cularly farm people, have regarded play
and recreation for adults as more or less frivolous or unnecessary,
while for children play has been used as an award for good conduct or
hard work, but it has by no means been deemed a necessary phase of the
child's life. If Johnnie does all his chores or if Mary washes the
dishes and dusts the furniture faithfully, the opportunity for play is
held up as a reward for services rendered; but that time for play and
proper kinds of play are essential for a child's education has only
recently been established by the students of child psychology and is
not, as yet, generally appreciated either by parents or teachers.

It is often said that this is the "age of the child," in that our
civilization is more largely shaped by a desire to give our children the
best possible advantages. We have come to appreciate, thanks to the
insight of such philosophers as John Fiske,[58] that the advancement of
the human race has been very largely due to the prolongation of the
period of infancy. Ordinarily we think of play as an attribute of
childhood, but as an incident rather than as a fundamental reason for
the prolongation of childhood. Most modern students of child psychology,
however, will take the view of Karl Gross,[59] an authority on the play
of man and animals, who says: "Children do not play because they are
young; they are young in order that they may play." Play is a normal
process of the child's growth through spontaneous activity. Joseph Lee,
the president of the Playground and Recreation Association of America,
goes so far as to say: "Play is thus the essential part of education. It
is nature's prescribed course. School is invaluable in forming the child
to meet actual social opportunities and conditions. Without the school,
he will not grow up to fit our institutions. Without play he will not
grow up at all.[60]

I do not mean that a child should have no responsibilities, for that is
the misfortune of the city child, but it is important to recognize the
truth of old adage that "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,"
which modern psychology has given a scientific basis. One of the most
fundamental needs for the promotion of play in rural communities is to
secure a new attitude toward it on the part of many parents. Too
frequently--and alas, often from necessity--children are compelled to do
too much farm labor. Agriculture is still a family industry, and very
often on the poorer f