USA > Ohio > The Western Reserve of Ohio and some of its pioneers, places and women's clubs, Vol. II > Part 33
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FANNIE C. BATES.
The close of school and the beginning of the summer va- cation, so ardently longed for by the pupils, brings us face to face with an old problem not yet solved. What shall we do with the children of the poor and middle classes during the long weeks of idleness or misdirected activity?
During the greater part of the year the forceful influence of the school has guided the child, developing mind and body and pointing with unerring finger toward right conduct. But with the approach of summer all protecting ties are loosed, the child seems to have been suddenly turned adrift, as far as the municipality is concerned. Left to his own resources, he usually seeks the street, with all its temptations and baneful lessons, "like a horse turned out to pasture," some one has said. Ah, were this simile but true, and the youthful denizens of the downtown districts exchanged school for a month's stay in the country, then there were no cause for the sociologist to query. It would resolve itself into indoor lif eand outdoor life, both bringing their wholesome lessons for future building. To come in touch with Nature and read from its pages the charming stories of plant and animal life, to watch a sunset, stroll through green forests and wade in rippling brooks, is a revelation which is denied to many, but has a saving influence where ex-
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perienced. Your boy, who knows that God created for all a "World Beautiful," will never be a degenerate.
But what of the thousands who are not so fortunate? Who are driven by the stifling air of the crowded tenement house into the more oppressive atmosphere of the narrow yard, where ash heap and garbage barrel struggle for possession, or worse still, into the never-drained alleys and byways, where dwell many of our brothers. Is it amid such environments our boys and girls can lay the foundation of noble man, and womanhood? Can they conceive high ideals with the proof of "man's inhu- manity to man," so palpably evident? To the birds of the air and the beasts of the field are granted air and sunlight. Our poor people are denied both.
Public Baths
Next to the air, which is universal, water is the most ac- cessible and the freest of all the bounties. Nature has lavished upon the human race. To get good from the earth requires labor and patience, with much of disappointment, but from the clouds above, from the running brooks and the living streams, ready and inexhaustive supplies of sparkling and refreshing, health-giving water invite the weary and the thirsty to rest and comfort. And hence, with this wonderful provision of an All- wise Providence, I unhesitatingly urge for the abundant use of water without fear of contradiction or criticism. The estab- lishment and practical benefit of public baths is not a debatable question. There are baths and baths-there are the Russian, the Turkish, the steam, the electric, the oil, even mud baths. These are largely medicinal and involve constant and consid- erable expense, and for the present time have not secured recog- nition of support at public cost. But there are simple and in- expensive facilities for bathing which may be generally applied
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and cheaply maintained. If the public is once familiarized to them the benefit would be so patent and the habit so strongly entrenched that it would protect their existence. The people would have them, and, wanting them, would find a way to main- tain them. The first obvious and practical demand for ample bathing facilities should be in connection with the public schools. The groundwork for this is already provided. The present water closets should be so enlarged and partitioned off that space would be given for bathing purposes. A watertorium might under certain conditions be desirable, but it is not a ne- cessity and should not at the start be allowed to weigh down the simpler methods. As our modern school buildings are con- structed there is enough unused space in the basement. The room should be well lighted and ventilated, the floor constructed of concrete and coils of pipe circling a space for one person, so that a spray or shower might quickly and pleasantly cleanse the body of the child. I would like to see a fumigating room. As it is now, clothing is uncleansed through its entire existence and if only one could see without the aid of a magnifying glass what a happy hunting-ground it becomes for bacteria, common decency would revolt at its presence; the two measures added to the knowledge gained regarding healthful food from the es- tablishment of a "Domestic Science Bureau" would elevate the whole economy of school life to an amazing degree. The ex- pense would be nothing as compared to the profit in removing the danger of contagion and increasing the vitality and attain- ments of the school. The public bath should be established as a public utility in conjunction with all public places. The pri- mary essential is ever-running water. The living streams of our parks might be cheaply and effectually used. Especially with natural and artificial waterfalls, the water should be di- rected through side channels, and suitable places-cheap but
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artistic bathhouses-provide the facilities for the wayfarer, and all the people for that matter, to enjoy a complete and delightful full or partial bath. It should not be necessary to higgle and plead with park officials to furnish this convenience; they should be an acknowledged part of the expense. Why tax us millions to buy land and rivers and build great domes and artistic waterfalls and costly bridges and deny the thirsty, dusty, sweltering visitors the most delightful and satisfactory boon the park can afford? Rome in her palmiest days main- tained eight hundred public baths. All foreign cities in the civilized world are supporting these facilities and many of our eastern and some western cities; from each and all comes the report that they are well patronized by the class for whom they are establised. The only objection raised by city authori- ties is that of expense. We should find a way to maintain them. The first obvious and practical demand for ample bath- ing facilities should be in connection with the public schools. The expense would be nothing as compared to the profit in re- moving the danger of contagion and increasing the vitality and attainments of the school.
The public bath should be established as a public utility in conjunction with all public places. The primary essential is ever running water. The living streams of our parks might be cheaply and effectively used.
Leaflets on the scientific and medicinal uses of water should be placed in the hands of all, showing the value of water for external and internal purposes. Those whose daily avocation exposes them to severe weather would soon learn that a draught of hot water would be of more permanent service than the drink from the saloon, with none of the demoralizing after ef- fects, saying nothing of the many nickles saved by the experi- ment.
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If the establishment of public baths is to be the white women's "borden" let us recognize it at once and may we go from this meeting more determined than ever to appeal to pri- maries and through the press and every way possible the im- portance of placing them.
Importance of Museums Professor J. Maclean,
Curator of Western Reserve Historical Society.
When I was requested to speak of the history of Museums my thoughts did not go back to the first museum established by Cosmo de Medici nor to the British Museum in London, but my thoughts turned to some students taking a vacation ramble in Nova Scotia and while looking over the country they picked up two small bones. They were detached and something strange about them. The man laid them away in his trunk, completed his course of study and then unwrapped the bones and studied them. But it took Agassiz to tell the great truth that far back in the ages of the earth there were creatures living on the earth clothed with feathers.
Bones need an interpreter that they may be rightly under- stood. Articles in the museums of this or any other country are simply curios unless some one interprets them, so each museum must have some one at hand to tell what things are or mean.
The idea of the museum is to gather everything of value and to assist in the preservation of remains of historic time whether they be of man or animal.
There is a desire to know the historical past and so we gather the remains and interpret them.
The historical society takes everything, looks them over and interprets them.
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Vacation Schools
Mrs. M. B. Schwab of Woman's Council, Cleveland, O.
The close of school and the beginning of the summer vaca- tion, so ardently longed for by the pupils, brings us face to face with an old problem not yet solved. What shall we do with the children of the poor and middle classes during the long weeks of idleness or misdirected activity?
During the greater part of the year the forceful influence of the school has guided the child, developing mind and body and pointing with unerring finger toward right conduct. But with the approach of summer all protecting tests are loosed, the child seems to have been suddenly turned adrift, as far as the municipality is concerned. Left to his own resources, he usually seeks the street, with all its temptations and baneful lessons, "like a horse turned out to pasture," some one has said. Ah, were this simile but true, and the youthful denizens of the downtown district exchanged school for a month's stay in the country, then there were no cause for the socialogist to query. It would resolve itself into indoor life and outdoor life, both bringing their wholesome lessons for future building. To come in touch with Nature and read from its pages the charming stories of plant and animal life, to watch a sunset, stroll through green forests and wade in rippling brooks, is a revelation which is denied to many, but has a saving influence where experi- enced. Your boy, who knows that God created for all a "World Beautiful," will never be a degenerate.
But what of the thousands who are not so fortunate? Who are driven by the stifling air of the crowded tenement house into the more oppressive atmosphere of the narrow yard, where ash heap and garbage barrel struggle for possession, or, worse still, into the never-drained alleys and byways, where dwell
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many of our brothers. Is it amid such environments our boys and girls can lay the foundation of noble man and womanhood? Can they conceive high ideals with the proof of "man's inhu- manity to man," so palpably evident? To the birds of the air and the beasts of the field are granted air and sunlight. Our poor people are denied both, since city lots cost money and may be built up (every available foot covered) so as to yield a golden harvest from the wretched toilers who occupy these breath-laden abodes of misery and disease.
A man reared under such conditions will sometimes ask himself, "What do I owe the State? Loyalty and defense against a common enemy? How did the State protect my child- hood, by denying me all that makes life endurable to the poor- air, sunlight and space?"
True, the municipality may have no jurisdiction over pri- vate enterprise or property. Yet, looking at it from the stand- point of the H. P. A., this question involves the sanitary con- dition of our city, which the administration is bound to pro- tect; and do we not know too well that these places are very hotbeds of disease, especially of tuberculosis!
However, if the city can not yet erect improved dwellings for its laborers it can at least in a measure counteract these pernicious influences by establishing neighborhood parks and public playgrounds. That is, plats of ground frequently inter- spersed in the congested portions of the city, with trees and grass, not, as the boy explained, "The thing to keep off f'm," but grass to romp and tumble on, rest baby and tired mother on its cooling sides.
True, a caretaker is a necessity, as complications will arise more difficult to settle than the Eastern question, "but if the activity of the children is directed healthy and hearty boys and girls will reward every outlay, for the childhood so fostered
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will never be father to the man in the "work'us." The provid- ing at a moderate cost for the relief of our downtown citizens might in a measure mitigate the injustice of laying out and maintaining out of money of the taxpayers fine parks and boulevards, so distant from the majority of the residents as to be only reached by carriage or car, both out of reach of the middleman, who cannot afford to take his family to the parks as often as the desire and need present themselves. Fine parks and boulevards are significant of the civic pride of a town, but should be offset by more modest parks, where the less fortunate can avail themselves of this benefit. Earn and deserve the love and gratitude of the humblest inhabitants. They are nu- merically your bulwark in time of need.
Report of the Woman's Municipal Improvement Association of Newark, New Jersey.
During the two years which have intervened since the last meeting of this convention, the Woman's Municipal Improve- ment Association, of Newark, has faithfully kept on in its ap- pointed way, but has not succeeded in accomplishing much specific work. Its various committees have repeatedly waited upon the Board of Health, Board of Works and Police Depart- ment, to urge better scavenger service; the separation of gar- bage and ashes; to compel householders to be systematic in placing their cans or boxes on the street and to remove them as soon as emptied. We have divided the city into fifteen districts, appointed committees for each, whose duty it is to send weekly reports to the Board of Works of the condition of all streets, as we find them, hoping by timely notice and suggestion to effect improved conditions. Have succeeded in having the public baths supplied with running water, instead of being emptied once or twice a day, and in having the bath houses kept open during
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the entire year. Have asked for an anti-expectoration ordi- nance, and am happy to state that this has been passed, and notices to that effect posted in all street cars and public build- ings. Several of our members have been to tell of our work in other cities and assist in organizing associations on the same lines. During the summer of 1897 we successfully conducted ten playgrounds in open lots in various sections of the city, but have turned this work over to a much larger and more popular association.
We shall hold our election the last of the month, and, as the present officers are debarred by our Association from re- election, it is hoped new officers and new committees will infuse new life and vigor, so another year's report may be charac- terized by a record of many improvements.
Respectfully submitted,
A. H. PELL, President of W. M. L. A.
Play Grounds
The subject of Public Playgrounds is fast growing to be of national interest and importance. The importance should be first, but, as in all philanthropic enterprises, an interest must first be created, and then people will allow themselves to be convinced of the importance of an undertaking. The immortal soul is launched from the hand of its Creator in a state of purity, but, with its first respiration, becomes exposed to evil influences, and although pain may exercise a discipline for good when the soul attains the age of reason, until that period it can but awaken feelings of resistance and a demand for other conditions than those to which it is subject. There can be no middle ground. Life must be a condition of pain or of pleasure. The Greeks understood the educational value of
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children's play, while early philosophers not only taught the advantages of play but gave directions for its regulation. Later writers state "that a gamesome humor which is wisely adapted by nature to the child's age and temper should be encouraged, that this activity of the child alone can bring serenity and hap- piness, that play is the first poetical utterance of man." Vic- tor Hugo says, "he who opens a school closes a prison," but we go farther and say that they who open and sustain playgrounds provide innocent pleasures and useful occupations for neglected and infantile humanity, not only close the doors of many asy- lums and places of detention for the depraved and unfortunate, but minister to better municipal and sociological conditions and even help to people the courts of heaven. "Just as the twig is bent the tree inclines." Surround the young with a few hours of happiness and they will carry something of it into their homes, no matter how humble or degraded those homes may be, and if this be continued day after day, many seeds of good will sometimes spring up and bear abundant fruit. Nature is boun- tiful, hers is no niggard hand, and when we look around and discover gnarled and knotty growths in the vegetable world we know that some evil influence has marred them. Had a careful husbandman been there he might have averted the distortion by training aright-by removing some corroding worm or blight, or by redirecting some perverted source of life. And so in the world of humanity had the good influences of kindly words and noble deeds been brought to bear upon each wasted life it had grown into the perfect man or woman and had so ful- filled its earthly mission. The playground when properly man- aged has a wider field for good than ever the Sunday school has been able to cover, for the reason that all classes, sects and races may be gathered within its precincts and taught six days in the week by precept and example to lead Christian lives-to
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love and honor the Great Father through showing them that He has created all things for our pleasure, and to love their neigh- bor as themselves. We see that in Europe the people were convinced of the necessity of providing public playgrounds and small parks where children, as well as their elders could re- sort and be amused, looked after and directed in their play. London in 1893 had 271 small parks and playgrounds compris- ing 17,896 acres. Mr. Albert Shaw states "It has been made certain that the growth of London can never shut off the chil- dren of future generations from access to the grass and trees and open air sports by the opening of large and small public pleasure grounds in every district of the huge metropolis."
Several continental cities have adopted like measures, Ber- lin being the most prominent. The Earl of Heath established two playgrounds in Dublin in 1893. In this country Boston has taken the lead. In 1887 sand was placed in three different places for children to play in. From that time on the work has grown until in 1897 there was many places. Some were schoolyards and others were not. The expense of maintaining them was from $9 in 1887 to $1,688 in 1897. The number of children in attendance at the latter date was 1,802 each day in a warm season of ten weeks. A beginner in playground work in Baltimore wrote to Boston that she was firmly con- vinced that if playgrounds enough could be kept open the great- est number of social evils in that city could be cured. I would be glad to give you the statistics of the playgrounds in Phila- delphia, Baltimore, Chicago, Providence and several other cities, having written to obtain them, but the desired information has failed to reach me. Last summer two schoolyards were kept open by volunteer caretakers under Mrs. Clark of Kroeble school with marked success.
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The schoolyard is most easily utilized for the purpose, be- ing inclosed and under the supervision of a janitor and having a water supply; otherwise, open lots would be preferable, as giving a sense of more freedom and allowing greater diver- sity of entertainment. Sand piles amuse the little ones, but could the older ones make real gardens they would find a vent for that pent-up activity which oftenest develops into mischiev- ous intent. Kindergarten games and songs serve to fill many profitable hours. Swings, see-saws, balls and the many fas- cinating games which man's genius has invented, all find a place, but the greatest problem is to find employment or diver- sion for the half-grown boys whose chief end and "aim of ex- istence" appears to be the annoyance of younger children and defiance of all restraint. Where gymnasium paraphernalia is provided it satisfies for a while, but what they need most is something to engage their thoughts as well as their hands. Pro- vide them with tools and material with which to construct something tangible. Give a boy a measure and a mitre-box, show him how to use it aright and he will at once see the beauty and utility of working by a rule. You will then have taught him a principle which may influence all his after life. Give him books and pictures, not throw them at him, as it were, but call his attention to something in particular, some patriotic or historical event, some chivalrous or heroic deed, and a corre- sponding sentiment will be awakened in his heart, and, although the effect seem evanescent, some tiny spark may evoke a thirst for greater knowledge and lead to emulation. Teach the girls not only sew, but to shape and fit their work, piece by piece. There is more discipline and character building in teaching a child to create something on a perfect plan than to follow beaten paths. Success in establishing playgrounds depends mostly
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upon the teacher or caretaker. It is not enough that she knows what books contain, but should have a loving hand, a keen in- stinct whereby she may discuss the divine spark implanted in every soul, however repulsive the embodiment may be, and one who is willing to fit herself for the task of child-study and ob- servation. It is not so much by teaching as by suggesting lines of thought, of work in play, and play in work, and their going along the same lines with those under her care that the teacher can bring the undertaking to a successful issue.
Lastly, the tares ever have and ever must, for so it was decreed, grow apace with the good grain, and to deal with this condition the arm of the law will have to be relied upon, as in no playground can order be maintained without frequent visits from the blue-coated guardians. You may think my ideas Uto- pian in some respects, but I do assure you they are the outcome of study and actual experience. Two years ago I had one kin- dergarten and the occasional assistance of three ladies con- nected with our Municipal Improvement Association in main- taining ten playgrounds in open lots for almost three months with an expenditure of $150, solicited from friends of the work. The last year, there having been an Educational Association formed with a membership of one hundred and fifty (our sand piles were supplied by the city and the P. R. R.), we turned over the playground work to that association. As members of the Educational Association, the same committee, with two new members, superintended six schoolyard playgrounds. We applied for and obtained an appropriation of one thousand dol- lars from the Common Council. This was expended in fitting up the yards and paying caretakers' salaries. We hope to go on extending our work and improving our methods, and I am com- missioned by the Educational Association to glean all possible
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information from this convention to aid us in doing whatever we can to improve the minds and morals of our beloved city of Newark, New Jersey.
MRS. FRANCIS PELL (Augusta).
Waste Paper Receptacles
C. W. TOLAND, Member of Cleveland City Council.
To the stranger within our gates, I am sure the subject of street cleaning will appear peculiarly appropriate.
The present filthy condition of all our city streets is, I be- lieve, without a precedent in our city's history. Indeed, I am afraid that in view of this state of affairs, my subject, so far as its local bearing is concerned, is comparatively insignificant.
However, assuming a well-governed municipality as a ground of comparison, the topic assigned me, certainly rises to the dignity of an important civic problem. If cleanliness is next to godliness in personal and domestic affairs-why is it not equally so when applied to municipal affairs? I believe it is. Brother Jasper said, "the world do move." As an optimist, I believe it moves in the right direction. I believe that Sodom and Gomorrah were no exception to the cities of their day, either in moral or physical or civil cleanliness.
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