ABRAHAM LINCOLN, when asked about his playing the Harmonica, said: "This is my band. Douglass has a brass band with him in Peoria, but this will do me."

Character Building through

Harmonica Activities

PRACTI

RACTICAL experience has clearly demonstrated the value of Harmonica work in character development. This phase is of especial interest in the cases of children in whose homes the opportunities for cultural development are not favorable. It has been found repeatedly that even pupils who are generally unruly and totally uninterested in formal activities can be attracted, when all else fails, by work on the Harmonica.

This is particularly true with retarded pupils whose limited mentality makes it so difficult to arouse real interest and enthusiasm, or to develop those traits of character which will assist them and offset their mental handicaps.

Another desirable trait which Harmonica practice engenders is perseverance for this instrument requires a certain degree of skill before it can be played well. Yet the fascination of the work itself brings this about without conscious or tiresome effort. Furthermore, Harmonica playing gains the whole-hearted interest and attention of the pupils to such an extent that the concentration developed by this training is carried over into other activities.

Playground Supervisors and Instructors, Teachers, and others in authority are invited to send for a brochure describing the results obtained in thousands of playgrounds, schools, camps, etc., throughout the country, and supplying practical instruction for the development of harmonica activities. The coupon below will bring this brochure without charge.

the group presented several well-known one-act plays before the winter was over. The great advantage in the social evening is that it gives the director an opportunity to discover talent and insures him of a successful cast for the first production. Often, especially with older people, it is possible to bring out talent only with the most informal drama.

For a first performance two or three simple one-act plays or two plays and music make the most successful program. It is quite important that the plays should be tested and sure of success, as a failure will often discourage a second attempt. After the group have given several evenings of one-act plays and are accustomed to playing with each other, a three-act play might be attempted. The Trysting Place, by Booth Tarkington, can be very easily handled by amateurs and does not require a royalty fee. Miss Civilization and Wedding Presents would make a good complete program. If you are interested in stunt material we are sure you will be glad to know of Acting Charades, by Laura E. Richards, published by Walter Baker and Company, 41 Winter Street, Boston $ .75), and Social Stunts, a loose leaf stunt book which can be obtained from the Church Recreation Service, 510 Wellington Avenue, Chicago, for thirty cents, postpaid. Other stunts can be purchased and added to this book. You will want to be sure to get The Ticket Agent and The Horse Thief.

Our Folks

Leroy B. Sharp has been appointed Assistant Superintendent of Recreation, Oakland, California, and Assistant Director of Physical Education, Oakland Public Schools. These appointments were made by the Board of Playground Directors and the Board of Education at their regular meetings. Mr. Sharp succeeds Percy P. Locey, who recently resigned to become coach of the Olympic Club football team of San Francisco.

Mr. Sharp has been head of the Physical Education Department and athletic coach at Fremont High School, Oakland, for the last three years. He also served two years as head of the Physical Education Department and athletic coach at Yreka High School, and three years at Reedley High School. He was County Supervisor of Physical Education one year in Siskiyou County.

537

For Women

After graduating from the University of California in 1917, he served two years in the Artillery and Air Service of the U. S. Army, and did artillery observing in the Balloons. He spent one year with the Army in France, and held the rank of second lieutenant. He is now a member of the American Legion.

Mr. Sharp was born at Fort Jones, California, and attended the elementary school at Fort Jones. He worked on a ranch to help put himself through high school and college. He graduated from Pacific Grove High School and received his degree from the University of California in 1917.

"Widespread participation, which was the firm foundation of the drama of yesterday, is the goal of our dramatic leaders of today. The fact that those who participate are not highly trained will not lower our standards. They contribute because they are art lovers-experimenters for the love of the work. As the weavers and dyers, merchants and wheelwrights influenced much of the greatest that has been produced in the theatre and made straight the way for the great dramatists that were to come, so must we, the leaders, look to the many groups participating in dramatic activities today for the placing of our drama tomorrow on its highest plane. When drama is actually written and produced within the group, we are making a step in the right direction. What, then, is the goal in democratizing the land of make believe in recreation work? It is an equal chance for all."

HARRY E. TROXEL,

Oakland Recreation Department.

At the request of several thousands of our readers THE GEOGRAPHY OUTLINES by Ella Shannon Bowles are now available in book form, a beautifully bound volume of 156 pages. All extra copies of Progressive Teacher carrying a section of this outline have been sold to our readers at the regular price of 25c per copy.

We have made it available in book form because thousands of our teachers were interested in it, and asked for it.

They want it because it is an aid to busy teachers in presenting one of the most important subjects of the school curriculum.

They want it because it arranges and classifies important facts concerning the study of geography so the instructor may be able to find the desired point at once.

They want it because it correlates the study of geography with reading, language, history, composition, art and handwork.

They want it because it is an extensive and detailed outline with suggestions for the teaching of the geography of the five continents.

They want it because every single outline in the collection was put to a practical test by teachers in public and private schools before it was first published in Progressive Teacher.

You will like this book and find it helpful, practical and interesting in your class room work during the year.

Fill in the coupon below, send it to us, and your copy will come to you by return of mail. The first chapter deals with geography in the first three grades.

PROGRESSIVE TEACHER,
Morristown, Tenn.

I inclose $1.00 for which please send me "Geography Outlines by Continents."

Teachers interested in buying enough copies to supply their classes will be entitled to quantity discounts.

Book Reviews

Regional Survey of New York and Its Environs
Volume V

Dealing with Public Recreation

Prepared by Lee F. Hanmer and Colleagues Published by the Committee on Regional Plans of New York and Its Environs

No more thorough-going survey has ever been made of the recreational problem of a metropolis than this. Part I describes the problem of public recreation and growth in the City of Greater New York and its environing counties in New York and New Jersey. It considers the various types of recreational areas, the growth and value of parks and recreation grounds and the actual distribution of open space, public and private, in the whole region.

Part II is a study of the uses and the space requirements of the whole area, outlines recreation facilities within the city itself and outside, with a study of possibilities for extension and the methods by which lands may be secured. In spite of the tremendous congestion in New York, the study definitely believes there is still available enough open space for the practical satisfaction of most of the recreational needs of the city.

Part III consists of several special studies as to playground attendance, playground adequacy, sample play activities and facilities, beach areas in the city and environs.

Part IV is a valuable and unusual study of the rights of the public under state laws and customs in the shore and in land under tidal and navigable waters.

The volume is profusely illustrated with both pictures and cuts and is an unusually valuable addition to literature on public recreation.

TENTATIVE STANDARDS FOR VACATION HOMES AND CAMPS. Prepared by the Special Committee on Standards for Grading, approved by Committee on Vacation Homes and Camps of The Children's Welfare Federation. Published by The Children's Welfare Federation, New York City

Realizing the impossibility of drawing a single standard to which all camps would conform to the letter, the Committee responsible for the report has assembled from the experience of the members the features it believed to be desirable in any camp. Health and sanitation, physical equipment, general camp policies, community responsibility, business records, leadership and personnel, program and food have all been considered.

National Conference on Outdoor Recreation
Document No. 158

The latest report of the National Conference on Outdoor Recreation just from the press may be secured from the Government Printing Office at Washington, D. C. It is a summary of the findings of the various factfinding surveys and projects that have been undertaken by this National Conference. Within its hundred pages are summarized many of the facts which comprise the results of the studies of municipal and county parks throughout the country, the report of the Bureau of Labor Statistics on Outdoor Recreation for Industrial Employees, the facts from two valuable reports on the larger areas throughout the country, one on State Parks and the Recreational Uses of State Forests and the other on Recreation Rescurces of Federal Lands. There are briefer sections on training courses for recreation leaders, contributions of museums to outdoor recreation, and the coordination of national parks and national forests. It is a valuable and handy summary of the fact results of the National Conference on Outdoor Recreation.

"EXTRA CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES" by Prof. Riverda H. Jordan. Published by Thos. Y. Powell and Co. Price $2.50

Prof. Jordan's book deals with problems arising in the

development and administration of those extra curricular activities which in modern school life are crowding in educational importance the so-called curricular activities. Out of his own experience, Prof. Jordan has appreciated the necessity of conceiving of these so-called extra curricular activities as a fundamental part of the educational process to be developed as an essential unit from the elementary schools through the senior high school period. The book deals less in detailed outline of various particular activities than with a discussion of the basic principles and the general problems-of faculty relationship, of financial control, of frittering of interest,-arising in connection with the major activities-dramatics, assembly, publications, student government, music societies and clubs and other school organizations, athletics. It is an excellent, practical book giving fairly both or many sides of questions on which it is possible to take various viewpoints, at the same time recommending from Prof. Jordan's own experience methods which he has seen work out successfully.

ADVENTURES

IN FLOWER GARDENING by Sydney B. Mitchell. Published by the American Library Association, 86 East Randolph Street, Chicago, Illinois. Price, $.35 a copy

This little pamphlet, one of the series entitled "Reading With a Purpose," issued by the American Library Association, is a delightful book. It makes even a nongardener wish that he were a gardener. Professor Mitchell is vocationally in the field of library work but he has always been a gardener "beginning," he has said, "when a lad of six, and as is general with those young in years and experience, by trying to grow necessities rather than what now seems more important, the luxuries of life." He is a thorough-going amateur, gardening for the pure joy of it. The pamphlet itself is delightful. It recommends several books meant to be of practical help to the amateur gardener who gardens on a comparatively small scale and to whom gardening is a joyous adventure. Anyone who at all shares in the love of this hobby would find real profit in securing this little pamphlet.

A NEW SONG BOOK

The Playground and Recreation Department of Los Angeles, has issued a Playground Song Book, containOne of the most ing over 150 songs of various types. interesting of the songs is the "Playground Song of Youth" written for the Los Angeles Playground by Mrs. Corinne Dodge, with music by Charles W. Cadman. Copies of the Song Book may be secured from the Department of Playground and Recreation, 305 City Hall, for 5 cents per copy.

THE UNITED STATES. By Edward Bailey Birge. Published by Oliver Ditson Company, Boston, Mass. Price, $2.00 In 1838 music was established in the public schools of Boston. "Since that time," says Mr. Birge, "we have gone from the melodeon to the broadcasted concert of the radio, and from the district school with the three R's and a little singing for diversion to a highly complex school system with music functioning in a dozen activities and with high school orchestras playing symphonies and The story of this choruses singing the great oratorios." development is told in a most readable way in Professor Birge's book. The eight chapters are illustrated with music quotations and over seventy portraits.

HISTORY OF PUBLIC SCHOOL MUSIC IN

Pat. No. 1,667,163 2
Other Pats. Pend.

The Karymor

-Trade Mark Reg. U. S. Patent Office

Play the Karymor Way Ten fascinating games. Children laughing and A muscle shouting every minute of play time. builder, too-seven different muscle building exercises.

A copyrighted rule book of Karymor Games and Exercises free with each machine.