The

man who has children is more free than the man who has none. man who has friends is more free than the man who has to stand alone, and the man who has a great work in the world is more free than the idler. So the term "free play," in the sense of putting a multitude of children in a lot and letting them do as they please, is a contradiction, an absolute contradiction. And I suggest in passing that that solution of the play problem for children or adults is not only not true, but is vicious. There must be that kind of control which is known as "mutual consent control," which comes through tradition, through experience.

Along in the middle of the teens, this great passion for team games comes in; and the boy wants to play baseball, football, and other games in which the team and not merely the individual is glorified. Then it is that the highest type of moral power is arrived at. The individual comes to his own by sinking himself into the consciousness of the whole. If I understand anything at all about the present movement in theology, as presented for example by President King, this is the social consciousness- this tying together of the individual with the group in such a sense that the individual is not under compulsion but is in the group so that he is at his highest when he is completely lost in the team. And if this idea can continue to extend till it embraces all society, then it seems to me, and only then will be realized this passionate devotion of the individual― not seeking self-expression as an end, but seeking to ally the self with that great game which is more intensely interesting than anything else in the world, the "game of the whole." Then will play make a real contribution to ethics.

DISCUSSION

GEORGE ALBERT COE, PÅ. D.

PROFESSOR NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY, EVANSTON, ILL.

The addresses to which we have listened are noteworthy, not only because of what they contain, but also because of what they leave out. On two of these negative points there has been complete unanimity: First, no speaker has treated the so-called non-religious aids to religion as mere bait for bringing the young under religious influences; Second, no speaker has treated them as mere preventives of evil. On the contrary, every speaker has found in them inherent value for characterformation.

This is a new note in religious practice. Not very long ago the social and recreational work of the Church with the young, and even the literary opportunities that were offered, were looked upon as mere means to

an end outside themselves; they were devices for which apologies were often made. Similarly play was looked upon as at best a means of keeping children or young people from doing something worse. But to-day, we are reaching a larger view of religion and a truer view of the growth of personality. Religion, we discover, is no mere department of human life, but rather abundance of life. It includes every constructive force and excludes only that which destroys. Hence, when the psychologist tells us that play is a necessary part of the educative process, we see God's hand in the play impulse, and we begin to co-operate with the Creator by providing playgrounds for city children. When. we learn from physiology and psychology the true significance of muscular development for mental growth, we turn to and build gymnasiums in the name of the Lord! Let the new generation thank God that we have attained to an inclusive view of religion!

Would that all the college presidents of the country might have heard these papers. For in the colleges there still lingers the notion of using athletic exercises as bait to attract students or as a preventive of college disorder or of vice, rather than as an integral part of the process of character-formation. It is doubtful whether athletic enterprises do, as a matter of fact, so attract students to the colleges as to promote the scholastic ends that are professed. On the other hand, the position thus assigned to athletics contributes to the degradation of college sports a degradation that has already become a national scandal. The way out is to adopt the standpoint of the papers to which we have listened. Athletic sports must be incorporated into the educational process. We must do vastly more than regulate or suppress them; vastly more than patronize and apologize; we must consecrate them to the service of God by making them serve systematically, scientifically, in the development of a rounded manhood.

CHARACTER MAKING IN BOYS' CAMPS

EDGAR M. ROBINSON

SECRETARY FOR BOYS' WORK OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS

The boys' camps of the country range from that of the small group of boys who go out doing all their work and "roughing it" in the real sense of the word to the well-established, high-priced camp, where every luxury is furnished where the boy simply presses the button and somebody else does the rest. In some camps, the boys wear, in fine weather, little beside a pleasant expression and a bathing suit, while in other camps they must of necessity be dressed in all the frills of civilization because of constant visitors and the proximity of summer hotels. An increasing number of camps, however, ranging from twenty to two hundred in each, are taking to the woods with a clear-cut purpose, with competent and trained leadership, with elastic and effective organization, and are seeking a place where at least the fundamental element of roughing it can be wisely introduced, and where nature will have at least half a chance. Now, what is there in such boys' camps that makes for character?

First: There are natural physical conditions. The food in camp is plain, and there is plenty of it; the sunlight and the pure air have a far greater opportunity to help the boy here than at home. The exercise at camp is in striking contrast with the hours spent in the schoolroom and at home. An expression of vitality which would raise the roof at home is thoroughly in keeping with the surroundings; the day is so full of activity that the night is filled with a quality of sleep which is possible only to those who are tired in a wholesome physical way.

It is impracticable for the idea of "roughing it" to be carried to great lengths with city boys who have never learned to do things for themselves, but the best sentiment favors the introduction of as much of the "roughing it" element as is practicable, and boys are encouraged to do hard things. All of these things make for wholesomeness, for fiber, for character. The harder things a boy does or endures, the stronger man he will become; the more unselfish and noble things he does, the better man he will become.

Second: There are natural social conditions. There comes a time in the life of every boy when, in order to take his place among his fellows, he must, to a certain extent, break away from his former almost exclusive

relation to the home. The boy who in reply to the question, "What are you going to be when you grow up?" said, "I'd like to be a man, but I think mother wants me to be a lady," indicates a frequent condition. The more indulgent the home, the harder perhaps will it be for a boy to find his level among his fellows. In camp, however, every boy must stand on his own merits and win his place in the esteem of his companions. He finds that he must give and take with the other fellows; that he must, to a degree previously unknown to him, do his own thinking, look out for himself, and help the other fellow, too. In many camps there has been introduced what is called the honor system, whereby a boy may win certain honors for certain achievements. In the competitive system, the boy who beats all others wins the distinction of the prize; in the honor system, every boy who measures up to a certain standard gets the recognition; boys who measure up to a greater standard get what is sometimes called "a grand honor," or a greater recognition, but each boy's honors are accumulated by his achievements, and not by the defeat of other fellows. It is remarkable how few rules are needed in the best conducted camps. They proceed upon the assumption that rules are for the unruly, and therefore they need none; that if unruly persons are discovered in the camp, two courses of action are left open: one, to get rid of the unruly members; the other, to allow the unruly members to bring a rule which shall bind the entire camp. This makes every boy the protector of the interests of the camp, and by caution and otherwise they prevent heedless and impetuous boys from doing things which might bring the rule upon the entire company. All these things make for character.

Third: There are natural educational conditions. If education is a means for interpreting things about us and expressing things within us, rather than a process of accumulating facts, the educational conditions. at camp may well be called natural if not ideal. One cannot see the boy upon the seashore in the storm, when the waves are pounding in, and watch the expression of both face and figure, without recognizing the effect that these natural surroundings are having upon him. The flashing eye, the deep-drawn breath, the tense muscles, all tell the story of the scene of the intense activity and conflict and struggle and victory in which he for the time being is living.

If much that boys learn comes from conscious and unconscious imitation, and if the leaders of the camp are as near ideal as can be found, the lessons that are taught and the lessons that are caught from constant companionship, day and night, in storm and in shine, in story and in serious talks, are of incalculable educational value to the boy. If it

is true that many of life's greatest lessons are learned by doing, that is, by expressing ourselves in word and in action, then the camp furnishes again almost ideal conditions. Boys learn to do things at camp; not simply the cooking of food, the making of ovens, the building of beds, climbing of mountains, and a host of other things, but they know the satisfaction that comes from the creation of even the most simple contrivances, whether it is a chute the chutes for swimming, a tree-house, or a three-legged stool.

There are natural educational conditions in the boys' camp which make for character, which help him in the interpretation of things without and the expression of things within.

Fourth: There are natural moral and religious conditions. It is not a far cry from nature to nature's God. The city streets, with their sights and sounds, remind him continually of man, and not always the best type of man, but when he sees the mountain, the lake, the trees, the stars, and in fact, wherever he turns, he is reminded of God, who made these things, rather than man. He sees in the laws of God a providence not only wise and powerful, but kind. He sees in the lives of the Christian men who are there as leaders how natural it is to live in harmony with the laws of God. He sees frequently that the best athletes among the boys are those with the deepest religious life, and that these things, instead of interfering, help each other. In camp the boy has time to think, and his environment leads him to think of the Creator and his relation and obligation to Him, as he cannot think in the city with its noise and haste and bustle, its absence of God's handiwork, and its presence of man's creation. Men of long experience claim that a month in camp with the boys affords a larger religious opportunity than the remaining eleven months in the city.

In conclusion, saving faith is an act of the will rather than of the intellect. A combination of three kinds of faith is necessary for the well-developed character of the adolescent boy. First, faith in himself, which he learns by determinedly expressing himself in words and deeds. He soon discovers that he can do things, and his faith in himself grows. Second, faith in the other fellow grows as he determinedly believes in the other fellow, and his belief helps the other fellow to be what he knows he is expected to be. Third, faith in God, which grows as he deliberately shapes his life in accordance with the will of God, and in the process discovers the readiness with which God co-operates with him.