USE OF RADIO IN THE LOCAL RECREATION PROGRAM so that the children may mold a base and make maps of their district. Streets will be about one inch wide and each child will be able to prepare a soap model of his own home. Vacant lots and recreational facilities will be marked on the map. The principal of the school plans to mark the houses where there is a communicable disease. This particular district offers an unusually interesting project because seven-eighths of the district is outside the political district of the city but in the school district. We believe that the project, widely used, cannot fail to lead to an awareness of common community problems. Use of Radio in the Local Recreation Program (Continued from page 659) what overworked it is still one of the best mediums. 6. Local interest is coming to be recognized as more important for education than national interest. 7. Programs must be followed by some literature which will provide a continuing interestsomething to do. 8. Simple crafts work has been successfully guided in the homes-nature study, folk ways, etc., are effective. Social Opportunity through Community Planning (Continued from page 662) Present Developments Facilities for shuffleboard and modified bowling are being planned in one of the basement rooms of the center. The recent acquisition of beautiful costume plates and models of Pennsylvania historical buildings from the Museum Extension Division of the Works Progress Administration has made possible the establishment of an interesting museum exhibit. Puppets and marionettes have also been received from the WPA, making possible the development of puppet and marionette troupes and entertainments. Matching the acquisition of these material facilities, equipment and exhibits is the increased use of the center by various local groups and organizations as a place of meeting. The center is more than a building. It is becoming the center of numerous activities as well as the center from 681 CHARACTER ● CHARACTER Magazine now offers in pamphlet form reprints of two of its most outstanding series of articles: (I) "FOURTEEN PRINCIPLES OF CHILD GUIDANCE," by Dr. K. L. Heaton of the Michigan State Department of Public Instruction. Schools are ordering copies of these article reprints by 100, 200, and 300 lots so that all their teachers may have the benefit of using this manual. Our special prices make such ordering practical. (2) "SCHOOLS AND DELINQUENCY," by V. H. Evjen, United States Probation Officer. These pamphlets are not only valuable material, but will be interesting additions to your library. Order them for all your teachers. With a one year subscription to CHARACTER we are offering both of these valuable pamphlets . . . at the price of the magazine subscription alone... $1.50. 682 LIGHTING OF OUTDOOR RECREATION FACILITIES Send Only $1.00 For A FIVE MONTHS SEND ONLY ONE DOLLAR worth ten times this small amount. Have you ever longed for some unusual, new and stimulating creative material that you would be tremendously enthusiastic about? Well JUNIOR ARTS AND ACTIVITIES is just crammed from cover to cover with just that kind of helpful material. We want YOU to have the advantage of this work, and that's why we are making this "special get acquainted offer" ... Send only one dollar and we will put your name on our mailing list to receive five big issues-February to June. The only publication for teachers JUNIOR ARTS Beautification by Cooperation (Continued from page 664) scale. Following a suggested plan, residents concentrated on the planting of azaleas, camellias and crêpe myrtle. Within two years Port Arthur had abandoned the appearance of a typical industrial community to become known as a city of roses and flowers. Lighting of Outdoor Recreation Facilities (Continued from page 666) facilities. Three of these agencies meet all of their lighting costs in this way, four meet 50 per cent of their costs and one agency meets 25 per cent. The fees charged and the methods of charging for different facilities are as follows: 1. Softball. Seventeen agencies report participation fees for softball. Three methods of charging are in operation: (1) team entry or membership fees, (2) hourly rates and (3) flat rates per game. Membership or entry fees reported range between $5 and $10. The hourly rates reported were $.80 and $1.00. The only flat rate reported was $1.50 per game. 2. Tennis. Seventeen agencies charge for tennis. Twelve of these agencies reported the following rates: Average rate $.29 an hour ..... 12 3. Swimming. Charges for swimming are levied by seven agencies. These charges vary between $.10 and $.25 per person. 4. Football. Six agencies report participation fees for football. Two agencies charge hourly rates of $1.00 and $.50. One agency charges $1.00 per game, and another charges 25 per cent of the gross income derived from the game. The other two agencies failed to indicate their method of charging. 5. Baseball. Of the four agencies charging for baseball, one charges $1.00 per game or $.50 an hour and another charges 25 per cent of the gross income. 6. Basketball and Bowling. One agency reports participation fees for bowling and another for basketball. 7. Stadiums. Three agencies charge participa MAGAZINES AND PAMPHLETS Ellen M. Tower 683 On January 9, 1938, Ellen M. Tower, who helped in starting the sand garden work for children in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1885, died at her home in Lexington, Massachusetts. She was in her ninetieth year. A number of years ago Miss Tower presented to the town of Lexington, Massachusetts, the park which now bears her name. In the year 1927 Joseph Lee was toastmaster at a special dinner given in honor of Ellen Tower to recognize her services to the recreation movement. tion fees for the use of their stadiums when admission fees are collected by the using teams. Admission Fees. Forty-three or 31 per cent of the agencies reporting lighted facilities charge admission fees. Five agencies meet 100 per cent of the cost in this manner, three meet 50 per cent and one meets 25 per cent. Fourteen agencies charge admission fees for softball, six for football, five for swimming, four for baseball and one charges for basketball. One agency charges admission fees for entertainments in an outdoor theater. The other twelve agencies failed to indicate the facilities for which admission fees are charged. Admission fees for softball range between $.05 and $.15 per person with six of the nine agencies charging $.10. Football fees range between $.25 and $.50 per person. Baseball fees range between $.10 and $.25, and $.15 per person is charged by Magazines and Pamphlets Recently Received Containing Articles of Interest to the Recreation Worker MAGAZINES The Camping Magazine, January 1938 by Harold M. Gore College Camping Courses, by Charles B. Frasher The Significance of Physical Education in Modern Trends in Health and Physical Education, by Helen Outing Activities at Middlebury College, by Marion Indoor Group Golf Instruction, by Leonore K. Alway New Gymnasium "Scooter" Activities and Games The American City, December 1937 Louisville Plans Riverfront Development, by H. W. Alexander New Jersey WPA Converts City Dump Into a Park Physical Education and Adult Education, by Harry Sports in the U. S. S. R., by Percy M. Dawson, M.D. Playdays in a High School, by Margaret Clapsaddle Leisure, December 1937 Homemade Wreaths for Christmas, by J. A. Emmett Different Christmas Cards, by Dorothy G. Van Allen Child Life, January 1938 Things-To-Do for Boys and Girls Scholastic Coach, January 1938 Ice Hockey Fundamentals, by George P. Geran PAMPHLETS Annual Report of the Parkersburg, West Virginia, Board of Recreation, 1936-1937 Citizen Leadership-Lay and Expert and the Problems of Third Annual Report of the Chicago Recreation The New Swimmin' Hole, Fall Issue 1937 Division of Sanitary Engineering, State Department of Public Health, Springfield, Illinois The Evansville Survey Conducted by Carter Taylor for Community Chests and Councils, Inc., 1937 City of Austin, Texas, Special Report of the City Manager, Recreation Department, 1937 Annual Report of the Division of Parks and Recreation of the Department of Public Welfare, City of St. Louis, 1936-1937 Handbook of the American Library Association Bulletin, 684 TH SNOW SPORTS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA Snow Sports in Southern California "HE IDEA of snow sports in Southern California comes to most recreation enthusiasts with a bit of shock. The "land of sunny climes” does not, in one's imagination, lend itself to such developments as snow trains, ski huts, and a St. Moritz American style. Nevertheless, it is true. Trails Magazine, the quarterly publication of the Mountain League of Southern California, invites its readers to one thousand square miles of snow covered mountain range over a mile high, within easy access of the population centers of Southern California. Open for three months of the year, this great area now competes with the best snow sports areas of the country. The popularity of skiing, known as "ski madness." seems to be universal. Membership in the ski clubs of the United States Eastern Amateur Ski Association is said to have more than doubled in the past two years. The Pacific Northwest not only draws its thousands during the winter season, but a midsummer ski tournament on Mount Hood adds a new phase to the sport. Yosemite has developed some of its ski possibilities within the last three or four years, and plans for wider use of its accessible snow areas. Skiing has gone de luxe in these parts. No longer is the dizzy downward thrill followed by a long hard pull up the hill. The ski tow or a ride in a cable car or on a funicular railway takes the grind out of skiing and makes possible more breath-taking “moments of ecstacy" on the long descent. Southern California is to be congratulated on this new development in its recreation world. The soft delights of winter resorts by the sea may have to look to their laurels as "ski madness" takes possession of the minds of young men and women. “When you see individuals spending their summers climbing mountains and doing exercises learned from ski exercise books just to keep their muscles in trim for skiing, you will know that here is a sport that has something for you. It is bound to pay dividends in health and zestful living." (Continued from preceding page) each of the agencies asking a fee for basketball and the outdoor theater. Charges for swimming were not reported. Your Museum (Continued from page 669) available for teaching history and appreciation of music. In Chicago Twenty-five years ago organized direct service to the schools of Chicago was instituted by the Field Museum of Natural History with the establishment by the late Norman Wait Harris of the N. W. Harris Public School Extension. An endowment of $250,000 was provided. The museum is in daily contact with every public elementary school in Chicago, as well as with most of the high schools, parochial, practice, continuation, parental, private and other types of schools. By means of traveling exhibition cases, the Harris Extension in effect establishes a branch of the museum at each school. Loans of these cases containing natural history and economic material were begun on a small scale in 1913. The activity has expanded until at the present time two cases are sent every two weeks to each of the 434 schools, having a total enrollment of approximately 700,000 pupils. The exhibits are displayed in classrooms, school corridors and assembly halls. The largest of the traveling exhibits is devoted to zoology and includes mammals, birds, insects. fishes, reptiles and amphibians. Another series of cases contains realistic reproductions of wild flowers and plants in natural settings. There are also many cases showing steps in the preparation and manufacture of food, clothing materials, glass, paper, chinaware, linoleum and other industrial products. Adults have opportunities to examine the cases at such centers as Y.M. C. A.'s, Y.W.C.A.'s, social settlements, community clubs and employees' organizations in industrial plants. Branches of the Chicago Public Library use the cases to stimulate interest in books on nature. In New York City The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, offers courses and lectures on various subjects and occasional concerts. An announcement of lectures to be given from February through May 1938 includes free lectures on Greek art and civilization, the social aspects of art through successive periods, color and design, and design in the decorative arts. There will be two special lectures on Egyptian art. Week-day and Sunday tours of the collections offered in the first term will be continued. A NOTABLE GIFT which will be sent without charge to anyone requesting it, gives a detailed schedule of all the lectures mentioned and of additional courses planned especially for members of the museum and teachers in the public schools. Even the Theater Takes to the Trailer (Continued from page 670) operettas as the "Student Prince," offered the opening night, kept the stadium packed night after night. Additional work done in connection with the stadium included the building of new cement approaches and the provision of parking space for automobiles. More than 90 percent of the labor involved in construction of the stage was furnished by the Works Progress Administration of New York City. The WPA also supplied steel for the framework. The woodwork, undercarriage, and wheel materials were purchased by the city. With the American Municipal Association (Continued from page 671) vorable consideration to the merit system. The American Municipal Association has, through a committee, been studying the possibility of removal of the clause of the Federal Social Security Act which exempts municipal employees from the provisions of this Act. The efforts to this end were to be continued during the coming year. You Asked for It! (Continued from þage 672) for many types of activities which young men and young women can enjoy together. More About Horseshoe Pitching Equipment The "You Asked for It!" column has aroused much interest. In the January issue there appeared a statement suggesting a method of securing horseshoe pegs. One of our readers has written in to suggest that the equipment manufactured by the Diamond Calk Horseshoe Company at Duluth, Minnesota, provides an official court which holds the stake rigidly and at the proper angle. This court, which is sunk in the ground and filled with clay, conforms to national horseshoe pitching regulations and is used in tournament play throughout the country. A Notable Gift 685 ESS THAN three weeks before Lima, Ohio, was to vote on the issue of levying a special tax for the purchase of a park and lake property, it was announced that the purchase had been made by a local business man, Thomas R. Schoonover, and the property given to the city with a fund for its development. Formerly known as McCulloughs Lake, the forty-nine acre area had been for many years a commercial amusement park with a swimming pool, dance pavilion and numerous amusement features. At one time a very popular resort, it had become run down of late years. The property consists of twenty-six acres of water and a surrounding rim of land widening to a considerable degree in some places. It is located in a section of the city without park and play space at the present time. The lake is admirably adapted to skating, boating and water carnivals, and the wider sections of the land may be developed as play and picnic areas. There is much opportunity for plantings, nature trails and beauty spots. Tentative plans now include swimming pools, a boathouse and a building adapted for year-round use. In addition to this gift of the property, Mr. Schoonover has agreed to give $25,000 toward the development and to match a $5,000 contribution from the city each year for a period of ten years. Of equal importance to the project is his personal interest in the project, as he has accepted the chairmanship of a special board to develop the park and has said that he expects to make this his own leisure time or hobby interest. In his letter announcing the gift, Mr. Schoonover said it was "an expression of my pride in our city and in acknowledgment of one of our greatest needs, with particular thought for our children today and the oncoming generation of tomorrow." He stipulated that the entire property be forever dedicated to the people of Lima for park purposes. Assurances have been received from WPA authorities of their approval of a project for the improvement of the property, and it is expected that work will begin shortly in tearing down buildings, cleaning up the grounds and doing some necessary grading. The appreciation by his fellow citizens of Mr. Schoonover's generosity was shown at a public meeting when the deed was delivered to the Mayor, and by the action of the City Council in naming the area Schoonover Park. |