All this, however, is more or less by the way. The great value of athletic7 games is the education they give toward essential qualities in our modern, civilized8 and work-a-day world. A judicious9 blending of work and gymnastics would probably bring about as125 high a physical development as would the same training supplemented by games; but it would stop there. Only sports, one may say only competitive sports, can bring about the perfect adjustment of hand and eye, the sense of “time,” the quickness of resource, the steadiness under excitement, which mark the successful athlete. Games are the easiest, the most natural, the pleasantest means of acquiring certain highly valuable qualities; they are, in addition, almost the only means of acquiring certain others.
For we make a mistake when we think of athletic games as contributors only, or even chiefly, to muscular development and to soundness of body. Their most important function is to train the nervous system, the intelligence, and the will. As has often been pointed10 out, the successful athlete is not necessarily an especially strong man. He is a man who has learned to use his strength, whose nervous adjustment is precise, whose body responds perfectly11 to the demands of his will. The baseball field, in short, is one of the easiest roads to self-command.
126 But the playing-field has also an important social function. Games are really the great social events of boyhood; in them he learns the great art of getting on with his fellows. It is a curious sight to watch a group of little boys when they first begin to play ball together. Such wrangling13 and disputings as there are, such refusals to play unless each can have completely his own way, such protracted14 controversy15 over each least difference of opinion! Shortly, to begin with, each little boy takes his bat or his ball, and departs for home and sand pile. The next day they will play together a little longer. They are beginning to learn one of the great lessons of life, and by the time these boys have “made” their college team, their nice adjustment of nerve and muscle will be hardly more manifest than their utter conformity16 of intelligence and will. The erstwhile discordant17 group will have become a single instrument. The separate individuals will have been trained to co?peration.
Thus the playing-field confers both a muscular and a social education. While it127 is training the muscular sense, it is cultivating also the sense of human brotherhood18, and the knack19 of getting on with other people. “Activities calling for co?peration and self-sacrifice,” says Luther Gulick, “form the natural basis upon which a life of service can be built.... This life for others is far more probable, natural, and tangible20, when it comes as the natural unfolding or development of that instinct which has its first great impulse of growth in the games of adolescence21.”
The wise parent, therefore, will look well to his sons’ games for reasons which do not lie wholly on the surface. The money that he spends on bats and balls and mits is going toward their education, and in no other way will he get more education for his money. It will be recalled that one of the past members of the Tennis Club believed if he had remained in the gang, it would have saved him from the Reform School. This was an especially fine gang, and its goodness was in no small measure due to the same Mr. M. who took the boys camping.128 He saw to it that the boys had a place to play and apparatus22 to play with, and he used the gang in dealing23 with boys, as he probably used club and lodge24 and union in dealing with men, “for all there was in it.”
The place to play is too often the point at which the boy’s education breaks down. Consider the conditions in almost any house-bordered street in the more thickly settled parts of any large city. It is the breathing-space, nursery, thoroughfare, market, and playground for crowded tenements25. Here the boys congregate26 and play, and come daily into conflict with the officers of the law,—the very worst possible education that can be given to a boy. This conflict causes enmity to spring up between the boys’ gang and the organized government, where there should be co?peration and good will. The mischief-making tendencies which spring from this enmity land many a boy in the delinquent27 class.
Too often in our cities and villages the park is found near the centre, while the playgrounds are pushed to the outskirts,129 and relegated28 to vacant lots of good-natured or absent owners. Boys love best to play close to their homes, at the centres of interest, where they can be watched at their games. Experience shows that the boy will not commonly travel more than a short distance to his playground, even though he will go miles to a swimming-hole. Somehow the distant field is the enemy’s country, and he has the vague ancestral dread29 of stranger’s territory.
Wise, then, is the village or city that provides frequent small open spaces for neighborhood playgrounds. It helps to develop the neighborhood spirit which is so sadly lacking in a modern city, and it helps to meet a normal demand of boy life. Such an arrangement is also a far-sighted economy, since, to quote Lee, “the boy without a playground is father to the man without a job.”
We ought not to forget that, from time immemorial, the education of boys has been almost entirely30 by spontaneous imitation of their elders, and by free play. The formal130 and compulsory31 portion of their education has, for the most part, been limited to various initiation32 ceremonies at puberty. Aside from these, boys have largely educated themselves.
The English public schools have for some years been organizing the boys’ free play, and using it as an instrument to a definite educational end. An English school will run fifteen simultaneous cricket matches of an afternoon, each with only a handful of spectators. We in this country have hardly begun this method of education; and have not thus far advanced beyond the stage where a team of nine or eleven specialists play the game, and a hundred or two more spectators “support the team.” The best schoolmasters to-day are using the group games as a valuable educational instrument and the tendency each year is to use them more and more.
But the schools which are doing this are few. At best they can hardly touch the tenth part of the boys who are now growing up, while even this tenth is precisely33 the portion131 which needs the training least. If the group games are to be made an efficient tool for the physical and moral training of our boys, it will have to be done by the municipalities,—and still more by the parents. Sooner or later, the time must come when an honest and enthusiastic game of ball will be recognized as an important factor, not only in the physical training of every boy, but in his intellectual, moral and even his religious training.
In addition, however, to these co?perating group games, the basis of which is, at least in part, the inherent instincts of boyhood, there still remain to be considered certain other gang activities, the instinctive34 basis of which is much less specific, activities which arise from the general impulse to do something interesting, and to do it in conjunction with one’s fellows. These are gang activities, but only in the sense that the ordinary boy actually does take part in them as a member of the group, and while he might do the same things in solitude35, actually seldom does do so.
132 First of these comes swimming. Swimming is perhaps the most popular of all sports during the summer season. The adolescent boy has a craving36 for the water, and, if not checked, will remain in it for half a day at a time. It is probably, on the whole, the safest way for most boys to get their necessary exercise in very hot weather, while at any time of the year it is, by general consent, the best all-round exercise there is. Moreover, except for the chance of drowning, it is the safest of athletic sports. Neither falls nor sprains37 nor broken bones nor any of the common accidents of ball field and gymnasium are possible to the swimmer. He cannot so much as strain a muscle against the yielding element.
For these reasons and because, of all interesting sports, swimming contributes most to the symmetrical muscular development of growing children, every community ought to provide some sort of convenient swimming place for its boys and girls. If it can manage to give them, in addition, a daily half-hour throughout the year, so much the better.133 Even an artificial swimming-tank is not especially expensive, when one considers to what large use it may be put. It would certainly be a great improvement if there could be in every public playground a children’s swimming-pool, two or two and one half feet deep, in place of the dirty and useless wading-pool one so often sees.
Natural pool or artificial tank, however, every swimming-place ought to be under the supervision38 of the right kind of man. He ought to be a teacher, for the modern swimming-strokes are by no means easy to get exactly right, and boys seldom pick them up correctly for themselves. His chief function, however, should be to keep the moral atmosphere of the swimming-place clean and pure, for here if anywhere the tone of the company is likely to drop. Boys in their games keep pretty closely to associates of their own age and station in life, but the swimming-hole takes in all ages, and its society is apt to be somewhat too democratic.
While, however, the careful parent will take all reasonable pains to avoid any moral134 contamination at the swimming-hole, he ought never to allow his boy to fall into the other extreme of prudery. For healthy-minded men and boys the bathing-suit is at best a necessary evil, and trunks an utter absurdity39. The last thing to be desired for a boy is anything resembling the modesty40 of a girl.
Of skating there is little that need be said. As simple skating or as ice hockey, it is, for three months in the year, the most valuable of winter sports in our Northern States, and one of the least expensive. It is a short-sighted community that does not keep cleaned and ready for daily use a safe, central skating-field. An active boy during the winter is often hard-pressed to find wholesome41 outlets42 for his energy, and the ice is often the only efficient rival of poolroom and saloon.
The skating-field is, besides, one of the natural places for the boy toward the end of the gang period to graduate into a new social life. The fresh, wholesome air, the brisk exercise, the sharp cold act together135 to discourage dalliance. Outside a better equipped home than one half of our boys and girls come from, there is no more wholesome place for them to meet one another than on the ice.
This last advantage, though at a long interval43, skating shares with dancing; that is to say, if the dancing is properly conducted. A badly conducted dance comes near to being the worst environment in which a boy is ever likely to find himself. Boys at the gang age, however, except toward the end of the period, seldom care spontaneously for dancing at all. On the whole, probably, the wisest plan is to respect the natural impulses of the average boy and to discourage much departure from the type. The boy’s manners will probably suffer, but the boy who is a perfect gentleman at fourteen usually has something permanently44 the matter with him.
As for theatres, circuses, and shows, for which boys have commonly a raging passion, it all depends on the show. All penny arcades45 and peep-shows are pretty certainly136 bad. Better keep the boy away. All performances attended predominantly by men are also bad, except athletic exhibitions and horse-races. The general run of vaudeville46 shows, with singing, dancing, and the like, are probably harmless enough in themselves, but they are commonly pretty inane47, while the slight demand which they make on the voluntary attention cultivates a distinct trashiness of mind. Ordinary stage dancing, by women who are in no sense artists, is degrading both to performer and spectator, though, fortunately, to this influence the boy at the gang age, unless precociously48 educated, is nearly immune. At best, however, the vaudeville show, except its athletic turns and its exhibitions of trained animals, is a good deal foreign to the interests of boyhood; so that for various reasons, a taste for this sort of entertainment is something whose cultivation49 may well be postponed50 until extreme old age.
Circuses and other performances of like types are in a different category. Their feats51 of skill and strength and daring are a revelation137 to the boy, and a stimulus52 to emulation53. The cowboys and Indians appeal strongly to his imagination, and help him to visualize54 the people whom he reads about in books. In many ways, these exhibitions are educative and valuable; such evil features as they sometimes have slip off the boy’s mind like water from a duck. At the gang age, he is quite impervious55 to them.
Much the same is true of the moving-picture show, which seems to offer, just now, the pressing moral problem of the city parent. Where these are good,—and it is always the simplest matter in the world to find out whether they are or not,—they are likely to be very good indeed. They give the boy at second-hand56 all sorts of delightful57 experiences of travel and adventure. Where the films present scenes of industrial activity, historic settings, important contemporary events, interesting places, customs, or scenery, their educational value is often high. Like the circuses and “Wild West” shows, they help to gratify the migratory58 instinct, and to satisfy the boy’s native curiosity138 and his desire to go out into the world and see things. I doubt whether we half realize how much the moving-picture show might be made to do for a boy if some one would show him what to look for, and tell him what it is all about.
On the other hand, the general drift of the moving-picture shows during the last few years has been in the direction of “playlets” of a rather stupid type, together with criminal and vicious suggestion for its own sake. This last is highly dangerous and ought to be controlled by strict censorship. Even here, however, we need to beware of attributing to the boy the standards and sensibilities of mature men and women.
As for the old-fashioned theatre, no one who studies the question without the old inherited church prejudices can think that the melodrama59 is dangerous. On the contrary, it furnishes, for the most part, a decidedly wholesome type of amusement. The usual form, in which the villain60 elaborates a mean, underhanded plot, only to be outwitted and defeated by the hero in the last139 act, produces a distinctly beneficial effect on the unsophisticated listener. It furnishes a vent12 for bad emotions, and at the same time gives a tonic61 shock to the rest. It does the boy good to see the paragon62 of all masculine virtues63 fight against all odds64 for the sake of the paragon of all feminine ones. The part that moves us elders to derision is precisely the part that has the most moral value for the inexperienced boy. What to us hints of evil, he simply does not see.
It is a suggestive fact that of the long list of plays which boys have told me they especially like to see, the great majority are good, with plenty of the fightings and shootings, villains65 and heroes and dogs, which boys like, and humor of a clean, if not especially subtle sort. To see such a play once a week will not hurt any boy. He will go home and reproduce it, as he reproduces the feats of the circus. And this reproduction is itself a promising66 activity of which much more use might be made in the boy’s education.
In many ways, therefore, it is distinctly140 a social misfortune that vaudeville show and motion picture film have pretty much driven out the old-fashioned melodrama. Even at its worst, it had a coherent plot that enforced some sort of demand on the young hearers’ attention, so that intellectually as well as morally it was superior to the types of entertainment which have supplanted67 it. All this, however, is from the point of view of the member of the gang. The effect of theatre going on older boys is a much more complicated matter.
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1
dodge
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| v.闪开，躲开，避开；n.妙计，诡计 | |
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accurately
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| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
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untold
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| adj.数不清的，无数的 | |
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dodging
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| n.避开，闪过，音调改变v.闪躲( dodge的现在分词 )；回避 | |
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deft
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| adj.灵巧的，熟练的（a deft hand 能手） | |
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savagery
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| n.野性 | |
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athletic
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| adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的 | |
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civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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judicious
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| adj.明智的，明断的，能作出明智决定的 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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vent
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| n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄 | |
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wrangling
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| v.争吵，争论，口角( wrangle的现在分词 ) | |
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protracted
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| adj.拖延的；延长的v.拖延“protract”的过去式和过去分词 | |
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controversy
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| n.争论，辩论，争吵 | |
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conformity
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| n.一致，遵从，顺从 | |
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discordant
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| adj.不调和的 | |
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brotherhood
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| n.兄弟般的关系，手中情谊 | |
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knack
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| n.诀窍，做事情的灵巧的，便利的方法 | |
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tangible
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| adj.有形的，可触摸的，确凿的，实际的 | |
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adolescence
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| n.青春期，青少年 | |
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apparatus
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| n.装置，器械；器具，设备 | |
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dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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lodge
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| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
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tenements
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| n.房屋，住户，租房子( tenement的名词复数 ) | |
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congregate
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| v.(使)集合，聚集 | |
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delinquent
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| adj.犯法的，有过失的；n.违法者 | |
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relegated
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| v.使降级( relegate的过去式和过去分词 )；使降职；转移；把…归类 | |
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dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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compulsory
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| n.强制的，必修的；规定的，义务的 | |
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initiation
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| n.开始 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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instinctive
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| adj.(出于)本能的；直觉的；(出于)天性的 | |
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solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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craving
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| n.渴望,热望 | |
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sprains
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| 扭伤( sprain的名词复数 ) | |
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supervision
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| n.监督，管理 | |
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absurdity
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| n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论 | |
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modesty
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| n.谦逊，虚心，端庄，稳重，羞怯，朴素 | |
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wholesome
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| adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的 | |
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42
outlets
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| n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店 | |
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43
interval
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| n.间隔，间距；幕间休息，中场休息 | |
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permanently
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| adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地 | |
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arcades
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| n.商场( arcade的名词复数 )；拱形走道（两旁有商店或娱乐设施）；连拱廊；拱形建筑物 | |
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46
vaudeville
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| n.歌舞杂耍表演 | |
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inane
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| adj.空虚的，愚蠢的，空洞的 | |
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48
precociously
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| Precociously | |
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cultivation
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| n.耕作，培养，栽培（法），养成 | |
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50
postponed
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| vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发） | |
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51
feats
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| 功绩，伟业，技艺( feat的名词复数 ) | |
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52
stimulus
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| n.刺激，刺激物，促进因素，引起兴奋的事物 | |
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53
emulation
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| n.竞争；仿效 | |
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54
visualize
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| vt.使看得见，使具体化，想象，设想 | |
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55
impervious
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| adj.不能渗透的，不能穿过的，不易伤害的 | |
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56
second-hand
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| adj.用过的，旧的，二手的 | |
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delightful
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| adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的 | |
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58
migratory
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| n.候鸟，迁移 | |
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59
melodrama
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| n.音乐剧；情节剧 | |
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60
villain
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| n.反派演员，反面人物；恶棍；问题的起因 | |
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tonic
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| n./adj.滋补品，补药，强身的，健体的 | |
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paragon
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| n.模范，典型 | |
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virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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64
odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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65
villains
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| n.恶棍( villain的名词复数 )；罪犯；（小说、戏剧等中的）反面人物；淘气鬼 | |
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66
promising
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| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
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67
supplanted
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| 把…排挤掉，取代( supplant的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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