of Larch Mountain. The return will be made Sunday afternoon over the same route. Take train at Bridal Veil at 4.15 p.m., arriving in Portland at 5.30. The lights of Portland are visible from the trail ; the view from the summit, especially Mt. Hood at sunrise, is superb. The logging camp will be headquarters, where hot coffee and chocolate will be served. BY THE SIERRA CLUB, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA May i2th-i3th — Schwartz Canyon (Knapsack Trip). Take Monticello S. S. Co. boat, north end of Ferry Building, May 12th, 9.45 a.m., 12.30 or 3.20 p.m., for Vallejo and electric train for Calistoga. Meet at Ferry twenty minutes before boat sails, so that parties of 15 or over can obtain reduced rate. All sleeping bags, etc., must be sent by the 9.45 boat or mailed to N. D. Richardson, Calistoga, in time to reach him on Friday, May nth. All bags will be transported to camping place The Week-ends and Short Vacations 149 and returned by team. Walk out Cat Hill Road to Maple Spring and camp near summit. Sunday down Schwartz Canyon under direction of leaders. If arrangements can be made party will return via auto from /Etna Springs, otherwise return will be via Cat Hill Road. Make reser- vations not later than Thursday noon, May 10th. A further small charge will be made for baggage transport. Distance Saturday, 6 miles ; Sunday, 6 to 12 miles, according to route taken. Round trip to Calis- toga, #2.65. September 2Qth-3oth — Inverness and Drake's Bay. Take 2.45 p.m. Sausalito boat and train, Saturday, for Point Reyes. Walk via road to Inverness, where hotel accommodations will be available. Sun- day cross bridge via Mt. Vision and walk cross country to Drake's Bay, the site of the first landing of Europeans on California soil. Return to Point Reyes via Inverness Park. (Make reservations for hotel accom- modations at Club room by depositing $1.50 not later than Wednesday noon, September 26th.) Distance, Saturday, 4 miles ; Sunday, 16 miles. Round trip to Point Reyes, $ 1.2 5. The Night's Lodging In connection with two-day trips the chief problem and expense is likely to be the lodging for the night, and in many cases it is the lack of any suitable place which prevents teach- ers and others from taking a two-day trip. This, however, is a difficulty which is usually greatly overestimated. The hunters and trappers and early pioneers who settled America often lived in the woods for weeks with- out camp or tent, protected only by trees and by the fire which they built at night, though prowling Indians sometimes made even this dangerous. We are becoming overcivilized and absolute slaves of our conventions. There is no hardship in sleeping out under the stars occasionally, and if there be a sheltering tree with leaves or moss beneath and we can have a camp fire to cheer 150 Recreation for Teachers the solitude, it is a couch fit for a king. One who has never slept where he could look up at the stars and into the immen- sity of space has missed one of the most inspiring of experi- ences. It is probable that the first night one may not sleep eight hours. By three o'clock in the morning, or even earlier, the birds begin to sing, and never do birds' songs sound so clear or pleasant as in this hush of the early morning. " The nightingale, if she should sing by day, When every goose is cackling, would be thought No better a musician than the wren." A few years ago, when I was lecturing at the Harvard Summer School, I spent most of my week-ends in walking over the eastern part of Massachusetts. As soon as my work was over on Friday I usually set out and returned to Cambridge some time late Sunday afternoon. I often varied the walks with trolley trips and got my meals and spent the nights at the hotels along the way. I always find a great sense of relief as soon as I have cut loose from all my bearings and set forth on an uncharted sea to go wherever I choose, with no particular idea of where I am going or where I am to spend the night. I feel something as a bird does, I suppose, that is released from a cage. Two days spent in walking in this way are always very pleasant and usually very instructive to me. President Wm. P. Hardesty of the Mazama Club of Port- land, Oregon, makes the following recommendation in re- gard to sleeping equipment : "The lightest and most convenient sleeping bag, where one has to carry the bedding himself, is made of balloon The Week-ends and Short Vacations 151 silk or tanalite. This is really waterproofed silkoline, and it is extremely light and also waterproof and fairly durable. A number of Mazamas have sleeping bags made of this material. The cost is about $7.00 or $8.00. "Of course, if the bedding is transported in wagons, there is no objection whatever to having a good stout waterproofed canvas cloth for the sleeping bag, such as would weigh eight or ten pounds. The sleeping bags of balloon silk and tanalite are supplied by Abercrombie & Fitch of New York. This firm carries camping specialties of all kinds adapted to use on outings where the parties have to pack everything on their own backs." THE CAMP FIRE The camp fire has an appeal which is hard for any one to understand who is not a genetic psychologist. There are few other things that have the same power to arouse the imagi- nation and awaken the deeper feelings. With a good fire at night almost any company feels at home even in the wilder- ness. Merely to return to a spot where one has sat around the fire at some previous time seems like going back to an old residence. To camp out without a good fire is to miss half the pleasure of the outing. In getting a camp supper the novice often makes the mis- take of building too large a fire. A large fire is too hot, and it takes too long to burn down. The best fire is a small one which soon burns to coals. It is possible to toast bread or bacon or marshmallows on a stick or corn in the husk on such a fire without being uncomfortable, and by the time the com- pany is ready to depart the fire will be beyond the danger point. 152 Recreation for Teachers A party on an outing nearly always wants some kind of hot drink, and coffee is highly appreciated. It can be kept hot in a thermos bottle, or warmed up in a metal container or a strong bottle, or it can be made in a pail. There are sections of the country where a fire is always a possible source of great danger. Fires should not be lighted where they can spread, and they should not be left until they have gone out or been extinguished. The Week-end Visit Undoubtedly we are not as hospitable or as given to family visiting as we were a few years ago. For country teachers especially, the week-end visit, with the excursions and trips and social occasions which are likely to grow out of it, is excel- lent. Rural teachers do not have sufficient social life. There ought to be some plan whereby they might frequently visit each other for week-ends. This should be officially encour- aged by the county superintendent, and possibly arrange- ments might be made at the institutes. The Week-end Camp There is no more delightful way to spend the week-end than to camp out. It is easy for fifteen or twenty teachers to hire a motor truck or a sight-seeing automobile and go off fifteen or twenty-five miles on Friday evening to camp out until Monday morning. If they carry a man or two to help put up the tents, the camping and cooking from Friday night to Monday morning should be delightful. It should not be much more expensive than staying at home. The novelty of it is pretty sure to throw off the strain and to bring the The Week-ends and Short Vacations 153 teacher back Sunday evening fresh for her work. There is no other place that cements friendship as does the camp fire, and the singing and social life make a pleasant variation in the routine of the week. If the camp be placed in some mountain canyon, by some lake or river, or in some fine wood, it should offer ample facilities for making collections of flowers and leaves and perhaps also of geological specimens. In almost any location it will give an opportunity for the study of birds and other wild creatures of the woods. On Sunday morning some one might well read a passage of the Bible, and the group might sing a few familiar hymns. But I have never felt that it was irreligious to spend a Sunday in the quiet of the woods or on the shore of some pleasant lake. The Municipal Camp and Farm The ultimate solution of this question might well be a camp or a farm school maintained by the city. The munici- pal camp of Los Angeles, though seventy-five miles from the city, is often used by teachers for week-ends, and one located only twenty or twenty-five miles away might be more popu- lar. Let the city secure a good-sized farm with some water and hills and forest and a truck garden, if possible, in the immediate environs of the city. The older school children might be sent out for the summer to live in the country and learn farming. Here there might be a teachers' clubhouse and perhaps a home for superannuated city employees. Fresh vegetables and milk could be furnished at low cost to these people. There are some sixty cities that now maintain municipal 154 Recreation for Teachers camps during the summer. This number is constantly in- creasing, and the time seems to be coming when nearly every city of fifteen or twenty thousand inhabitants will have some form of municipal camp. At present most of these camps are merely leased by the city or by the playground department ; but a number of cities are purchasing sites, and the time of municipal ownership is at hand. Most of the larger cities of Europe have municipal forests. A law was recently passed in Massachusetts allowing cities to acquire forests of a similar type. The municipal forest should offer adequate facilities for camping. If there is no forest near by, the city or the school board should acquire a tract for outings and camping, though these are now per- mitted in many of the larger city parks. As yet, so far as I know, no school board has acquired a piece of land for these purposes, but it is in line with present tendencies in education. Such a site should be used by the school board as a place where the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts, the Camp Fire Girls, the social center, and the teachers' clubs might go for summer vacations and for week-ends. It might also be a place where convalescent teachers or others recovering from non-contagious diseases might go to recuper- ate. If it were of modest proportions and near by, some married teacher might have charge during the week and come in to his school by automobile or trolley. Los Angeles has shown how easy this project is. Its camp in the mountains above San Bernardino is used by parties of girls, parties of boys, and families, for two-week periods during the summer. It charges #7.50, of which the trans- portation costs #3.00, and the board and room #4.50. On this it makes a profit of one dollar a person, if the salaries of The Week-ends and Short Vacations 155 the play directors and interest on the investment are not in- cluded in the charge. It is probable that a camp might be opened to teachers for week-ends at an entire charge of not more than a dollar a day, and still be self-supporting. The Teachers' Clubhouse Before many years the teachers in many of the larger cities will probably have some sort of club building outside the city. Such a building might be merely rented by the teachers, or it might appropriately be provided by the school board as a country club. It should be by the water- side or in the mountains if possible, and have grounds of considerable size with facilities for tennis, croquet, volley ball, swimming, and pleasant walks. If the desire for such a building were really brought to the consciousness of the citi- zens, such buildings would often be given to the teachers. If the clubhouse belonged to a small city where there were only a few teachers, it would not necessarily require a house- keeper, but the teachers might use it as a camp and go out with provisions to last them over the week-end. In the case of a larger city, a building with an ample garden might be secured and a man and his wife kept all the time to prepare the meals and assist in entertaining the teachers and their company. The University of Colorado maintains a week-end camp, twenty-five miles away in the mountains, for the students of its summer school. Teachers can better afford to go to such a camp during the year than when they are on their vacations. Within less than twenty-five miles of most of our cities a beautiful camp ground could be secured. 156 Recreation for Teachers But some superintendents may say, "The object of the schools is to educate children, not to entertain their teachers." But teaching is a difficult and wearing profession which is very meagerly paid. The tendency is for the more capable members to leave it early for marriage or for other work. Anything that will make the teacher's life more attractive will draw superior people to it, and will keep them in the pro- fession for a longer time. The cities of California have se- cured many of the best teachers of America because of their attractiveness as places of residence and because of the high salaries they pay. If one city will furnish such facilities, others will be likely to do the same. The Week-end Resort It is not necessary, of course, that teachers should camp out for their week-ends in order to get away from routine conditions. In the environs of most cities of any considerable size, generally on the banks of some river or lake, will be found a summer resort of some kind. These resorts do not usually open for summer visitors until about the time the schools close. But there is usually some one in residence, and ar- rangements might be made to open the buildings for week- ends if a group of teachers should so desire, at a very reason- able rate. This would often allow them to have a thoroughly good time in a very delightful place without the usual crowd- ing and confusion of a resort. So, also, around most cities there are a good many farm women or others who are accustomed to give board during the summer, and many of these might be induced to take in week-end parties of teachers. A great many teachers do not The Week-ends and Short Vacations 157 know country life or products as they should. A few week- ends spent in this way might be as instructive to many as a course in college and would be almost sure to be restful. Christmas and Easter Vacations In the eastern part of the country and especially in the New England section, the Pennsylvania and the New York, New Haven, and Hartford railroads for a number of years have organized Christmas and Easter trips for teachers. These trips have usually been either to Old Point Comfort or to Washington. They are personally conducted and are offered at a very reasonable rate, usually including hotel as well as other charges. Thousands of teachers enjoy them every year. Similar excursions would doubtless be popular in other parts of the country, if the railroads were equally enterprising in planning them and seeking to reach the teachers. In most of the country below the Ohio River the first week or two in April are likely to be about the most delightful of the year. The leaves are in their freshest green, the birds are building their nests, and all nature is feeling the push of spring. Where a group of 1ivq or seven teachers have the use of an automobile, it would scarcely be possible to plan a more delightful trip than to follow one of the new highways that are running into the South, to New Orleans or Jacksonville or any of the other great cities. It should be possible to make a hundred miles a day and still take plenty of time to see the points of interest along the way. Such a trip might be made to include a number of the battle fields of the Civil War and many other places of great national and scenic interest. 158 Recreation for Teachers The mere change in fauna and flora would alone make it worth while. With careful driving the entire cost of an automobile trip for five people should not exceed five cents a mile. In other words, to each one of the five the mileage cost should not exceed one cent; which would mean that the automobile expense of a thousand-mile trip would be ten dollars for each individual, or fifty, dollars for a group of five. This is sup- posing, of course, that one of the teachers drives the car. The only other necessary expenses are the hotel bills, which may be as high or as low as the party choose. It should be possible to make a thousand-mile trip in ten days in this way at an expense of from twenty to thirty dollars per person and be very comfortable. Nearly every kind of travel which is feasible for Saturdays or the summer is feasible also for week-ends and other short vacations, so the possibilities include walking, bicycling, motor-cycling, automobiling, driving, horseback riding, canoe- ing, rowing, motor-boating, and the like, as well as all sports, games, visiting. These are described in other chapters, where they may be found by means of the index. CHAPTER X THE TEACHERS' INSTITUTE The teachers' institute is an anomalous institution at present. Twenty-five or thirty years ago a great many counties started short summer schools for the training of their teachers. The sessions were usually from three to seven weeks in length, and were called summer normals. They were largely given up to drills in the elementary subjects and were intended to prepare teachers to pass the county examinations and to teach the three R's. This work has been taken over by the state normal schools for the most part, and the sum- mer normals have shrunk to institutes usually one week in length, though in some states they last only two days. Thus far there has been no well-considered attempt to adapt the institute to changed conditions or to standardize it by determining what is expected from so short a period of training. Perhaps there is no educational institution that might yield a larger return to intelligent study. The teachers' institute is a brief normal school. The stu- dents are usually the teachers who are teaching in the coun- try and small villages of the county. It is the most difficult of all schools to organize and requires the most expert ability to make it a success, since its session is very brief, and the material must be presented in a concentrated form and so forcibly as to make sure that it will be retained. County superintendents as a rule have had no experience in selecting 159 160 Recreation for Teachers faculties for normal schools, nor sufficient professional train- ing to frame the curricula for such schools. The result is that there often is no main purpose underlying the institute. It is merely a congeries of lectures on various topics which lead nowhere and produce very meager results in the practice of the schools, ff teachers' institutes were organized in the office of the state superintendent, and held serially, they might engage, in most states, the continuous service of two institute faculties. Instruction given in this way should become expert and produce definite results in the introduction of agriculture, gardening, manual training, organized play, or any other subject which it might be considered desirable to put into the curriculum. As the time of the staff would thus be used continuously, the institute would not be so ex- pensive as it is where the lecturers are called out for a week or a day at a time, and must often travel repeatedly from state to state. It would thus be possible to secure an engagement with certain specialists and theatrical troupes also. It probably would not be wise that the entire program of the institute should be furnished by a permanent staff of lecturers. Perhaps the best arrangement would be to leave one or two vacancies on the program each day to be rilled in by the county superintendent with some one who might bring something which the county peculiarly needed, or by some man of the hour whom it was possible to secure. The institute logically should be organized either as an extension department of the state normal schools or the state university, or else directly by the state department of educa- tion. If it were controlled by the normal school or university, it would correspond in general to the farmers' institutes which are organized by the agricultural colleges of the state. The Teachers' Institute 161 Perhaps the employment of the institute staff by a commit- tee of the county superintendents might be advisable. Not only are many institutes without any plan, but the time devoted to the daily program is too long. Most of us cannot listen to six or seven hours of lectures a day and retain much of what we hear. As I look back upon the institutes that I have attended during the last ten years, I find there were few addresses which have left any impress upon my mind. The things I do remember are the people I have met and my discussions with them, and the points of interest visited. In other words, it has been the noon hours and the time of rec- reation after the program of the institute was over that left the strong impression. Is not this likely to be true, also, in the case of the teachers ? The suggestion seems to be that there should be more sight-seeing and more social life. Per- haps an institute of a type somewhat different might be more effective. An Institute for the Study of the Locality Probably this suggestion will seem impractical to most people. It certainly would be so in many localities. Prob- ably no such institute has ever been held. But Jahn, who may properly be regarded as the father of physical training, used to take his classes off on walking trips which sometimes lasted four or five weeks. They climbed the Alps and visited many places of historic and scenic interest. Teachers ought to know a great deal more than they do about the county and township in which they live. They ought to know more of the common flowers and birds and the geology of the district, its waterways, roads, industries, and sources of wealth. M 1 62 Recreation for Teachers To the teacher living within twenty or even forty miles, the institute offers an admirable opportunity for a week-end walk. By starting Saturday morning it ought to be possible for any able-bodied teacher to arrive by Sunday evening. If her route takes her along any well- traveled road, and the distance is not more than forty miles, she will probably reach her destination the first day, unless she positively refuses to ride when invited to do so. Where the institute is near some stream, the teachers might come by canoe or rowboat. However, the method which will be most attractive is to go in groups of five or seven by automobile. In most schools there is at least one teacher who is accustomed to driving, and in some counties nearly all the teachers might attend in this way. It is often an advantage to have an auto at com- mand while attending the institute. About once in five years the superintendent might well hold an institute devoted mostly to a study of the locality. Such an institute might be conducted by setting up three or four camps. Tents could be carried on motor trucks and set up by men for the purpose. The cooking arrangements might be under the supervision or actual charge of the teachers of domestic economy. But in most cases this would not be necessary, as it would be feasible to select villages as the places of meeting. On the first day the teachers would go on trips, preferably taking their lunches, to points of interest around the first village. One group might study birds, another make collections of flowers, another study the farms and crops of the neighborhood, another might go to any mine or quarry or water power development, and so on. An in- structor should be in charge of each group. At night all should return for a general institute lecture or two. Or, The Teachers' institute 163 instead of returning to the town from which they set out, their studies might take them all in a certain direction, so that in the evening they would arrive at a second town not more than ten miles distant and have their general meeting there. If they returned to the first town for the night, they might take a trolley early in the morning to the next town. In case the teachers walk on to the next town, their baggage should follow in motor trucks or wagons. If the superintendent wishes to be more moderate in his innovation, but is still interested in getting the excursion organized into the schools, he may plan for a single afternoon devoted to an institute excursion. The Chautauqua Institute Where the institute is held during the school year and the schools are closed, it is natural that it should be short and concentrated ; but if it is held during the summer, and the teachers are expected to attend without pay, it should at least give them something which they will care for. Our rural teachers are nearly all young, not much over twenty- two or twenty-three on the average. The majority are living on farms or in small villages. The school year is short. Their salaries are usually too small for them to stay at summer resorts or to travel. Their vacation consists largely in the substitution of housework for school work. They need a vacation as well as training. It is possible in some sections to hold an institute which is both a summer school and a vacation. Instead of having an ordinary one-week institute, the session should last two weeks. The morning should be devoted to an institute 164 Recreation for Teachers program and the afternoon to having a good time, playing games, rowing, swimming, or having picnics and social occa- sions of various sorts. Especially in places where several counties combine for a joint institute, it ought to be possible to select a site with considerable general recreational interest. In Colorado, Dis- trict No. 2 announced that its institute for 191 7 would be held in Estes Park from June 4th to 17th, and District No. 6 would meet for two weeks at Cheyenne Wells. The Tri-County Institute of Maryland holds its institute for two weeks at Ocean City, and states in its announcement that the morn- ing will be devoted to institute work and the afternoon and evening to recreation. The teachers should have a better time at such an institute than if they had gone to a summer resort, because they have their friends with them. In some cases the time at which the institute is held will be decisive in this regard. At the beginning or the end of the season it may be possible to get possession of a Chautauqua or summer resort ground for two weeks at a very reasonable rate. If this were not feasible, it often would be possible to secure tents from the National Guard and camp out. An institute of this kind should not cost the teachers much more than the ordinary one-week institute. The talent for the program should not cost more. The Institute Program The main consideration here is the quality of talent secured. It is possible for the institute to be a real inspiration. This is not a plea for a program of froth and funny stories ; but good material well presented should not be tedious. The Teachers' Institute 165 Many counties are unwisely parsimonious in this matter. In the case of an institute of four hundred teachers which is held during school time, it is probable that the school authori- ties are paying the teachers on an average about $15.00 a week, which would mean $6000. If the teachers are also spending $4000 for board and room and traveling expenses, the institute is costing the school boards and the teachers about $10,000. There are cases in which this money is prac- tically wasted, because the staff does not have any vital message to give. All lecturers should be expected to submit an outline or abstract of their lectures, which should be printed and given out to the teachers at the institute. This would be a very simple and inexpensive proposition if there were a permanent institute faculty and the printing were done on a large scale. It would be more difficult and costly under present conditions, but it would still be worth while. Comparatively few teach- ers take notes. Many probably would not refer to an ab- stract if it were given them, but the majority would look over the lectures they were interested in and would thus retain probably twice as much as they now do. The value of the institute might thus be nearly doubled at an increased cost of not more than four or five per cent. If the institute is held in a school which is provided with a moving picture machine, there should be both forenoon and afternoon a brief program of moving pictures of literary, historic, or geographic interest. This feature might come either at the beginning of the session to encourage prompt- ness, or as a recess. It is sure to be appreciated, and, as many of the reels can be obtained gratis from the Bureau of Edu- cation at Washington, the cost would be slight. In most 1 66 Recreation for Teachers of the institutes of Pennsylvania there are splendid directors of music. The singing is good training for school work and a relief from listening. Where it is not possible to furnish music in any other form, the institute should make use of the victrola. The phonograph companies, as well as the moving picture companies, will often give exhibitions free to teachers. Exhibitions Things seen are better remembered than things heard, and more of the institute time might well be devoted to exhibi- tions. These may include almost any and every phase of school work. A class in beginning reading may be taught in the primary section, or there may be an exhibition of work in arithmetic or history or geography, or a demonstration of games. After the Sessions shopping From the reports from Kansas City and Johnstown, it would appear that shopping is the most popular form of recreation for teachers on Saturday afternoons. Nearly every one with money to spend enjoys spending it. It is certain that many rural teachers look forward to this oppor- tunity in connection with the institute. In making out the program, one afternoon should, in most cases, be set aside for shopping. On Friday afternoon most of the teachers will go home. This will leave three afternoons of a week's institute to be planned for. A PLAY PERIOD Where there is no other break in the program, and space permits, it is often desirable to have a play period of about The Teachers' Institute 167 half an hour during the forenoon. But the best time for a play period is usually after four in the afternoon. The teach- ers should not be required to attend these play periods, but from twenty to seventy-five per cent of them will usually do so. By this means better games have been introduced into many counties, and the teachers have been led to take a larger part in the play life of their children. This is also one of the best ways to organize the county play picnic. EXCURSIONS We are coming to ask that education shall begin with con- crete things, and that it shall start in the neighborhood of the school. President Wilson has asked for a new training in community life. In view of these facts, there should be a list of interesting places to visit announced on the institute program, and leaders should be provided to take charge of parties. These excursions might well include places of his- torical or literary or scenic interest, factories, lumber yards, brick kilns, and the like. Many of our cities are making a beginning in these trips for the study of the neighborhood, and the institute might serve to show teachers how to or- ganize this work. A short time ago the writer attended an institute in western Pennsylvania. It was in a town on the Ohio River, where there was one of the new sectional dams which are being constructed for improving navigation. The locks and gates, operated by compressed air, were very interesting. In this city and its suburbs were five large glass factories, one of which, devoted to making cut glass, is said to be the largest in the world. Here, also, the old canal along which the 1 68 Recreation for Teachers youthful Garfield drove a mule, enters the river. Yet there was no reference to any of these things on the pro- gram of the institute, nor did a single teacher visit any of them, so far as I know. Still these are matters of very great local and national importance, in which all teachers should be interested. THE HOSPITALITY OF THE TOWN During the present war the cities near the army canton- ments are setting an example of hospitality such as we have never seen before. Such hospitality is due to the teachers no less than to the soldiers. Teachers are public servants on meager salaries, who are working very unselfishly for the most part for the welfare of the children of the community. The city owes them a debt of gratitude which has seldom been adequately acknowledged and has never been adequately rewarded. Hundreds of soldiers and sailors are being invited out for Saturday and Sunday dinners in private homes. Why is not such hospitality offered more often to teachers? Teachers know how to behave; they would not be embarrassed by a dinner in a cultured home, and they would appreciate the spirit prompting such hospitality. In the cities near which army camps are located, the Ma- sonic Temple, the Odd Fellows' Hall, the Elks' Hall, and the Y. M. and Y. W. C. A.'s are thrown open to the soldiers. Why should not the various social clubs of the city, includ- ing the Y. M. and Y. W. C. A.'s and some of the churches, offer a similar hospitality to the teachers from out of town ? An institute is a source of considerable profit to the town in which it is held. It is not unknown for chambers of com- The Teachers' Institute 169 merce to raise thousands of dollars, and cities to build great convention halls, in order to get conventions to come to them. A teachers' institute is really a small convention. It is estimated that teachers spend ten dollars each in the city in which the institute is held, but they often spend thirty to forty dollars; the average may be as high as twenty, for the rural teachers often do most of their shopping at this time, laying in a supply of clothing for the year. In view of this fact, it is only fitting that the chamber of commerce, or business men's club, or whatever organization there is in the town, should show some appreciation of the teachers' presence, from a commercial point of view as well as because the teachers are public servants in whose welfare all are interested. At many institutes the business men are now arranging to give a reception or an auto ride or a supper or something of the kind. The receptions are usually pretty stupid affairs, but some of the auto rides, which take the teachers over the city and show them public buildings, parks, boulevards, and the like, and points of interest in the environ- ment, are well worth while both to the teachers and the city. Indeed, they are so well worth while that they might properly be paid out of public funds, as they are the best advertise- ment the city can have. Moreover the home teachers and children are likely thereby to gain a new interest in their city, and a new loyalty. Such rides are also quite as valuable a part of the teachers' education as anything that they are likely to get out of the institute proper. SOCIAL OPPORTUNITIES Most of us who go to conventions get quite as much out of the opportunities of personal talks with people and informal 170 Recreation for Teachers discussions of our problems as we do out of the program. This is true even at the N. E. A. There ought to be an effort to stimulate the social life and increase the social opportunities at the institute. In order to do this, the superintendent should endeavor to make every one acquainted with the others at the beginning, so far as possible, and there should be times when the teachers can get together to talk over things among themselves. For this reason it is wise to hold a reception or a picnic very early in the program, though group games are often better than receptions for making teachers acquainted. One weakness in the situation is the lack of a suitable place where the teachers can meet in a social way. Men at conven- tions usually congregate in hotel lobbies for their discussions, but teachers are apt to be quartered in private residences where they have few opportunities of meeting one another. There should be some central place where the teachers can get together. The church luncheon and suppers often help, though the time is usually too short for much conversation. THE TEACHERS' PICNIC A picnic should be a feature of most institutes held in the warmer part of the year. It is often best to have these pic- nics two or three miles from town, so that a considerable walk is involved. Such a picnic develops intimacy among the teachers and gives them something to talk about. It often results in their holding similar picnics and walking trips with their children on Saturday afternoons. There should be a committee on arrangements appointed by the superintendent. This committee should see that a The Teachers 1 Institute 171 proper site is selected and that everything is in readiness. If the event decided upon is a corn roast, this will include the providing of corn, butter, butter spreaders, 1 coffee, sugar, cream, sandwiches, pickles, and perhaps marshmallows. A picnic of this kind will cost about twenty cents per capita. Such picnics should be held where wood is available for roast- ing corn 2 and for a bonfire. A SWIM Where a good swimming pool is available, it might be well for the superintendent to suggest, in sending out his announcements, that the teachers bring their bathing suits, and for him to secure the exclusive use of the pool for one afternoon or evening. " Blood is thicker than water," and water is thicker than air, and seems to serve as a medium connecting those who are in it. At all events, more social feeling and good fellowship result from swimming together than from sitting together in the same room. THE TEACHERS' CLUB It is best, in most places, that the teachers should belong to some kind of outdoor club. It is often possible at the insti- tute to organize such a club for Saturday afternoon picnics and nature and bird-study excursions, during the fall and spring, or for volley ball or basket ball or swimming during 1 These may be made by splitting up wooden plates or by whittling out small pieces from thin strips of pine. 2 In roasting the corn a good-sized fire should be allowed to burn down almost to coals, when the corn in the husk should be thrown upon it. It should be allowed to cook until the husk is dark brown. It will be found that corn cooked in this way has a delicious flavor. If the husk is thin it will be roasted, otherwise it will be steamed. 172 Recreation for Teachers the winter. Such organizations sometimes persist from year to year and are of great social and physical value to the teachers. Evening Recreation In planning the institute the superintendent will do well to make a program for every evening except Friday, — not that regular sessions of the institute should be held during these evenings, but that the superintendent should seek to have something going on which will be of value to the teachers. A reception, special moving pictures, and plays which it would be desirable for the teachers to see might well be included. At a large proportion of the institutes there is an evening reception with light refreshments and the playing of games or dancing. This serves to make the teachers acquainted. It is not so much enjoyed or valuable as a picnic, as a rule, but if there is no other social provision, it is worth while. moving pictures and theater Many who are teaching in the country or small villages look forward to the opportunity afforded to attend moving- picture shows or the theater. Arrangements may be made to have the standard theaters and moving-picture places put on a special program during institute week, to be an- nounced on the institute program ; or the institute itself may conduct these features in the auditorium of the high school or elsewhere. Nothing could be furnished that would be of more interest than such a film as " Caberia" or " The Birth of a Nation," or a number of others that might be mentioned. If these were shown in the high school auditorium, they might be offered The Teachers' Institute 173 free, or at any rate the admission need not be more than ten or fifteen cents. Thomas Edison says that most of the in- struction of the future is to be given through moving pictures. Moving-picture machines are now being placed in most of our new high schools and many of our elementary schools, and there can be little doubt but they are to play a larger and larger part in the education of the future. The institute is the best place to demonstrate to the teachers the value of this work. Moreover, these films also may give welcome relief to the monotony of the institute program. It should be possible, also, to arrange for a performance in the high school auditorium, by some good company, of Shakespeare, or such a play as "The Servant in the House" or " The Passing of the Third Floor Back." If an auditorium could be furnished to the company without charge, and an audience absolutely assured, it should be possible to get a really good performance at a reasonable cost, if the routing could be arranged. The simplest arrangement, however, would be for the super- intendent to see the managers of the principal theaters of the town and arrange with them to put on plays during insti- tute week which it would be worth while for the teachers to attend. These plays, with prices, should then be announced upon the program of the institute. Probably the theaters under these conditions would be willing to offer special prices to the teachers. A MUSICAL PROGRAM Very often in the Pennsylvania institutes there is provision for an evening program of music, and an excellent quartette is brought in from the outside, or perhaps some really great 174 Recreation for Teachers musical performance is given. The funds of the institute are usually sufficient to permit the offering of this program to the teachers without charge. In a good many of the west- ern and middle western institutes a program of music by local talent is offered, which often winds up with a dance in the gymnasium. In some institutes they are making much of community singing, devoting one or two evenings to it. This is desirable from two points of view. It creates esprit de corps as almost nothing else can, and it gives the teachers a needed training in singing. The Calendar of the Institute If the suggestions which have been made are to be carried out, the institute calendar will be a much more elaborate affair than it has been thus far, for it will contain not only a list of speakers with their topics, but also a list of places to be visited, of plays to be seen at the theaters and moving- picture houses, of clubs that are offering open house and of excursions that are planned. If such a program is sent out a few days before the institute convenes, the teacher should be able to plan pretty definitely what she will do and what she can get out of the institute. The N. E. A. always an- nounces interesting side trips on its program. Most teachers would enjoy such an institute and look for- ward to it. While the program of lectures would be shorter, the actual time planned for them would be doubled or trebled. Its value should be much more than that of an institute of the older type. It would form and strengthen friendships, increase the teachers' pleasure and pride in their profession, and become a memory which would linger. The Teachers 1 Institute 175 A Continuation School for City Teachers In general, city teachers do not attend institutes, but often have a lecture course and periodical meetings with discussions of pedagogical questions, which serve nearly the same purpose and form a sort of continuation school. There is no class of people for whom a continuation school is more appropriate or effective than teachers. Indeed, something of this kind is absolutely necessary if the teacher is to keep growing and maintain her interest in her work. It would be a logical development of the work now being done by the various normal schools and departments of education if they should organize an extension force which would devote its time to presenting to teachers throughout the year the more recent and important educational movements. In- struction given in this way would be more likely to be remem- bered and used than when it is given in a solid program of a week. This extension work might be so organized, with outside reading, as to lead to an A.B. or an A.M. degree within eight or ten years. In that case, some state or na- tional department or university might hold the examinations at stated times and grant degrees to those who had accom- plished the requisite work. A number of our larger normal schools are now opening extension centers, where they give regular courses on Satur- day mornings. There is an arrangement in Pennsylvania whereby any of the larger cities may hold institutes sepa- rate from the county. The teachers pay an institute fee of from three to five dollars and during the year hold five ses- sions, each of which usually occupies Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. In this way they save traveling expenses, 176 Recreation for Teachers and charges for board and room ; they do not miss any of their school work, and they receive #15.00 extra for attend- ing these institutes. This is a good suggestion for a sort of continuation school for teachers everywhere, only it would be desirable to have fifteen or twenty sessions each year instead of five. In Kansas city, Missouri, one Saturday morning each month during the school year is devoted to a teachers' insti- tute, one or more speakers being brought in from the outside. These meetings really constitute an extension school. But besides this, the great majority of the teachers take regular class work along educational lines, often spending a good many of their evenings in preparation for these lessons. This work is made a condition of receiving increased pay. When the city superintendent becomes the principal of a continuation school of this sort, he will become interested in the welfare of his teachers in the same way that the presi- dent of a normal school is, and realize that he should pro- vide medical inspection, hospital service, and social and recreational opportunities just as normal schools do. If the teachers are organized for continuation study in the way that has been suggested, the distinction between teacher and pupil will largely disappear. The teachers become the upper class in the school system or city college or municipal university, as you will. They are students, and as such are entitled to at least as many facilities for recreation and physical welfare as are other students. It seems likely that the best results will not be secured in such a continuation school unless there is some centrally located building which is devoted to this work. Undoubt- edly there should be a principal of this teacher training school The Teachers' Institute 177 and also a faculty, on which there should be at least a medical inspector, a director of recreation, a city psychologist, a director of research, and a director of experimental schools, and possibly certain of the specialists from the high schools. Whenever teachers get together at stated intervals, it is possible for them to plan for various forms of recreation which they may have together. If the reader will consult the chapter on Summer Schools, she will find many forms of recrea- tion outlined which will be quite as suitable for the regular teaching force of almost any city. N CHAPTER XI THE SUMMER AT HOME The summer vacation is the great opportunity of the teacher to recover from any bad effects which her teaching may have produced in her, and to keep herself alive and growing. On the use which she makes of this time will largely depend her usefulness as an individual and her future status in the profession. A large proportion of teachers are not getting out of their summers what they should, because they make no plans for them. When their work is over they merely slump back into their boarding house or home, do their routine tasks, read a few unimportant magazines and stories, and visit with such people as come their way. There may be teachers who are overwrought and on the ragged edge of a nervous breakdown, to whom such a vacation may be justifiable, but to most it means a wasted summer. The following replies from the teachers of Council Bluffs, Iowa, were made in response to the simple question, "How did you spend your summer vacation last year?" No names were signed. 178 The Summer at Home 179 Activities of 85 Teachers of Council Bluffs, Iowa, during the Summer work At home 15 Housework 22 Taught 3 Tutored 2 Clerical work 2 In grocery 1 In library 1 Gardening 1 47 STUDY Study 2 Summer school 23 25 RECREATION Visiting 11 Summer resort 7 Travel 17 Resting 3 In mountains 2 On farm _2 42 Of these teachers, fifteen state they spent their summer at home, while twenty- two say they spent it in housework. Undoubtedly all the teachers, or nearly all, who did house- work did it at home ; so it may be assumed that all together thirty-seven teachers of the eighty-five spent their summers almost altogether at home. But nearly all teachers who have a home undoubtedly spend a considerable part of their summer there, and this is true even when they attend a summer school or travel for a part of the summer. 180 Recreation for Teachers Of the teachers spending their summers at home, there are two separate classes : those who go home to take charge of the house, and those who simply go home for a visit. If the teacher whose home is on a farm takes full charge of the house- work, it is probable that she will have a ten or fifteen hour day with very little opportunity for recreation or study ; while the city teacher who goes back from her school to spend rive or six weeks with her family and among her old friends may find it one of the most delightful forms of vacation. There are disadvantages in spending your vacation in the place where you have been working, because the environment suggests the work. It would be best if every teacher could get away for a few weeks, at least, as soon as her school is over. Where the teacher is not living at home during the year, to go home will offer change and relief. About one half of the teachers in the United States are in one-room rural schools. They are generally young, averaging not more than twenty-two or twenty-three. They are prob- ably not earning on the average more than $350.00 a year. On this salary it is scarcely possible to spend the summer in Europe or to travel much. In some states nearly all rural teachers are now attending summer schools, and probably in most of the northern states nearly half of them are attending such sessions. But as the rural teacher usually has at least sixteen weeks' summer vaca- tion, she still has ten weeks to spend at home or somewhere else. The Need of a Plan It is possible for a summer spent at home to be as profitable as one spent elsewhere, but this is not likely where the teacher The Summer at Home 181 merely drifts along without any plan. A quiet summer has great value, in allowing time and opportunity for mental digestion. It is desirable that a period of quiet should follow one of stimulating activity, in order that the new material may be assimilated. Just how definite and detailed a plan should be made for the summer, and tasks set for each day, depends upon the teacher. The more exactly special work is assigned to each day, the more strenuous the day is sure to be and the less recreation one will get out of it; but, on the other hand, most teachers will probably accomplish more with such a program, and to some it may be necessary in order that any- thing worth while shall be done. It may be taken for granted that the homecomer will assist in the housekeeping. Unless there is an abundance of help, this is plainly her duty; she has no right to be a parasite. But the teacher cannot afford to make herself a house servant, and she should not be satisfied to spend all her time in this way if it can be avoided. Still, as between the young woman who allows the other members of the family to do all the work, in order that she may read or embroider, and the one who does her share, we may feel confident that the second is getting the larger culture. The Care of Little Brothers and Sisters Teaching is an expression of the maternal instinct. It would be valuable experience for every teacher to care for her little brothers and sisters for a time, or to serve in a day nursery. This would also be the best possible preparation for her duties as wife and mother later. 1 82 Recreation for Teachers The Care of the Sick If there is an invalid in the family, the nursing required may bring out the tenderness and sympathy which are often suppressed by the discipline of the school. It has been advo- cated for the last two decades in Scandinavia and Germany, that every young woman should be required to give a social service year in the same way that every young man is required to spend two years in the army. It has been suggested that this year should be spent in the care of little children in the day nurseries, and in nursing the sick in hospitals. This service is desirable in order to bring out feminine qualities and to fit them for similar work later in their own households. Society has ever revered two types of women: the mother, and the nurse or sister of mercy. Even though the care of a dependent father or mother or a little child confines the teacher to her home so that she can see the world only through the " Window in Thrums/ ' if she will keep her mind and heart open, she may find the daily pageant not uninteresting and the sense of service a rich reward. There are many roots to the play impulse, and one of these is the spirit of motherliness which lies deep in every true woman's heart. There is no other play in the world which is so satisfying as that of the mother with her little baby, and even to care for little brothers and sisters or a sick mother brings its sense of satisfaction to the motherly soul, as well as in its sense of duty fulfilled. Let no one think that the life of the nurse, whether she be a Florence Nightingale or one of the rank and file, is wholly one of self-sacrifice ; or if it is self- sacrifice, if the true spirit of the nurse is there, it is a self- sacrifice which is also self-realization. The Summer at Home 183 Social Life Teaching is a social profession, and the teacher should always seek a full and stimulating social life. She is the main agent in the universalizing of democracy; therefore she, of all people, should be democratic. She should associate with all ages and classes and seek to know and appreciate all. In many cities the teacher will have better opportunities for recreation and a wholesome social life at home than she could have by going away, because of resorts near by, where she already knows some who will introduce her to the others. But even without this opportunity, wherever there is a group of enterprising young people, they can always have as many parties and picnics and walks and camps as they care for. Where the teacher must be the main housekeeper during the summer, and it is necessary for her to get three meals a day for the other members of the family, she is pretty well tied up, and must get her recreation largely in the home and through afternoon and evening activities. Probably the easiest way for her to get a vacation along with her work is to have a friend come and spend a few weeks with her. If this friend is herself willing to help with the housework, so as not to be an extra burden, her company will relieve the monot- ony and give an opportunity for trips and social occasions in the home and elsewhere. Reading The summer is the great opportunity for general reading. Some teachers, however, will not have local access to good 184 Recreation for Teachers books. There are usually township or village libraries, but the books are mostly popular novels of little educational or cultural value. But a teacher can usually secure books from the state library, either by making her house a distributing center for the neighborhood, or by ordering a special set for herself. Study The teacher who cannot go away to school should be able to conduct in her own home a fairly good summer school of which she will be superintendent, principal, teacher, and pupil. Some teachers cannot do this, because they require the stimulus of competition and an examination. But no one can consider herself intellectually independent until she is able to do so. However, the teacher need not be entirely dependent upon herself, even though she lives in some obscure mountain valley, for she can take a correspondence course at little expense, on almost any subject in which she is interested, through the extension department of some university or normal school. Play and the Open Air To the teacher who is anaemic, tubercular, or nervous, it is necessary that as much of the summer as possible shall be spent out of doors, with pleasant thoughts and such exercise as she is able to stand without fatigue. Every teacher should cultivate an enthusiasm for some occupation which will take her out of doors every day. She should purpose to acquire some new outdoor accomplishment each year. There can be no general prescription as to what she should do, but The Summer at Home 185 it should be of a kind to develop her chest, put her shoulders back and her head up, and give her a good posture. The form of exercise which is most universally applicable is walking. No teacher is in condition to teach school, or to be married, unless she can walk ten miles a day without undue weariness. Every teacher may well set this minimum standard for herself. Those who have led an inactive life during their earlier years, however, must realize that they cannot do Marathons at the beginning. Tennis is excellent. The teacher owes it to herself to be able to play a fairly good game, and the summer is a good time to learn if she has not already done so. If she is in the country where a horse is available, horseback riding is good. Especially for the teacher who is constipated or who suffers from indigestion, no better form of exercise could be sug- gested. Where there is access to water, there should be op- portunity for rowing, canoeing, and swimming. If the teacher is in the country or in a small village, where there is not much social life, she should plan to camp out, if possible, for a couple of weeks. There is scarcely any way in which a group of young people can have a better time and get better acquainted. In these days, when there is an automobile in nearly every family, the home-bound teacher, despite her cares, may still find time afternoons and evenings for many delightful drives. On many of these she may take her friends with her. If she has not already learned to drive, the summer is a good time to learn. Perhaps she can occasionally take the whole family off for a week-end visit or to camp by some lake or resort. i86 Recreation for Teachers The Psychology and Sociology of the Hammock The summer is the time for the teacher to gain poise. She needs solitude as well as society. She needs the breadth of wider reading, but she needs no less the depth which comes only with quiet. She must be at harmony with herself, think her problems through and find a solution, dwell within herself until she finds peace. Such periods are necessary to mental calm, and to them the hammock may invite. Not all, however, have the capacity for meditation. For many the hammock will mean merely day-dreaming and list- lessness. The teacher will have to be her own judge. Conclusion Every teacher should find something under nearly every head in this chapter that will be easy for her to do, so easy, in fact, that the suggestion may seem superfluous. Neverthe- less, if she has no plan, she will probably not do many of them and may find, when school begins again in September, that she has no considerable residuum of value from her summer, — that she is neither healthier nor handsomer, neither more attractive nor more companionable, neither wiser nor better informed, than she was when her school closed. CHAPTER XII SUMMER WORK The duration of the school year varies from four months in some of the southern states to nearly ten in some of the northern. The average probably does not exceed thirty weeks. Thirty-six weeks, one hundred eighty days, is almost exactly half a year. Thirty weeks, one hundred fifty days — and the year of rural teachers seldom exceeds this — is a little less than one half a year, exclusive of Sundays. The summer vacation ranges in length from about ten weeks to over thirty weeks. So long a period is not needed for rest. Even if the teacher attends a six weeks' summer school, she will still have from four to twenty-four weeks in which she may follow some other occupation. The meager pay of teachers often makes summer employ- ment necessary. Nearly 40 per cent of the New York teachers report one or more people dependent upon them. For a large proportion of these and other teachers, the question is not whether or not summer work shall be undertaken, but what it shall be. The New York report says : "37.8 per cent of teachers engage in work outside regular school-teaching to supplement their income. 15.8 per cent report outside work during the school year ; some of this group engage in outside work during both the school year and the summer season. 22.0 per cent report outside work during the summer only." 187 1 88 Recreation for Teachers Rest as a Change of Occupation There is a common belief that recreation consists largely in a change of occupation; and if the weariness has come from monotony and strain rather than general exhaustion, a change of work is often restful. Work as a Means of Education The earliest school was the school of experience, and the occupations of the lawyer, the clergyman, the doctor, the politician, and perhaps the business man, are all about as educative as the school. The teacher knows too little of the world in which the child is living and of the life and occupation into which he is to go. It is desirable that every teacher should have some experience in all of the occupations of the community. What Kind of Work? The work chosen should be out of doors, good exercise, and something which she loves to do. It should be a valu- able experience of assistance in her teaching. The English teacher might well be a librarian or a story-teller at the library or in the playgrounds, or a reporter on some local paper. If she has some skill in writing, she may be able to pay her expenses at a summer resort by re- porting. The teacher of mathematics might well find a summer spent in bookkeeping or accounting, or as a cashier, helpful. The teacher of agriculture would find farm work almost indispensable, or he might supervise boys' club work and children's gardens. The teacher of domestic economy should find housekeeping, occasionally at least, Summer Work 189 desirable and helpful. The manual training teacher may well do carpenter work. The teacher of art may give private lessons, or decorate china, or do outdoor sketching; or she may with advantage serve as draftsman in the office of an architect, a contractor, or an engineer. The music teacher may sing at churches, at private parties, or theaters, or may play in a local orchestra or band. Physical trainers are in demand during the summer, both as directors of summer camps and as playground directors. In general, the work pursued should be a means to under- standing and sympathy between the teacher and the com- munity. The large business enterprises might wisely employ teachers during the summer, because the teachers will later draw their illustrations more or less from this business, and thus often unconsciously guide children into it. School men usually believe that the teachers are the crucial factor in determining the college or university which their students will attend. Their influence upon the business world and the choice of occupations might be similarly effective if they had themselves had experience in the trades or professions in- volved. The New Point of View Heretofore woman has been greatly handicapped in her choice of work, both by the prejudices of the community and by her lack of physical strength. But now, when all the heavier work is done by machines, it is necessary only that she have some mechanical ability and physical endurance to find nearly every occupation open to her. Owing to war conditions, women are everywhere taking up the work which men have dropped, and in many cases they are wearing male 190 Recreation for Teachers attire. To be permitted to undertake any enterprise or oc- cupation which she may choose means a new emancipation of woman. It has been generally thought that her periodicity in- capacitates woman for any responsible or consecutive work. But primitive woman is not largely handicapped by this fact, nor is the woman who from infancy has had a normal amount of exercise in the open air. Girls who have come up through a vigorous childhood, playing tennis and other games, often suffer no disability or pain, and are able to carry on their regular work without hindrance. At the Normal School of Gymnastics in New Haven, under Dr. Arnold, the girls are not excused from their regular program at these times, except in swimming, and the tabulated reports thus far have shown no bad consequences. Available Occupations From the reports of the teachers of Council Bluffs, it would appear that 47 out of 85 of them took part in some kind of work during the summer. Of these occupations housework was much the most common, while teaching, tutoring, gardening, clerical work, work in groceries and libraries, all appear. In the reports in earlier chapters from other cities of activities during the year, gardening, clerical work, and working in stores appear as the most common forms. All of these occupations are obviously available and appropriate. HOUSEKEEPING Housekeeping is much the commonest employment of teachers during the summer, as it is of women everywhere. Summer Work 191 Every teacher should have had this experience if she is to teach girls. Nevertheless, housekeeping is subject to many serious objections. It consists mostly in the repetition of the same processes — getting the meals, washing the dishes, mak- ing the beds, and sweeping the floors. These, as ordinarily pursued, have little educational value. As exercise, house- keeping has not much to commend it. It does not develop the heart or lungs or strengthen the spine or give a good carriage or complexion. Sweeping, especially, is bad for the lungs. Housework does not furnish much of value to talk or to think about. Unless the housekeeper goes to her work with a good conscience, a feeling of success, and an optimistic outlook upon life, she is likely to brood while she works and to grow morbid. No one should keep house, if she can help it, when she is blue or depressed. The mother who expresses her love for husband and children in planning their meals and darning their stockings may develop into a high spiritual type. But without such a motive, housekeeping will have little value as training except for the teacher of domestic economy, or for one who is soon to have a home of her own. It is, how- ever, an admirable occupation for a person who is look- ing forward to marriage, both because the work seems appropriate, and because it leaves plenty of time for other activities. AGRICULTURE There is some doubt whether the modern normal-trained rural teacher is as well prepared to teach country children as was the old-time teacher who worked his farm in summer and taught during the fall and winter. The farmer teacher un- derstood the lives of his children, and knew what material to draw upon for illustration. 192 Recreation for Teachers Every rural teacher should have some farm experience. Probably three fourths of our rural teachers are women, and our traditions are against women's working in the fields. But farm work has changed utterly in the last forty or fifty years. The farmer no longer plants or cultivates his crops with a hoe, nor pulls the weeds by hand. Nearly all the work is done by horses or tractors. A young woman may be quite competent to ride a mowing machine, a reaper, a cultivator, a hay tedder or loader, or any other modern farm implement. If she is to do the full work of a hired man, she must be fairly strong, must know how to harness the horses or operate the tractor, and must have some mechanical ability. But this might be done by the farmer, and doubtless would be done gladly, in order to secure help in these times. A number of Vassar girls have been doing farm and garden work during the past summer. It is also possible for the teacher at times to make fairly good wages by picking berries or fruit. This has some of the interest of discovery about it. Nearly every one enjoys it for a time. There are also, in many country districts, can- neries of vegetables and fruits which offer steady work at fairly good pay, though this will probably not be as hygienic or pleasant. CANVASSING AND INSURANCE One of the commonest occupations during the summer is canvassing, usually for books or household articles. This, however, does not appeal to many. Life insurance and fire insurance would probably be more pleasant, but comparatively few teachers have thus far undertaken them. The government might well use teachers to a greater extent Summer Work 193 in taking the census, but this is not likely to happen unless the census gets outside of politics or education gets nearer to the national government. Having the teachers take a part or all of the census would do more to connect the school with the community than almost anything else that could be done, because it would give the teachers just the information about the community which they need. That this work is feasible has been demonstrated. During the spring of 191 7, at the time of the imperative call to mobilize our agricultural forces to meet the pressing need of the world for food, a crop census of New York was taken in from three to four days by the older children working under the direction of the teachers. Cen- suses covering different industrial conditions have also been taken by teachers in various cities of New Jersey. WAITING Waiting on table is coming to be an occupation for young women everywhere. Colored waiters are being displaced, because they are too anxious for tips and too officious. It is pleasanter to have an attractive young woman at one's elbow than a colored man. There are objections to such work, and for any young woman to wait in a city restaurant or hotel involves a rather high social risk. Such a position would not be acceptable to teachers. But there are many hotels at summer resorts where all the waiters are college girls or teachers. Such a position has positive advantages, at least for rural teachers. It makes them acquainted with city people, and probably with some of considerable refinement, experience, and travel. It allows them to have at least a partial vacation and to 194 Recreation for Teachers earn, at the same time, a fairly good income. The social dangers of the city restaurant and hotel are not so pronounced at the summer resort, and if proper sleeping quarters are furnished, this is not an objectionable summer occupation. SERVING AS TUTOR OR GOVERNESS There are always a good many retarded children who require tutoring during the summer. In some cases the teacher may profitably collect a small class of such children at her home or in one of the school buildings, if there are no special schools for them. Generally, however, she will teach only one or two children at a time, and for only two or three hours a day, so she will still have ample time for recreation. Wealthy families who spend their summers in travel or at resorts often want some one to take charge of their younger children and perhaps to tutor one of the older ones. This may give the teacher an opportunity to see a side of life which would not otherwise be accessible to her. Her path will not always be one of roses, since she may not be treated as an equal, and pampered children are usually not easy to manage ; but these conditions are not to be taken for granted. Both the lady of the house and the children may be all that could be desired. AS DIRECTOR OF A SUMMER CAMP OR WALKING TRD? There are not many positions of this kind, but camping and walking are becoming more common, and it is probable that there will be greater and greater demand for leaders. The teacher who is fond of children, who understands the out-of-doors and its activities, and who can control without Summer Work 195 undue effort, should find the summer camp delightful. It gives an opportunity for intimate companionship, and for that intensive development of friendship which is one of the sweetest things in life. It will always bring with it a sense of responsibility, but under proper conditions this should not involve much strain. If walking should ever approximate in this country the popularity which it has abroad, several thousand teachers would be needed every summer to conduct walking trips. In Germany these trips are taken mostly by classes of boys under the supervision of men teachers. It is not certain that Amer- ican mixed classes could be taken successfully by women teachers. Apparently a mixed class would need two leaders. AS GUIDE It would be difficult to find a more wholly ideal form of summer employment. The guide is in the open air among the beauties of nature, and for the most part with people of some prominence and wealth. The associations should be pleasant, the exercise excellent, and the training offered in every way desirable. Regular examinations are given for guides to serve in the national parks. At Long's Peak Inn, of which Enos Mills is the proprietor, a competent woman serves as guide during the summer. He says her services are con- stantly required, and that the demand for expert guides is much greater than the supply. There are many wealthy people who come into the mountains from the city, who do not know a woodpecker from a chickadee or an elm tree from an oak, and who are afraid to go out into the woods or the mountains alone. They want some one to show them the sights and take care of them. 196 Recreation for Teachers AS A PLAYGROUND DIRECTOR The organization of play is one of the best possible occu- pations for teachers during the summer. It offers vigorous exercise out of doors, and gives the teacher an intimate acquaintance and sympathy with children. It promises a fairly satisfactory compensation to a goodly number of teachers, for it is in the summer that the largest number of playgrounds are open. The teacher may already know at least some of the children, and so find the discipline as well as the organization of play easy. There are many thousands of such positions already, and there must soon be many thousands more. CHAPTER XIII SUMMER TEACHING Between five and ten per cent of city teachers teach more or less during the summer. This percentage is increasing rapidly and may soon be forty or fifty. Teaching has been unique among professions for the length of its summer vacation, which is still in most places nearly or quite three months. The justification for the long vaca- tion lies partly in the fact that the children do not get much vital experience from their school work, partly in the fact that many of the parents leave the city during the summer and wish to take their children with them ; but to some extent it is merely a survival of earlier times when our population was essentially rural and the children were expected to help with the farm work during the summer. At present there is no necessity for it, so far as the majority of children are concerned, except to allow them to come into contact with life, and to have some real experiences. There is something fundamentally wrong with any profes- sion which requires three months a year for recuperation. No person has any right so far to deplete his energies. From any normal degree of fatigue he should recover completely in two weeks. Nor should the children need a three months' vacation in order to recuperate from their school work, but 197 198 Recreation for Teachers they do need a long period in order to get the vital experiences which life in too many of our schools denies them. Comparison of Salaries About a quarter of the New York teachers, as shown in the study of Dr. Wood, take up some occupation other than housekeeping during the summer. For many this is necessary because their salaries are not sufficient to maintain them for the twelve months. How inadequate their incomes are is shown in the following tables taken from "A Comparative Study of the Salaries of Teachers and School Officers," issued by the Bureau of Education, 191 5. Average Yearly Salaries of Elementary School Teachers Com- pared with Salaries of Workmen in Building Trades for Certain Cities, 1913 1 Cities Teach- Brick- Car- pen- Ma- chin- MOLD- Paint- Plas- Plumb- ers layers ters ists ERS ers terers ers San Francisco, Cal. £1124 #1390 #964 #944 £lI26 #1081 #1309 3I540 Denver, Colo. . . 986 I053 960 1023 967 779 1082 IO54 Chicago, 111. . . IO34 1293 1139 884 942 1232 1326 1394 Kansas City, Kans. 678 1247 930 956 931 1066 1331 1373 Baltimore, Md. 692 I057 908 824 941 767 Il6l IIOI Boston, Mass. . . IOOI 1244 IO26 1074 980 957 1 20I 1320 Minneapolis, Minn. 937 1197 1030 958 927 921 1 20I 1044 New York, NY . 1197 1078 1076 934 986 833 II42 1245 Cleveland, Ohio . 791 II92 992 875 945 1003 1 132 1219 Dallas, Texas . . 670 1460 I035 1080 902 1365 1321 Seattle, Wash. . . 1021 1174 948 896 975 1259 1617 1 Salaries for workmen are actual average earnings. (Bureau of Railway Economics. " Earnings and cost of living of skilled workmen in the East and in the West." Washington, D. C, September, 1914. Exhibit No. 39.) Summer Teaching 199 Average Yearly Salaries of Elementary Teachers Compared with Salaries of Policemen and Firemen in Certain Cities Cities ] Selma, Ala Fort Smith, Ark. . . San Francisco, Cal. Colorado Springs, Colo. Denver, Colo. . . . Trinidad, Colo. . . . New Britain, Conn. Washington, D.C. . . Tampa, Fla Teachers #552 546 1 1 24 871 552 741 605 982 441 POLICKMKN #840 900 I464 960 I050 I080 IO80 Il65 990 KlKKMKN #660 780 I020 I050 IO8O 950 I062 84O The survey of Dr. Wood reveals the following conditions for something over two thousand teachers scattered over the state of New York. "Teachers' salaries range from less than #200 to over #2000. The largest single group of teachers (21.9%) comes in the #300 to #400 salary class. The median salary for the whole group comes in the #500 to #600 class. 81.9% of all teachers receive salaries of less than #800 a year. Salaries of men are much higher than those of women ; and salaries of urban are much higher than those of rural teachers. 61.2% of men teachers and 12.9% of women teachers receive salaries of #800 or over. 31.2% of urban and 7.0% of rural teachers receive salaries of #800 and over." In regard to these conditions, Dr. Wood says : " Consideration of the above data warrants the statement that the group of teachers studied have heavy responsibilities ; that the salaries quoted are in most cases quite inadequate to meet these responsibilities ; and that the lack of opportunity for social life and recreation and the very poor boarding accommodations of a large percentage of teachers are deplorable." 200 Recreation for Teachers When it is realized that the salaries given in the government statistics are those of teachers in the larger cities, where they are nearly twice what they are in the small towns and open country, and when it is remembered, also, that a considerable proportion of all teachers have some one dependent upon them, the necessity for their increasing their income by some activity during the summer must be realized. However, it is best for the teacher's welfare and growth that she should have a vacation from the three R's. No one can go on for twelve months of the year drilling in the elements of arithmetic and geography and grammar and continue to grow as an individual, unless her outside life is very exceptional. The Summer School In most of the countries of Europe the summer vacation is only four or five weeks in length. There are many indica- tions of the early organization of this long summer period by the school boards in this country. The University of Chicago was the pioneer in starting a four-term session, but now nearly all our universities and normal schools have a session during the summer which is comparable in attendance and work to any other during the year, though in most cases it is only six weeks in length. Back in 1886 Superintendent Ballinger of Newark, New Jersey, started a system of vacation schools, which were main- tained on nearly the same plan as the other schools. In 1898 the city of New York opened its vacation schools and play- grounds, with the morning devoted to industrial crafts and the afternoon to play. The city of Cleveland has a summer term of eight weeks similar to the other terms. In the city of Summer Teaching 201 Gary, a student may do a year of school work by taking three of the four terms. In most of the larger school systems at least two or three varieties of summer activities are now carried on. There are classes for left-overs, classes in manual training, domestic economy, and gardening, and some organized play. These activities are increasing rapidly in extent and attendance from year to year. If growth continues in the present direction, it will not be long before all our larger cities will have what will practically amount to a four-term school year. It is not likely that we shall ever have a summer term for strictly rural schools, certainly not for one-room schools, and probably not for consolidated schools. However, there may be exceptions in the extreme northern part of the country where in some cases they have their long vacation in the winter on account of the danger from blizzards and the difficulty in reaching the schools at that time. But, in general, garden- ing and farming, hunting and fishing, and the other activities of rural children are quite as educative as anything the school can offer. The summer school is needed in the city, for the reason that there is nothing for city children to do during the long vacation, and a summer of idleness often undoes the work of the year. The playground is not a complete solution of this problem, for the reason that the children do not stay there long enough. If parents can afford to travel with their chil- dren, or to take them away to a farm, or to a cottage at the shore or in the mountains, all is well ; but for those who are obliged to remain in the city, it is essential that something more should be done. 202 Recreation for Teachers Program of the Summer School Every feature spoken of in this chapter may be found in operation in the various cities of the country, hut in most cases the program is still very inadequate and only a small proportion of the children are being reached. If each city would select the best features from the work of all and combine them into a composite program, this would offer about what is needed. Such a program should comprise at least the following elements. SCHOLASTIC WORK In most of the larger cities, there are certain classrooms in which special instruction is given to children who have failed to make their grades. The percentage of children taking this summer drill is increasing each year. This work is greatly reducing the cost of the school system for the instruction of these children during two months, saves the city the expense, both in salary and in schoolroom space, of teaching them, as left-overs, for a period of nine months. Moreover, the children are spared the discouragement of losing their places and having to spend much wearisome time in repeating the grade. The necessity of studying during the summer if they neglect their work during the year may also prove just the incentive to diligence which is needed by some children. But not only is there wisdom in giving this review to those who have failed to accomplish the year's work, but it is good for every child to have some study in summer so that he shall not lose interest. In the case of children up to grade, how- ever, this might well be supplementary to the work of the Summer Teaching 203 year. For instance, historical stories, fuller histories than those on the course of study, and books of travel covering the work in geography might be read. There should be periods of story-telling, and in general the stories should be chosen from accessible books, so that the children may be tempted to further reading. THE INDUSTRIAL CRAFTS Work in all the industrial crafts should be maintained during the summer, and probably in greater variety than during the year. This is the best time for manual training because there are many things that the children want es- pecially to make at this time, such as wagons, kites, etc. It is also an excellent time for cooking, sewing, and house- keeping courses. But these are only a few out of dozens of similar activities which are already being carried on in the schools of New York and many other cities, such as nursing, clay modeling, bent iron work, burnt leather work, burnt wood work, crocheting, basketry, cobbling, and chair- caning. In Gary the children, in connection with their courses in carpentry and painting, make the repairs upon the school buildings and keep them painted. They also make nearly all of the play equipment. This might well be adopted by other cities as one of their practical summer features. The children could see that the fences are in repair, that the grounds are in order, that the gullies made by rains are rilled in, that projecting roots are cut off, that stones and brickbats are picked up so that the ground is in condition to play upon. Under supervision they could lay out baseball diamonds and 204 Recreation for Teachers volley ball and basket ball courts, make the sand bins, and erect the simpler pieces of play apparatus. This would be excellent physical and civic training. ART Art work, including drawing, designing, and painting in water color, is usually a large feature in summer schools. In some cases the work in designing is correlated with the work in manual training, articles designed in the art room being constructed in the shops. MUSIC The summer is an excellent time for singing and for band and orchestral practice. In many cities there are now fine school bands and even orchestras. Where there is a skillful teacher of either vocal or orchestral music, the children will enjoy two or three music periods a week. ENTERTAINMENTS For one period a day there might well be motion pictures or a phonograph concert or dramatics. These would be enjoyed; and might be as valuable as anything on the program. BOY SCOUTS AND CAMP FIRE GIRLS In a summer organization of the school there would be ample opportunity for all those activities which are ordi- narily carried on by the Boy Scouts and the Camp Fire Girls. These might well be put into the curriculum for the older children, under teachers who have had special training. Summer Teaching 205 Dean Russell of Teachers College says that Scouting is the greatest contribution to education which has been made during the past decade. Any one who realizes the helpful- ness and manliness, the honesty and patriotism, which are inculcated through its spirit and its activities must realize that it offers a training which every adolescent boy should have. Much the same can be said of the Camp Fire as a training for girls. ORGANIZED PLAY AND ATHLETICS In the organization of the vacation schools of New York City, a forenoon of industrial crafts and an afternoon of organized play were called for. This arrangement was good, but it would probably be better in most cases to have an hour of organized play in the program both forenoon and afternoon. If this play is vigorously conducted, it is possible to give to every child a good physique. Under Mr. Nash in Oakland, with the Standard Test of the Public School Athletic League applied to most of the children, it is found that the average of the city is going up from year to year. GARDENING Gardening should normally be one of the larger activities for the summer school. It will utilize and beautify the waste and ugly spaces around the city, and should bring a consider- able financial return. Commissioner Claxton estimates that the average child, on a plot of ground fifty by a hundred feet in size, will raise fifty dollars' worth of vegetables, though in times like these they may be worth three or four times as much. He says one teacher can supervise the gardening 206 Recreation for Teachers of one hundred children ; this will mean a direct return to the city of five thousand dollars for her summer salary, which would not exceed five hundred. Not only will the parents get this financial help, but, what is more important, the children will learn much of value about botany and agri- culture, will get fairly good exercise in the open air, and will be kept away from the temptations of the street. There is no reason why gardening should be confined to the raising of vegetables. It should also see that the city is beautified. Just before the Exposition in San Francisco the sixty teachers of agriculture in the Los Angeles schools supervised the planting of flowers and vines and shrubs by the children in the yards of their own homes. The result is that there is scarcely a home in Los Angeles that does not have an abundance of flowers, and the city has become beautiful. This might be done in every city of the country. The sale price of any piece of property is largely increased thereby. In fact, of two houses identical in construction, standing side by side, one surrounded by flowers and vines, the other in a bare yard, almost any one would be willing to pay twenty-five or even fifty per cent more for the house with the beautiful grounds. civic WORK If there were in the public schools a competent teacher of gardening and forestry, the children might also take over a good share of the gardening, tree trimming, flower planting, and the like, in the city parks. This would be both interesting and educative to the children, giving them a new sense of responsibility for the beauty of the city which would Summer Teaching 207 prevent the type of vandalism that is often found in our public parks. The older boys would enjoy and profit by taking care of the city trees. They could also plant new trees and exterminate the various tree pests. They might well do a certain amount of the trimming, at least under direction, and if there were spraying to be done, there is nothing that they would enjoy more. They might even lay a part of the concrete walks. I have seen a number of these laid by the children that seemed to be just as good as any others. I have no doubt the children enjoyed the work. In this age of concrete, this might well be a part of the education of every child. NATURE STUDY TRIPS During the summer the children should become acquainted with nature. They should mount a complete collection of wild flowers, learn to know the common rocks, recognize, and know something of the habits of at least fifty varieties of birds, and distinguish the ordinary crops, and trees. These trips should often last for the day and include a picnic lunch, a bonfire, and the playing of games. In the larger cities there would have to be a preliminary trolley ride for most of the children, but as they would be going out be- tween eight and nine, at the time when others were coming in, it should be possible to arrange with the street car companies for a special school ticket at a cost of not more than two cents, perhaps not more than one. The children would return at four or five o'clock, when the people were going home from business and the cars would be running in almost empty, so that the cheap ticket would be appropriate both ways. 208 Recreation for Teachers VISITS TO INDUSTRIAL PLANTS The children should be taken to the interesting factories of the city, such as steel mills, car works, automobile works, etc., and to all public buildings and plants belonging to the city, such as the city hall, the public library, the Y. M. and Y. W. C. A., the water works, electric light plant, etc. WALKING TRIPS In 1914, 65,000 children were taken out from the city of Berlin on walking trips of a week or more in duration. In the summer of 191 5, fifty- two boys walked from the Columbia Park Boys' Club of San Francisco to the Exposition at San Diego, a distance of six hundred fifteen miles. They were followed by wagons containing tents and provisions, and they worked along the way so that they came back with about $35.00 each which they had earned during the trip. Most boys ten years of age or older should go on a walking trip of a week or more every summer. In most cases the parents would be glad to pay the necessary expense. If the city owned the wagons or motor trucks for the transportation of tents and bedding, and the regular teachers took charge, this should not involve any great outlay. Arrangements should be made for athletic contests with children in the cities visited, and there should be opportunities to swim, play games, make collections of various sorts, and perhaps, also, in some cases to work for pay at gardening or fruit picking. CAMPING OUT There should be provision for all children to camp out at least two weeks every summer. They might live in tents Summer Teaching 209 like those of the camps now conducted by the playground departments in a number of cities, or in cabins such as those of the more permanent camps of Los Angeles and San Diego. But whatever the form of shelter, the children should have abundant outdoor experiences. Short courses in agriculture might be given at these camps. There should be ample op- portunities for swimming, walking, and the playing of games. A number of western cities have purchased camp sites within the last few years. THE SCHOOL FARM The best arrangement would be a good-sized farm belong- ing to the school system, with ample dormitories for children. This might be also a city truck garden, and as such be used in place of a stoneyard or woodyard for the employment of the unemployed and hoboes during the year, while at the same time it served to reduce the high cost of living for the city. Such a truck garden of ample size would be the best possible safeguard against excessive prices and perhaps the best form of employment that could be provided in hard times. One of the best places to try out socialism would be a communal truck garden for a city. On such a farm the children might receive real instruction in gardening and truck raising. They might do the cook- ing and practically all the work, so that little expense would be involved. The city of Fresno, California, has for a number of years had a farm of about four hundred acres, which has recently been considerably increased in size, on which it has deposited its sewage, the land being utilized for the raising of alfalfa. 210 Recreation for Teachers Attendance Supposing the four-term school to be organized, should the children be required to attend all the year? For how many hours a day, and for how many weeks should they come during the summer? These questions must be decided largely by experiment and by the expense involved. Prob- ably in the beginning attendance should not be required, but the program should be made so attractive that the chil- dren would wish to come. This plan would involve less ex- pense than obligatory attendance. It would also select the children who were most earnest-minded in these matters and who would be less likely to make trouble in the rather irregular and free activities of the summer. Probably a five-hour day would not be excessive, and even a six-hour day might be advisable. Ten or even twelve weeks of such a summer school should not be too long. The Old School Plants It may be remarked that this scheme is all right for schools that have ample grounds, gymnasiums, and swimming pools, shops, auditoriums, and the like, but that the larger part of our city schools were built twenty or more years ago and are practically without any of these facilities. It is true that the old schools would be much handicapped in summer, as they are during the year, by these conditions, but it is not impossible to carry on a considerable portion of this program even in a school which has nothing but class- rooms. The review work, the dramatics and story telling, the music and art, the bent iron work, the burnt wood work and burnt leather work, the crocheting, raffia, and many Summer Teaching 211 similar activities would be possible, and these are sufficient to make the work worth while. But it must be noticed that not more than half of the work suggested is to be done at the school, in any event. These children can have athletics in the parks, can have gardens at home, and can assist in caring for trees. They can be taken on nature study trips, walking trips, and camping trips as easily as children from a modern school plant. The Solution of the Child Problem Such a summer school is the real solution of the problem of idle children in summer. For a couple of decades the playground has been advocated as the solution, but there is probably not a city in the United States where, if we were to divide the number of hours spent on the playgrounds by the number of children in the city, we would find the average attendance as much as fifteen minutes a day. Fifteen minutes out of a day is not much, and the child still has nearly all his time for idleness and the street. Unless the playground has given ideals, games, and other activities, and the spirit of sportsmanship which are carried outside, the playgrounds as organized at present are practically a negligible quantity to the majority of the children. The growing child needs about two hours of vigorous exer- cise every day. But no child cares to play vigorously for much more than this. The playgrounds cannot solve the problem by themselves. The child wants to make things and to see things of interest. The program outlined will occupy the child's time in things that are both recreational and educational; it will give him interests and ideals which 2i2 Recreation for Teachers will dominate the rest of his time; it offers a real solution of the problem. Who Shall Teach in Summer Schools During the summer rural teachers will not be teaching, and many of them would enjoy spending the summer in the city. They would be glad to teach at a comparatively small salary. As teachers of agriculture, manual training, nature study, and gardening, and as directors of walks, camps, and similar activities, they should be as efficient as city teachers, and the experience should be as valuable and pleasant to them as to the children. So far as city teachers continue to teach in the city, it would be an advantage if many of them might exchange positions with teachers in other cities, so that they might have the change of thought which comes with a new location, the meeting of new people, and new experiences. Probably there are many teachers who should not under- take to give the review work in a summer term. But if they conducted nature study trips, walking trips, camping trips, or similar activities, the summer should be a real relief from the strain of the year's work and perhaps as true a vacation as they could well have. These summer sessions would offer an admirable oppor- tunity to normal students to get their first experience in teaching. On account of the value of the experience, they could afford to serve at a low rate of compensation. The summer term should not mean a prohibitive expense to the city. A large percentage of city teachers would apply for Summer Teaching 213 positions. But the work could be carried on with about a third to one half of the regular force. If each teacher took a long vacation every two or three years, this should meet her every need even to the opportunity of foreign travel. Every one realizes that teachers' salaries are too low. The opportunity for increasing salaries through summer teaching and further study offers a possible solution, as in this way the continued training of the teacher can be secured and her salary advanced. If the schools closed the first of June and began again the first of October, this would give a summer period of four months. If there were two weeks' vacation at the beginning and the end of this period, three months would remain for the summer term. This should make it possible to put all the gardening and several other activities into the summer and to try out then a freer type of school similar to the one which Miss Johnson has established at Fairhope, Alabama, or to the Montessori schools. Even with this fourth term there would still be four free weeks in summer, one or two weeks at Christmas, and one or two weeks at Easter, so that the teachers' vacations would total a month and a half to two months, which is three to four times as much as most professional people have. This type of school has its greatest possibilities in the South, where there are four or five months during which the weather is too hot for much scholastic work and where the summer vacation is universally long. At present southern children are handicapped by a short school year, but the organization of the summer in accordance with this plan might not only overcome this drawback, but give them a positive advantage educationally. 214 Recreation for Teachers Such activities are increasing in all our cities, but there is still an enormous wreckage of child life due to neglect and idleness. The salvage will cost money. The question to be decided is whether or not the children are worth the expense. Los Angeles believes that they are. Its Chamber of Com- merce has at times advertised that its school system is the most expensive in the world. This might be good business in many cities. Most parents want their children to have the best that can be offered, and if necessary they will econo- mize on themselves to secure it. However, the expense of the four- term school would not actually be so great as might be supposed. A large part of the manual training, domestic economy, gardening, and similar activities which occupy a part of the program of the year would be accomplished during the summer, as well as a certain amount of the scholastic work. The consequent shortening of the period of the elementary school by one or two years might result in an actual saving. It would also enable school systems that have inadequate equipment for manual training and domestic economy to provide these activities during the summer. Nearly all of the activities mentioned are of a recreational nature. If the teacher is a lover of children, and does not find the discipline overstrenuous, she should find such a summer about as restful as a vacation, and the attitude and new methods which she might acquire would tend to relieve the strain of her regular teaching. CHAPTER XIV SUMMER PLAY We have already indicated several ways, not strictly recreative, of spending the summer. But whatever else the teacher may undertake, whether it be work or study or teach- ing, the summer should always bring her an opportunity for at least two weeks of complete rest and recreation — two weeks in which she can do just what she wants to do and which, so far as possible, shall be a realization of deep desires that have not found adequate expression during the year. Practi- cally no form of summer study or of teaching will preclude this playtime, for the summer vacation is usually from ten to fourteen weeks in length, while the summer school usually lasts only six weeks. Thus there will be from four to eight weeks free even if the teacher attends a summer session. Every four or five years the teacher should spend an entire summer as a vacation, but nearly anything described in this chapter can be enjoyed after the close or before the beginning of the summer school. Visiting Visiting is the common form of recreation in country dis- tricts — often the only form of recreation that country people take. There is much to be said for it. Visiting yields companionship of a rather intimate kind. It makes one acquainted with the hostess's circle of friends and generally brings abundant opportunities for walks and drives and 215 216 Recreation for Teachers parties. Where the visitor really makes himself or herself at home in the social group to which the friend belongs, it is one of the most stimulating and helpful experiences, often leading to a significant development of character and per- sonality. For the teacher, it has the advantage, also, that it usually does not involve much expense, unless the person visited lives at a distance. Camping Out Besides visiting, the summer camp is almost the only form of recreation which can well be afforded by many rural teachers. With the possible exception of Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, and parts of Colorado, there are few places in America where a group may not find a good camping place within twenty-five or fifty miles. The expense of spending two or three weeks in a summer camp should not exceed that of staying at home, if the person is paying for board and room. The camp should be in the woods, with water available for drinking, rowing, swimming, and fishing. Drinking water is absolutely essential ; so are shade and wood for bonfires and cooking. The ideal site is a wooded hillside overlooking a pleasant body of water, with a good spring in the neighbor- hood, and an abundance of dry branches upon the ground. A mountain canon, also, furnishes admirable conditions. If there are ten or fifteen in the party, the tents should usually be arranged in a semicircle, so that they may have the camp fire in the center, if possible, under a great tree. The pleasure of camping lies largely in its companionship, and the party should be friends or at least possible friends. Camping has a stronger appeal for men than for women ; but there are few who do not enjoy a camp fire, and merely Summer Play 217 to cook and sit about it at night, telling stories or singing to the music of a guitar or banjo, fills the memory with pictures not easily effaced. It was under such conditions that the infancy of the race was passed, and around these experiences have developed the deepest emotions and longings. They command a well of energy which is scarcely touched by any- thing else. One who has not camped out can scarcely visualize the early history of this country with its hunters, trappers, and pioneers. Camping invites to walking and canoeing and rowing and swimming and nature study. A camping trip may easily be as educative as a similar period at a summer school. The camp will be more interesting to many if there are both women and men. If there are no men, a big dog is often a comfort to the timid, and may be of assistance if any one is lost. It is probably best, in most quarters, that there should be some one in the party with firearms, though the danger of a woman's being molested in the woods is probably less, on an average, than it is along the alleys or even streets of any of our great cities. Tents can sometimes be secured cheaply by advertising. It often happens, also, that tents in fairly good condition are discarded by the National Guard or the standing army. These can usually be obtained at a low cost. After this war is over, there will undoubtedly be a great many army tents that can be obtained cheaply. The Summer Resort Most summer resorts are rather inane and idle places where people without many ideas or serious purposes go to be amused. The attractions are generally on a rather low social and 218 Recreation for Teachers intellectual plane. Not much growth can be expected at the resort to which one goes to play bridge on the hotel veranda, or to crochet or gossip, with an occasional dance or picture show. There is no place where the organization of recreation is more needed. Many waste the entire summer because there is nothing worth while going on. AT THE SHORE Resorts are usually located either at the shore or in the mountains. It is worth while for every teacher, at least once in her life, to spend a couple of weeks at resorts of both these kinds. Still, the majority of people at the sea- shore loaf about upon the hotel or cottage verandas in the morning, read a few novels and play a few card games, and in the afternoon loaf upon the beach in their bathing suits. In the evening they probably attend a dance or a moving- picture show. There is little of value in such experiences, unless there is a group of young people whose life together is stimulating and herpful. In the teacher's playtime, wherever taken, she should spend one or two hours outdoors every day, in walking or rowing or swimming or canoeing or horse- back riding or tennis. IN THE MOUNTAINS Life in the mountains is usually more strenuous than it is at the shore. There is no stretch of warm sand in which one may hibernate mentally while overstimulated sexually. The mountains are a constant challenge to climbing and walking and horseback riding, and often to fishing and hunting. Those who go to them are likely to be of a more strenuous type than Summer Play 219 those who seek their recreation at the shore. There is a con- stant stimulus to activity in the very air. At most mountain resorts there are opportunities for tennis and baseball, for horseback riding, for hikes and camps. The mountains offer more of educational value, also, than the seashore. There is usually a considerable variety of birds and trees and flowers ; and nature reveals her geological secrets here as nowhere else. From the mountain one gets an idea of local geography such as cannot be had elsewhere. Moreover, the physical elevation often gives an elevation of mind that may lead to a new vision of the dignity and sig- nificance of life. The Chautauqua The chautauqua stands between the summer resort and the summer school. It has some of the advantages of each and is in many ways an admirable substitute for both. A chautauqua, like the one at Chautauqua, New York, or Bay View, Michigan, is often better for a tired teacher than a hot and strenuous summer school. The chautauqua has an advantage over the summer resort, in that it selects those who have intellectual interests. The teacher will probably find more congenial company there than she will at the resort. The chautauqua in general is cheaper than the summer resort and safer from a social point of view. At the large permanent chautauquas there is a good organi- zation of play and physical training, usually with definite courses in games, folk dances, and gymnastics. There are sure to be tennis and swimming and rowing and horseback riding. While on most chautauqua programs there is much 220 Recreation for Teachers froth, it is possible for the teacher to select many excellent lectures and to hear many great men. She can rely on having some good music and may see some good plays and dramatic presentations. The moving picture is bound to play a larger and larger part, offering the best and most expen- sive of the newer spectacles. Travel Nearly every teacher wishes to travel. Her geography and history constantly suggest it to her. Travel makes geography and geology, forestry and agriculture, and all the different oc- cupations and professions live. Travel is almost a necessity to make teaching vivid. A century ago it was considered absolutely essential to the completion of an education. It gives a breadth of view and an intimate touch with life which can scarcely be secured in any other way. In one of his essays, Emerson speaks rather disparagingly of travel, saying : " What is true anywhere is true everywhere. There is no place in the world where they do not wash the milk pans and put them out in the sun to dry." He says in another place, that there are some who will see more in a trip to a country town than others will in a tour of Europe, and that no one anywhere discovers anything greater than he has already in himself. This is doubtless true. A visitor in Porto Rico will find the houses full of pictures of snow scenes in the North, while in the North we think of the tropics as the place of wonder and romance. Doubtless there is nothing much more wonderful in the natural world than we may find around us. But the difficulty is that we become so accustomed to these things that we cease to notice them. The habitual does not attract our attention. On this account it is the, Summer Play 221 custom in the best Japanese homes to hang a single picture in a room, and at the end of a week to take this away and hang another in its place. One great advantage of travel is that we expect something different ; we drop our old points of view, with their worries and tensions, when we go to a new place. We see everything from a different angle, and find in the new scene something of romance and glamour which we failed to see in our home environment. It is this new point of view which is the most important contribution of travel. Any one about to take a trip should always find time to dream about it, to go over in imagination some of the expe- riences which are expected. Anticipation is a real form of recreation, and it has few of the disadvantages or hardships involved in actual experience. Besides this, it allows us to realize what experiences we desire, and we then know what to plan for. It puts us in the proper attitude to meet situa- tions as they arise, and is a genuine preparation for them. Professional travelers are accustomed to plan their journeys in great detail, spending months, very likely, in reading up guidebooks and other works which describe the things they wish to see. For educational purposes such preparation is very desirable. But from the emotional point of view, at least, there is also a certain advantage in making no prep- aration and letting everything seen come as more or less of a surprise. They tell me that in the South it is quite custo- mary for a negro to come to the railroad ticket office, lay down a sum of money, and say he wants a return ticket. If the agent asks him where he wishes to go, he says he wants to go as far as that will take him and back again. He has no idea of a destination; he is merely going into the unknown for experience, and back. We all love to explore and to find 222 Recreation for Teachers out new things. There is a place both for the journey which is fully prepared for and which brings no real surprise, and the one which is a sort of adventure, in which we simply go forth without a compass to see what will happen. Travel should mean, also, a new democracy ; it should enable the teacher to slough off a little of her primness, her prudishness, her aloofness, and get down to the facts of life and to real acquaintanceship with people. If the teacher is to train for democracy, she herself must be a democrat. She usually suffers from an excess of dignity, and it is well if she can get rid of a little of it in the summer time and meet men and women naturally, even without the formality of an introduction. Nearly every one who has ever traveled much on the water has found that one of the most delightful features of the voyage is the democracy which soon develops among the passengers. The same is true of those who have gone to our great national playgrounds, like Yosemite and Yellowstone. People seem to require no introduction ; they become acquainted almost at once. When one lives in a company which is accustomed to introduce all of its acquaintances to one another, an introduc- tion is no guarantee of the character or quality of the person introduced. On the other hand, the lack of an introduction does not necessarily lead to any indiscretion or any improper conduct or language on the part of any one. It makes one feel almost as though the millennium had come to find himself in a company where he can be completely simple and natural, each treating the other merely as another human being, in the way we must feel that Jesus intended every man and woman to treat every other. The teacher has always been criticized as a theorist. She Summer Play 223 has often lived in a sort of cloister, not mingling freely with people or having much vital experience. Summer is the ideal time to gain experience, and travel offers many opportunities. We have expected the teacher to prepare children for life without knowing much about it. More and more we are asking her to guide her pupils in their choice of vocation. For this she must know a great deal about different trades and occupations. Travel at its best, which is usually not along conventional lines, furnishes opportunities to gain this knowledge. ON FOOT Walking is the ideal method of educational and recreational travel. It combines exercise in the open air with intimate companionship and democratic meeting of people under the varying conditions of life, and gives such opportunity for observation and study as no other form permits. It would scarcely be possible to devise anything more stimulating or helpful for teachers than one of the summer trips taken by the Appalachian Mountain Club of the East, the Colorado Mountain Club, the Sierra Club of California, or the Mazama Club of Portland. These are walks of fifteen to thirty-five days, and the entire expense usually does not much exceed two dollars per day. The average daily distance covered is not more than ten miles, so that there is opportunity for sight-seeing, visiting, fishing, bird and other nature study, including the collection of flowers. Beside the camp fire at night there is often a lecture by some one skilled in the secrets of the locality, with story-telling and songs. Every person who is young enough and vigorous enough to teach ought to enjoy a trip of this sort. 224 Recreation for Teachers It is not essential to belong to a mountain club. Walks may be taken on the plains, also, though they are generally less interesting. Stevenson, who was a great walker, rec- ommends that the walker should go alone. There are advantages in this for men, but it is not often feasible for women. The difficulty in walking alone is not the lack of company, but the possibility of undesirable company. The writer once took a walk of about two hundred miles through the Adirondacks. Starting at Lake Placid, the route lay across the mountains to Lake Champlain, around Ticon- deroga, down Lake George to its end, and on to Saratoga and Bennington. He took a little over two weeks for the trip, averaging from ten to fifteen miles a day. It was necessary for him to stay at the regular resort hotels, and the expense was about #2.50 per day. He traveled alone, sending his baggage forward by the bus. During these two weeks he gained fifteen pounds in weight and came out with an energy and joy in living such as he has seldom felt. Merely as a means of developing health and energy, it was worth all that it cost. But, in addition, he learned as much as he has ever learned in the same length of time. In fact while the events of this trip still stand out vividly in memory, there is almost nothing in his school life which is similarly vivid. The following points of interest in the trip may be men- tioned : the grave of John Brown at Lake Placid ; the devastation of the mountains by fire ; the collection of spruce gum as a business ; hunting and trapping in the mountains ; the birds and flowers along the way ; boys' camps and their activities; the extent of the remains of Fort Ticonderoga and its evident significance in early history; the Indian portage from Lake Champlain to Lake George; the paper Summer Play 225 mills at the head of Lake George ; the beauty of this lake with its islands and crystal water ; the summer camp of the Y. M. C. A. at Silver Bay ; the fine houses at the lower end of the lake ; the remains of Fort William Henry ; the Indian portage to the upper waters of the Hudson ; the battle fields of Saratoga and Bennington. After the close of this walk, the writer read with intense interest several volumes of Parkman's History of the early explorers and of the French and Indian Wars. Some one is sure to say at this point, "Yes, but these things could be seen only on the trip outlined ; in the section of the country in which I live there is nothing but prairie grass and cornfields." It is true that some sections of the country have a greater variety of scenery and industries and more literary and historic associations than others. But the writer has never yet found a place which did not prove full of interest, whenever he had time to study it a little. The reason that many localities seem uninteresting is merely that no one has ever sought to find and list their attractions. If women teachers are to take walking trips, they must realize that they are not going on dress parade. They should wear short skirts, a comfortable waist without a corset, broad shoes with low heels, and, as a rule, a short khaki or denim suit with trousers or bloomers of the same color. No person can enjoy walking in uncomfortable shoes. Most mountain clubs recommend high, heavy shoes with hobnails for mountain climbing, and they are doubtless best for a long trip; but, if one wishes to travel light and has only one or two mountains to climb, probably tennis shoes are most satisfactory, provided one has not very weak ankles or arches. Q 226 Recreation for Teachers Teachers are nearly always conservative in matters of dress, as in other things, and the possibility of a change in the feminine attire for walking trips may still seem extreme to many. In California two years ago, I saw a very few women who were wearing trousers for mountain hikes, automobile trips, and similar expeditions. But in the Yosemite during the summer of 191 7, I found that nearly half of the women who were walking or automobiling were in trousers. In many cases these were riding breeches ; in others they seemed to be exactly the same as the men's garments. In some cases they had evidently been made to order by good tailors. Many of the women wore an ordinary woman's waist and hat, but not a few wore an army or some other kind of man's shirt, with a cap or soft hat. The most popular, and it seemed to me the most tasteful, suits were of light khaki and resembled very closely a soldier's uniform. The women all seemed pleased with the change, and the young women who were in conventional attire said they would wear trousers when they came again. The men made no comment, and in general the costume attracted no attention. Trousers fit the woman's figure no less than the man's, and there is no suggestion of sex about them. There is also the advantage of appearing in a new light. The women pages in the various plays of high life always look attractive. There are some mountain clubs that require all women who go on their trips to wear trousers. The skirt has been dropped from the bathing suit in the last five years, women who are doing men's work on account of the war are largely wearing the male attire, and this is now feasible, even for women teachers, when they are camping or mountain climbing. Summer Play 227 It has become quite customary now to see women in gym- nasiums and on play fields in bloomers, but these can never be as modest as trousers, because they always suggest an under- garment. They are also awkward, and in the mountains or forests likely to be caught upon brush or stones and torn. In every contest of great importance, where it is necessary that effort should produce the maximum effect, the tendency is always to reduce the clothing to a minimum and have it fit the figure. The Olympic Games were carried on without clothing, and our wrestlers, prize fighters, swimmers, and runners all tend to reduce clothing to an almost negligible quantity. Woman's clothing has always been more of a handicap to her physical activity than she has realized. The skirt, with light underwear, can never be modest for climbing or for any place where one is likely to fall down. There is no suggestion of immodesty in trousers. Girls have seldom had a fair chance physically. They have been better dressed than their brothers, and required to keep cleaner, from earliest years. Their clothing has never been suitable for vigorous exercise or play, and the traditions of the community have been against their taking part in vigorous outdoor activities. When the girl gets to be thirteen or fourteen and puts on her long skirt, especially if it happens to be a hobble skirt and if her shoes have high heels, she might about as well be put into a museum. The girl reaches the age of fourteen with nearly the same body weight as the boy, but with only three quarters of the lung capacity, while the tests all show that her blood is poorer than the boy's. All of these things should be reversed. Physical training is almost infinitely more important for girls and women to-day than it is 228 Recreation for Teachers for men. The girls are coming through our high schools everywhere with better standing than the boys; yet, when they must become bread-winners, they seldom receive as good wages as the boys do, largely because they have not the nervous stability or the physical strength to stand the strain of the occupations into which they go. Motherhood is becoming more difficult and more feared, and women are less and less able to nurse their children. We know to-day that it is almost absolutely necessary to the welfare of the child that it should be nursed and that the mother should be healthy. It is much more important that the child should have a vigorous mother than a vigorous father. All the problems connected with summer travel for women would be greatly simplified if there were a national organization like the Wander vogel. Such an organization might promote a teachers' clubhouse, and hospitality at teacherages and similar places. If the members wore a standard uniform, they could be recognized and assisted whenever it was neces- sary. If the organization became powerful, this uniform would in itself be a protection, as the association might prosecute any one who was discourteous to its members. The most distinctive feature in the uniform of the Wander- vogel is a soft green hat with a feather. The hat alone might serve as a distinguishing mark, but it would be a good thing to have a uniform. This might well be green or khaki-color, and of about the same material as a soldier's suit. It should have trousers of the same color as the skirt, and be so made that the skirt could be dropped whenever it was desirable to dispense with it. The most difficult problem in connection with any long walking trip is the night lodging. There are places in the Summer Play 229 southwestern part of this country where it is possible for a traveler to sleep out under a tree, with a small fire perhaps, perfectly sure that no rain will come to disturb his slumbers, and that he will be warm enough. But this applies only to a small section; usually it is necessary for the traveler to have at least a blanket in order to be comfortable. To many, doubtless, it may not seem proper for young women to spend the night in this way, but at Long's Peak Inn in the Rocky Mountain National Park, there is a slender young woman who serves as guide to tourists who wish to study the locality and learn to know its birds and flowers. She tells me she often spends the night with one or two women on the mountain top, with nothing but a fire and a blanket, and on several occasions she has done so alone. She has never been molested and has never felt timid about it. Most mountain clubs use sleeping bags. These are water- proof and generally are lined, so that the sleeper is protected from the rain and the moisture of the ground, and is sure of a certain amount of warmth. There is usually some arrange- ment for transporting these bags, either by donkey or by wagon. Miss Lulie Nettleton of "The Mountaineers " makes the following recommendation in regard to camping out for women : "A canvas dunnage bag, fifteen inches in diameter and thirty inches in length, must enclose all of one's available belongings, including sleep- ing accommodations, necessities, and luxuries. "To sleep well is most essential. You must be warm and your bed must be light and as nearly waterproof as you can make it. The most satisfactory bedding is a wool or eiderdown sleeping bag with a light waterproof covering. In the absence of this, two heavy double wool blankets with a light waterproof covering will serve the purpose, or a 230 Recreation for Teachers heavy quilted wool comforter fastened on the sides and bottom and used also with a light waterproof covering. As to coverings, tanalite has proved excellent." However, if there are a considerable number in the party, it is not expensive to have tents and provisions transported by wagon or motor truck, so that everything may be in readiness by the time the company arrives, If a tent is preferred, one large enough for two people can be purchased from the mail order houses, or from the tent and awning companies, for almost any price from four dollars up. For a party of two, it is often possible to obtain accommo- dations with the farmers along the way. If one is in a hospi- table American section, there can be no better way of spending the night, because it gives one a better knowledge of the country and its life. In many sections one can be sure of hospitality at any house, without money and without price. In the walking trips which are taken by German children, the night is often spent in the haymows of the barns, and for two or three men on a walking trip, no more comfortable bed could be desired. Moreover, a number of children's hotels have been built on the edges of German cities, during recent years, for the purpose of entertaining those who are on walking trips of this kind. The various Alpine clubs also have built halfway and other houses along the roads leading up to many of the principal peaks throughout Europe. A similar series of night shelters has been built by Dartmouth College on the way to the White Mountains. In the announcement of the N. E. A. for 191 7, there is the following statement: "In the Larch Mountains and in other well known places along the Columbia River, the United States Forest Service has prepared sleeping sheds Summer Play 231 and firewood for free use of campers." Doubtless this policy is being pursued in many places by the Forest Service where there is demand for shelters overnight. Perhaps, however, the simplest of all methods for care- free vagabonds, who would avoid many of the hardships of the way, is to travel with a pack pony or donkey. This is a method which Western prospectors everywhere employed in the early days, and it is still common. It simplifies the transportation of food and tent. The pack pony can be taken almost anywhere, and in emergencies it may be ridden. During the Middle Ages it was the custom of students to wander about during their summer vacations paying their way by entertaining their host. Just after the writer had graduated from Yale, he spent about a month with another Yale man, camping in the Catskills. Among our other adventures, we decided to try the custom of the medieval students. So we stored our belongings and our money and started on a tour of the mountains without a single penny in our pockets. Unfortunately there were a good many people in the Catskills who had not heard of this custom of the medieval students and who did not welcome the idea with much enthusiasm. We accumulated experience rapidly for a couple of days, but decided by that time that we had had enough. There are, however, many sections of America where this would have worked well, and it is not inherently objectionable. If a person from one walk of life can enter a home in a different walk and really show something of what his own life is, his visit ought to be of at least as great value to each member of the family as though he had delivered a lecture for which they would gladly pay him. 232 Recreation for Teachers Probably no other form of traveling was ever so interesting or romantic as the pilgrimages that were made to the Holy- Land during the Middle Ages. The world had not yet become cosmopolitan ; the sights of other lands had not been made commonplace through illustrated magazines or books, or through moving pictures. The customs and ways of the people were strange, as was the appearance of the cities. The way was beset with adventure ; and yet throughout Christian countries the pilgrim was reverenced as a holy man and entertained, if of good blood, at the castles of the nobles and even at the palace of the king. Especially on his return journey, when he could give accounts of the strange sights he had seen and the adventures in which he had participated, he was everywhere a welcome guest, honored by the church, loved by the ladies, and entertained by knights and nobles . In these pilgrimages there was so much of adventure, so much of novel sight-seeing, and of romance, often so much of business, that one must often question which of these motives lent the major purpose to the pilgrimage. Around the places where pilgrims assembled there grew up fairs and market-places of various kinds. Indeed this was true, as we know, even of the Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Passover, when the religious came from all parts of the Holy Land to render their offerings. Practically the same conditions still obtain in the Mohammedan world where pilgrims make their annual journey to Mecca. The same is true in many Catholic countries where special shrines contain the relics of some saint or martyr. The person who is walking should aim to keep his baggage near the minimum ; this perhaps may be set at a jackknif e and a box of matches. A drinking cup or canteen, and a field glass Summer Play 233 and camera are often desirable. There is nothing that cheers the wayside more than a fire, and in the evening it is half the attraction of the camp. Field glasses make it possible to study birds in an intimate way, and in certain localities afford views from mountains and hilltops which are well worth the inconvenience they cost. The best way to keep a record of outings is through the kodak. The pictorial diary is the only kind of daily journal that we are apt to read. BY BICYCLE A few years ago many people were taking long trips on the bicycle. It is to be regretted that this custom is going out so completely. The bicycle is the cheapest way of getting over the ground, and it permits one to go far in a brief time. The pleasure of bicycling is somewhat lessened now by the automobiles that throng the highways, but it may be still a very profitable method of travel. One summer, while teaching in New York City, the writer took a three-day bicycle trip along the line of Washington's campaign of '78 and '79, going first to the battle field of Mon- mouth ; thence to the old headquarters at Morristown, and the revolutionary relics and memorials around Princeton, with a view of the University and the graves of Aaron Burr and Jonathan Edwards ; on to Trenton with its museum ; down to Philadelphia ; on along the line of retreat to Valley Forge, with a careful study of the camp ground ; across to the field of Brandywine, and on to Wilmington, Delaware, taking the boat back to Philadelphia, and the train from Philadelphia to New York. The trip of three days did not cost over six dollars. There are few other periods three days in length which stand out more vividly or which have yielded more of 234 Recreation for Teachers significance. A number of friends of the writer have taken trips from New York into the White Mountains on bicycles, returning by the way of Boston, Providence, and the Fall River Line. BY THE MOTORCYCLE The motorcycle is the cheapest of all methods of travel, as a rider is able to cover, along good roads, from one hundred to one hundred twenty-five miles on a gallon of gasoline, and to go nearly as fast as a train. It has, however, several disadvantages. It is rather dangerous, it is a very dirty and dusty, a very noisy and smelly, way of traveling, and the rider usually has to watch his machine so closely that he cannot observe the scenery very closely. Nevertheless, when people come to realize that it costs only about one fifth as much to travel on good roads by motorcycle as by railroad, a still larger use of this machine may be expected. BY CANOE OR MOTOR-BOAT It is scarcely possible to spend two weeks in a more de- lightful way than canoeing along a wooded stream. It is excellent exercise, and gives an opportunity for hunting, fishing, and an outdoor life in general. A friend of the writer has been accustomed for several years to spend his vacation on a canoe trip. He usually ships his boat to the St. Marys River in Michigan, and has gone from there along the northern shore of Lake Superior until he came to some Canadian river. After he and his companion, paddling upstream, come to some site which appeals to them, they spend two or three weeks in hunting and fishing, returning as they came. Summer Play 235 Another friend, who was at that time principal of a high school in Minneapolis, once shipped a flat-bottomed boat to Lake Itaska, whence he and his two sons of eight and ten floated down to Minneapolis, taking two weeks for the trip. He says it was the best vacation he ever had. They rigged their boat with uprights and crosspiece at the prow and stern and ran over this a strip of canvas so that they were pro- tected from the sun. They drifted down with the current, keeping a trolling line out behind. They thus caught, without effort, more fish than they could eat, and had to pull their lines in after a little. They camped out at night on the banks, buying milk and eggs and potatoes from the farmers of the neighborhood. At times they had to protect themselves from mosquitoes by wearing heavy gloves and hanging mos- quito netting around their hats, but otherwise they were not annoyed in any way. The father spent much of the time reading, and found the boat perfectly satisfactory for this. Where there is a long river running through wooded sections, the motor-boat furnishes an attractive form of recreation. The travel can always be varied by camping out and fishing, generally by hunting, swimming, and endless picnics. If the company is congenial, nothing could be more entertaining. The expense should be slight, as it is not necessary to pay for transportation of baggage or tents or other supplies. BY STEAMSHIP As soon as one is out of sight of land, he seems to forget all his cares. There is nothing to do. The company is usually friendly, and the salt air gives one an enormous appetite. The acquaintanceships of the steamer often develop into 236 Recreation for Teachers intimacies. There are few more wholly restful and wholesome experiences. BY TRAIN The chief advantages of the railroad are speed and the ability to travel at night. It has few social advantages, it is more expensive than most methods of travel, and railroad maps and time-tables seem to be designed to give as little information as possible. On most maps it is difficult even to tell in what state you are, and there is no attempt to indicate the places of interest. If the government should take over the railroads permanently, and the Department of Education were asked to make the maps and put up signs along the way where there are points of interest, railroad travel might be made instructive. Travel by rail usually costs about two and a half cents a mile, and few teachers can afford to take many long trips at this price. It would be the part of wisdom for the railroads to make a lower rate to them. Most railroads offer a half- fare ticket to clergymen, but clergymen are on an average better paid than teachers. The teacher may lay claim to a low fare as a public servant who is poorly compensated. Teachers who have traveled love to tell of what they have seen. This throws a glamour around them in the eyes of the children. Very likely every mile the teacher travels leads sooner or later to ten or twenty miles of travel by her pupils. It would be good policy for the railroads to make so low a rate to teachers that they could not afford to stay at home. This is one of the things which the National Education Associa- tion might well take up and push to a successful conclusion, for the railroads could probably be made to see that it is good business for them to issue a special teacher's ticket. Summer Play 237 There are many people who find travel wearisome and who wish to rest after having been for a day on the train. They might with advantage pay the extra charge for a parlor car. It is easier to read in a Pullman, and there is less danger in case of accident. BY AUTOMOBILE Really the most feasible way to travel during the summer, in most sections of the country, is by automobile. There is a common impression that this is one of the most expensive methods of getting from one place to another, but this is not necessarily so. An automobile in good condition on a good road will make about twenty miles on a gallon of gasoline, which will mean a cost of about one cent a mile. If the automobile is carrying five people, this will mean one fifth of a cent each. The upkeep of the car, new tires, etc., will cost about one cent, and a third additional cent, on the best roads, should cover the other expenses of lubricating oil, repairs, etc., if one of the party drives. This will make a total expense of three cents per mile, or three fifths of a cent per person. An estimate of one cent per mile for each should be safe. There are autobus routes in southern California where the regular charge is only a cent a mile. On a reasonably good road it is possible for a party to make one hundred miles a day, and still have time to stop at places of interest, to go through factories, to admire beautiful views, and to study the country and its productions. Suppose a group of teachers in the Middle West decide to spend their summer in a trip to California. They might secure an automobile arranged to carry a trunk behind or on the roof. If the trip is two thousand miles each way, and 238 Recreation for Teachers they cover an additional two thousand miles seeing the sights, this would mean a total of six thousand miles. The auto- mobile expense, at the highest rate we have figured, would be #300, or #60 per person. If we suppose eighty days were spent on the journey, and that other expenses averaged #2.00 a day, this would make #160 per person, totaling #220 or say #250, for the trip. This is probably no more than they would spend if they went to a near-by resort. Yet they would see the great plains and their products, the mountains with their birds and flowers and rocks, the seashore and its resorts, and the wonders of California and the productions of a semi- tropical climate. The expenses which have been estimated at #2.00 per day are hotel bills, and they can be made as high as the party desires, or they may be brought down to about #1.50 a day, especially if the nights are spent at small places and picnic lunches are prepared by the wayside. The besetting sin of automobilists is speed, and the party should often stop for a day or two to make side trips and drink in the scenery. A company of five men could make such a trip somewhat more cheaply. For about ten dollars the front seat can be made to turn back into a bed, and if a mattress is carried, two may sleep in the automobile. If a tarpaulin is put over the machine and an extra mattress or a sleeping bag or two are carried, two or three people may sleep thus at the side. 1 If they can buy their provisions from the farmers or the local grocers, and can make their own repairs, they may bring their entire expenses down to about a dollar and a half per day. 1 Montgomery Ward and Company also have on sale a special tourist blanket which can be converted into a sleeping bag by lacing up the sides and one end. Summer Play 239 A great obstacle to the pleasure of such a trip is that one needs a separate license for hunting and fishing in nearly every state. There should be some national license which would allow a person to hunt and fish along the way. Along almost any main-traveled highway in the country at present, one will come upon automobile parties touring the country in just this way, often carrying a tent and all necessary equipment, and expecting to be on the road three or four months. Where a man and his wife or one or two teachers own an automobile, and wish to take a trip of this kind, it is often possible for them to take in passengers who will help pay the expenses. Trips of this kind are advertised in Los Angeles practically every day. The difficulty in this situation, so far as rural teachers are concerned, is that they see so little of each other that almost any cooperative undertaking is difficult. If the teacher wishes to go camping or walking or automobiling, it may be necessary for her to organize the party in the neighborhood rather than among the teachers. Recently, while on a walking trip in Iowa, the writer was picked up by three young men in a Ford, who were touring the country. They had some little mechanical skill and were paying their way by stopping at the farms and doing any machine repairing that might be called for. Their plan was to go to New York, down along the coast to Florida, across through the southern states and Texas to southern California, then up and across again to Iowa. All the sights of the country are being made more and more accessible to the automobilist every year. There is a good road to the top of Pikes Peak, one is being made to the top of Mt. Whitney, and the roads in our great national parks 240 Recreation for Teachers like Yellowstone and Yosemite are being improved every year. In the Yosemite, in the summer of 191 7, there were twenty- two different automobile camps, provided for and laid out by the National Park service. Autoists were charged five dollars admission to the park. The Desmond Automobile Company would rent to campers everything that they needed, including tent, beds and blankets, stove, table, knives and forks, dishes, etc. They might pick up branches lying on the ground, or buy cut wood directly from the Park authorities. For a party of five the expense of securing all this equipment for a month need not be more than fifteen dollars. Most of the camps were in beautiful locations looking out upon the river or up to mountains or waterfalls. Some of them were more attractive than the sites occupied by the hotels or permanent camps. We have spoken of automobiling as a method of travel, but we may also consider it a form of sport. There is a decided pleasure in the sense of mastery which one has in guiding a powerful machine. The feeling of exhilaration from the rapid motion is a balm to tired nerves. In any long trip, all the members of the party should learn to drive, that no one may get too much of it and all may have an opportunity to see the sights. There ought to be at least one in the company who is able to make minor repairs, unless the trip is to be very short. Courses in automobile repairing are now being offered at many universities and in some normal and high schools. Two women professors, acquaintances of mine, before going on a trip of this kind, took employment for a month in one of the city garages. They dressed like men and did the regular repair work. Summer Play 241 At the end of the 191 7 summer session of the University of Colorado, a group of four young women, two members of the faculty and two high school teachers, set out for an automobile trip through Yellowstone Park. The following account is from the diary of the owner of the Ford in which the trip was taken. Monday, August 6th. Detained until 12 : 00 M. by engine trouble ; made Cheyenne by night. Town filled with soldiers, and as the girls feared the men might run off with our ukulele or bedding, we ate supper in relays. Spent night camping by lake on parade grounds of Fort Russell. Two of us slept in the bed in car made by letting down back of front seat; two slept in sleeping bags on the ground. Tuesday, August jih. Started before breakfast on Yellowstone trail. On making run for hill, spilled off bread box which I had tied on ; so we contented ourselves without bread. Stopped at Laramie River and ate grand camp dinner under shade of cottonwoods. Went swimming or mud-crawling in the river. Left about 5 : 00 p.m. Wound through sand around river road, and at night reached the small town of Glendo. The road on was labeled " dangerous" by guide book, and not libeled; it was the worst road I ever saw, or rather, didn't see, for Henry's lights gave out and our flash was small. Miss B. is a grand sport. She sat in front and didn't even yell when I missed the road and started down an embankment into the river, just eleven miles from Douglas. By pushing and reversing, we got out and made Douglas by 11 : 00 p.m., rode around city, and 242 Recreation for Teachers camped in vacant field near creek about five miles out of Douglas. Wednesday, August 8th. Roads pretty good to Casper. Took wrong road and ran into mud at river ; took cross-cut and got stuck in sand, but girls pushed me out. Met many pack trains of mules, and in giving them the road went hub deep in sand. Oil field interesting; derricks and little white puffs of smoke every- where. In afternoon got stuck on sandy hill. After abandon- ing our skirts and pushing until tired, we waited until another Ford came along and was stuck. We helped them out and they helped us. They followed us to Powder River and bade us good-by there, as they were afraid to travel at night, and we liked it better than daytime. As the night was cold, we unrolled our bedding, wrapping it around us, and rode late into the night until we were stuck in the sand. Spent night in HelPs Half Acre. Not half bad, as sand is very soft for a bed. Thursday, August gth. Made Lost Cabin by noon, and started to Ten Sleep, avoid- ing Thermopolis because of bad roads. Camper, as we had named our car, jumped the track here and almost spilled me down a mountain side. The girls were walking the grade, as the engine was not working well. Took only five gallons of gas at little station, as it was forty cents per gallon, and after a good dinner started across Bad Lands on a forty-five mile drive to Ten Sleep. On making mountain, the car was so tipped that the gas couldn't run into the carburetor. I was afraid to back down, as our brakes were poor. While we were Summer Play 243 talking, an old bull, dripping at the mouth, came bellowing up the mountain. The little girl from Texas was frightened, and while we stood laughing and holding the car, she began to shovel dirt under the car wheels, as there were no rocks around. Her fright scared us, and we jumped into the car, put up the curtains, grabbed axe, shovel, and butcher knife, and steering- wheel, and waited for the onslaught of the bull. He came up near the car, stopped, bellowed at us, turned as though to butt us down the mountain, changed his mind, and went away bellowing. That was the first time I ever wanted a gun. Rode late that night, until car got so hot it wouldn't run. As we were on the side of a steep mountain, and wind and sleet were blowing strongly, we sat up all night. Off in the distance coyotes and wolves began to howl. Nearer and nearer they came. My companions were frightened for the first and last time on the trip. Friday, August 10th. Next morning we coasted thirteen miles into Ten Sleep, and found that our radiator hose had broken and radiator leaked. The road to Hyattville was terrible; made twenty miles in three hours. Here we met a tourist from the Park who tried to discourage us from going farther; but we were having a grand time and enjoying our troubles immensely. Arrived at Basin in the evening, and slept about eleven miles out in spite of rain and wind. Saturday, August nth. In Cody at noon. Shoshone Pass, a narrow road but good, not nearly as bad as we had been told. Spent the night in park in the pines. Creek on both sides and all around 244 Recreation for Teachers mountains. Climbed tree to put our food in cage to keep bears away. Sunday, August 12th. Went swimming ; did washing. At 4 : 00 p.m. made steepest climb in park, where we had view of entire park and Yellow- stone Lake. Coasted down hill and climbed up until we reached Lake Jet ; then went to Artist Point, where we spent the night with Old Bruin, who didn't bother us much. Danced Peter Pan around the camp fire and sang college songs. Monday, August 13th. Reached Mammoth Hot Spring, where there is a large garrison of soldiers. The guests of the hotel crowded around us wherever we stopped. I never felt so much like a box of monkeys in my life. They asked us all sorts of questions, and seemed to think it marvelous that a party of girls could go out alone in a Ford. We were adopted and watched out for by everyone on the road. Went around the Park twice and took all the side trips. At one time the girls made a bridge for me out of poles and held it for me until I drove across. One time in a heavy rain storm, I ran one wheel into a geyser and sank into nowhere. By help of a shovel, pick, and two dandy girls, we got out. We went through Idaho and Utah and back to Colorado across Tennessee Pass home. Everywhere we met the kindest treatment both on the road and in the towns. We had a grand time and no trouble was so serious that we couldn't get a good laugh out of it. Miss B. wore a man's suit ; Miss G. wore a flannel shirt and riding trousers; Miss H. wore bloomers and middies; and Summer Play 245 I wore a man's unionall suit. Miss H.'s bloomers were not successful, as fleas in the Park bit her legs. Miss G.'s outfit was the best, as it was better looking at the end of the trip than the rest of our clothes. We had only one accident — broke the rear axle. Did not wear out one set of tires. Paid as high as fifty cents a loaf for bread. We stopped in Ash ton, and with help of garage men took our engine apart and ground the valves and fitted in new piston rings. Made Tennessee Pass on high, which is unusual. Expenses Food #49-3° Gas 38.79 Oil 4-65 Repairs 14-45 Incidentals 71.90 #179.09 Personal expenses 23.88 Total #202.97 Let me enumerate a few things that come under the heading of incidentals : brake shoe, $.40 ; driver to bring car in, $2.00 ; grease, $.75; coal oil, $.15 ; Zip, $1.00; ball bearings, $.60; map, $.25; soap, $.15; piston rings, $.75; fee into Park, $7.50; rooms at Y. M. C. A., $2.00; movies, $.80; No-Leak, $.75; commutator, $.80; swims, $4.00; lights and glass, $1.30; bushings and spindles, $1.10; hubcap, $.50; battery and bulb, $1.05; screw driver, $.55; spark plug and porce- lains, $3.05; water bag, $1.85; cloth, $.15; knives sharpened, $.25; cup grease, $.75 ; glue, $.15; tire, $22.90. We were gone five weeks in all, due to slow travel because of poor roads in Wyoming and Idaho. 246 Recreation for Teachers It will thus be seen that this rather extended tour, covering something over two thousand miles by automobile, and requiring five weeks of time, cost these young ladies a trifle over ten dollars a week apiece. If there had been five people in the car instead of four, the cost probably would not have been over nine dollars a week ; but, even at ten dollars, it was probably little if any more than they were paying for board and room in the city. It will be noted that the entire expense for the company, so far as given, amounts to almost exactly ten cents per mile for all expenses, including board and lodging. However, in this case, the automobile charges did not cover depreciation of the car or the replacing of tires, and is in- sufficient for a complete charge. Nevertheless it was consid- erably cheaper for the owner to take the other three girls with her than it would have been to go alone, as the in- crease of cost in having three additional passengers in a car is negligible. It is probable that there is no other section of the United States where the expenses would have been greater, as they had at times to pay fifty cents for a loaf of bread, and gasoline was uniformly high. To many, perhaps to most teachers this trip may seem extra hazardous. Doubtless the travelers encountered as bad roads and as many dangers as might be found in almost any auto- mobile trip in the country. They increased these hazards by traveling much at night. Most of these dangers might have been avoided, if they had chosen to do so ; but, "If a path were dangerous known, Then danger's self were lure alone." CHAPTER XV RECREATION AT SUMMER SCHOOLS The summer school offers the key to most of the recreation problems which have been broached in this volume. The students come from all parts of the country. If they develop an enthusiasm for outdoor sports and play, this will go far in solving the problem of the year. The time from four to eight every day, and the whole of Saturday afternoons and Sundays, should be devoted to leisure, and the students should be earnestly advised not to study then. This time is sufficient for games and sports, for gardening, excursions, moving pictures, community singing, story- telling, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and Camp Fire Girls, and the other new activities which are coming into the schools. Properly con- ducted these will be excellent recreation, will preserve the teacher's health and vigor, and nearly double the value of the summer training. The summer school is almost a new educational discovery. Teachers cannot afford to spend two or three months in loafing, nor can they afford as a regular thing to spend so long a period at a resort or in travel. The summer school must give them a good time as well as training for their work. The numbers in attendance are probably twice what they were a decade ago, and may even be three times as great. In the majority of the normal schools the summer enrollment is the largest of the year. The summer is also the most effective term. The students have experienced difficulties and realize 247 248 Recreation for Teachers their needs. They are eager in their studies and ready to assimilate what they receive. There is every probability of the summer term's increasing in length also. The state schools of Colorado and some in Cali- fornia are now being put on a ten or twelve weeks' basis, and the normal schools of Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas already have such a term. This is likely to become general. In most cases these summer sessions are divided into two parts so that students need take only one if that is preferred. When the summer term is long, provision for recreation is especially necessary, both for the faculty and the students, that the strain may be relieved as much as possible. It is also profit- able, in that it may tempt students who come for the first half to stay over for the second. The Problem of Summer Quarters It is to be regretted that some of the southern schools should hold a summer session. In many localities the weather is so hot and moist that good work is almost impossible. Neither the state nor the teachers get adequate return for their money or effort. Moreover, the annual migration of southern teachers to the summer sessions of northern schools is very effective in breaking down sectional prejudices. It would doubtless be better if some states would make an appropriation, equal to that which they have been accus- tomed to give for their summer schools, directly to teachers wishing to study during the vacation. This would probably give these teachers from fifty to one hundred dollars each, which would in most cases cover tuition as well as traveling expenses. It seems likely that these teachers, with the Recreation at Summer Schools 249 country to choose from, would usually select the stronger schools, where they would get excellent courses, and where the climate would allow of vigorous work. They would also profit by the travel itself, and by meeting teachers from other sections. The teachers in service at the normals would thus be able to accept summer appointments in places farther north and would come back to their winter's work more refreshed. Southern states would probably get considerably more for their money by making appropriations in this way than by holding summer schools of their own. However, there are likely to be personal or political considerations which will hinder this being done. When this plan is not feasible, a number of the schools in low and moist districts should secure summer quarters either in the mountains or at the shore. Most of the people of these sections who can afford it go away during the hottest months. It is even more appropriate that the schools should have summer homes, because it is no more expensive for the teachers to go to school in the mountains or the shore than elsewhere. Where a thousand summer students would probably spend #100,000, and the state not less than #50,000 more, an original investment of #50,000 for summer quarters might nearly double the return on the annual summer expendi- ture. In 191 5 California appointed a commission to make a sur- vey of its recreational facilities. Every state should have such a survey. The tourist crop is probably worth one hun- dred million dollars annually to California, and perhaps half as much to Florida. No state can profitably allow its people to go to other states for their pleasure because it has failed to find and develop its own resources. Such a survey might 250 Recreation for Teachers discover admirable sites for the summer schools and chau- tauquas of the state. A SUMMER CHAUTAUQUA What might prove the solution of this problem for the South would be for the state to locate in the mountains or on the shore a state-wide chautauqua similar to the one recently established at Macon, Georgia, or to those at Winona Lake, Indiana, and Chautauqua, New York. The chautauqua is at present in an anomalous condition, but it is one of the largest movements on our horizon, for the education of adults. There is reason for thinking that it will eventually be organized under the state universities or the state departments of education. For the last four or five years the Universities of Minnesota and Wisconsin have organized a large percentage of the chautauquas in these states. A combination of summer school and chautauqua would be admirable. It could offer superior lectures as well as fine music and plays. Indeed, all the recreational facilities of the chautauqua would be equally profitable to the summer students. The summer school as sponsor for the chautauqua would see that its program was not quite so frothy as it some- times is. The weather would be cool enough for study, and many teachers who could not stand the strain of a school of the older type would be glad to attend. If it is not feasible to establish summer quarters, the schools whose location makes a summer session unwise should encourage their clientele to go to other schools, as, in Arizona, the Normal School at Tempe sends its students to Flagstaff. Recreation at Summer Schools 251 The schools which should secure cool summer quarters are not all in the South. There are many others which are almost unendurably hot in the summer and which have almost no facilities for recreation. These, also, should either buy or rent summer homes or close in favor of better located schools. The expense of summer quarters would be largely met if a chautauqua ground were used ; but even if this cannot be done, the change need not be costly. Several summers ago at the Normal School at Durant, Oklahoma, about two thirds of the students lived in tents which were rented from a tent and awning company in Kansas City for $2.50 a month. Each tent had two cots and accommodated two students. There are also certain abandoned or unprofitable hotels, some of them with hundreds of rooms, in the mountains and at the shore. It might be possible in some cases to secure one of these. Statistics showing how many schools are already provided with summer quarters have not been gathered, but there are several. The Y. M. C. A. Training School at Springfield, Massachusetts, holds its summer session at Silver Bay, New York; the Y. M. C. A. College of Chicago, at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin; the School of Science of the University of Indiana migrates to Winona Lake, Indiana, and the State Normal School at Fresno, California, goes to the Sierras. The following quotation from the Fresno Normal's an- nouncement for 191 7 is of interest in this connection: "The Sierra Summer School is located at the southwest corner of Lake Huntington in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, at an elevation of over 7000 feet. The site for the school is leased from the Sierra Forest Re- serve and consists of more than six acres in extent. The situation is 252 Recreation for Teachers some one hundred and fifty or two hundred feet above the lake, with an outlook over its surface and towards Mount Kaiser, rising to a height of 10,300 feet. "The distance of Lake Huntington from Fresno is about seventy miles. It is reached by the Southern Pacific to El Prado, thence over the San Joaquin and Eastern to Cascade, from which point stages run to the lake, a distance of four and a half miles. "The various railroads of the state have authorized a one and one third fare on the certificate plan for the round trip from all parts of Cali- fornia." Summer Schools for Special Subjects We already have several forms of summer schools which offer to a person of scholarly interests almost ideal oppor- tunities for study combined with a good time. MARINE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORIES We spent a part of the summer of 191 6 at Laguna Beach, California, the site of the summer school of biology of Pomona College. The laboratory is a wooden building that prob- ably did not cost over two thousand dollars. The school is housed in a tent city adjacent to it. It would be hard to devise a pleasanter way to spend the summer. There are the trips along the beach for the collection of specimens, the laboratory study, and the afternoon swim, the occasional picnic, the grandeur of sunrises and sunsets, the constant change in the color of the water as the tides ebb and flow, and the bewildering variety of sea life constantly being cast up by the waves. The climate is ideal for summer study. Such a site is no less adapted to the work of a regular summer school than a school of biology. Indeed it would be much simpler to conduct most other departments than biology, since there are few others that require so much equipment. Recreation at Summer Schools 253 SUMMER SCHOOLS OF ART In California there are no less than eight summer schools of art which are devoted to outdoor sketching and painting at the seashore or in the mountains. SCHOOLS OF SURVEYING California boasts also at least two summer schools of surveying, whose students spend nearly all their time in actual work, mostly in the mountains. The Harvard School of Surveying likewise does most of its practical work up in New Hampshire in the summer. If the students of such schools are congenial, they should have a very good time. CLASSES IN GEOLOGY AND PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY During certain years classes in physical geography at the University of California have spent the entire summer ses- sion in walking trips through the Sierras and the Coast Range. These classes comprised both men and women and offered a wonderful opportunity for good fellowship and a good time as well as for the study of the most practical side of geology and physical geography. OTHER TRAVELING SUMMER SCHOOLS This idea is applicable to a good many subjects of study. For years it has been the custom of certain art schools to spend part of their time in traveling and visiting the galleries of the Old World. The city planners and the social workers have had several summer vacations spent in travel, which were practically traveling summer schools ; and it is easy to see that a school of physical training might well be a walking 254 Recreation for Teachers school, as might also perhaps schools of vocal music, agri- culture, and many other subjects. Recreation Now Being Offered at Summer Schools Whereas a decade ago there were few schools that made any announcement in regard to recreation, many now give their recreational facilities considerable prominence. The following quotations have been taken, more or less at random, from the catalogues of summer schools, and are intended to show rather what is being done than what is being done best. It is in no way an exhaustive list. UNIVERSITY OF UTAH A few years ago an announcement such as this from the University of Utah would have caused astonishment : "The Summer School undertakes primarily to provide opportunities for study for persons who because of other employment cannot attend the University during the regular college year. But it is not intended that students should, even for the brief period of six weeks, attempt a too complete concentration on their subjects of study. They should know the value of recreation. They should know, too, that the large Summer School community has a socializing power which can best be felt in ac- tivities outside the classroom. There is, accordingly, ample provision for recreative activity. "There are many informal games and dances, and story-telling hours on the University lawns. A series of dramatic and other readings give conspicuous character to the Summer School. "Numerous informal excursions are conducted during the summer in connection with the work of the various scientific subjects. These are open in general to all students of the Summer School. Special events are the general Summer School excursions to the Utah Copper Mine at Bingham and to Saltair on Great Salt Lake. There are also mountain climbing, walking, and camp fire trips." Recreation at Summer Schools 255 NORMAL SCHOOL, EMPORIA, KANSAS The Summer School at Emporia, Kansas, situated in the vast Kansas prairies, seems to have no special advantages as a center for recreational activities, yet it made the follow- ing announcement for the summer of 191 7 : "While planning a program for serious work in all phases, we consider it equally important that the Summer School, to fulfil its highest function, should also offer much to brighten and inspire those who come fatigued with the year's labors. "Free moving-picture exhibitions, educational and recreational, will be given frequently. The Department of Public Speaking and Expres- sion is planning to give several high-class plays, with a view to showing students the possibilities of the drama as an educational factor in their home communities. In addition, there will be old-time song fests, campus parties, and playground games for everybody ; baseball of high class by the teams of the city league on the Normal athletic field three evenings a week, at the nominal charge of twenty-four games for one dollar. Soden's grove on the Cottonwood River, affords many oppor- tunities for outings, group picnics, chautauqua, boating, and bathing." "The Student Activity Fee of one dollar, charged all students, admits to: 1. 'The Man from Home,' a modern comedy by Tarkington, given by students. 2. 'Merry Wives of Windsor,' Shakespeare's roaring farce-comedy, given by members of faculty and students. 3. Kansas Historical Pageant — spectacular, dramatic, adaptable to any school. Given by students. 4. The Grand Opera, 'II Trovatore,' given by members of faculty and students. 5. Moving Pictures, instructive and amusing. 6. Twenty-four Baseball Games and other Sports. 7. Use of Tennis Courts and Nets." 256 Recreation for Teachers NORMAL SCHOOL, KEARNEY, NEBRASKA The Normal School at Kearney, Nebraska, similarly situated in a boundless prairie, makes the following announcement : "The Kearney Commercial Club gives the entire school a free 25- mile auto ride and a free 6 o'clock dinner at the 1733 Ranch. Here all will enjoy a personally conducted tour of inspection over this 5000-acre ranch, which contains hundreds of domestic animals and thousands of birds, both domestic and game. "A well-organized Recreation Club makes special plans for outdoor games and sports — rides, hikes, picnics, baseball, basket ball, tennis, boating, and bathing, thus satisfying the physical demands of young life for sane and healthful recreation in this ideal atmosphere." About half of the attraction at any resort consists in the people who are there, and the facilities furnished for social life form a very important part of every summer school. A few years ago the writer was at a normal school where every student received on the first day a badge with his name upon it. At the first assembly the president said, " Every student in the school has his name upon a badge, and I hereby intro- duce every one to every one else. Hereafter every one will consider himself properly introduced and acquainted." This little device wiped out formality, and might well be copied in other schools. Abundant opportunities for students to dine together, to picnic together, to form little clubs and groups to carry on various undertakings in common, should be offered. In the summer schools of several states the teachers from each county are organized into a group which has picnics of its own and perhaps athletic and other contests with the teachers of other counties. In the larger eastern universities there is in many cases such an organization of state groups. Recreation at Summer Schools 257 At the Normal School at Gunnison, Colorado, there are regular county picnics which are usually trout fries. At Boulder, the picnics are largely by states and are usually beefsteak fries. EXCURSIONS At Columbia University, for the summer of 191 7, twenty-five different special excursions were offered. One series of these took place on Saturdays, while another was arranged for 2:35 p.m. on nearly every afternoon. The University of Michigan makes the following announce- ment in regard to excursions : "Numerous excursions are conducted in connection with the work in botany, zoology, and geology, which are open in many cases to all stu- dents of the Summer Session who obtain permission of the instructors in charge. The trips to Niagara Falls, and to Put-in-Bay, in Lake Erie, being especially instructive, are taken annually by a large number of students. On account of the low rates which are obtained, the cost of these excursions is very moderate." Harvard, among other forms of recreation, offers the follow- ing historical excursions : "Historical Excursions (carefully planned for both enjoyment and instruction) are arranged for Wednesday afternoons and Saturdays to the districts of greater historical and literary interest in eastern Massa- chusetts. The excursions usually include the following: Cambridge and Mt. Auburn ; Bunker Hill and Old Boston ; Lexington and Con- cord; 'Whittier Land' and Andover; Plymouth; Salem and Danvers." THE WEEK-END CAMP OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO It may not be feasible for every summer school to have a camp where its students may go Friday nights to spend 258 Recreation for Teachers Saturday and Sunday, but there are a number that might easily make such an arrangement. This would give an oppor- tunity for practical work in domestic economy as well as for bird study and the making of collections, for county and group picnics, for sitting around the camp fire and singing, and for that intimacy which develops friendship as almost nothing else can. The University of Colorado, in addition to a school of Mountain Field Biology located in Tolland at an altitude of 8889 feet, has a summer camp for week-end and other visits. In regard to it the Director of the Summer School writes : "This camp, about twenty-five miles from Boulder, is easily acces- sible by the D. B. and W. R. R. (Switzerland Trail). The intention is to provide camping facilities at cost for the benefit of students, faculty, and friends of the University, who wish to spend week-ends or longer periods there. It is one of the most attractive spots in the Rocky Moun- tains, at an altitude of 9600 feet. There is good fishing. "The camp was very popular, especially at week-ends and just after the Summer Session. Last summer we charged the campers #1.00 a day, which just about met the expense of providing food and caring for incidental expenses. We found last summer that we could conduct parties to the camp almost any day when there was call for it, and we regularly took parties up Friday afternoon and Saturday morning." This camp is located in the forest preserve just below the Arapahoe Peaks and Glacier. It is a beautiful piece of forest of about fifty acres near a small stream which has a delightful waterfall only a couple of hundred yards from the camp. There are, beside the tents, three permanent cabins; and a number of the university professors have selected sites for private houses. It is a convenient starting point for a trip to the Glacier, and there are beaver dams and lakes and other points of interest in the neighborhood. Recreation at Summer Schools 259 THE FOREST PRESERVE OF THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, FORT COLLINS, COLORADO The Agricultural College of Colorado at Fort Collins has a forest preserve in the Rocky Mountains, with a lodge in Pingree Park 45 miles distant. The lodge is used by the students and faculty for week-end and other outings, and the members of the faculty are planning to erect summer cabins in the park. The eastern line of the Rocky Mountain Na- tional Park is only two and a half miles distant. A trail leads to Hallett's Glacier, seven and one half miles away; another to Specimen Mountain, fifteen miles; and one to Estes Park, twenty miles. The president of the College considers the park an ideal location for a school of forestry and Alpine agriculture, and hopes to have one some time in connection with the summer session. CAMPING OUT AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN As to camping out in connection with summer study, the University of Wisconsin has the following announcement : "The University will permit families accompanied by parents, one or more members of which are registered in the summer session, to tent upon university lakeshore property about two miles from the University. A well, pier, and comfort stations are provided. The College Hills auto- bus will furnish regular service between the colony and the campus. A launch service on Mendota will also furnish transportation twice daily, and deliver mail and groceries. The John Gallagher Tent Co., 9-13 S. Bedford St., Madison, Wisconsin, will rent tents, cots, and chairs." The Program of the Summer School The summer school is rilling two functions: preparing young people who have never taught to pass their examina- 260 Recreation for Teachers tion and get their first school ; and helping experienced teach- ers to make progress. In the first capacity it is largely a school of drill ; in the second, it is the expositor of the more recent movements in education. The first function, which was almost the only one a few years ago, is now coming to take second place, and we must hope that it will become less and less necessary. It is most unwholesome for one who has been studying in a high school, or teaching during eight or nine months, to cram down the concentrated material of a summer program that she may pass an examination in the fall. The summer school should lay especial emphasis in its pro- gram upon activities which will give relief from the work of the year. There should be ample opportunities for manual training, domestic economy, agriculture, gardening, games, folk dancing, Boy Scouts, Camp Fire Girls, music, art, and similar activities. As a rule, in a program of twelve to fifteen hours a week, the teacher should not elect more than six or seven hours of scholastic work. This should leave enough energy at night for making friends and having a good time. In nearly all of the larger summer schools there are now good-sized classes in folk dancing, in games, and in play- ground activities. This is as it should be, but the numbers ought to be greater. Every teacher ought to take some vigorous outdoor exercise during the summer, and learn how to organize the play of her children. Every summer school ought to furnish adequate facilities for tennis, indoor baseball, volley ball, basket ball, baseball, swimming, and bowling on the green. Every teacher who doesn't know how to play tennis or to swim should learn dur- ing the summer. Recreation at Summer Schools 261 In general the time from four to six every day should be given to outdoor activities, including games, sports, garden- ing, excursions, and the like. If the students take from six to seven for supper, this would leave them an hour before they begin their evening studies. Many things might be done during this hour which would be recreative and at the same time highly educative. They might swim in the pool, bowl in a bowling alley, or have informal dances or receptions ; but probably the forms of recreation which are most feasible are moving pictures, victrola or phonograph entertainments, story-telling, and community singing. If the pictures are taken from biography or literature or geography or travel, they should be as instruc- tive as class work. At the larger schools admission tickets at about two cents each, or fifty cents for the summer, would cover all expenses and furnish superior films. One or two evenings a week there might well be victrola or phonograph concerts. It should be possible, also, to furnish every year to all the larger summer schools that are on main railroad lines some good music and plays by actors such as ordinarily are seen only in the great cities. The normal school can furnish to a theatrical or operatic company a stage and auditorium without charge and an almost absolutely assured audience of five hundred to a thousand. When to these are added the people from the town who would be glad to come, it would seem well worth while for many of the best companies to make a feature of work with summer schools. Of course there are already a number of companies which specialize in outdoor performances, like the Ben Greet Players and the Coburn Players. The most serious difficulty with such a program 262 Recreation for Teachers is that the summer schools so seldom cooperate with each other, and it may be necessary for the lecturer or company that has this week in Michigan to spend the next in California and the following in Pennsylvania. If all the lecture and special features could be routed through the office of the Commissioner of Education, they could be provided much more cheaply than in any other way. This would mean na- tional aid to children through the normal schools, compa- rable with what the nation is already offering to cows and pigs through the agricultural colleges and experiment stations. A considerable number of the Commissioner's staff are already lecturing at the summer schools. This furnishes a nucleus and a precedent for further extension along this line. At least one evening a week, and possibly two, there should be story-telling on the lawn. This was begun many years ago at Knoxville when Commissioner Claxton was Director of the Summer School of the South, and has found its way since to the campus of many summer schools. Story-telling is coming into education more and more. On Sunday evening, perhaps, or at any rate on one of the evenings, the school should get together on the lawn for com- munity singing. Not all students can sing much, but those who cannot sing may still enjoy the singing, and it is remark- able how good the general result is when a thousand people are singing, even though some may be off the key. There is every probability that community singing will come into greater prominence. The Playground and Recrea- tion Association of America is furnishing a director of com- munity singing at each of the military camps, and some of these have choruses of ten or twelve thousand singers. Harry Barnhart has organized immense choruses in and around Recreation at Summer Schools 263 New York City which have attracted national attention. Every teacher needs this practice and most will enjoy it. There are a number of schools at which such general singing is being carried on. This program of recreation has not only the positive value of furnishing something good and wholesome and profitable, but also the negative value of keeping students away from downtown picture shows and dance halls and from loitering about the streets where conditions cannot be controlled. Besides the activities mentioned, it would be worth while in many of the larger summer schools to have a class in pho- tography. There are many occasions when a knowledge of photography and the developing and printing of pictures comes in very handy, especially for an art teacher. The pictures taken might also be a considerable asset to the school, as many of them might be used for publicity. So far as the work is outdoors it would be genuinely recreative. At the normal school of Kirksville, Missouri, there has been for a long time a class of this kind, which has also made thousands of lantern slides. A RECREATION SURVEY One of the first things that ought to be done at every summer school is to make a thorough survey or inventory of its possibilities for recreation. This should include the facilities for baseball, football, tennis, basket ball, volley ball and general games ; the facilities for swimming and rowing ; its chautauqua program, with lectures, musical numbers and motion pictures ; the social occasions organized at the school ; dramas, operettas, and entertainments given by the students; opportunities for excursions, etc. Such 264 Recreation for Teachers a survey would be sure to reveal many opportunities which are not utilized. Places of interest that could be reached by a ten-mile walk, or by train or trolley or automobile, at an expense of not more than a dollar per person, should be listed. These should include literary and historic landmarks, and also places of interest to classes in agriculture, domestic economy, manual training, geology, geography, botany, or other school sub- jects. Each school might well place in the hands of each of its students a small booklet outlining such trips. School Dormitories Probably the normal school needs the dormitory more than any other school, for its summer as well as the other sessions. The majority of the teachers come from small villages or the open country where they have had little social life and few opportunities to meet people. It is out of the life which centers in dormitories that the school spirit which makes a great college or university develops. The normals will never come to their own, they will never have the dignity or influence which they deserve or give the social training which their students require, until there are ample dormitory facilities. Most of the students at summer schools are experienced teachers who have met with difficulties and are glad of an opportunity of talking with other teachers with similar expe- riences. They are likely to learn nearly as much from this as from the program of the school. There are many schools that have dormitories, but few of these, if any, are adequate to summer needs. At the Teachers College at Greeley, Colorado, there is a splendid social building which serves as headquarters for social occa- Recreation at Summer Schools 265 sions among the students. This is only a substitute for ade- quate dormitories with social halls and dining rooms, but it serves a very useful function. Cooperation among the Different Departments Each department of the summer school should be expected to offer something to the general recreation program of the school. This might well be a sort of general exhibition or pageant of the work that the department is doing, and might be given at the morning assembly. The Normal School at Kirks ville, Missouri, has given every summer for many years one or more operettas such as " Pinafore " and " The Pirates of Penzance.'' They are occasions to which the student body looks forward and which are thoroughly enjoyed. They also give incentive to the work in music during the summer and make it more interesting and valuable. At the Teachers College at Greeley, Colorado, one or more plays, usually Shakespearean, are presented each summer. In the summer of 191 7 " Twelfth Night" was excellently given by the students upon the lawn. Dramatics are coming into education, and teachers should have more experience in acting. Many of the summer schools now have an annual play festival at the close of the sessions with games, outdoor athletics, and folk dancing. It is impossible to say at how many summer schools this is done, but it is true of a large number. Of the eight schools visited by the writer during the summer of 191 7, the Normal School at Tahlequah, Okla- homa, gave a pageant representing the coming of the Five Nations to Indian Territory ; and at Huntsville, Texas, the history of Texas, including its Mexican period, its independ- ent period, and its history as a state, was represented. 266 Recreation for Teachers It might not be equally easy for all departments to contrib- ute to the recreation program, but the departments of agri- culture, manual training, physical geography, and nature or bird study could conduct interesting walking trips, and the art department might give an exhibition. A Director of Recreation It is best that there should be a special director of recreation. The same person might be also the director of physical train- ing, but this is by no means necessary. Much of this recre- ation is not physical training. A Special Fee It is not necessary that there should be a fee for the recrea- tion that has been outlined, but summer schools often err in failing to furnish important facilities to their students on account of a slight additional expense. An entertainment fee of two dollars at a school with a thousand students would mean two thousand dollars for features which might double the attractiveness of the school. Students cannot afford to spend a hundred dollars on summer study and withhold two dollars which would add ten or twenty or fifty per cent to its value. Nearly all the activities mentioned can be offered gratis by charging such a fee. The Selection of a Summer School The final decision of the question of recreation really lies with the summer students, for the schools will in the end meet their demands. There are schools which already furnish Recreation at Summer Schools 267 almost ideal conditions, both for a good time and for study. Why should not students select these schools? Many teachers are already acting on this principle, as the figures from the normal schools and universities of Colorado and California show. At the Normal School of San Diego with its wonderful location, out of an enrollment of about 200, there were 51 teachers from outside the state in 191 6, and 40 in 191 7; at the University of California, out of an enrollment in 1917 of 3975, 777 came from other states and 66 from foreign countries. In the State Teachers College at Greeley, out of a total enrollment of about 1300, 236 were from outside the state. Probably the University of Colorado offers as great oppor- tunities for recreation as any summer school, as the moun- tains are only a mile or so away, and it lies at the entrance to Boulder Canon with its picturesque scenery and its tungsten and other mines. Beside its week-end camp, the University organizes week-end automobile trips to Estes Park and to the mines and other places of interest in the neigh- borhood. Many of the students also go out on walking trips and horseback rides. The registration at the University for 1916 and 191 7 was distributed as follows : Summer Session 1916 Total enrollment, 832. Number coming from outside the state, 633. States having more than 20 — Colorado, 199; Illinois, 51 ; Iowa, 34; Kansas, 134; Missouri, 123 ; Nebraska, 30; Okla- homa, 53 ; Texas, 87. Number of states represented, 33; foreign countries, 2. 268 Recreation for Teachers Summer Session 191 7 Total enrollment, 768 ; number of students from outside the state, 566. States having more than 20 — Colorado, 202 ; Illinois, 32 ; Iowa, 26; Kansas, 103 ; Missouri, 122 ; Nebraska, 37 ; Okla- homa, 59 ; Texas, 85. Number of states represented, 33 ; foreign countries, 2. This large registration of students from outside the state was evidently due largely to the climate and the opportuni- ties for recreation. With abundant facilities for social life, games, excursions, moving pictures, story- telling, community singing, and good drama, a summer school which is located in a comfortable climate should be more attractive to an educated man or woman than the ordinary summer resort. There are doubtless some who will say that if so much recre- ation is provided the students will neglect their studies. But every one must admit that thus far this has not been so. Summer students are very conscientious and hard-working. They tend to work too hard rather than to play too much. Such a program will help to increase the attendance in sev- eral ways. The students having more social life and a better time will develop a strong loyalty to the school. When they go back to their homes they will talk about the things they have done and the good times they have had. Nearly all of this program is good publicity material. Papers will gladly report a play festival or pageant or an excursion, and thus will constantly advertise the school. Nearly all of these outdoor occasions also make good photographs, which will be gladly used by the papers as well as shown at home by the participants. Recreation at Summer Schools 269 In order to secure the attendance of all teachers at summer schools, it is only necessary to make them so attractive that the teachers wish to come, and so cheap that they can afford to do so. However, many teachers are paid such an inade- quate salary that it is almost impossible for them to spend much except for absolute necessities. They should either be paid by the school boards for the time spent at summer schools, as they are for attending institutes, or the state should provide room, board, and tuition free. The summer normals have teachers from almost every city and county in the country. If these teachers absorb the spirit of recreation and realize that these things are coming into education, we may anticipate that these ideas will soon percolate out into the general teaching body. The results which may confidently be expected are a lighter, more joyous spirit in the teachers' work, a willingness to take better care of their health, and a determination to organize the play of their pupils. CHAPTER XVI CONCLUSIONS We have seen that teachers are especially subject to tuber- culosis, nervous troubles, constipation, and indigestion; that they often become academic and pedantic, both features and character being set hard, by the discipline of the school. The routine teaching of a single grade without further study tends almost inevitably to arrested develop- ment, and the age of retirement of teachers is below the age of maximum capacity in some other professions. There must be something essentially wrong in any pro- fession in which, despite a short day, a short week, and frequent vacations, so much sickness and so many breakdowns occur. It is believed that the great strain of teaching comes from the requirement of keeping little children still in opposition to their natural instincts ; that there should be at least two recesses each morning and afternoon, when the teacher shall play outdoors with the children ; that gardening, nature study, educational excursions, manual training, domestic economy, and music should be furnished to all chil- dren. These will make the school more like life, and remove most of the strain from both the teacher and the child. What and When While teachers supposedly have more leisure than most other workers, this leisure is seldom utilized for legitimate purposes, many of them not even taking Saturday afternoon 270 Conclusions 271 off, but devoting it to housework, mending, school work, and similar occupations. The common recreations of teachers are reading, fancy work, moving pictures, and walking to and from school. These activities are not suited to furnish the relief which the teacher needs. The peculiar advantage of the profession, abundant leisure, is largely wasted, because the teacher has no plan for it, and no program of recreation or study to follow. The teacher's recreation should, first of all, be out of doors. It should be so absorbing as to cause her to forget her work completely, and it should give her good exercise, society, and vital experience. Apparently the only forms of recrea- tion which really recreate are those activities which have come up from the infancy of the race, which represent in- herited coordinations and movements, and arouse feelings connected with the deeper layers of energy and the oldest associations. In other words, in order really to rest and recuperate, we must go back to nature and pursue activities similar to those followed by our remote ancestors. Some anticipation and a plan are very helpful in enabling the teacher to drop her work. It should become a fixed habit with teachers to spend the time from four to six out of doors every day, almost as regu- larly as they have their meals, and they should frequently go off for a picnic supper in the pleasant weather, so that they may have four hours instead of two. The teacher should not work on Saturday afternoon, and, as a rule, in the pleasant weather, at least, she should not attend the theater. Excursions of various kinds, visits to the points of interest in the neighborhood, outdoor games, or other vigorous activities should fill this precious half-day. 272 Recreation for Teachers Occasionally, during the year, when nature calls or the teacher is overwearied, she should take the week-end for a trip home or to the shore, the mountains, or the country, that she may think out her problems and find relief from the strain of her work or comfort for her troubles. The auto- mobile offers wonderful opportunities for trips which will bring a complete change from the work of the week. The teacher as a rule does not have enough social life. There should be a clubhouse outside the city, where she might go occasionally for week-ends, and also a club building in the city, which, with proper grounds surrounding it, would furnish facilities for tennis, croquet, bowling, swimming, gymnastics, lectures, dinners, and social occasions, and which might also be the residence of a number of the teachers. With more social life, she should gain in social experience and attractiveness. Out of intimacy and the mothering of children, she should develop those tender feminine qualities which are woman's highest charm. Where she becomes learned in local conditions and indus- tries, she will have an influence in the community which a knowledge of the pyramids or the rules of syntax can never give her. Through her knowledge of the community she will become, unwittingly it may be, a guide to the children in the pursuits they are to follow, for her attitude toward different professions and industries may largely determine their choice. It will become advisable for the local in- dustries to make a favorable impression upon her. This power of guidance may be dangerous to her, as it may lead to persecution by the industries which are not favored, but it is sure to give her a larger influence. If the late afternoons and evenings of teachers' institutes Conclusions 273 were organized for excursions and recreation, this week, now often dreaded, might become the red letter week of the year. Its educational value, also, might be greatly increased by this means. A Larger Life We are apparently on the eve of a time which is to bring a great new independence to woman; not merely the right to vote, but the right to live her own life and to follow any occupation she may choose. It is essential, in this larger liberty, that woman should be emancipated from her timidity and also from the conventionality of her clothes, that she may be free to go where she pleases, and dress in any way that may be best adapted to the activities which she wishes to follow. It is desirable that the teacher shall know what the life and occupations of the community are. It is even more desirable that she should have experience with a number of different kinds of occupations, in order that she may under- stand the lives for which she is preparing her children, and because work at its best is often quite as educative as the school. It is possible for her to select occupations during the summer which will be directly helpful to her in her school work. The form of summer recreation which seems best suited to the teacher is travel. This is best because of its edu- cational value to herself, and because it makes all her school work more vivid and her instruction more vital. It is de- sirable that every teacher should take, nearly every summer, a walking trip of two or three weeks, if possible; or a trip of similar or greater length by automobile. The automobile 274 Recreation for Teachers is cheaper than the train, and also gives far better oppor- tunities for the study of the country traversed. There should be a strenuous effort, however, to secure a lower rate on the railroads for teachers than now prevails, on the ground that they are public servants who are poorly compensated, and that traveling by teachers always results later in a great deal more travel by their pupils. A National Walkers' Club In order that women may be as free to go about the country as men are, and receive help and hospitality, there should be a national organization with a distinctive badge or uniform, so that its members might be recognized and assisted wherever they go. If the teachers' clubhouse and residence might offer hospitality to traveling women, it would be a great advantage. Perhaps the simplest method of organization would be the extension of the membership of such clubs as the Sierra or the Mazama Club, and local walking clubs around each city, which might finally be federated into a national organization. A Director of Recreation The recreation here outlined will not organize itself. During the hundred years that our public schools have been in opera- tion, the teachers have not organized it. There is a new realization of its importance, and we may expect that more and more will be done. But if it is to be done within the time of service of those now teaching, there must be some one who will take a vital interest in it and give time and effort to it. This might be the superintendent of schools or the director Conclusions 275 of physical training or a committee of teachers. But it is doubtful if any of these will be satisfactory. We made little progress in the play movement in any of our cities until we secured a capable person to give time and energy to its or- ganization. I suspect the same will be true of the recreation of teachers. They are not at present doing more for them- selves than the children did before the playgrounds were opened. There should be a director of recreation and social activities, a sort of physical-social secretary for the teachers in all of our larger school systems. It should be his or her business to see that the teachers have the proper amount of outdoor life and exercise and such social opportunities as they need. The play movement may in time be so fully organized as to furnish these facilities to all the adults of the city, the teachers included ; but it does not seem likely that this will come within the next decade. If the present body of teachers wish these things they themselves or the school boards must bring them to pass. The Training of the Normal School The normal school must give the training which will pre- pare teachers for these activities. Already many schools have made a beginning. Narrow-chested people with slight lung power and tuber- cular tendency and the nervously unstable should be dis- suaded from entering the profession. For them, teaching will be a dangerous trade. Certain habits of exercise, including outdoor use of the hours from four to six every day, and frequent trips on Satur- day afternoons, should be implanted in every student. 276 Recreation for Teachers Normal students should learn the common children's games and be prepared to organize them, no less than methods in arithmetic and grammar. They should also have manual training, domestic economy, nature study, gardening, and school excursions, because these are activities which are necessary to the welfare of both the teacher and the child, and because they are coming into education. There should be more emphasis on dramatics, because the child is essen- tially dramatic, and because the teachers themselves should often give plays. Perhaps many of them may be actors in the public theater of the future. One of the most fundamental needs is for ample dormitory facilities at the normal schools. If teachers are to have influ- ence and social prestige, they must have had much social experience and be socially attractive. The dormitory is necessary to the organization of the leisure time of normal students. Without it they cannot have the type of recreation they need, nor belong to the social clubs and have the parties and other activities which are necessary to their social training. Social life is even more essential in the normal school than it is at Bryn Mawr or Wellesley ; it should give to the teacher some such social polish and tact as Annapolis and West Point give to the cadets. Teaching as an Ideal Profession Teachers have not come to love teaching as lawyers, doctors, or clergymen love their professions, which indicates that it is not really suited to them, or that their training and viewpoint in regard to it have not been satisfactory. Health and the love for children, which come from proper recreation, from child study, and from intimate association with little ones, Conclusions 277 are essential. The teacher has abundant time to keep herself in perfect physical condition, to grow strong and well and beautiful, to come into close contact with children and guide them into life, which is the service that the mother heart has ever most desired. She has abundant time and oppor- tunity to continue her education. Probably two thirds of the teachers of the United States are under twenty-five years of age. Eighty or ninety per cent of them are women of the age when mating usually takes place and when their chief hope is for love and a home. For most of these, pedagogy is only the portico to the temple of matrimony. Teaching should be one of the best possible preparations for motherhood. In the new profession of teaching which is already at our doors, all of these things should come to pass. If the school periods are shortened, if intermissions are more frequent, if the teacher has not only the three R's but gardening, nature study, play, the conduct of excursions, and similar activities which use the motor nature of the child, the nervous strain will be largely removed, and the teacher will have left those pleasanter duties of guiding the child along the line of his own fundamental interests. Out of the more intimate relationships which come from games, excursions, and the like will grow a kindlier feeling between pupil and teacher, and the development of social and maternal instincts. From con- tinued study should come continued growth. There is no other profession which offers possibilities so great both for service and for development as teaching at its best. On the other hand, the old-time scholastic routine offers little vital training for the prospective wife and mother. Many become nervous and anaemic and cross from teaching. Con- 278 Recreation for Teachers stant standing is injurious to women from a sex point of view and may result in displacements. Nearly all the recreation spoken of is planned for the time between four and eight in the afternoon and for week-ends and vacations. At present teachers are getting little of value out of this time and are often pursuing activities that bring additional strain instead of giving relief. If one keeps in mind the things that may and should be done, these things will begin to organize themselves. Clear ideas and plans are essential to success in this as in other fields. Recreation Will Result in Better Teaching These activities will make the teacher more efficient. She will more often visit the homes of the parents. She will come to know the industries of the neighborhood and be familiar with its geography. She will play her part in the community center and help to furnish entertainments. These activities will help to bring the school and the community together and give the teacher a first-hand knowledge of local conditions and the life for which her school is supposed to prepare. There will be a vocational point of view to her teaching which will make it more practical and helpful. Her knowledge, having a sure foundation on actual things seen and studied, will seem more practical. As an active in- terest in outdoor activities brings her nearer to child life and makes her more sympathetic with it, she will be a more wholesome ideal for children to follow. The Solution of Three Fundamental Problems In the type of recreation advocated, there lies the solution of three of our fundamental educational problems. Conclusions 279 The first of these is organized play. In many cities the great difficulty is the attitude of the teachers — not any theoretical objection, but the fact that they themselves do not wish to play. The recreation which has been dis- cussed has little to do with physical training. There is no reason why a nature study trip or an afternoon picnic or an automobile excursion should be in charge of a physical di- rector. Physical training should be largely incidental to doing things. Recreation should not be so technical and expert as to prevent any teacher who has had a play course and some practice in the normal school from taking charge of it. It is not expedient that the daily organizing of play should be under special teachers, because the teacher needs the play as much as the child, and out of this playing to- gether comes a new attitude — a kindlier feeling between teacher and pupil — which is often in itself the solution of the problem of discipline. This condition is necessary to the social and moral welfare of the teacher and the child alike. It insures, also, better health for the teachers and better health and physical development for the children. The second is the problem of idle hands for the city child in summer. The playground alone does not meet this diffi- culty because not more than thirty or forty per cent of the children attend, and because the average period of attendance is less than an hour, which means that the child still has nearly all of his time left for loafing. The child does not wish to play all of the time. There must be industries and sports as well as play to keep him wholesomely, occupied. Apparently the best solution is offered by a fourth term of the school, which will lay its chief emphasis on outdoor activities, 280 Recreation for Teachers The third problem is the nerve strain and social unrest involved in the congestion of our cities. Most of our great centers are growing rapidly, while the majority of our rural districts and country villages are losing in population. One reason for this is industrial, but another is social. People move into cities in order that they may go to theaters and moving-picture shows, attend concerts, and enjoy the rec- reative life of the city. However, few of these recreations are wholesome or mean real rebuilding. They are mostly passive ; they are carried on indoors, and they often involve nerve strain. If the teacher has developed an enthusiasm for the out- of-doors, a love for birds and trees and flowers, for land- scapes, for such activities as rowing, bicycling, walking, and the playing of games in the open, it seems likely that her attitude will lead the children also to love these things. They will choose to go back to nature when they have an oppor- tunity rather than to spend their time loafing on the street corners or attending picture shows. This is the fundamental cure for the congestion of our cities and the nerve strain and social problems which this involves. BIBLIOGRAPHY Angell, Emmett Dunn. Play. Comprising Games for the Kinder- garten, Playground, Schoolroom, and College. 190 p. Little, Brown, and Co., 1910. #1.50. Bancroft, Jessie H. Games for the Playground, Home, School and Gymnasium. 456 p. Macmillan, 1909. $1.50. Boy Scouts of America. Official Handbook for Boys. 498 p. Double- day, Page & Co., 1916. #.25. Handbook for Scout Masters. 352 p. Doubleday, 1914. #.50. Bryant, Sarah Cone. Stories to Tell Children. 243 p. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1907. #1.00. Burchenal, Elizabeth. Dances of the People. A second volume of folk dances and singing games. 83 p. Schirmer. Paper, #1.50; cloth, #2.50. Folk Dances and Singing Games. 92 p. Schirmer, 1910. #1.50. May Day Celebrations. 14 p. Russell Sage Foundation, 1914. #.05. Camp Fire Girls of America. The Book of the Camp Fire Girls. 61 p. The Camp Fire Girls, N. Y. $.25. Burke, Frederick. Individual Instructions, Studies Normal School, San Francisco. Cary, C. P. Plays and Games for Schools. Madison, Wis., 191 1. Chubb, Percival, and associates. Festivals and Plays in Schools and Elsewhere. 403 p. Illus. Harper, 191 2. #2.00. Crawford, Caroline. Folk Dances and Games. 82 p. Barnes, 1909. #1.50. Curtis, Henry S. Education Through Play. 359 p. Illus. Mac- millan, 1914. $1.25. Play and Recreation in the Open Country. 265 p. Illus. Ginn, 1914. #1.16. The Practical Conduct of Play. 360 p. Illus. Macmillan, 191 5. 3i.5o. 281 282 Bibliography The Play Movement and its Significance. 346 p. Illus. Macmillan, 1917. $1.50. Dorland, W. G. The Age of Mental Virility. 229 p. Century Co. Dudley, Gertrude, and Frances A. Kellor. Athletic Games in the Education of Women. 268 p. Holt, 1909. $2.25. Gulick, Luther Halsey. The Healthful Art of Dancing. 237 p. Illus. Doubleday, Page & Co. 1910. #1.40. Hemenway, Herbert D. How to Make School Gardens. 107 p. Illus. Doubleday, 1903. $1.00. Hofer, Mari R. Children's Singing Games — Old and New. 42 p. Flanagan, 1902. Paper, #.50. Popular Folk Games and Dances. 56 p. Flanagan, 1907. Paper, #.75. Johnson, George E. Education by Plays and Games. 234 p. Illus. Ginn, 1907. $.90. Education Through Recreation. 94 p. Illus. Cleveland Founda- tion. $.25. What to Do at Recess. 33 p. Illus. Ginn & Co. £.25. Langdon, William Chauncy. Suggestions for Celebrating the Fourth of July by Means of Pageantry. 56 p. Russell Sage Foundation, 1912. #.15. Lee, Joseph. Play in Education. 500 p. Macmillan, 191 5. $1.25. Miller, Louise Klein. Children's Gardens for School and Home. 235 p. Appleton, 1904. $1.20. Parsons, Henry Griscom. Children's Gardens for Pleasure, Health and Education. 226 p. Sturgis & Walton Co. 1910. $1.00. Patrick, G. T. W. The Psychology of Relaxation. 280 p. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 1916, Perry, Clarence Arthur. Wider Use of the School Plant. 423 p. Russell Sage Foundation, 1910. $1.25. Playground and Recreation Association of America. Proceedings, 1907-1913. Vol. I-VII. Stecher, William A. Games and Dances. 165 p. McVey, 191 2. $1.25. Terman, Lewis M. The Hygiene of the School Child. 417 p. Illus. Houghton Mifflin Co., 1914. #1.65. The Measurement of Intelligence ; an explanation of, and a complete guide for the use of the Stanford Revision, and an extension of the Bibliography 283 Binet-Simon intelligence scale. 362 p. Illus. Houghton Mifflin Co., 1916. #1.50. The Teacher's Health. 133 p. Houghton Mifflin Co., 1013. Tuberculosis in the Dusty Trades. Studies Department of Labor. Ward, Edward J., editor. The Social Center. 359 p. Appleton, 1913. #1.50. Wood, Dr. Thomas. The Health of Teachers. Monograph. Col. Union. Wyche, Richard T. Some Great Stories and How to Tell Them. 181 p. Newson & Co., New York, 1910. #1.00. INDEX Abstract ideas, 37. Acting, 24. Aeroplane, 127. Agassiz, 36. Age of retirement, 11. Agriculture, 191. Anticipation, 59. Appalachian Club, 104. Art galleries, 137. Athletics, 25, 79, 205. Attendance, 210. Attention, 56. Attractiveness, personal, 38. Atypical children, 19. Automobile, 72, 125, 143, 237. ] Automobile club, 126. Avocations, 45, 46, 48, 49, 70. Backward children, 67. Baggage, for walking, 146, 147. Baseball, 35, 45, 49, 50, 55, 76; indoor, 137. Basket ball, 43, 49, 50, 102. Bath, 52, 54. Bathing, 144. Beauty, 7. Benefit for teachers, 99. Bibliography, 281. Bicycling, 73, 233. Billiards, 102. Bird study, 118. Boat trips, 142. Bonfire, 120. Botany, 36. Bowling, 45, 49, 101 ; on the green, 81. Boy Scouts, 28, 204. Burke, Dr., 28. Butterfly, 118. Camera, 129. Camp, municipal, 153; week-end, 152. Camp fire, 91, 106, 151. Camp Fire Girls, 28, 204. Camping, 45, 47, 48, 104, 144. Camping out, 208, 216, 259. Canoeing, 45, 47, 48, 76, 234. Canvassing, 192. Cards, 101. Cathedrals, 135. Chauffeur, 72. j Chautauqua, 219. Chautauqua institute, 163, 250. Chickens, 71. Child, problem and solution of, 211. Children, atypical, 19; backward, 67; love of, 37, 39. Children's diseases, 16. Church, 144. Civic work, 206. Classes, size of, 19. Claxton, P. P., 21, 96. Cleveland, Grover, 9. Clothing, 55, 146, 276. Club, Appalachian, 104; automobile, 126; Mazama, 104, 121; Sierra, 104; teachers', 94, 171. Clubhouse, 96, 155. Coasting, 45, 47, 48, 78. Continuation school for city teachers, 175- Convents, 136. Corn roast, 119. Correcting papers, 20. Council Bluffs, 179. Curriculum, 15, 20. Dancing, 44, 46, 47, 49, 88, 95, 100, 137. Daylight saving, 62. Decatur, 46. Democratic attitude, 58. Dining room, 18. 285 286 Index Dinner servitude, 82. Director of playgrounds, 196; of recrea- tion, 266, 274. Diseases of children, 16. Domestic economy, 23. Dormitories, 96, 264. Dreaming, 94. Drinking water, 17. Driving, 44, 46, 48, 49, 63, 74> «>7- Drudgery, 34. Dust, 6. Dyspepsia, 32. Education, work as a means of, 188. Enjoyment, of life, 13 ; of teaching, 21, 40. Entertainments, 204. Environment, 38. Evenings, 87, 172. Evolution, 16, 17. Examination, physical, 16. Excursions, 27, 37, 45, 48, 63, 107, 109, no, 113, 115, 167, 257. Exhibitions, 166. Factories, 115. Fancy work, 44, 46, 47, 49, 55, 61, 63, 65, 88, 101, 106, 108. Farm, municipal, 153; school, 209. Fatigue, 51, 55- Fishing, 45, 83, 128, 143. Flint, 44. Flowers, 71, 117, 126, 138. Football, 45. Games, 45, 47, 50, 64, 80, 89, 107. Gardening, 23, 45, 46, 48, 49, 63, 65, 7°, 106, 108, 205. Geography, 21. Germs, 16. Glasses, 55. Golf, 81. Governess, 194. Grace, 9. Growth, 9, 10. Guide, 195. Half holiday, 105. Hammock, psychology and sociology of, 186. Happiness, 32, 38. Harvest Festival, no. Health, 2, 35, 39, 66, no. History, 21. Horseback riding, 45, 47, 48, 73, 143. Hospitality, 168. Housekeeping, 100. Housework, 45, 46, 48, 49, 63, 65, 88, 90, 106, 108, 138. Humidifying, 6. Hunting, 48, 128. Indoor baseball, 102. Industrial crafts, 203. Influence, personal, 38. Inhibition, 22. Inspiration, 39, 43. Institutes, 97, 106, 159. Insurance, 192. Intermissions, 26. Jitney, 72. Johnstown, 64, 108. Kansas City, 62, 106. Keeping in, 67. Keosauqua, 49. Knowledge, love of, 36. Leisure, 1. Length of school periods, 26. Life, enjoyment of, 13 ; social, 183. Lighting, 18; of playgrounds, 103. Loafing, 70. Lodging, 149. Love making, 139. Love, of children, 37, 39; of knowledge, 36. Lung capacity, 6. Manual training, 23. Marriage, 39. Marshmallows, 120. Mathematics, 22. Mazama Mountain Club, 104, 121, 148. Meals, 94. Medical inspection, 15. Monasteries, 146. Montessori, 28. Moonlight, 102. Motorboat, 234. Index 287 Motorcycle, 234. Motoring, 44, 46, 48, 49, 65, 109. Mountain climbing, 83, 137. Mountains, recreation at, 218. Movies, 44, 46, 48, 54, 89, 100, 172. Municipal camp, 153; farm, 153. Museum, 118. Music, 24, 54, 101, 108, 135, 173. Nature, restful, 53. Nature study, 116, 207. Nerve strain, n, 14, 34, 66. Nervousness, 3, 22, 40. Newspapers, 139. Noise, 18. Normal schools, training of, 275. Novels, 93. Nutting, 119. Observation, 22. Occupation, 190. Oil City, 47. Open air, 54, 185. Opera glasses, 118. Opportunities, social, 169. Optimism, 59. Organized play, 27, 205. Overwork, 10, 35, 36, 90. Pageants, 135. Paper towels, 18. Pension, 59. Personal attractiveness, 38. Personal influence, 38. Personal peace, 80. Personality, 40. Pets, 71. Physical examination, 16. Picnics, 45, 107, 120, 144, 170. Pigeons, 71. Pilgrimages, 135, 232. Plan, need of, 180. Play, and open air, 184; organized, 27, 205 ; spirit of, 33, 57 ; summer, 215. Playground director, 196. Playgrounds, lighting of, 103. Possession, 59. Program of recreation, in, 120, 123, 138, Pullaway, 80. Rabbits, 71. Rainy days, 112. Reading, 44, 46, 48, 49, 55, 63, 65, 89, 92, 107, 108, 139. Rebuilding, 52. Recreation, at the seashore, 218; at sum- mer schools, 247, 254 ; definition of, 43 ; director of, 266, 274; evening, 172; in the mountains, 218; passive, 44, 46, 48, 49; program of, in, 120, 123, 138; social, 44, 47, 49. Recreation survey, 263. Resort, summer, 217; week-end, 156. Rest, 134, 141, 188. Retirement, age of, n. Room, teachers', 87. Rowing, 76, 83. Salaries, comparison of, 198. Saturday, 105. School, continuation, 175; summer, 200, 209. School farm, 209. School hygiene, 6, 14. School periods, length of, 26. Scouting, 91. Seashore, recreation at, 218. Shoes, 55. Shopping, 63, 65, 107, 109, 166. Sierra Club, 104, 148. Singing, 84, 120. Skating, 45, 47, 49, 64, 78, 109. Skiing, 78, 79. Sleep, 52, 53, 57, 58. Sleeping, 79, 108, 150, 230. Snowshoeing, 79. Social centers, 91, 98. Social life, 183. Social opportunities, 169. Social recreation, 44, 46, 49. Society, 56, 94, 138. Spirit of play, 33, 57. Sports, 45, 47, 48, 49- Spring, 61. Steamship, 235. Stereopticon, 24. Street car, 63, 65, 74. Study, 92, 108, 184. Success, 12. Summer, 178. 288 Index Summer chautauqua, 250. Summer play, 215. Summer recreation, 247, 254. Summer resort, 217. Summer school, 200; program of, 202, 259 ; selection of, 266 ; summer quarters of, 245; who shall teach, 212. Sunday, 133. Sunrise, in. Supervision, 29. Survey, 103, 124, 263. Sweeping, 69. Swimming, 25, 45, 47, 48, 49. 64, 77, 83, 104. Teacherage, 98. Teachers, benefit for, 99. Teachers' club, 94; room for, 87. Teachers' clubhouse, 155. Teachers' institute, 159. Teaching, enjoyment of, 21, 40; summer, 197 ; as an ideal profession, 276. Temperament, 32. Tennis, 45, 47, 49, 50, 64, 65, 81, 82, 95, 107, 109. Terman, Dr., 2, 7, 68. Textbooks, 37. Theater, 54, 100, 107, 108, 172. Three R's, 28. Thunderstorms, 113. Tobogganing, 78. Toilets, 17, 18. Towels, paper, 18. Train, 236. Travel, 142, 220. Trips, boat, 142 ; walking, 28, 208. nature study, 207 ; Trolley, 142. Tuberculin test, 6. Tuberculosis, 4, 55. Tutoring, 194. Vacations, 141, 157. Vegetables, 23. Visiting, 63, 65, 88, 152, 215. Vocational guidance, 32. Vocational training, 32. Volley ball, 50, 102. Waiting, 193. Walking, 45, 47, 48, 49, 55, 64, 65, 69, 74, 79, 89, 107, 144, 223 ; clothing for, 225. Walking club, 274. Walking trips, 28, 208. Walks, program for, 148; week-end, 148. Wandervogel, 98, 124. Weather, 112. Week-ends, 141. Week-end camp, 152, 257. Week-end resort, 156. Week-end visit, 152. Week-end walks, program for, 148. Winter, 62. Winter sports, 77. Wood, Dr., 2, 7, 29, 67. Work, summer, 187 ; as a means of educa- tion, 188. Worship, 134. Yellowstone National Park, 240. Yosemite, 240. Printed in the United States of America. HP HE following pages contain advertisements of a l few of the Macmillan publications on Education BRIEF COURSE SERIES IN EDUCATION. 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Professor of Philosophy, Columbia University Cloth, i2mo, xii -f 434 pages, $1.40 This book embodies an endeavor to detect and state the ideas implied in a democratic society and to apply these ideas to the problems of the enterprise of education. The discussion includes an indication of the constructive aims and methods of public education as seen from this point of view, and a critical estimate of the theories of knowing and moral devel- opment which were formulated in earlier social conditions, but which still operate, in societies nominally democratic, to hamper the adequate realiza- tion of the democratic ideal. The Principles of Science Teaching By GEORGE R. TWISS State Inspector and Professor of Education in the Ohio State University Cloth, i2tno, xxviii + 48b pages, $1.40 This book shows in a concrete and practical way how the finding of modern experimental and educational psychology may be applied to science teaching. THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 64-66 Fifth Avenue, New York ATLANTA BOSTON CHICAGO DALLAS SAN FRANCISCO TEXTBOOK SERIES IN EDUCATION. EDITED BY PAUL MONROE Textbook in the History of Education By PAUL MONROE, Ph.D. Cloth, 8vo, ill., xix + yj2 pages, $i.go The merits which the author has sought to incorporate in this book are : (i) To furnish a body of historical facts sufficient to give the student concrete material from which to form generalizations. (2) To suggest, chiefly by classi- fication of this material, interpretations such as will not consist merely in un- supported generalizations. (3) To give, to some degree, a flavor of the orig- inal sources of information. (4) To make evident the relation between educa- tional development and other aspects of the history of civilization. (5) To deal with educational tendencies rather than with men. (6) To show the con- nection between educational theory and actual school work in its historical development. (7) To suggest relations with present educational work. Textbook in the Principles of Education By ERNEST NORTON HENDERSON, Ph.D. Cloth, Bvo, ill., xiv + 593 pages, $1.75 This book presents, in a systematic way, the outlines of the theory of edu- cation from the point of view of evolution. It takes up this conception at the point where it has been dropped by other writers. It develops the theory, reconstructing it in accordance with the latest scientific knowledge of the subject. State and County Educational Reorganization By ELLW00D P. CUBBERLEY, Ph.D. Cloth, crown 8vo, xx -f- 257 pages, $1.25 The author presents the revised constitution and school code of the hypo- thetical state of Osceola in order to express in concrete form certain funda- mental principles relating to the administration of public education. The hypothetical state of Osceola has organized by a strong and helpful state department of education and abolished the district system of school adminis- tration, in order to institute a county-unit system, under which rapid and sub- 1 stantial educational progress may be made. THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 64-66 Fifth Avenue, New York BOSTON ATLANTA DALLAS CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO THE HOME AND SCHOOL SERIES. EDITED BY PAUL MONROE Education Through Play By HENRY S. CURTIS, Ph.D. Former Secretary of the Playground Association and Supervisor of the Play- grounds, District of Columbia ; Secretary on Recreation and other Social Topics. Cloth, i2tno, ill., xx + 360 pages. Educational edition, $f.2j "Education Through Play" contains information which should be pre- sented to all parents. The book discusses the necessity of play, its value to the child's life, and the education which comes through it. It shows that directed play is protected play : play which loses none of its spontaneity or freedom, but play under a leadership whose influence is wholesome, fair, and clean. Practical Conduct of Play By HENRY S. CURTIS, Ph.D. Cloth, i2tno, ill., xx + 360 pages, $f.jo The " Practical Conduct of Play " may be used in connection with " Edu- cation Through Play " but it is in no way dependent on it. This book presents examples of work already done in the playground movement and gives de- tailed directions for the construction and management of playgrounds. The Play Movement and Its Significance By HENRY S. CURTIS, Ph.D. Cloth, i2mo, ill., xv + 346 pages, $/.jo Using the word play in its broadest sense, the author aims to give a concrete picture of the extent and development of play in this country, the sources from which the movement has sprung, and the direction in which it is going. Froebel's Kindergarten Principles Critically Examined By WILLIAM H. KILPATRICK, Ph.D. Associate Professor in the Philosophy of Education, Teachers College, 1 Columbia University Cloth, i2tno, ill., xii + 218 pages, $.go The general aim of thisJpodk is to help spread the reform of kindergarten theory and practice. Its appeal is accordingly not only to kindergartners and to the general student of educational theory, but as well to superintendents and other directors of educational practice. THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 64-66 Fifth Avenue, New York ATLANTA BOSTON CHICAGO DALLAS SAN FRANCISCO