Address by Mr. J. J. KELSO, Ontario Superintendent of Neglected Children, before the Empire Club of Canada.
Mr. President and Gentlemen,–
I want to bring before your attention the necessity of play, the necessity that men should realize and enjoy life, and not allow the over-civilization of the age to crush out the spirit of enjoyment and conviviality and good comradeship. There is a tendency nowadays to make life too commercial and to ignore the fact that man is an animal and that he requires a good deal of recreation, requires to be limbered up, if he is going to get any satisfaction out of life at all. Many of us are hurrying on toward the latter end of our journey without taking enough time to enjoy the pleasant things by the way or to appreciate all the opportunities that surround us for rational enjoyment.
We have not given much attention in Toronto to the subject of play, and I think I can convince you of this in a few moments. In the older civilizations, in Europe, they have their national play festivals and the people devote themselves heart and soul to this enjoyment, and are not too proud or dignified to laugh and have a good time. You know it is almost a crime to laugh in Toronto, and one has to be very dignified and grave; although we are told that a good laugh is better than medicine any time. In the older civilizations they give more attention to the matter of play than we do here. You have all heard about Merry Old England, with its Village Green and Maypole and interesting stories of olden-time festivities, although, I am afraid, these are disappearing in the England of today. In the United States the only place, so far, that has developed the festival idea to any extent is New Orleans, where the people have the delightful mardi gras, lasting for three days, but looked forward to with anticipation for months.
We made an attempt at something of that kind some years ago. We had a summer carnival-four days of solid enjoyment. That was a dismal failure. And why? Not because we did not want it to be a success, or that it was not a good thing, but because we were not educated up to the idea of enjoyment, of throwing business cares aside and going in for a pleasant sociable time, free from business cares and anxiety. The object of the Civic Guild of Art and other organizations is to encourage more of the lighter spirit, to make the city beautiful and attractive and interesting for young and old. We have been going distinctly backward during the past few years. We are gradually losing all the old, familiar playgrounds, and the athletic clubs that we had a few years ago have passed out of existence. Those of you who were once Toronto boys will remember the Queen’s Park. As a lad many happy hours were spent by me along the side of the little stream that used to run through there, and around the pond where the swans and other birds were to be found. There were ample playgrounds then, in which all the children of Toronto could enjoy themselves, but they have almost entirely disappeared, and .if you go to Queen’s Park now you will read the ominous sign, " Ball playing strictly prohibited," and the other day an order was issued prohibiting coasting down the hills.
Take our athletic clubs. You remember some years ago a number of public-spirited citizens organized the Toronto Athletic Club, and erected one of the finest club buildings to be found anywhere on the continent. This building, erected at a cost of $150,000, possessed the finest swimming tank in Canada. That building has since been diverted from its purpose, and turned into a technical school. Then we had another social club, on Church Street-the Athenaeum-and that building has been turned into a labour temple. And, one by one, we have been allowing these athletic clubs to go out of existence. I was enquiring why this was, and some gentlemen interested in these matters said it was because they could not get the privilege of selling whiskey. That seemed to me to be a great reflection-that we cannot have athletic clubs without having to sell liquor in such places. These are two indications of the backward trend. We have lost the Queen’s Park as a playground, and these athletic buildings, and are rapidly filling up every vacant space of land in the city. Lands suitable for playgrounds could have been bought a few years ago for an almost nominal sum; today they ore valuable; a few years from now they will be ten times as valuable; and, twenty-five years hence, according to the city’s present rate of development, they will be too valuable for purchase.
The other day the Superintendent of our schools talked of establishing a playground on the top of the York Street School, because land in that vicinity was getting too valuable. Are we not coming to a pretty pass when we are talking of building playgrounds on the top of the schools? When Mr. R. J. Fleming was Assessment Commissioner he advocated the establishing of a playground, or recreation garden, on the top of the freight sheds down at the .bay, where the poor could go with their children and get a fine view of the water. It was frowned down by the aldermen, because it would cost two or three thousand dollars more than an ordinary shaped roof; and the fact is that today you are not able to see the water-front of Toronto without paying a fare and going over to the Island. Our City Council has made some attempt to provide playgrounds. There was a piece of land set apart for a playground between Yonge and Bay Streets, land that today is worth $300,000. But, through lack of knowledge or interest, that piece of land has not been put to the use for which it was intended, and is simply a dumping-ground for tin cans, a place for weeds to -row, and for loafers and drunks to assemble in the summer time. That land might be made one of the most attractive and interesting places in this city, or any city, if it only had the right kind of management.
Now, you know that athletics will bring more fame to a city than anything else. You know what fame was brought to Toronto by Hanlan and Longboat, and Sherring has brought fame to Hamilton; but, gentlemen, Z ask you what facilities are we providing for the growing children of this city to acquire anything like physical skill or endurance? Very little, I fear, in a practical, definite way. Longboat was brought to the front and trained by Mr. Ashley, physical director of the West End Y.M.C.A. A few days ago Mr. Ashley sent in his resignation. He is going into business, to the great regret and sorrow of a large number of boys and young men in the West End, who have looked upon him as a friend. He is going out of athletics because there is not enough encouragement to make it worth his while. Only this week Mr. Crocker, one of the finest men in this country, physical director in the Central Y.M.C.A., handed in his resignation. He, too, is going into business, largely because no adequate salaries are paid to men who make athletic instruction their vocation.
This subject of playgrounds and play life has been lost sight of in the civic life of Toronto. There is no reason why we should not have numerous playgrounds. If I had my way, I would take the block of land in front of the City Hall and establish there a playground and open-air gymnasium, and have one of the best men directing the sports of the young people. Just consider for a moment the influence that would have on the social life of the people of Toronto! You would have an object lesson always before the people of rational enjoyment; and the happiness of the children playing there would reflect into the lives of the men and women passing by, and who need something to cheer them up. Nowadays we are getting to look on the sad side of life altogether too much, and we ought to keep constantly in mind that man needs diversion, needs to forget the cares and worries of business life; and if we cannot be happy ourselves, if we are too busy making money to take time to enjoy life, let us at least provide the facilities for boys and girls to be young while they are young.
The whole tendency of modern times seems to be to make prematurely old people out of boys and girls. Take our school life. Children are expected to learn too fast; are given a whole lot of lessons to take home at night, worrying their little brains, and also worrying the life out of their parents trying to answer questions that are quite beyond them. Many of the nervous diseases that people suffer from today are due to overwork in school and to that senseless rush to get an education fast. A father told me the other day of his daughter, seventeen years of age, who had matriculated and was ready to enter the University. And in all our universities we have boys and girls who are mere children, not mature enough to get the full benefit of a university course. In the matter of child-labour we are constantly trying to get people to see that the boys and girls ought to be kept in school and in the home life until fifteen or sixteen years of age, so that they may gain strength and know the joy and happiness of existence before they get into the harness of the factory or shop and the hard grind of earning a living.
In Toronto we have not one playground that is worthy to be so called. We have athletic fields in the suburbs, but they are a long way off. When speaking of this subject to the Parks Commissioner, he pointed to the splendid athletic fields in High Park and Riverdale. They are all right, but I can tell you of lots of little fellows in "the Ward" and centres of the city who have gone out to those places and been so tired that they have not been able to enjoy themselves, and then they have had to trudge all the way back home again: These athletic fields are necessary and desirable, but we ought to have, in addition, right in the heart of the city, even if the land is valuable, small playgrounds, properly equipped and supervised, where the children can play to their hearts’ content. A great deal of attention is now being given to these subjects in New York and Chicago and other large cities. They decided to have a play festival in Chicago, in order to encourage the idea of regular games; and do you know that there was not an American child in Chicago who knew anything about games, and they had to get the different nationalities–foreigners who had come there as strangers-to dress up in their national costumes and go through their national plays to show America how they used to enjoy themselves before they came over here to make money?
These central playgrounds need not be very extensive. The aldermen apparently have the idea that they must be large spaces. In many places about two hundred feet frontage would be sufficient, or even one hundred feet frontage if there is a good depth, to put up swings and see-saws and other games. Then, it is often lost sight of that girls and very small children need play as much as the boys. They require for their physical development and health this vigorous exercise just as much as the large boys. You remember the penalty England had to pay for neglecting physical training and play life! When the Boer War broke out they were compelled to reject almost every second man because his physiques was not up to the required standard. How important it is, then, from a national standpoint that we should develop the play spirit! A man cannot be successful in business, in school, or any other line, unless he has a sound and healthy body, and this can only be acquired by careful attention to hygienic law.
Playgrounds require supervision. The reason why the playground at the foot of Yonge Street is perfectly useless is that there is no one to supervise it. It is used as a meeting place .by a lot of fellows who do no good to themselves or to anyone else. To show how it might be turned to good account, let me give the following instance: There was a club of young fellows in St. John’s Ward, in whom a number of ladies were interested. They got the use of these grounds for their annual games, and the ladies went down to encourage the boys in their competitions. They provided lemonade for the boys, and encouraged them to be fair and honorable. A gentleman said to me afterwards: " I pass there a great deal, and, to my utter astonishment, on this occasion I did not hear a word of profanity." The reason was the presence of the young ladies, and the boys were too manly, too chivalrous, to use any expressions that their friends should not hear. Athletics should be under the direction of men who love children and want to see them have a good time.- This very morning a gentleman came to me and asked., me if I would have the law altered so that lads under the age of eighteen would be prohibited from going into billiard rooms. I said to him: " Billiards is a fine game." " But," said he, "the associations are bad." The game is all right, but the associations are bad. The fact is, we have allowed fine games, such as ninepins and billiards, to get down into the saloons and back of cigar stores, where there is gambling and an altogether wrong spirit.
Should we not elevate these things? Why not have these clubs properly maintained and have opportunities so that the poorest boy in the land could learn to swim, and where young men could play billiards and have a good time without the slur that they are loafers and bummers and that they are wasting their time? These are Christian people who convey the impression that religion is a sad-faced, heavy-hearted thing. If I believed that I would give up Christianity. But I know that the Lord never intended us to go through the world with a sad, long face. He wants us to be happy and enjoy life. Let us, therefore, take a little more time from business, and go in for simple enjoyments. An old man said to me the other day: "I never take a pill or medicine of any kind. When I get run down and out of sorts I go out and play golf." And, gentlemen, I want to tell you that is the best medicine any of you can ever take. I am here largely in the interests of the children. Play is good for you, but it is better for them, and if you have not got the time to consider this yourself, do everything in your power to see that the boys and girls are provided with opportunities for enjoyment, so that they may grow up strong and well and able to battle with life. Take our friend, Inspector Hughes-over sixty years of age, and with the heart of a boy. Where did he get his exuberance of spirit? On the lacrosse field; and there are many men in business today whose best possession is good health, which they owe to the fact that they belonged to the old Toronto Lacrosse Club. And, let me say this, in conclusion, that a young fellow who goes in heartily for athletics and for clean sport is going to make a fine man and a good citizen. He is bound to reflect that happiness that springs from good health into the minds and hearts of those around him, and thus add very materially to the sum total of human happiness.
The Hon. A. B. Morine, K.C., President of the Guild of Civic Art, spoke briefly.
At three o’clock this afternoon the City Council meets in special session to consider the report of a select committee upon the management of parks. My speech to you will confine itself almost altogether to asking that every man here who has heard the address of Mr. Kelso will show his real interest in the matter by going up to the session of the City Council and hearing what is said there, and, by your presence, bring your influence to bear upon that very good report. I trust that this request will be taken earnestly to himself by every man, and that you will not allow the claims of business to prevent you from expressing in this way your interest in the matter. The principle of the report which has been presented is that the management of the parks and playgrounds of the city, and kindred subjects of that kind, shall be placed under the control of a Commission. The detailed proposal, as distinguished from the principle, is that the commission shall be elected by the citizens at large. I make this distinction for this reason, that even the Guild of Civic Art have had amongst themselves differences of opinion as to the best manner in which such a body should be formed. Some have thought of an appointed body, some of an elected body, some of a partly appointed and partly elected one; but all of us have agreed-anal I am sure almost every citizen agrees-on the main question; that there should be a Commission of some sort.
We want a separation of municipal functions. We say that the City Council, in their dealings with all the varied subjects that come before them, would be more than mortal if they did well with all of them. We want this thing to be in charge of a number of men who will have nothing else to do in the way of civic duties, who will be held responsible to those who appoint or elect them for the faithful discharge of their duty in this one respect. Suppose you have a Committee of the City Council dealing with it; if that Committee had nothing at all to do but that, they probably would do as well as a Commission, but they do have other things to do, and if they do not do well, how can we call them to account? They are elected by wards; they have a thousand and one questions to deal with. When they come before the ward for re-election it is not possible to judge them by what they did about parks; you can never bring them to judgment and pass your verdict upon them in one particular. This is not fair to them and it is not fair to the city. We contend that if we have a Commission charged with the care of the parks, elected by the people, or even appointed, we can look to it and prevent it from having anything to do with any other branch of the public services. Upon that particular branch of the public service we can say, "You did well and deserve re-election," or, "You did ill and deserve punishment." The essence of good government is to have a ready means of calling a man to account and rewarding him or punishing him according to his deserts.
That is the sort of thing that you cannot expect from a committee of the City Council. I have heard many complain of various things in the city, and I do not always agree with the complaint. I know that generally members of these bodies are better than the men who throw stones at them. I find no fault with the City Council of Toronto in the work that it has done in the main. I think a great deal of good work has been done in the city. There is a large amount of park ground in Toronto, and it reflects credit, but the faults that we have to find arid the complaints we have to make (and the recent evidence that has been taken proves the existence and the causes of those mistakes) are not so much the faults of the men as the faults of the system. It is said that the members of the City Council are so wedded to the exercise of patronage that they are not prepared to consider this matter on its merits. I am not one who agrees with that at all. I believe they will deal with it on its merits.
Address by Mr. J. J. KELSO, Ontario Superintendent of Neglected Children, before the Empire Club of Canada.
Mr. President and Gentlemen,–
I want to bring before your attention the necessity of play, the necessity that men should realize and enjoy life, and not allow the over-civilization of the age to crush out the spirit of enjoyment and conviviality and good comradeship. There is a tendency nowadays to make life too commercial and to ignore the fact that man is an animal and that he requires a good deal of recreation, requires to be limbered up, if he is going to get any satisfaction out of life at all. Many of us are hurrying on toward the latter end of our journey without taking enough time to enjoy the pleasant things by the way or to appreciate all the opportunities that surround us for rational enjoyment.
We have not given much attention in Toronto to the subject of play, and I think I can convince you of this in a few moments. In the older civilizations, in Europe, they have their national play festivals and the people devote themselves heart and soul to this enjoyment, and are not too proud or dignified to laugh and have a good time. You know it is almost a crime to laugh in Toronto, and one has to be very dignified and grave; although we are told that a good laugh is better than medicine any time. In the older civilizations they give more attention to the matter of play than we do here. You have all heard about Merry Old England, with its Village Green and Maypole and interesting stories of olden-time festivities, although, I am afraid, these are disappearing in the England of today. In the United States the only place, so far, that has developed the festival idea to any extent is New Orleans, where the people have the delightful mardi gras, lasting for three days, but looked forward to with anticipation for months.
We made an attempt at something of that kind some years ago. We had a summer carnival-four days of solid enjoyment. That was a dismal failure. And why? Not because we did not want it to be a success, or that it was not a good thing, but because we were not educated up to the idea of enjoyment, of throwing business cares aside and going in for a pleasant sociable time, free from business cares and anxiety. The object of the Civic Guild of Art and other organizations is to encourage more of the lighter spirit, to make the city beautiful and attractive and interesting for young and old. We have been going distinctly backward during the past few years. We are gradually losing all the old, familiar playgrounds, and the athletic clubs that we had a few years ago have passed out of existence. Those of you who were once Toronto boys will remember the Queen’s Park. As a lad many happy hours were spent by me along the side of the little stream that used to run through there, and around the pond where the swans and other birds were to be found. There were ample playgrounds then, in which all the children of Toronto could enjoy themselves, but they have almost entirely disappeared, and .if you go to Queen’s Park now you will read the ominous sign, " Ball playing strictly prohibited," and the other day an order was issued prohibiting coasting down the hills.
Take our athletic clubs. You remember some years ago a number of public-spirited citizens organized the Toronto Athletic Club, and erected one of the finest club buildings to be found anywhere on the continent. This building, erected at a cost of $150,000, possessed the finest swimming tank in Canada. That building has since been diverted from its purpose, and turned into a technical school. Then we had another social club, on Church Street-the Athenaeum-and that building has been turned into a labour temple. And, one by one, we have been allowing these athletic clubs to go out of existence. I was enquiring why this was, and some gentlemen interested in these matters said it was because they could not get the privilege of selling whiskey. That seemed to me to be a great reflection-that we cannot have athletic clubs without having to sell liquor in such places. These are two indications of the backward trend. We have lost the Queen’s Park as a playground, and these athletic buildings, and are rapidly filling up every vacant space of land in the city. Lands suitable for playgrounds could have been bought a few years ago for an almost nominal sum; today they ore valuable; a few years from now they will be ten times as valuable; and, twenty-five years hence, according to the city’s present rate of development, they will be too valuable for purchase.
The other day the Superintendent of our schools talked of establishing a playground on the top of the York Street School, because land in that vicinity was getting too valuable. Are we not coming to a pretty pass when we are talking of building playgrounds on the top of the schools? When Mr. R. J. Fleming was Assessment Commissioner he advocated the establishing of a playground, or recreation garden, on the top of the freight sheds down at the .bay, where the poor could go with their children and get a fine view of the water. It was frowned down by the aldermen, because it would cost two or three thousand dollars more than an ordinary shaped roof; and the fact is that today you are not able to see the water-front of Toronto without paying a fare and going over to the Island. Our City Council has made some attempt to provide playgrounds. There was a piece of land set apart for a playground between Yonge and Bay Streets, land that today is worth $300,000. But, through lack of knowledge or interest, that piece of land has not been put to the use for which it was intended, and is simply a dumping-ground for tin cans, a place for weeds to -row, and for loafers and drunks to assemble in the summer time. That land might be made one of the most attractive and interesting places in this city, or any city, if it only had the right kind of management.
Now, you know that athletics will bring more fame to a city than anything else. You know what fame was brought to Toronto by Hanlan and Longboat, and Sherring has brought fame to Hamilton; but, gentlemen, Z ask you what facilities are we providing for the growing children of this city to acquire anything like physical skill or endurance? Very little, I fear, in a practical, definite way. Longboat was brought to the front and trained by Mr. Ashley, physical director of the West End Y.M.C.A. A few days ago Mr. Ashley sent in his resignation. He is going into business, to the great regret and sorrow of a large number of boys and young men in the West End, who have looked upon him as a friend. He is going out of athletics because there is not enough encouragement to make it worth his while. Only this week Mr. Crocker, one of the finest men in this country, physical director in the Central Y.M.C.A., handed in his resignation. He, too, is going into business, largely because no adequate salaries are paid to men who make athletic instruction their vocation.
This subject of playgrounds and play life has been lost sight of in the civic life of Toronto. There is no reason why we should not have numerous playgrounds. If I had my way, I would take the block of land in front of the City Hall and establish there a playground and open-air gymnasium, and have one of the best men directing the sports of the young people. Just consider for a moment the influence that would have on the social life of the people of Toronto! You would have an object lesson always before the people of rational enjoyment; and the happiness of the children playing there would reflect into the lives of the men and women passing by, and who need something to cheer them up. Nowadays we are getting to look on the sad side of life altogether too much, and we ought to keep constantly in mind that man needs diversion, needs to forget the cares and worries of business life; and if we cannot be happy ourselves, if we are too busy making money to take time to enjoy life, let us at least provide the facilities for boys and girls to be young while they are young.
The whole tendency of modern times seems to be to make prematurely old people out of boys and girls. Take our school life. Children are expected to learn too fast; are given a whole lot of lessons to take home at night, worrying their little brains, and also worrying the life out of their parents trying to answer questions that are quite beyond them. Many of the nervous diseases that people suffer from today are due to overwork in school and to that senseless rush to get an education fast. A father told me the other day of his daughter, seventeen years of age, who had matriculated and was ready to enter the University. And in all our universities we have boys and girls who are mere children, not mature enough to get the full benefit of a university course. In the matter of child-labour we are constantly trying to get people to see that the boys and girls ought to be kept in school and in the home life until fifteen or sixteen years of age, so that they may gain strength and know the joy and happiness of existence before they get into the harness of the factory or shop and the hard grind of earning a living.
In Toronto we have not one playground that is worthy to be so called. We have athletic fields in the suburbs, but they are a long way off. When speaking of this subject to the Parks Commissioner, he pointed to the splendid athletic fields in High Park and Riverdale. They are all right, but I can tell you of lots of little fellows in "the Ward" and centres of the city who have gone out to those places and been so tired that they have not been able to enjoy themselves, and then they have had to trudge all the way back home again: These athletic fields are necessary and desirable, but we ought to have, in addition, right in the heart of the city, even if the land is valuable, small playgrounds, properly equipped and supervised, where the children can play to their hearts’ content. A great deal of attention is now being given to these subjects in New York and Chicago and other large cities. They decided to have a play festival in Chicago, in order to encourage the idea of regular games; and do you know that there was not an American child in Chicago who knew anything about games, and they had to get the different nationalities–foreigners who had come there as strangers-to dress up in their national costumes and go through their national plays to show America how they used to enjoy themselves before they came over here to make money?
These central playgrounds need not be very extensive. The aldermen apparently have the idea that they must be large spaces. In many places about two hundred feet frontage would be sufficient, or even one hundred feet frontage if there is a good depth, to put up swings and see-saws and other games. Then, it is often lost sight of that girls and very small children need play as much as the boys. They require for their physical development and health this vigorous exercise just as much as the large boys. You remember the penalty England had to pay for neglecting physical training and play life! When the Boer War broke out they were compelled to reject almost every second man because his physiques was not up to the required standard. How important it is, then, from a national standpoint that we should develop the play spirit! A man cannot be successful in business, in school, or any other line, unless he has a sound and healthy body, and this can only be acquired by careful attention to hygienic law.
Playgrounds require supervision. The reason why the playground at the foot of Yonge Street is perfectly useless is that there is no one to supervise it. It is used as a meeting place .by a lot of fellows who do no good to themselves or to anyone else. To show how it might be turned to good account, let me give the following instance: There was a club of young fellows in St. John’s Ward, in whom a number of ladies were interested. They got the use of these grounds for their annual games, and the ladies went down to encourage the boys in their competitions. They provided lemonade for the boys, and encouraged them to be fair and honorable. A gentleman said to me afterwards: " I pass there a great deal, and, to my utter astonishment, on this occasion I did not hear a word of profanity." The reason was the presence of the young ladies, and the boys were too manly, too chivalrous, to use any expressions that their friends should not hear. Athletics should be under the direction of men who love children and want to see them have a good time.- This very morning a gentleman came to me and asked., me if I would have the law altered so that lads under the age of eighteen would be prohibited from going into billiard rooms. I said to him: " Billiards is a fine game." " But," said he, "the associations are bad." The game is all right, but the associations are bad
