A Husking Bee Train. Winter sports and hiking trains have become well known, but now comes a new variety, for on October 23rd 492 lighthearted young men and women from New York City boarded the husking bee train sponsored by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad and journeyed for over two hours to Kent, Connecticut. During the trip straw hats. were given to the men and sunbonnets to the women, and a bearded old-time fiddler and an accordion player entertained the group. Arriving at Kent at supper time, the travelers were met by members of the Kent Grange who served a country supper on gaily decorated tables. Important on the menu were the beans, baked for nineteen hours in a pit in the ground, and the homemade pies of which there were over a hundred. After supper the "reds" lined on one side of the hall, the "yellows" on the other, and on "go" they rushed to the corn on the stalks lying in front of them. An encouraging number of red ears turned up! Apples were distributed and all the cider anyone could drink was provided. Social dancing, square dances and games followed in the grange hall to the tune of a Hillbilly band which put on a special stunt show. Local grange members demonstrated square dances. At 12:15 A. M. the travelers boarded the train homeward bound with ears of corn, pumpkins and other tokens of the first husking bee!

A Bicycle Train. A "bike train" excursion was conducted in August under the auspices of the Milwaukee Railroad and the Outing Clubs of the Chicago Park District. The train carried bicycle enthusiasts to Union Grove and Binghamton, Wisconsin.

A Hobby Train. On October 10th a hobby train left Detroit, Michigan, filled with railroad fans and amateur photographers bound for Lima, Ohio, where a group of 600 hobbyists visited the Lima locomotive works to inspect a number of new streamlined steam locomotives. The exhibit included a display of miniature models of locomotives. At Lima the travelers were joined by other enthusiasts arriving on special trains from Chicago, Indianapolis and Cincinnati. Camera shops offered special awards for pictures taken by the hobbyists.

Adult Recreation

(Continued from page 614)

reation will be an important factor, will be most

effective in activities developed by the people themselves, guided by a farsighted recreation leader who will lead their interests along channels that will give to them the fullness of life that only leisure properly used can give.

Recent Trends in Year-Round
Recreation Administration
(Continued from page 616)

reported an increase than a decrease. The park authorities, for example, showed only a 7% decrease in the total number of workers, but 16 park agencies reduced their workers as compared with only 7 which increased them.

b. A comparison of the number of playgrounds reported in the two years showed a total increase of 41% for the 172 agencies. The greatest increase was recorded by the recreation departments (60%), and the least by the park authorities (14%). "Other authorities" was the only group in which more agencies decreased the number of playgrounds than increased them, although this group as a whole showed an increase in the number of playgrounds of 54%.

C.

The average increase in the number of indoor centers for the 172 agencies during the period was 129%. The greatest increase (161%) was recorded by recreation departments, the least (76%) by school authorities, although 15 out of the 16 individual school authorities reported more indoor centers in 1936 than in 1928.

In general, no marked change in the type of local government of recreation between 1928 and 1936 was revealed by the study, nor are there any significant figures denoting marked trends in the service provided by the four types of local managing authorities during this period. The figures indicate, however, that on the whole recreation departments made a better showing during the period 1928-1936 than the other three types.

From the findings of these two studies it is apparent that:

1. Increasingly cities are considering recreation as a distinct municipal function and for its administration are establishing a separate department, in most cases under a recreation board or commission.

2. In the period 1923-1933 the greatest progress in local recreation service was made in cities where recreation was administered by a recreation board. During the early years of the depression local recreation service was most fully maintained in cities with recreation boards. Since 1928 recreation has fared better in cities in which it is administered as a separate function, whether under a board or independent

executive than in cities where it is under some other department.

3. Between 1923 and 1928 there was a large increase in the number of cities establishing yearround recreation programs. Since 1928 progress has been slower and there have been no marked changes since that date in the percentage of cities with year-round recreation programs under different types of managing authority.

You Asked for It!

(Continued from page 618)

parents to officiate because even when there is no partiality shown there is sometimes the danger that other parents will feel that the judges have displayed favoritism when their own boys and girls are participants. This is especially true if any of the children of the parents who are judging happen to win.

To interest the older boys and girls it is necessary first of all to conduct activities which are definitely appealing to them-night volley ball and softball games, social dancing if there is a place in your playground and dancing is practicable in your situation. Some of the older boys and men like horseshoe pitching and such quiet games as checkers and chess. The older girls may be interested in handcraft, although most girls who have been working all day prefer some form of physical activity. Folk dancing is popular on many playgrounds but it is frequently difficult to introduce unless an interest has been created in the community previously.

In organizing a program for adults it is frequently necessary in the beginning to extend personal invitations and to discover the children on the playground who have older brothers and sisters and parents who might be interested in attending. With these leads the director may find it necessary to pay personal calls to the homes of a number of individuals to create an interest in the activities on the playground. If you once get a small group started in coming you will probably have little difficulty in interesting others. Usually it is only necessary to find a nucleus that will spread the word and interest others.

Some cities have formed playground associations to which parents in the neighborhood of the various playgrounds belong. The purpose of these associations is not so much to take part in activities as to create support for the playground and to bolster the program with the support of the community.

629

The Camp Reunion dinner was a joyful occasion for those who had attended the Audubon Nature Camp at Hog Island, Maine. Friends and guests of the Association had an opportunity to observe the fine enthusiasm of the staff and campers. On Saturday morning a group of eighty-six people set out on a two day field trip to Cape May Point, New Jersey. Sunday morning ninety-four people gathered at 6 A. M. for a trip to Montauk Point, Long Island. Stops were made at various bird refugees en route and more than ninety kinds of land and shore birds and waterfowl were observed on the Sunday trip.

The papers prepared for the convention meetings covered these general topics: The need for wildlife protection and the necessity of additional sanctuaries in Texas and Florida; two proposed national park areas, the Big Bend section of Texas and the Everglades of Florida; the research activity of the Biological Survey, the present status of migratory waterfowl, and the areas mentioned by the Biological Survey for their protection; the program and needs of the 4H Clubs in nature education and conservation promotion; and reports of field observations by Audubon research fellows studying desert bighorn sheep and the ivory-billed woodpecker.

Reports of conservation projects and nature education activities in various parts of the country were given by representatives of affiliated groups. Excellent movies taken by amateurs as well as professionals were used to illustrate papers and as interesting interludes in the program. Demonstration conferences were staged by members of the camp staff and enrolees to illustrate part of the method used in training students at the Audubon Nature Camp for adult leaders.

At the annual dinner of the Association, Dr. Arthur A. Allen of Cornell spoke of his experiences during the last season while making the reels of sound motion pictures that were shown. Waterfowl and song birds of the eastern region of the United States were the subjects of these pictures.

630

The American Legion

and Recreation in Minnesota

IN

N MINNESOTA, before April 1937, there was no provision in law permitting cities and villages (except Duluth, Minneapolis and St. Paul and a very few others operating under home rule charters) to spend public funds for the support of recreational activities. At the State Convention of the American Legion in 1936 a resolution was adopted proposing that the Legion should exert its influence toward obtaining the passage of an enabling recreation law. After several months of hard work on the part of committee members and other interested groups a recreation law was passed on April 15, 1937.

The Recreation Act makes possible legally the expenditure of public funds by any city, village, borough, town, county, school district or any board thereof for the promotion of recreation. Such governmental units may cooperate in promoting recreation or delegate the responsibility to a board. School facilities may now be used twelve months a year and school boards may employ instructors and playground directors for the summer months.

It was recommended at the state convention that the American Legion Committee on Recreation be a standing one consisting of seven members, one to be the Department Adjutant (a continuing member), one to be a member of the Legion Auxiliary and five to be American Legion. members. Six are appointed by the Department Commander and serve three-year terms, except for the first committee which shall have staggered appointments so that two members will be appointed each year. It was further recommended that the American Legion baseball in Minnesota be under the jurisdiction of the Recreation Committee and that from the committee membership the director of junior baseball be chosen. The recommendations were adopted by the Executive Council of the Minnesota American Legion on November 5, 1937.

Through a questionnaire sent by the Recreation Committee to 471 local American Legion Posts it was learned that many Posts are sponsoring holiday celebrations and similar events, are providing funds for varied forms of community recreation, are aiding in securing swimming pools, parks, play areas and facilities of many types, and are performing many services of value in the development of their communities' recreational life.

The Country Dance Book

By Beth Tolman and Ralph Page. The Countryman Press Inc., Weston, Vermont, and Farrar and Rinehart, New York. $2.00.

HER

ERE IS A BREEZY and spritely book on New England country dances which is a gold mine of material for the leader of square or other country dances. The title page reveals the contents: "The Old-Fashioned Square Dance, Its History, Lore, Variations and Its Callers. Complete and Joyful Instructions." In addition, calls and directions for grand marches, quadrilles, jigs, reels, hornpipes, polkas, round dances and "freaks and furbelows" are included. Difficult points are illustrated in a delightfully unusual way, music is either given or a source listed, and the directions and instructions are simple and clear so that even the uninitiated may follow them easily.

Primitive and Pioneer Sports

By Bernard S. Mason. A. S. Barnes & Co., New York. $2.50.

ERE IS A 342 page book for "regular fellows" of any age HR and a source book for recreation and camp leaders seeking "sure-fire" boys' activities emphasizing imaginative and individualized play. The picturesque games of bushmen, cowboys and woodsmen are described with explicit directions and many simple, clear illustrative diagrams and drawings. If you would have full directions for making and throwing boomerangs and bomba birds, spinning a rope, tying trick knots with a lariat or throwing a lariat, planning rope exhibitions and contests, cracking a whip, spinning the serpentine, throwing a tomahawk, making blowguns and darts or log rolling, consult this volume.

Youth-A World Problem

By W. Thacher Winslow. National Youth Administration. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C. $.25.

TH

HE SUBTITLE of this interesting compilation gives the key to its contents-"A Study in World Perspective of Youth Conditions, Movements and Programs." In bringing the material together for the booklet the National Youth Administration had the assistance of the Department of State which requested the United States consuls stationed all over the world to submit reports concerning youth conditions and programs in their respective countries. The material in the booklet, except for the section dealing with the United States, is based almost entirely upon the information contained in these reports and upon the Grey-Blue Report of the 1935 International Labor Conference on "Unemployment Among Young Persons." Recreation workers will want to add to their libraries this report of the situations in which youth finds itself in the various countries of the world.

TH

Banquet Suggestions for Girls
and Their Mothers

By Nelle Ansley. The Womans Press, New York. $.75. 'HOUGH THIS material has been prepared primarily for Girl Reserves, any group of girls casting about for help in planning banquets at which their mothers will be entertained will do well to put this attractive mimeographed booklet on their list of practical aids. Plans are offered for seventeen different types of banquets and suppers. There are program hints and suggestions for decorations. A statement regarding costs accompanies some of the programs and throughout ways of keeping expenses down are kept in mind.

Camp Stoves and Fireplaces

By A. D. Taylor, A. B., M.S. United States Forest Service. Obtainable from the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C. $1.50.

THE

"HE FOREST SERVICE of the United States Department of Agriculture, in developing the recreational resources of the national forests, has studied carefully and extensively the types of camp stoves and fireplaces best adapted to use under varying conditions. The result of the study is this book containing two pages on each type, one page telling of adaptation to location and use, design and construction and variations possible and the other page giving a sketch of the completed unit and plan, elevation and section drawings to aid in the construction. Simple and complex cooking fireplaces and stoves, barbecue pits and ovens, fireplace shelters, warming fires and camp fires, fireplaces within shelters, construction details, good and bad stonework, undesirable types and much general material of aid to the fireplace builder are included in this valuable book.

632

development from twelve to sixteen years of age. The author of this book attempts to discover what effect the period of pubescence has on the play pursuits of the adolescent, his personality and behavior, his choice of friends, his emancipation from parents, his moral and religious thinking and a number of other closely allied subjects. The findings of this study are said to be startlingly in conflict with "what everyone knows." This fact in itself makes the book an interesting study.

Mr. Dimock recognizes the importance of play in the life of the adolescent when he says, "Play interests and behavior are central . . . in the development of the adolescent. They possess possibilities that are pertinent to his education for leisure, the satisfaction of his basic personality needs and desires, the formation of social attitudes and habits, and the revitalizing of contemporary education."

The author attempted to get the facts on such problems as these: "How do the play interests and activities of the adolescent differ from those of the preadolescent? Is there any evidence that changes in play interests during adolescence are related to the physiological changes of pubescence? How can the degree of popularity or acceptability which a boy has in a group be most accurately determined?" In reply to these and numerous other questions the author states, "The sifting of all this data yields no factual grounds for assuming an important association between pubescence and play behavior. We are forced to the tentative conclusion that pubescence plays a negligible rôle in determining the play interest of adolescent boys."

While old and commonly accepted theories are challenged throughout the book, yet one is conscious that the challenge lies in the facts presented and not in the opinions of the author. The facts are so arranged in pictorial form that their implication is clear.

Parties.

By Hazel Carter Maxon. E. P. Dutton & Co., Inc.,
New York. $2.50.

The author of this book believes that fun is the goal of any party, and since fun for the young person is one thing, and for the sub-deb another, and still another for older people, she has divided the book into three parts. The first contains parties for Youngsters, the second for the Young-and-Limber and the third for People-WhoLike-to-Stay-Young. Each party is complete from invitation to "Good-Bye," with suggestions for decorations, games, and here and there a special recipe. Parties are planned not only for the usual holidays but there are parties with novelty themes, indoor and outdoor parties, boys' parties, girls' parties, dances, showers and breakfasts and suppers.

Municipal and County Parks in the
United States 1935.

National Park Service, Washington, D. C.

In 1925-26 the National Recreation Association, at the request of the National Conference on Outdoor Recreation, made a study of municipal and county parks in the United States. The American Institute of Park Executives cooperated in the study. Much of the important statistical data gathered was issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Bulletin No. 462. This publication proved of such value that a similar study was conducted in 1930 by the National Recreation Association in cooperation with the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The findings of the study were published in Bulletin No. 565 of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The usefulness of these two reports and the rapid expansion of park areas during the past few years made it apparent that a further study was desirable. Accordingly the National Park Service, in cooperation with the National Recreation Association, made a study in the year 1935 under the direction of George D. Butler of the Association. Valuable clerical assistance was given in the preparation of the report by the Division of State Planning of the State of New York.

How to Watch a Football Game.

By Mal Stevens and Harry Shorten. Leisure League of America. $.25.

Are you a football fan? If you are, perhaps you will not need this book. If you want, however, to understand the game this booklet will dissipate the clouds of mystery which always hover over it for the uninitiated. You will know just what is meant when you hear the howl, "It's a touchdown!"-just how it was scored, what strategy led to its culmination and what plays paved the

way.

Girl Scout Diary for 1938.

Girl Scouts, Inc., New York. $.10.

The new year rolls around and the Girl Scouts put out a new Girl Scout Diary for the recording of major events of each day. It is a pocket-size booklet with inserts of Girl Scout requirements, nature facts, first aid and safety hints, camp craft and other good-to-know things, illustrated with lively sketches. So, if nothing exciting happens on July 31st, the diarist, while chewing her pencil, glances at sketches of insect craftsmen and insect musicians on that page and finds that the day is not without adventurous discovery after all!

F. GREGG BEMIS, Boston, Mass.
MRS. EDWARD W. BIDDLE, Carlisle, Pa.
MRS. WILLIAM BUTTERWORTH, Moline, Ill.
HENRY L. CORBETT, Portland, Ore.

MRS. ARTHUR G. CUMMER, Jacksonville, Fla.
F. TRUBEE DAVISON, Locust Valley, L. I., N. Y.
JOHN H. FINLEY, New York, N. Y.
ROBERT GARRETT, Baltimore, Md.

AUSTIN E. GRIFFITHS, Seattle, Wash.

MRS. MELVILLE H. HASKELL, Tucson, Ariz.
MRS. CHARLES V. HICKOX, Michigan City, Ind.
MRS. MINA M. EDISON-HUGHES, West Orange, N. J.
GUSTAVUS T. KIRBY, New York, N. Y.

H. MCK. LANDON, Indianapolis, Ind.
MRS. CHARLES D. LANIER, Greenwich, Conn.
ROBERT LASSITER, Charlotte, N. C.

J. H. MCCURDY, Springfield, Mass.
OTTO T. MALLERY, Philadelphia, Pa.
WALTER A. MAY, Pittsburgh, Pa.
CARL E. MILLIKEN, Augusta, Me.
MRS. OGDEN L. MILLS, Woodbury, N. Y.
MRS. JAMES W. WADSWORTH, Washington, D. C.

J. C. WALSH, New York, N. Y.

FREDERICK M. WARBURG, New York, N. Y.
JOHN G. WINANT, Concord, N. H.