DOI issue:
May 1, 1858
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16621#0189
I---------
Mat i 1858.) PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI. 181
ragged playgrounds.
(who, in spite of the terrors of both beadles and police, can
hardly walk ten yards without hobbling from a hoop, 01
being blinded by a tip-cat) a Playground Society has been
recently established, for the purpose, as is stated, of " pro
viding playgrounds for poor children in populous places,'"
in which alliteration we may see that the Society minds
its p's at any rate, if it neglects its q's. The Society we
believe mainly owes its origin to the Rtsv. D. Laing ;
a man there's no de-laying from a good and useful work:
and as we see by the Prospectus that there are many noble
names aud many reverend to back him, we trust to find
the project promptly carried out.
We cannot think it possible that want of funds should
stop it; for money's now so plentiful, that capitalists
literally don't know what to do with it. Nine-tenths of
our Rothschildren, we think, will be obliged to us if we
tell them of a way to employ it to advantage; and the
best thing they can do with any spare cash that per-
plexes them would be to hand it over to the Ragged Play-
ground Treasurer. The investment would turn out to
their own personal advantage, besides being of advantage
to the players and the public. We fancy that few gentle-
men, who in their walks abroad have had their heels
tripped up by whipping-tops, or their hats knocked off by
skipping ropes, would not pay a good round sum to be
insured against such accidents; and it is by the Society
which we are pleased to advertise that such insurance
, clearly may be best effected. By providing Ragged Play-
but it very often j groun(js t'ne whipping and the skipping will be done
elsewhere than on the pavements, and will no more put
out the eyes or the tempers of the public.
But it is not only in the matter of the tip-cats that
having Ragged Playgrounds would conduce to public
safety. It is mainly from the ragged that we now draw
our recruits, and by strengthening them we should be
strengthening our national defences. It is therefore to
our interest not only to improve the ragged mind, but also
to improve the ragged limbs and muscles. In case
Napoleon Julius Gesar should ever try to land his
cohorts on our coast, it is as well to have our forces the
reverse of weaknesses. Want of play is apt, as we have
said, to stunt the growth; and perhaps the lowering of
the standard for our troops may be traced, in some degree,
to the want of Ragged Playgrounds. At present the
gymnastics of our ragged scholars are confined to hurry-
eky many people
have been talking
of the good of Rag-
ged Schools, but
very few people as
yet have said much
of the good of
having Ragged
Playgrounds. We
say advisedly " as
yet," because as
every one reads
Punch, and of
course more or
less, and perhaps
rather more than
less, is prone to
talk of what he
reads, it follows
that whatever sub-
ject we suggest be-
comes one at once
of universal con-
versation. Now,
t alking is not doing,
leads to it; and if
we desire to get
poor children breathing grounds, the first thing needful is to get the matter
ventilated, liaising the wind is a secondary process, and will duly follow in
the order of events.
It has been laid down by the wisdom of our ancestors, that "all work and
no play will make Jack a dull boy." But living as we do in advance of those
patriarchs, we are prepared to go still further than the point they stopped at, and
to assert as our conviction that, of ten times in eleven, all work and no play will
make Jack an ill boy. Ill, not only physically, but mentally and morally. To
bodies immature and not yet ripened intellects, wholesome recreation is a vital
necessity. The same thing maybe said of minds and bodies in maturity, but it
applies with greater force to those in progress of development. Human frames
will never reach their natural proportions, unless they are allowed proper
exercise in growing. If the muscles nave no play, the limbs will of necessity be
dwarfed and stunted. And if the mind have no play, it can never be a strong one.
It is as much a truth to-day as when vEsop wrote it, that bo ws and brains are ! scurrying ^ and
weakened if kept always on the stretch. Neque semper arcum. Not even an Apollo to turning headoverheelers to amuse Outside Barbarians
could always keep his back bent without growing a deformity.
Moreover, stint of wholesome play not only blights young muscles and debili-
tates young minds, but it also has a damaging effect upon young morals.
Recreation oeing a natural necessity, if the right sort can't be had, the wrong is
pretty sure to be. Deprive a boy of healthy fair and open games, and you drive
him to resort to unwholesome foul and sneaking ones. Deny him any playground
but a hole and corner court, and you'll find that he'll betake himself to hole
and corner games in it. In default of wholesome cricket, he'll become a dab at
chuck-farthing; aud will get from pitch and toss to still worse kinds of time-
slaughter.
Readers of enlightenment may say that there is nothing very new in these
remarks, but even Punch must sometimes be a platitudinarian. If one wants to
drive a nail and an old hammer will do it, one surely needn't take much pains to
find a new one. All we want to show is, that as Ragged Schools exist, there is
more than ever now a call for Ragged Playgrounds. A school without a play-
ground seems to our mind an anomaly. Education comprehends something
more than giving lessons. It must be carried on as well out of school as in it.
In helping ragged minds to food, we must help them to digest it. Children
can't be healthy, living always on hard dumpling. Wholesome recreation is as
necessary as knowledge: inasmuch that, as a rule, knowledge cannot lightly be
acquired without it.
If we mean then to teach the ragged young idea, we must give heed somewhat
to the ragged body likewise. And the first thing to be done is to provide it proper
play space. A good game of cricket has an elevating tendency, although perhaps
that epithet at first thought may be smiled at. It calls the judgment into play,
while developing the muscles. It is at any rate a fair, and a manly honest
game; and of better moral tendency than any furtive sneaking one. We would
not undervalue battledore and shuttlecock, or speak too slightingly of whip-
ping-tops or even tip-cats. But among our ragged scholars the pursuit of all
these games is always under difficulties. Their only playgrounds now are the
crowded public streets, where the kicks they get considerably exceed the half-
pence ; and the game of fly-the-Peeler with which their recreation commonly
concludes, must give them the idea that play is contrary to law, and is only to
be had by stealth, like pocket-handkerchiefs. Stealing out of doors to have a game
of marbles must soon get viewed in their eyes as a sort of petty larceny, which the
beadles and police are authorised to punish; and the frequent confiscation of
their tops and tip cats must, by adding the excitement of a contraband enjoy-
ment, infect the young ideas with.a tendency to smuggle.
To remedy these evils, ami afford at the same time relief to the pedestrian
who encourage the young athletes from the knifeboard of
an omnibus.
Now that money is so cheap, it is surely hardly needful
to use more words in asking for it. But if any Croesus
doubts if the Playground Society be worthy of support,
we should like to have the honour of presenting him at
Court—any court would do, in St. Giles's or St. James's,
—and we think we should be sure to get a good subscrip-
tion from him. Any one who watches our Olympic games
—we mean the games played in the streets at the back of
the Olympic—will by getting a good rap with a tip-cat on
his head, have his bump of Benevolence prodigiously
developed; and with a shuttlecock in his eye, and a peg-
top on his toes, will both see and feel the need of having
Ragged Playgrounds.
AN ACT OP GREAT MERCY.
Mercy lias already been gracefully extended to Mr.
Smith O'Brien. It still remains, however, to show him a
still greater act of mercy. It is well known that Mr.
Smith O'Brien has been recently distributing to the
"People of Ireland" some fulminating Letters, full of the
most inflammable sentiments, and explosive incentives.
In fact, they are epistolary hand-grenades, specially
fabricated for the Irish market. Now, it would only be
an act of mercy to prevent Mr. Smith O'Brien from
concocting any more mischievous Letters. If he has any
friends, who value his future liberty, they should do all in
their power to deny this bellicose letter-writer all access to
pen, ink, and paper. If not, we are only afraid that the
uuabaslied Epaminondas of the cabbage garden will be
doing himself some grievous bodily harm.
Friendly Hint to an East India Director.—A
man is known by the Company he keeps.
Mat i 1858.) PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI. 181
ragged playgrounds.
(who, in spite of the terrors of both beadles and police, can
hardly walk ten yards without hobbling from a hoop, 01
being blinded by a tip-cat) a Playground Society has been
recently established, for the purpose, as is stated, of " pro
viding playgrounds for poor children in populous places,'"
in which alliteration we may see that the Society minds
its p's at any rate, if it neglects its q's. The Society we
believe mainly owes its origin to the Rtsv. D. Laing ;
a man there's no de-laying from a good and useful work:
and as we see by the Prospectus that there are many noble
names aud many reverend to back him, we trust to find
the project promptly carried out.
We cannot think it possible that want of funds should
stop it; for money's now so plentiful, that capitalists
literally don't know what to do with it. Nine-tenths of
our Rothschildren, we think, will be obliged to us if we
tell them of a way to employ it to advantage; and the
best thing they can do with any spare cash that per-
plexes them would be to hand it over to the Ragged Play-
ground Treasurer. The investment would turn out to
their own personal advantage, besides being of advantage
to the players and the public. We fancy that few gentle-
men, who in their walks abroad have had their heels
tripped up by whipping-tops, or their hats knocked off by
skipping ropes, would not pay a good round sum to be
insured against such accidents; and it is by the Society
which we are pleased to advertise that such insurance
, clearly may be best effected. By providing Ragged Play-
but it very often j groun(js t'ne whipping and the skipping will be done
elsewhere than on the pavements, and will no more put
out the eyes or the tempers of the public.
But it is not only in the matter of the tip-cats that
having Ragged Playgrounds would conduce to public
safety. It is mainly from the ragged that we now draw
our recruits, and by strengthening them we should be
strengthening our national defences. It is therefore to
our interest not only to improve the ragged mind, but also
to improve the ragged limbs and muscles. In case
Napoleon Julius Gesar should ever try to land his
cohorts on our coast, it is as well to have our forces the
reverse of weaknesses. Want of play is apt, as we have
said, to stunt the growth; and perhaps the lowering of
the standard for our troops may be traced, in some degree,
to the want of Ragged Playgrounds. At present the
gymnastics of our ragged scholars are confined to hurry-
eky many people
have been talking
of the good of Rag-
ged Schools, but
very few people as
yet have said much
of the good of
having Ragged
Playgrounds. We
say advisedly " as
yet," because as
every one reads
Punch, and of
course more or
less, and perhaps
rather more than
less, is prone to
talk of what he
reads, it follows
that whatever sub-
ject we suggest be-
comes one at once
of universal con-
versation. Now,
t alking is not doing,
leads to it; and if
we desire to get
poor children breathing grounds, the first thing needful is to get the matter
ventilated, liaising the wind is a secondary process, and will duly follow in
the order of events.
It has been laid down by the wisdom of our ancestors, that "all work and
no play will make Jack a dull boy." But living as we do in advance of those
patriarchs, we are prepared to go still further than the point they stopped at, and
to assert as our conviction that, of ten times in eleven, all work and no play will
make Jack an ill boy. Ill, not only physically, but mentally and morally. To
bodies immature and not yet ripened intellects, wholesome recreation is a vital
necessity. The same thing maybe said of minds and bodies in maturity, but it
applies with greater force to those in progress of development. Human frames
will never reach their natural proportions, unless they are allowed proper
exercise in growing. If the muscles nave no play, the limbs will of necessity be
dwarfed and stunted. And if the mind have no play, it can never be a strong one.
It is as much a truth to-day as when vEsop wrote it, that bo ws and brains are ! scurrying ^ and
weakened if kept always on the stretch. Neque semper arcum. Not even an Apollo to turning headoverheelers to amuse Outside Barbarians
could always keep his back bent without growing a deformity.
Moreover, stint of wholesome play not only blights young muscles and debili-
tates young minds, but it also has a damaging effect upon young morals.
Recreation oeing a natural necessity, if the right sort can't be had, the wrong is
pretty sure to be. Deprive a boy of healthy fair and open games, and you drive
him to resort to unwholesome foul and sneaking ones. Deny him any playground
but a hole and corner court, and you'll find that he'll betake himself to hole
and corner games in it. In default of wholesome cricket, he'll become a dab at
chuck-farthing; aud will get from pitch and toss to still worse kinds of time-
slaughter.
Readers of enlightenment may say that there is nothing very new in these
remarks, but even Punch must sometimes be a platitudinarian. If one wants to
drive a nail and an old hammer will do it, one surely needn't take much pains to
find a new one. All we want to show is, that as Ragged Schools exist, there is
more than ever now a call for Ragged Playgrounds. A school without a play-
ground seems to our mind an anomaly. Education comprehends something
more than giving lessons. It must be carried on as well out of school as in it.
In helping ragged minds to food, we must help them to digest it. Children
can't be healthy, living always on hard dumpling. Wholesome recreation is as
necessary as knowledge: inasmuch that, as a rule, knowledge cannot lightly be
acquired without it.
If we mean then to teach the ragged young idea, we must give heed somewhat
to the ragged body likewise. And the first thing to be done is to provide it proper
play space. A good game of cricket has an elevating tendency, although perhaps
that epithet at first thought may be smiled at. It calls the judgment into play,
while developing the muscles. It is at any rate a fair, and a manly honest
game; and of better moral tendency than any furtive sneaking one. We would
not undervalue battledore and shuttlecock, or speak too slightingly of whip-
ping-tops or even tip-cats. But among our ragged scholars the pursuit of all
these games is always under difficulties. Their only playgrounds now are the
crowded public streets, where the kicks they get considerably exceed the half-
pence ; and the game of fly-the-Peeler with which their recreation commonly
concludes, must give them the idea that play is contrary to law, and is only to
be had by stealth, like pocket-handkerchiefs. Stealing out of doors to have a game
of marbles must soon get viewed in their eyes as a sort of petty larceny, which the
beadles and police are authorised to punish; and the frequent confiscation of
their tops and tip cats must, by adding the excitement of a contraband enjoy-
ment, infect the young ideas with.a tendency to smuggle.
To remedy these evils, ami afford at the same time relief to the pedestrian
who encourage the young athletes from the knifeboard of
an omnibus.
Now that money is so cheap, it is surely hardly needful
to use more words in asking for it. But if any Croesus
doubts if the Playground Society be worthy of support,
we should like to have the honour of presenting him at
Court—any court would do, in St. Giles's or St. James's,
—and we think we should be sure to get a good subscrip-
tion from him. Any one who watches our Olympic games
—we mean the games played in the streets at the back of
the Olympic—will by getting a good rap with a tip-cat on
his head, have his bump of Benevolence prodigiously
developed; and with a shuttlecock in his eye, and a peg-
top on his toes, will both see and feel the need of having
Ragged Playgrounds.
AN ACT OP GREAT MERCY.
Mercy lias already been gracefully extended to Mr.
Smith O'Brien. It still remains, however, to show him a
still greater act of mercy. It is well known that Mr.
Smith O'Brien has been recently distributing to the
"People of Ireland" some fulminating Letters, full of the
most inflammable sentiments, and explosive incentives.
In fact, they are epistolary hand-grenades, specially
fabricated for the Irish market. Now, it would only be
an act of mercy to prevent Mr. Smith O'Brien from
concocting any more mischievous Letters. If he has any
friends, who value his future liberty, they should do all in
their power to deny this bellicose letter-writer all access to
pen, ink, and paper. If not, we are only afraid that the
uuabaslied Epaminondas of the cabbage garden will be
doing himself some grievous bodily harm.
Friendly Hint to an East India Director.—A
man is known by the Company he keeps.