YMCA

“ As a start, the American Y.M.C.A, was given the supreme direction of the social life of the Army and Navy. The Y.M.C.A, promptly appealed for 35 millions of dollars, and raised them within a fortnight. To-day in each camp and naval base stands a huge Y.M.C.A, social centre, with recreation rooms, writing-rooms, and an auditorium capable of holding three or four; thousand men. There is also a so-called Hostess House, for lady visitors to the camp. The female element is strongly represented. ”

“ Each of the new public schools of New York contains a gymnasium, but most of these are on the top floor, and they have to equip another in the basement for the play center. Each of the new public schools of Cincinnati contains a gymnasium and a swimming pool, and they are generally on the ground floor or near it. Most of the new high schools all over the country contain a gymnasium at least and many of them swimming pools as well. Wherever these facilities are furnished, they are generally used by the school during the day and by the public at night. ”

“ In organizing clubs, or rather in presenting opportunities for the organization of clubs, we must recognize that bodily activity, taking the form of athletics, or of workshop effort, or of camping, hunting, etc., is a fundamental condition of healthy growth for the boys and girls. As every group must have its meeting place, this should be first provided, and it should be of a nature that allows gymnastics and hammering and boxing to go on without any restrictions beyond those required by the nature of the little animals. ”

“ But lawn-tennis, baseball, football, and the gymnasium fill the bill. The students are proud of their gymnasium, and I know from personal experience that, during the last eight years, those who have excelled in athletic exercises have also excelled in rank.
Now I believe that this college has taken a new departure, and I believe there is a future for it from the fact that the alumni take more interest in the college than they used to take, and because there are so many poor students connected with it. Poor students are the salvation of a college. ”

“ Agnew, of the Board of Health, had been her efficient aid in making parents see that the innovation of physical exercises in the school work was a good thing. Now the majority of the girls’ parents admitted the advisability and value of gymnasium training. But some missionary work was still to be done in the homes regarding the suggested “after-hour” athletics for girls.
A healthy interest in the sports allowed by the Girls’ Branch would aid in keeping the girls 75 themselves from a more questionable use of their spare time. ”

“ Here a boy could take a regular course in gymnasium work under a skilled instructor or if he showed any skill devote himself to such sports as basketball, running, baseball or swimming. In addition to these advantages amusements were provided through the year in the form of lectures, amateur shows and music. In the summer, special opportunities were offered for out-door sports. Moreover the Association managed summer camps where for a nominal fee the boys could enjoy the life of the woods. A boy must be poor indeed who could not afford most of these opportunities. ”

“ A spacious recreation ground, adjoining the Institute, and covering an area of six acres, contains three bowling-greens, lawn-tennis courts, and a cricket-ground, together with a miniature park tastefully laid out with flower-beds and trees, so that healthful recreation and manly sports are far from being neglected, and, by the liberality of the directors, all these advantages are secured to the men and boys engaged in the works in return for a payment of one penny per week by the men, and one halfpenny per week by the boys. ”

“ Each contains sleeping-rooms to accommodate forty students, two masters’ studies, a recreation-hall, dining-room, kitchen, and service-rooms. Behind East Hall is the gymnasium, a picturesque structure of random-set stone, gray stucco, and much glass. Here, besides the gymnasium proper, is an auditorium of good size, a 14 modest swimming-tank, locker-room and baths, and a commodious office presided over by Mr. Wells, the physical director. From the gymnasium steps one looks across an attractive, well-kept quadrangle of shaded turf, vegetable and flower gardens, and tennis-courts. ”

“ Although the control of athletics at the Academy is not under the gymnasium authorities, still it is fitting to speak of the sports in this chapter. 208 The Academy has its football, baseball, basketball, and hockey teams, and in addition the cadets play golf, polo, and tennis. There is little in the training or conduct of these teams that differs from other educational institutions, except the question of time allowed for preparation. It has always been the rule at West Point that no inroads shall be permitted upon the Academic course to aid the development of any athletic team. ”

“ The gymnasium was new and well appointed. The floor was large enough for two basketball games to be played at once, there was a good running track above, and, occupying the second story of the wing, a rowing room and two other apartments variously used for fencing, boxing, wrestling and possibly other sports. Underneath was a large baseball cage and a dressing room for visiting teams. The basement, which was half above ground and well lighted, held the lockers, a swimming pool, shower baths and the trainer’s quarters. ”

“ As they were taking their leave Chief Trask stopped in a large room fitted up with various gymnastic appliances: “This,” he said, “is the gymnasium used by the men who wish positions in the department. They come here and practice, and then when the Board sits to determine on their application they show what they can do on the rings, the horizontal bar and the ladder, the same as if they were giving an exhibition at an athletic club. ”

“ The lot has a 52 foot front on La Salle street and 185 feet on Arcade court. One-third of the space in the new building will be utilized for Association purposes and the remainder for offices, the ground floor being rented for stores. The Y. M. C. A. proper will have two stories fronting on La Salle street and seven on Arcade court. The estimated cost of the new building, which will contain libraries, reading-rooms, gymnasium, etc., of the most approved description, will be $1,400,000.
The Young Men’s Christian Association is an organization whose influence is felt around the world. ”

“ School Board Policy 5610 concerning "Student Clubs and Organizations" recognizes these student clubs as a "vital part of the total education program as a means of developing citizenship, wholesome attitudes, good human relations, knowledge and skills." App. 488. Board Policy 5610 also provides that each club shall have faculty sponsorship and that "clubs and organizations shall not be sponsored by any political or religious organization, or by any organization which denies membership on the basis of race, color, creed, sex or political belief." ”

“ From eight o’clock until half-past eight, the three sections joined in gymnastic exercises on one morning and on the other the same period was devoted to concert singing. On the same floor with the schoolrooms a small gymnasium had been fitted with wands, dumb-bells, Indian clubs, and all the paraphernalia of a high-school gymnasium. Their instructor was a young salesman in the sporting goods department, who left the selling floor for a half hour every other [100] morning to give the boys the benefit of his services. ”

“ Each building is equipped with a gymnasium, swimming pool, and playground, and has physical directors that are in attendance for the entire eight hours. Physical training is as much a part of the regular school work as anything else, and besides the work that is part of every pupil’s program there are two hours a day when the playground is open for the children to use as they please. ”

“ The gymnasium is an artificial and expensive machinery for inducing sweat, but the farmer needs no such artificial machine. The problem is purely one of play, not of exercise. For this purpose a careful study of the community, and of its tendencies and inclinations, is necessary. The great essential of recreation in the country is the opportunity to meet and to talk. Therefore the social life of gatherings in the church, and in the schoolhouse, no matter what their program, provided it be innocent, is valuable. ”

“ There were classes in embroidery, elocution, sewing, etc.
The "Youth's Culture League" was organized for the work among youth of the slums; an effort to supplement public school education, making it a stepping-stone to higher culture and better living.
Sports of various kinds of course received attention. The Temple Guard, the Temple Cyclers, the Baseball League gave opportunity for all to enjoy some form of healthy outdoor sport. But since the college and its gymnasium have become so prominent, those who now join such organizations usually do it through college instead of church doors. ”

“ To invigorate the constitutions of the pupils, a gymnasium will be provided for the boys of the male sex, and one hour per day will be devoted to callisthenics in the female department, to be occupied by the girls. In this department, the higher branches of instruction, both useful and ornamental, will be prosecuted under the immediate superintendence of Mrs. Wheelwright, who will spare no pains in the inoculation of the soundest lessons of virtue, while yet their young and youthful minds can be bent like the twig, and inclined like the tree, as the poet says. ”

“ There were two dormitory buildings, the east and the west, and, for obvious reasons, one, the eastern, was inhabited by the freshmen and seniors, while the juniors and sophomores lived, moved and had their being in the other.
The gymnasium, which was well equipped, was located a little to the left of the west dormitory, and it adjoined the baseball diamond and the football gridiron. Skirting the edges of this big, level field were the grandstands and bleachers, for sports had a proper and important part in life at Randall. ”

“ The Department of Education is represented on the Committee that makes the allocations and represents the needs and interests of the teachers and the schools. Most of the areas concerned are in housing settlements.
(v) Facilities for Recreation.—The use of school grounds and buildings after school hours is entirely in the hands of boards and local committees. The Department has no direct authority in the matter, but does facilitate and encourage such use. Practice varies, [19] but in many schools very great use is made of school facilities for community purposes. ”

“ It gave us the use of one of the best buildings in the camp, originally meant for an officers’ club. It was generous beyond hope. The house was lighted, heated, furnished, in many ways transformed, at the expense of the Y.M.C.A. We were supplied with a magic-lantern, books, games, boxing gloves, a piano, writing-paper, everything we dared to ask for. Without the help of the Y.M.C.A. that club could never have come into existence. And the association [Pg 137] deserves credit not only for generosity in material things, but for its liberal spirit. ”

“ Since the pursuit of athletics has so large a place in the minds of the young people in these days, it has been thought worth while to do something in this field. One of the assistant pastors having had some training when in school organized Athletic Clubs among the boys and young men in six or seven different neighborhoods. These clubs met from time to time for practise. They were combined into an Athletic League for the whole parish and occasionally held Field Days. ”

“ Perhaps after all I—my philosophy—Jerry—were still to be vindicated!
It was not until the following summer that I learned the truth. An item in the evening paper caught my eye. It told of the wonderful boys' club that was being erected in Blank Street, by an unknown philanthropist. The building was six stories in height, covering half a block, and was to contain a large gymnasium, a marble swimming pool, an auditorium, school-rooms, drill hall for the Boy Scout organization, clubrooms, billiard and pool tables, and sleeping quarters for a small army. ”

“ For a long time Jerry and I have had the idea of forming a club. We talked of it last year, after Christmas, and again after we gave the operetta. But you know what a hard year we had over basketball, and then so many of us became sick that somehow the club idea was 41 put away and forgotten. But now, as Jerry says, ‘the time has come.’ What we’d like to do is to form a club from a certain number of girls in the senior class. It mustn’t be just a social affair but one devoted to the purpose of looking out for anyone that needs our help. ”

“ In Wisconsin the rural-club movement reaches every part of the State, and a State law grants the use of schoolhouses for community gatherings. Seymour, Indiana, boasts a Farmer’s Club, the gift of a citizen, with a comfortably appointed house, where farmers and their families may take their ease when in town.
The organization of boys’ and girls’ clubs [124] among farm youth is a feature of the vocational-training service offered under the Smith-Lever Act of 1914, and already the reports of its progress are highly interesting. ”