in open places Solvay Calcium Chloride should be applied to the surface in order to prevent discomfort caused by dust. SOLVAY CALCIUM CHLORIDE is being used as a surface dressing for Children's playgrounds with marked satisfaction. It will not stain the children's clothes or playthings. Its germicidal property is a Alkalies and Chemical Products Manufactured by the Solvay Process Company Those Christmas Toys!-"Have you tucked away the Santa Claus spirit along with the Christmas toys?" This is the inquiry of the Playgrounds Association of Philadelphia which has established a circulating toy library. The Association has invited children to bring their cast-off toys to the office of the Playgrounds Association where they will be put in packages and sent to the twelve municipal centers, the twenty-two settlements of the city and numerous day nurseries and hospitals. Each package will contain enough entertainment for twenty-five children. Different types of packages-for example, one with mechanical toys, others with games and dolls are recorded. These lists are then sent to the centers and the workers in charge may request the kinds of toys their children want. Each package will remain in one place for two weeks or so, and then an entirely different one may be taken out. The Pig Becomes an Eductor ging the property, once it was claimed. Now Perhaps the most favorite friend was Sammy Crow. He would fly down from an elm tree and feed out of Anita's hand. The first time that he did this she cried with joy. Alas! Sammy became too trusting and was killed by an automobile. The children wanted a funeral. Never having officiated at a crow funeral I had many misgivings. I wondered if they were hatching up an occasion for a good cry. Fortunately it occurred to me that I could put across certain ideas by this means. The time and place was set for the ceremony. Each patrol was asked to hold AMERICAN PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT DIAMOND OFFICIAL NONE BETTER Write for No. 14 Catalog of Complete Line drop-forged heat-treated perfectly-balanced 3 Diamond Official Pitching Horseshoes conform exactly to requirements of National Horseshoe Pitching Association. Made with straight or curved toe calks, regular or dead falling type. Also Junior size for ladies and children. Diamond accessories include stakes and stake holders, official courts, carrying cases, booklets on organization and rules, and score pads with percentage charts attached. STAKES & STAKE HOLDERS For outdoor as well as indoor pitching. Easily installed SO as to permanently hold the correct angle of slope toward pitcher. Best materials, painted with rust-proof paint underground, white aluminum paint for the ten inches above ground. Write for Catalog DIAMOND CALK HORSESHOE CO. 4610 GRAND AVENUE DULUTH, MINN. "Eighty-Eight Successful Play Activities" In planning your spring and sum- The Playground and Recreation a meeting and decide just what the things were that Sammy had taught them. When the time. arrived Sammy was brought in a wooden box and the children had sprays of wild flowers. It was a solemn affair. What the children said came from the heart and had a still deeper meaning. What they said about trustworthiness and true friendship could be adopted in any code of morals. The subject of my text was: "Many crows have lived longer and done less good." This brief presentation will give an idea of the variety and of the comprehensiveness of caring for and raising animals. It is a program of work which fosters nature study, literary and dramatic presentations, handwork, and music. As Pestalozzi said of his pupils at Stanz: "They willed, they had power, they persevered, they succeeded, they were happy." Devotion to a common cause-nature interest and conservation-makes for a community spirit. If there is comradeship among thieves there is equally good fellowship amongst nature guides. During the day the leaders have been on a bird trip, or amongst the flowers of the meadow, or exploring a gravel bank. The Outdoor Girls have experienced new interests with their pets, made a whistle out of bass-wood, and been out collecting minerals. At twilight the whole family meets in council ring around the fire. They have come together to share their happiness and at once become a band of naturalists. In this way it differs from the esprit de corps of a clan, party loyalty, or racial sentiment. When a person has devotion to a cause which fits into a larger cause there is no germ of selfishness. And when he gives good will instead of selfishness he is building an altar. The spirit of devotion, of comradeship, and of service must be experienced. It does no good to say be devout, cooperate, help your neighbor. It does no good to say do not have racial prejudice, do not have religious prejudice. We must practice what we preach but practice must come first. Please mention THE PLAYGROUND when writing to advertisers The Bowling Green If all the boys and girls of lower Manhattan could not go to the circus, the circus must come to them, the directors of Bowling Green Neighborhood Association agreed, and so, as the closing event of the season, the Bowling Green Circus, "greatest show of its kind," as the programs modestly announced, was presented. Athletic and drama directors as well as the domestic science department united efforts to create the circus. The gymnasium classes contributed skilled tumblers, wrestlers, and clever burlesques on the "death defying" aerialists. The drama department, under the direction of Charles F. Wells, drama organizer for the Playground and Recreation Association of America, produced side shows, clowns, and animals and supplied a fascinating ring master-the kind who dazzles small boys the country over. The domestic science department made costumes and provided the pink lemonade and peanuts. The circus came to Bowling Green in prosaic bolts of gray paper cambric and pails of colored calcimine, the cheapest materials available and the most adaptable. Bright parti-colored clown suits and hats were made of cambric with liberal use of green, red, and yellow. Cambric, paint and a little ingenuity also produced the side show freaks. The tattooed man wore a gymnasium shirt and trunks and was grotesquely painted. A spring from a shade roller, covered with painted cambric, provided a satisfactory pet for the snake charmer. Half-man-half-woman was entirely masculine in appearance from one side and equally feminine from the other. Half of a boy's suit sewed to half of a flapper's costume was worn by this freak. The hair on one side of the head was plastered close and a mustache drawn on while the other half of the head was curled, the cheek rouged and the lips painted. Of course the side shows also offered such attractions as the fat man, the bearded lady, the wild man, and a gypsy fortune teller. The curious who ventured into the side show "for men only" saw a pair of overalls. The sixteen acts presented in the big tent-the gymnasium-represented the combined efforts of all departments. Anyone with a speck of talent offered his services. An embryo harmonica band A New Kind of Cruise Directed by Dr. Sven V. Knudsen Danish-American Educator If you want to combine a wonderful summer vacation with broad educational experiences, join the ALL EDUCATIONAL CRUISE TO SCANDINAVIA.-Every comfort-Every luxuryYour own private steamship. Visit .. Denmark .. Stockholm .. Gotha Canal .. Gothenburg Oslo. Malmo .. From cozy homelike living-rooms to comfortable staterooms, nothing is lacking on shipboard-delicious food-special entertainments—educational lectures by well known men-music by twelve piece orchestra. All Denmark bids you welcome. You will visit places tourist eyes have never seen. Unlimited taxi service in Copenhagen without cost to you, as well as unlimited transportation in luxurious automobiles throughout the Danish mainland and on all Danish state railways. The cultural and eductional life of Denmark is open to you. Live without charge at the magnificent Chateau Lerchenborg, second only to Versailles. Admission to International Convention of Progressive Schools at Elsinore-International Convention for International Exchange of BoysUnique Fourth of July celebrations at Rebild Park in Aalborg-Schools-Peoples Colleges-Museums -Cooperative Markets. CLIP AND MAIL COUPON TODAY AND RECEIVE BROCHURE DESCRIBING THIS UNPARALLELED EDUCATIONAL MODERATE COST. OPPORTUNITY DR. SVEN V. KNUDSEN Room 206-D 248 Boylston Street Boston, Mass. Dear Dr. Knudsen: Without obligation to me, please send full details and illustrated brochure on All-Educational Cruise. Name Address AT IN THE WAKE OF THE NORSEMEN wanted to be in the circus and by the night of the event it had evolved into a blackface orchestra, wearing minstrel costumes, with an almost unlimited repertory of popular airs at its command. In the most breath-taking, hair-raising moments, while feats of "skill and daring" were in progress, the band would strike up a lively tune in an amusing burlesque of circus procedure. An elephant, a horse and a giraffe were acquired by carefully going over books of direction for cutting and constructing life-size cambric animals which could be skillfully manipulated by two boys. If these circus beasts were not imported from darkest Africa, they were cut from tested patterns and they could waltz and bow and walk over prostrate clowns with much cambric dignity. Α The circus, like a snowball on a hill, grew in proportions as it neared its performance. trunk, discarded years ago by an actor of Shakespearian roles, was discovered in a store room of the house. It was full of costumes, among them the Caliban suit which made a splendid wild man. The trunk also yielded bear skins, a half dozen delightful green frog costumes, and as many gray flannel dogs. The janitor of the building had a friend in the Brooklyn navy yard who heard of the circus and straightway contributed a burlesque bout between the light and middle weight champions of the Navy. A printer living nearby offered to make programs. The bright and many colored folders announcing the side shows and the acts added a little anticipatory thrill and they were distributed by as vociferous a barker as ever graced a midway concession. When the circus was as well equipped as if it had rumbled off the Hoboken ferry with Barnum himself, gay pennants were strung from the gymnasium gallery, spectacular signs were put up and the doors were thrown open to anyone with a dime. The big show opened with the pomp and circumstance of the parade. Then Madame Nimble-toes performed on her tight rope, thoughtfully nailed to a plank raised about three feet from the floor. Clowns burlesqued the sharpshooting and "strong man" acts. The gymnasts made pyramids in every conceivable formation and gave their best demonstrations of tumbling. Babe the Human Elephant and Mary the Wise Giraffe went through their paces with such solemn precision that the fans couldn't shriek and whistle their approval enough. The trained wild dogs from Siberia jumped over the ring master's whip and sat up and rolled over at his command. Please mention THE PLAYGROUND when writing to advertisers Wrestlers demonstrated their skill and through the entire show the clowns kept up a continual horse play that delighted the audience. Two young men of the neighborhood who were with "The Merry Malones" came in while the show was in progress and offered to do a tap dance, which was one of the hits of the evening. Familiar gymnasium work was introduced so cleverly as to make the simple exercises an entertainment. While two girls gave an Indian club drill, another turned cart wheels around the ring and a quaint little housewife in peasant costume went about with a floor brush over which a youngster in a rooster costume jumped. The shooting of William Tell as presented by the clowns resulted in a clownish tragedy and was done in imitation of the buffoonery and utter nonsense that makes the professional clown so beloved of the children. The clowns also gave a burlesque baseball game, imitating slow motion pictures. For the chariot race, old two wheel carts used by the children of the neighborhood for gathering wood were drawn, tandem fashion, by the Siberian dogs. Living statues were the grand finale of the evening. Three boys in gymnasium suits, dusted with powder to represent statues, posed on a curtained platform. The platform was placed under the balcony at one side of the room so that the frame on which the curtain was hung could be raised and lowered by ropes from above. Instead of the entire frame being raised, as in a circus ring, this frame was raised at the front only. A spot light heightened the effect. This act was an exceedingly good imitation of one of the spectacular circus performances. The neighborhood came 450 strong, grand AMERIC As a Physical Director, you will recognize the possibilities of RAP-O for group play. It can be played on a small space 10x20 feet, in a large gym or on a baseball field. RAP-O has the speed of tennis and is somewhat akin to lacrosse. It is fast and snappy and can be played with equal competition between boys and girls and is particularly good for the camps and playgrounds. RAP-O has already proved itself to hundreds of physical directors and is now being played in many of our large cities. For full information, write for free booklet No. 46. Recreative Athletics An announcement of special in- Orders for the book may be 315 Fourth Avenue, New York City |