Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, July 11, 1915, Page 11

. | | PART TWO EDITORIAL PAGES ONE TO TWELVE VOL. XLV--NO. 4. MAHA bas only ‘reéently ‘gone regular director of pldyEvousds, ! bt it has had play places for children in the parks for a long time. There are eight sets of these pnmo 7 pmllw. each set including swings, trapeses, “tings,” Maypole and “slide.” They are located a8 follows: Fontenelle, Miller, Kountze, Hanscom, i Riverview, Elmwood and Bemis parks, and st | Thirty-fourth and'Leavenworth streets. Childish delight is the main “motif* in the continual hum of volces from these play centers. But all the emotions ot the grown-up world are depicted there. Out at Kountze park is one of tho busiest play- grounds, There, from early morn to dewy eve juvenile 1egs and arms. and bodies twinkle in_all mansor of | gymnastic stunts. The swings swing, the Maypole - | pavolves and creaks and s continual stream of eager ' \ kiddies climbs lh.lhwo!tholud.ullmlfi stream of children shoots out:of the slide, “Mary" 18 _quegn and | absolute ruler. of this ivhy center. Mary is of ample proportions, typi- { eally the matron. Mary dwells, durihg working— | or rather «playing—hours in the little green house | built under the élide. She kdéps a line of lollipops | and *‘all-day nckm" ‘amd other confections dear 'm the juvenile’ heart. whioh she . dispenses to sll ' comers who have.the necessary pennies. ' Mary rules her turbulent kingdom wisely. She | knows whien to chide disputatious little girle with “Oh, shame on you Helen, I didn’t think you would i lry to take the swing away from Adele.” She knows ,whm to take little ones on her lap spd smooth ! away their troubles, ‘Sometimes '“Mike’ is substituted for Mary as ruler of the playgrounds. This is Mike Kissane, Gardening for the Children give.them a little garden. One that they can call their own will gfford them far more pleasure than they get out of working in your garden. Of course, they will not be expected to &0 dbead with garden work at first and make much success at it without assistance from someone, and by ohject lessons, but they will socon master the fundamental polpts of it, and when they have done that they will surprise you by the facility with which they pick up the information that grows out of their early experfence and the amount of work that they will accomplish all by themselves. And you will be pleased to see how interesting they are in the mew undertaking. It will not seem like work to them. It will be play, and play ot such a healthy charscter that you can well dfford to ignore solled ciethes, and hands that have caught the grime of the goll, and faces on which sweat and soil bave met on common ground ' and formed an intimate partnership. The healthy golor of the faces of the children who work out of doors, and the excellent appetities that they bring ‘uthuhb.'mmvhuyo'mnmluu thé beést of all tonics for them, And you will be gratified to know that they lunlu more from the grest book of Nature Il‘ YOU want to keep children out of mischief THE O OMAHA SUNDAY BEE PART TWO SOCIETY PAGES ONE TO TWELVE hm;_ hildrersDa Qmaha Parks rlgh{ faces may be seen there at lay all the time the weather permlf veteran policeman. It is easy to see that the job 18 much to Mike's liking. He helps children up on the trapezes and rings. He “rosums’ up the slide. He bids the children on the Maypole to go " 'way up high now.” The siide is the most popular of the amuse- ments. It consists of two troughs, one for the boys and ‘one for the girls.’ They slope from a raised platform to the ground and are bullt on the order of a “scenic railway” with delightful “bumps.” They are lined with zinc as a guard against slivers Those who have passed the age of 12 are shut out from this delight, though grown-up women watching their children are often heard to declare warmly, “My, I just would like to slide down there myself. “Rosum” {s In great demand and when this has been rubbed on the zinc {t becomes so that little boye and girls are catapulted from the mouth of the slide with shrieks of joy, and imme- diately plek themselves up again and run for the stairs. Bometimes the bigger girls take tiny tots on their laps with many gentle admonitions not to "‘be &frald” and bring them carefully and safely down the slide. Sometimes the slide is s0 ‘'slick” that the chil- dren come out of it like wriggling, squealing young torpedoes and are dumped with a little thump upon “the ground.-~Occasionally there is a moment of tears, ' But the attraction of the slide is so great that this seldom lasts long and soon they @re climb- ing the stairs again. ¥ Occasionally you see a little group resting and d then the prattle n’n, per- \ haps, like. this: “'Blair, say ‘sixty " “‘Sixty,” says Blair, flldl infinite amusement' from the wonderful.repar- tee. Ovér in the shallow pool, known a¥ “the lake,"” boys are splashing' and shouting and “doin’ some- “alick" * pin you can’t do.!’ One of them wears & pair of over- alls as a bathing costume. Another wéars & sweater end bathing trunks. ““Hey, Vernon, holler my, name when I'm un- der water,” yells one, and, his fingers, he disappears under water while Ver- non yells lustily, ‘Ro-o-oland." and reports that he "C’d hear it jes as plain.' Thon all the others must try it This sport ‘being exhausted, daubs his face with mud and, finally ‘making h'm* self heard above the din of boyish volcds, proclaims himeelf “aAn Injun.”” In & thrice all the rest are Tn« Roland then dota his face With mud spots eud announces that he has “lots o' freckles.' In the shade of the bushes on the bank re- poses a girl of 13 and several little tots. This young Indy, whose name is Margery, sits in the dainti- ness of white dress, white stockings, blue sash. is for her approval that they are “Injuns” or “full Thus early does the Instinct of the Juns.” o' freckles.” rece show itself, And how a youth makes a high bi& for the trminine approval. 1o His wheel ferry boat, comes breathless and looks to Margery for words of admiration. But the fair one is not impressed. “Can you swim un- der water without mak- ing any gounds?" she asked. Ah, Margery, you shouldn’t begin breaking hearts yet. a1d the - Hnld for i ‘Immediately all”/the other Iads aster'ths con- test. One lucky youth really does stay under for & momeént and pikkes no sound,’ and -wing the; re- ward of a word trom calm Up he Kountze Park than they would ever learn in the schools. They ere learning things at first hand, for Nature will take charge of the littlq pupild and not trust her kindergarten work to an assistant. Nine children out of ten who have a garden to work in will be- come morg interested in it than in all the fairy Looks that were ever written, For are not the processes of germination and growth going on be- fore their eyes akin to magic? The miracle of life 1s being performed before them every day, and taey are taking part In it. That i what will make it 5o delighttul to them. They have formed a part- nership with Nature in miracle-making. Parents who have only a hazy notion of garden work may think themselves incompetent to teach their children, but it they set out to do so they will soon find that they are dally learning enough to riake them safe teachers for the little folks. And the best of it will be (hat they themselves are get- ting quite as much good and pleasure out of it as the children are. Give the boys and girls good tools to work with. Never ask them to make use of those you have ‘worn out or found worthless. Something quite as good as you would provide for yourseif is what should be provided for them.' They will appreei- &te & good thing, be very sure, and the fact that they have it will be one of the best possible incen- tives to work, Bupply them with good seed. And do not tail to encourage them by giving all the credit justly due them for what they accomplish. Children like to Wlow that thelr efforts are prop- erly appreciated, We grown-ups and the children are very much alike in that respect sWim under water. ead 'and body disappeared, overalled logs kicked up the water like a paddle Ry l'fl: . SINGLE COPY FIVE CENTS. 9 Margery. grdpluc his nose with small skirts, Roland reappears Yes, another youth the dirty water, white skirt, blue sash and all. Ler out. tress. at clivity, Ah, boys, just wait. all of them. Look, Margery.” dainty; and just as pretty and ealm. while his © ended, Just you wait! ? 4 -e “Ty . . ”» Gene Field on “Picnic Time T'8 Jupe ag'in, an’ (n my soul I feel the fillin’ joy I That's, sure to come this time o' year to every:little bay: For, ‘évery Juné, thé Sunddy tchools at pichics may be seen, Where “ffelds beyont th& ovollln floods stand dressed o0 im Mvin! green'; whm little girls are skeered to dnm with spiders, In- and m Ohio yue 1 um ud!um 4o goodness? How 1t Fained! . 3 (But grampa -m Zm-u the tway “bupatio’’ (s expiained.) Wd once I jined the *Piscopils an' had a . ut the boss of all tha plenics was the Presbyteriun! They had so many puddin’s, salllds, "ndfidlfl an’' pies, That & feller wisht his stumimick was. as hungry ab his eyes! Oh, yee, the eatin’ Présbyteriuns give yér is so fi o 'l‘hn when they have n plenfe, you bet I'm nlnj to flni Fev -y lut at lhll ‘timg thd" M.thodl.ln have spectal claims on -0. For they're goin’ to giye a.pienie on Qh, 41t D, Vi Why should a liberal,Universalist like me object To share the jos of fellowshilp with every friendly sect? Howsver het'rodox their articles of faith eleawise may be, Their doctrine of tffed chik’n 16 a savin' grace to me! So on the 21st of June, the weather bein' fine, y They're g0l to §ive & picale, and I'm goin’ to jinel Y g in the ' Then Margery arose with her small friends and went to the other side of “the lake,”™ ' where shp appedred ‘presently minus black slip- pers and ‘white stockings and proceeded to wade daintily out {nto the water, carefully lifting her Oh, my cotntrymen, what must now be told! A sharp declivity on the slippery, muddy bottom. tis true, 'tis pity and pity 'tis, "tis true, Mar« gery's feot slipped and down came Margery into The bhoys swam gallantly to her aid and helped But after she had gone, weeping silently, carrying her slippews and white stockings and fol- lowed by her wondering small charges, those young eavages laughed at the memory of beauty in dis- Each one separately had to perform the drama of Margery's fall on {hat same slippery de- Ten years from now Mar. gery will break one of your hearts. Or, maybe, White skirt and blue sash can easily be washed and Margery- will come forth just as fresh and But a broken heart, you'll find, lsn’t so easily \ 7