USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1922 > Part 19
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Dancing.
As in the case of the handwork the dancing was super- vised during the past summer by a young lady employed for that purpose. Experience has shown that this method secures best results, for under the former policy it was impossible to secure uniformity throughout the city. This uniform in-
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struction in an activity which occupies so important a place in playground work, shows its results on such occasions as the annual play demontration at the close of the season.
Notwithstanding the fact that the dancing is greatly handicapped by lack of musical accompaniment on many of the grounds, the results have been most commendable and have been the subject of much comment from the public at large.
Closing Demonstration.
On Tuesday, August 22, a closing demonstration of play- . ground activities was presented on Saxton C. Foss Park. All the playgrounds of the city participated, the number of play- ground children present being estimated at 1,500.
The exhibition was given at the twilight period in or- der that a large number of adults might be able to witness the program. The exercises preceded the regularly scheduled band concert which was given at the same place under the auspices of the Metropolitan District Commission.
The program of eighteen events included competitive games for boys and girls, relay races, dances, marches and drills. A large number of citizens witnessed the exhibition and also viewed the handwork display which was placed in a show window near the scene of the demonstration. Among the group of spectators were many of the city officials and playground officials from other communities.
The demonstration each year serves as a fitting closing to the playground season, furnishes a means of exhibiting the results of supervised play to the members of the com- munity, and best of all, provides the opportunity of encour- aging the children in their play activities.
Cooperation.
As the Director has remarked previously, one of the most encouraging features of the playground undertaking is the assistance from agencies other than the department in direct charge of supervised recreation. This cooperation manifests itself in various ways. A few instances will be mentioned :
The Somerville Public Library again placed at the dis- position of the summer playgrounds a large deposit of books suitable for the children. This furnished the playgrounds with another source of recreation, and at the same time served as a medium of promoting the interest of the children in a very profitable diversion-the reading of good books. The Fire Department officials were ready and accommo-
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dating to send the hose wagons to the playgrounds on ex- tremely warm days to provide shower baths for the children.
The departments conducted by the City Engineer and the Building Commissioner, and others which are closely con- nected with the playground management rendered courteous and valuable assistance whenever called upon.
The merchants in the several sections of the city cheer- fully donated prizes for the picnic contests whenever the in- dividual playgrounds conducted outings during the season. Several of the business men of the city furnished trucks for transportation of the children to and from their picnic grounds.
More than ever before, there was noticed this summer a sort of participation in the play activities by the adult mem- bers of the community. As a vivid illustration of this state- ment I cite many mothers who came for long periods during the afternoon to the Hodgkins, Central Hill, Saxton C. Foss and other grounds to mingle with the children and act almost as if they had been officially assigned as assistants to the supervisor of the ground.
This last and the above instances of cooperation furnish an optimistic outlook for the future. When the playground movement or any other municipal activity succeeds in secur- ing the voluntary interest of the citizens it is sufficiently rooted to insure its growth.
Recommendations.
As a result of close study, and from the experience of dealing with the summer playground situation in Somerville for a number of years, I make the following definite recom- mendations for the future :
1. The early completion of the playground in the rear of the Western Junior High School.
2. Hastening the erection of a field building on the Richard Trum Playground.
3. The placing of some permanent equipment on the Medford Street side of Central Hill Park.
4. Securing more adequate play space in the districts served by Kent Street and Bennett Playgrounds.
5. Early attention to improving Saxton C. Foss Park with a view to utilizing the lower end of same for athletic purposes.
. The filling in of the unused sand pit on the Perry School Playground in order to increase the play area of that ground and so make use of the shade trees now fenced off from the rest of the playground.
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7. Additional swings on Lincoln Park Playground.
8. The planting of shade trees on some of the play- grounds to provide a natural shelter for the future.
9. The possible widening of the scope of the summer playground undertaking to include such fields as supervised play after school hours, and a closer relationship between school recreation activities and the field now covered by the Public Welfare and Recreation Commission.
Conclusion.
In concluding the report for the season of 1922, I desire to digress somewhat from the field of summer playgrounds and to add a brief comment on the general subject of recrea- tion in Somerville.
From continuous experience in this type of work it is my opinion that in a city as populous as Somerville whose future growth is destined to be confined, the problem of recrea- tion as a municipal activity must soon rise from its present somewhat undefined level to a more definite and comprehen- sive plane. This statement is made, not in any sense of dic- tation to your Commission but rather with the feeling that your Commission would expect from its Playground Director a statement of his attitude and his opinions in the field in which he is employed.
I desire to express appreciation to the Chairman and members of your body for the assistance rendered during the season. I feel that thanks is due especially to the Somerville Playgrounds Association for the cooperation and assistance it has rendered, as also to the other municipal departments. mentioned elsewhere in this report.
The cooperative and friendly attitude of the playground supervisors is deserving of especial mention, because without such assistance the Director would be handicapped.
While it is somewhat out of the ordinary to make such a statement, the Director would be remiss if at this juncture he failed to add a comment on the attitude of the children of Somerville toward the playgrounds. Appreciating as much as anybody the shortcomings and faults of children in the matter of respect for city property and undertakings, I never- theless am more confident that Somerville experiences what might be called a mimimum of trouble in this regard. From comparison with other communities, from personal observa- tion, and from authoritative reports, I feel that we experience less difficulty in the conduct of the children during the sum -. mer months than many other communities of our size. Such:
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misdemeanors and breaches of conduct as do occur are con- fined to a very small minority and there have been few dem- onstrations of the so-called "gang spirit."
There is encouragement in the knowledge that the re- turns from supervised recreation in our city are being made in the manifestations of orderliness and appreciation given by those upon whom our efforts are expended.
Respectfully submitted, STEPHEN H. MAHONEY, Director of Playgrounds.
To the Honorable, the Mayor and the Board of Aldermen :
Herewith is submitted a report of the work of the Pub- lic Welfare and Recreation Commission for the year 1922. Inasmuch as most of the money under the control of the Com- mission was expended in two or three general undertakings, it seems advisable to devote most of this report to an account of what was done in these directions. Therefore, the Commis- sion submits detailed reports of these enterprises which have been prepared by the persons having them in charge. These reports give in detail the things which have been done in each of these lines of effort. The Commission believes that all of this work has been well done and that it has served the pub- lic interest to a very considerable extent.
Of these three undertakings, the oldest is that of super- vised summer playgrounds. For a number of years, the city has appropriated money to pay for the expenses of super- vised summer playground work to be conducted during the months of July and August. The benefits of this work are so clearly manifest that the Commission has had no doubt at all about the continuance of this activity. It is convinced that this work should be carried on as a part of permanent public policy and that it affords a nucleus to which should be added expansions of a corresponding nature for the bene- fit of individuals and for the benefit of adults.
A second line of work which the Commission has carried on has been the garden work for school children. This work was begun during the war and has been conducted with great success during the succeeding years. Although originally a
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war measure there has been much in the character of this work to justify it as a policy for the general good of certain children of our city. The lack of areas particularly adapted to this purpose and the legitimate claim upon public park spaces for recreational purposes are reasons which combine to make the conduct of school gardens as a public policy one less obviously the duty of this Commission than are some other activities within the scope of the Commission's power.
The resignation in October, 1922, of William B. Moore, Supervisor of Gardens, caused a loss to this line of work which it would be difficult to over-estimate. Mr. Moore had had charge of the garden work since the early days of the war and through his original methods, his efficient knowledge of garden-making, and his extraordinary facility in dealing with children, had brought to this work a degree of success wholly out of proportion to the means at his disposal.
The Commission is glad to pay this tribute to Mr. Moore and to express in this public way its sense of the loss which must come to the juvenile garden-makers of Somerville through his resignation from this position.
The third line of activity which has been conducted by the Commission during the past year is also one which had its beginning in previous years. This is the one dealing with social and educational opportunities for adults. The main feature of this work has been that taken up in the Neighbor- hood House on Poplar Street which is described in one of the reports submitted herewith. Another line has been that of social meetings in the Clark Bennett and Bingham Schools.
During the year the Commission has cooperated with organizations having for their purpose the promotion of civic betterment. Among these are the Somerville Playgrounds Association and the Ways and Means Committee, represent- ing the various women's clubs of the city. The Commission wishes to acknowledge the high purpose and the devoted ser- vice rendered by both of these organizations. The former, in addition to its general activity in aid of the summer play- grounds, contributed a lump sum of $475 to be expended by the Commission for the purchase of play material, and the latter has supported in large part the work of the Neighbor- hood House. The Commission has continued to work as a clearing house in securing cooperation among the various departments of the City Government having recreational or welfare interest. It has sought and has secured cooperation from all of these in promoting its own activities. In all the ways under its control, the Commission has tried to create a healthy public interest in recreation and to increase the
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opportunities therefor. It has been conservative in adopting new policies or in making recommendations for the enlarge- ment of its present activities. It has deemed it important to thoroughly study the situation in Somerville for the pur- pose of finding out in what direction improvements should be made in public-controlled recreation. The Commission firmly believes that public health, safety, and contentment, all re- quire the development under public control of a scheme of recreation which will be adequate to the needs of the whole population. Because it was not ready to choose and start a new undertaking in the line of adult recreation, the Commis- sion did not use all of its appropriation this year but turned over a part of it to be applied to the erection of the Richard Trum Field House.
During the next year the Commission hopes to formulate and announce a definite policy of such a reasonable charac- ter as to be adapted to not alone the needs but the financial ability of the city.
Respectfully submitted,
CHARLES S. CLARK, Chairman.
REPORT OF THE SUPERVISOR OF SCHOOL GARDENS
Somerville, Mass., December 7th, 1922.
Members of the Public Welfare and Recreation Commission, Somerville, Mass.
Gentlemen :
In presenting my annual report of this branch of work under your control, I desire to summarize the accomplish- ments of the past season, pointing out some of the most prom- inent features and making some suggestions for the work in the future.
My work as garden supervisor is divided into four dif- ferent lines of work, namely: (1) The teaching of simple and practical gardening in the public schools; (2) the abso-
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lute control and supervision of public and private areas de- voted to school gardens; (3) the giving of advice and assist- ance to every person desiring it in the conduct of a home, vacant lot, or community garden; (4) and the organizing and supervising of canning operations.
1. Your Garden Supervisor has been regularly employed during the winter months by the School Department in teach- ing classes composed of children who have an opportunity to have a garden at home, who express a desire to have a school garden, or who have an opportunity to pursue agricul- tural activities during the summer season outside of the city.
This class-room instruction is along simple and practical lines of agricultural gardening. By means of this instruc- tion the children are better prepared to take up this line of work when the time for actual garden activities is at hand in the spring. In the school-yards of four schools your Super- visor built cold-frames last fall and as soon as weather condi- tions permitted started tomato, radish and cabbage to be transplanted into the garden areas at the proper time. Through this instruction about nine hundred children received some permanent benefit.
2. The same general plan used the past four years in the conduct of school gardens was continued during the sea- son of 1922. Each child cultivated a plot, the area of which was 300 sq. ft. The child paid for the seeds and plants actual- ly used in his plot, and what was raised was the property of the child and could be taken home or disposed of as he saw fit.
One-half day each week was devoted by your Supervisor to each garden area, and the children showed their interest and enthusiasm in this work by their prompt and faithful attendance during the entire garden season. Two hundred and eighty-five children conducted school gardens the past sea- son, the public areas totalling about seven acres. Each child planted twelve different kinds of vegetables in his garden, besides doing his part in the cultivation and care of a piece of land devoted to the raising of sweet corn and winter squash. These two crops were harvested by your Supervisor and dis- tributed equally among the children having school gardens.
Weather conditions the first part of the season of 1922 were not ideal for the carrying on of garden work. Because of excessive rains, it was necessary to replant several of the school garden areas. This involved a large amount of extra work for the boys and girls as well as for the Supervisor, but in spite of adverse conditions the school gardens in the City of Somerville this year were most successful both from
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the standpoint of general appearance and the value in dollars and cents of the crops raised and harvested.
The keeping of a garden record book by every school gardener was a part of his regular garden work. In keeping this book, the children are not only taught practical arithme- tic and spelling but get some idea of the value of the things they raise and the manner in which they are sold or marketed. The books are all turned in to the Supervisor at the end of the garden season, and from a careful analysis of these books some very interesting facts and figures are obtainable. The total value of the corn and squash alone more than offset the entire expense of this commission for carrying on the garden work for the season of 1922. The value of the vege- tables raised in the individual plots was approximately $7500.00. One-third of that amount represents the value of the vegetables sold by the children, while the other two-thirds were used in the home as fresh vegetables or were canned for use during the winter.
Your Supervisor endeavored this year to devote more time and space on the school garden areas to the cultivation of flowers, and on the different areas this undertaking was highly successful. The flowers grown at Broadway Park at- tracted a great deal of attention from passersby and brought forth many favorable comments from the general public. It also was an object lesson to the children, and in the cultiva- tion and care of these areas devoted to flowers, I believe, lessons were taught to the children that will be productive of results around their homes in the years to come.
At the end of the garden season, exhibits were made in two different places, first at Boston at the Massachusetts Hor- ticultural Society building where we exhibited products from the school gardens and the canning clubs and received many cash prizes. These prizes were won in competition with many other cities in this part of the State and show the kind of work done and that the results obtained by the children in the City of Somerville compared most favorably with the work in other localities. At the New England fair held at Worcester, your Supervisor made both canning and garden exhibits, and we were awarded prizes totaling $46.00 in money at this fair which draws entrants from cities and towns from all over New England. One exhibit made up of twenty-four jars of fruit canned by one of our canning clubs not only won first prize of $10.00 but was awarded a special prize of $5.00 more because it had the highest score of any collection ever entered for competition in this class at the New Eng- land fair.
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All of the areas of land devoted to school gardens were this year cleaned up by the children and the refuse carted away. Most of these areas have been fertilized, plowed, and seeded to winter rye with the idea of turning this green crop under in the spring and putting back humus in the ground for use another year.
3. Giving of advice and assistance in the conduct of home gardens and community gardens is a line of work that has greatly increased during the last two or three years. While it may be true that less area is devoted to garden work since the close of the war than during the war, those conduct- ing gardens seem to have met with more serious difficulties and have called upon your Supervisor for more assistance than they did during the war and when garden activities were at their height. Weather conditions, the control of disease, and insects are a constant source of trouble and have been the occasion for repeated calls for advice from your Supervisor as to the best method of control and procedure. Most of the adults conducting gardens in' the City of Somer- ville have gone through the experimental stage and the re- sults obtained are far more satisfactory and more remuner- ative than ever before. When one considers the small amount of space available for garden work and the poor quality of the soil throughout the entire city, the results obtained are a revelation to agricultural people.
4. This year your Supervisor devoted more time and energy to the forming and carrying on of canning clubs than ever before. One hundred and twenty-six children were en- rolled who carried on canning clubs at two centers, one lo- cated in the cooking room of the Western Junior High School, the other at the Senior High School. Two instructors were regularly employed five days a week. The work of these clubs was carried on under the direction of the State and County agricultural organizations, the requirements of which are very strict.
Some idea of the volume of work done by these clubs may be obtained by examining the reports submitted by your Supervisor to the State Department of Agriculture. In this report, I stated that each of the one hundred and twenty- six members canned an average of thirty-two jars apiece, or a total of four thousand and thirty-two jars; the average value of each is 40c per jar or a total value of $1612.80.
Some idea of the quality of the work done by these chil- dren may be realized when I state that in every exhibition of canned products that was made this year we. won a first prize in every class. These exhibits were made at Boston and
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Worcester. In the exhibit at Worcester to which I have re- ferred before, the prize won there was in competition with twenty-six hundred jars of canned products.
Exhibitions of the products of the canning clubs were held in nine different schools this fall at which a judge pro- vided by the State was present and scored five jars exhibited by each one of the one hundred and twenty-six club mem- bers. Out of a possible hundred per cent, the average score of all participants was 93.6, which is a very creditable score and one seldom equalled, so I am told by the Department of Agriculture. This useful form of summer work has gained very rapidly during the past few years. Many other cities and towns now carry on canning operations on a larger and more comprehensive scale, and I would recommend that more equipment and better facilities be provided another year for this most useful and productive branch of your work.
In closing, permit me to express my appreciation to all those who have shown an interest and been a help in this work. It is through the co-operation of the members of this Commission and the interest and work of the boys and girls themselves that this work has been a success.
Yours very truly, WILLIAM B. MOORE, Garden Supervisor.
Mr. Charles S. Clark
Chairman of the Public Welfare and Recreation Commission Somerville, Massachusetts.
Report of the Annie E. McCarthy Neighborhood House.
The work of the Annie E. McCarthy Neighborhood House is going on in a live, active way, and the vicinity of Poplar Street is benefiting by it.
A Girls' Club having a membership of sixty makes the House its headquarters. The girls pay fifty cents a year dues, payable in two installments October first and February first. A few are allowed to become members without the fee when it is known that the money is hard for them to get. They meet
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for social times and mutual helpfulness, and there is a fine spirit of co-operation growing up among them.
On Monday afternoon a sewing class meets with Mrs. Holland as leader. In this class handkerchiefs are made from old muslin and when finished are sold for a penny apiece. Others made from new lawn or muslin bring two cents apiece.
The gymn classes meet on Tuesday. A class of twenty little girls from seven to ten years of age, and a class of twenty older girls from twelve to fourteen years meet in the afternoon, and two classes of boys meet in the evening. These classes are held in the Bennett School. Most of the boys were a hard, unruly set of individuals, but they now show an im- provement in spirit and willingness to work together.
Through the kindness of Miss Alice Fox, four girls are receiving private music lessons from Miss Coleman, who also conducts two kindergarten music classes. These lessons were given free at first, but now a charge of ten cents a lesson is made and the girls buy their own music.
Wednesday evening is spent with games and entertain- ments at the House. An enthusiastic cooking class of eight girls meets on Thursday with Miss Emily Hood. Also on the same day a class in chorus singing is held under the direction of Miss Margerite Henis and Miss Mary Boika, two Jackson College students.
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