echo of remote ages when our ancestors sojourned in caves, lived in tents, or dwelt in the mountain fastnesses.

In this same way the advocates of this theory seek to explain the strange and early drawings which the young lad has for wading, swimming, fishing, boating, and other forms of aquatic recreation.

Speed was a vital requisite in past ages, both in the chase for food and in the ability to escape from one's enemies or to flee from danger; and so it is suggested that this is an explanation of that racial heredity which is shown in the joy with which the children engage in running, racing, coasting and skating, and in the modern speed mania of the adult for motoring, yachting and airship flying, not to mention horse racing.

Other universal forms of play such as "tag," "pull away," and "black man," together with mimic fighting and wrestling, the bow and arrow, the slingshot, and the air gun, all represent the boy or the girl engaged in play at those very same pursuits and primitive activities which, in bygone generations, constituted the real life work and the sober employment of our ancestors at different stages of barbarism and civilization.

It is very evident that the play of the child is not a preparation for his later life work. The real work of the world today is found in the school, the bank, the office, the shop, the factory and the railroad; but children do not enthusiastically and instinctively play at these, neither are they greatly interested in the stories surrounding these modern spheres of activity. They are instinctively led, both in play and tale, to the forest, the stream, the camp, the cave, the hut, the forest hunting grounds and the battlefield, both mimic and real.

Dr. Stanley Hall, Dr. Gulick, and Professor Patrick have repeatedly called attention to these newer ideas of play and recreation, and we are indebted to their numerous writings for many of the ideas expressed in this connection; particularly to Professor Patrick.

Everything which has such a vital and absorbing interest for the boy has had at one time in our racial history an actual life and death interest for mankind.

Take, for instance, the jack-knife. How many knives has your boy had and lost and what rich joy there is in every new one! We see how the practice and preparation theory of play falls here. The knife has no significance in society now. It has degenerated to mere finger-nail purposes. But at one time it meant life in defence and food in offence. Your boy's supreme interest in the knife is a latent memory of those ancient days. Those who could use the knife and use it well, survived and transmitted this trait to their offspring.

The same could be said of the sling, the bow and arrow, and of sports like boxing, fencing, fishing, the "camping out" craze, etc.

Consider the fascination of fishing. This is not a practice and preparation for the real life of today, but a reverberation of ancient industrial activities.

If we accept this newer theory that the play of the child is the spontaneous and instinctive expression of former and ancient racial pursuits of his ancestors, then we can come to understand something about the great popularity of baseball and football. In this respect the daily press is a pretty good way of judging the popular interest in these outdoor sports. The morning of this writing we examined a dozen copies of metropolitan dailies, and found two or three columns given to politics, a column or two to a murder or suicide, and even in a crisis of war only five or six columns were devoted to the news of the situation; but in these same papers and at this same time, we found from twelve to twenty-five columns of matter devoted to baseball, football, horse-racing, yachting, golf, and prizefighting; far more space devoted to sports than to the combined interests of science, art, literature, religion and politics.

The ability to throw a stone with power, accuracy and speed was at one time in our early civilization an important

factor in determining the survival of the fittest. Among our early and barbarous ancestors, the man who could pick up a club and strike with accuracy-hit with certainty and power was the man best fitted to survive in the brutal struggles of those early days. He not only could better defend his family, but was also better fitted for killing game and overcoming his enemies. And so the ability to run with speed and dodge with cunning fleetness of foot and endurance of chase factors in the makeup of our ancestors who survived and transmitted these characteristic instincts and tendencies to us, their progeny. And today, when we let go the mental tension, and relax, we find ourselves taking to these same primitive occupations as our favorite sport- just as and for the same reasons that a duck takes to water.

the

were all vital

And so in baseball we have a game which combines three of the most deep-seated and ancestral racial instincts; the instinct to throw straight, to run fast and to strike hard, not to mention the love of conquest. During long periods of the ancestral life-history of our race, survival has come to him who could throw the straightest, run the swiftest and strike the hardest. To throw a stone at something is almost second nature for a boy; throwing is a universal instinct. Now we must admit that throwing, batting and running are no longer of any practical use in this civilized and advanced age of art, science and commerce; but they were qualifications of life and death significance in by-gone ages. The baseball game revives these old race attitudes and brings a thrill of joy and cherished racial memory to both the participants and the spectators. Any one who has ever held a bat in hand and assumed the expectant attitude of the batter knows the peculiar thrill of his distant ancestors, who, in just that attitude, waited for an approaching enemy and beat down the foe with a real war club, whether their antagonist were man or beast, and those who assumed the best position, struck hardest, and aimed most accurately, survived and

transmitted that instinct to their offspring and baseball is the modernized and civilized expression of these ancient racial characteristics. The next ball game you attend take notice of the star batter as he takes his place at the plate. See him stand there, bat in hand, every muscle tense, ready to strike, dodge, jump or run on a moment's notice, bat in striking position, oscillating in expectancy while waiting for the ball. And then the climax that vicious and all-powerful strike, the home run, and the vociferous cheering and wild enthusiasm of the vast throng of spectators in the grand-stand who yell themselves hoarse as did their ancestors in olden times when the gladiator had vanquished the beast or killed the bull in the ancient

arena.

This instinct to throw belongs largely to boys, scarcely appearing in the case of girls. The awkward throw of girls, like the left arm throw of boys, is well known. The plays of the little girls reveal a different set of instincts recalling the habits of primitive woman, and so we find that "We are the descendants of those men who could throw, and those women who loved children."

Football excites still greater enthusiasm than baseball because it reinstates and recalls still more vividly those still more primitive forms of ancestral activity. Here we have the face to face opposition of two trained and able hostile forces, the rude and primitive physical shock of the onslaught, the barbarous scramble, the cruel tackle, the uncivilized scrimmage, the savage melee, the fierce charges and collisions, the tackling, dodging, and the lively chases for goal, as for ancient cave of safety all are a vivid re-enactment of the life struggles of the race in bygone days.

It is all a play-picture of far-away realities, and the psychology of our whole play tendency is comprehended in the fact that our instinctive pursuits of mind and body unfailingly choose to discharge along the channels of the least psychic resistance, and, therefore, our instinctive play-efforts are productive of little or no real fatigue, because they operate along and over long established and well initiated nerve paths

in the brain, calling into play only those nerve actions and emotions to which our race has long been accustomed.-SADLER: Worry and Nervousness.

27. The Influence of Organized Play on Character. The work of the playground, when properly organized, can be made to contribute immensely to the moral training of the pupil. The spirit of self-reliance, on the one hand, and the proper regard for the rights and feelings of our associates, on the other, can be fostered and promoted by the proper organization and conduct of the play period.

It is one of the essentials of a strong character that it shall accept defeat without becoming peeved or without manifesting anger and without any other undue or unseemly emotional reaction. The physical bumps of early life and the athletic defeats and triumphs of adolescence are all important factors in this character preparation which is requisite to the meeting of the trials and triumphs and the overcoming of the obstacles and difficulties which are sure to beset and harass the adult life of later years.

We have sometimes seriously thought that there is an even greater opportunity to inculcate principles of ethics and morals on the playground than there is in the Sunday-school class, especially when the teaching consists in mere platitudes, and this without any thought of belittling the important instruction connected with the Church and its influence upon the life of the child. What we want to emphasize is this: that ordinary play, if properly followed up and directed, presents one of the best possible opportunities for instructing the child in a practical and lasting manner with reference to many of the fundamental principles that have to do with our subsequent social, industrial, professional and even religious experience.

Much should be done to help the mother at home to understand the psychology of play and to show her how to control and direct these important activities in her own family as regards children of varying ages, and also how to relate herself to the difficulties which arise through the