In this book we shall talk about some forms of play and recreation that are not strictly confined to children, but which we may still enjoy even after we have become grown men and women.  We shall also talk about some children’s games that some of the older readers may have outgrown.  While we play we keep our minds occupied by the sport, and at the same time we exercise our muscles and feed our lungs and our bodies with oxygen.

It is unfortunate that in school or college athletics those who need exercise the most are often those who are physically unfitted to play on the school teams.  In other words, we select our runners and jumpers and football players from among the stronger boys, while the weaker ones really need the benefit of the sport.  Every boy should take part in school games when possible even if he is not as swift or as strong as some other boys.

It is very unmanly of one boy to make fun of another because he is weak or clumsy or unskilful.  After all, the thing that counts and the thing that is most creditable is to make the most of our opportunities whatever they may be.  If an undersized or timid boy becomes stronger or more brave because he joins in games and sports, he deserves a hundred times more credit than the big, strong boy whom nature has given a sturdy frame and good lungs and who makes a place on the school team without any real effort.

If we live a natural, open-air life we shall have but little need of doctors or medicine.  Many of our grandmothers’ notions on how to keep well have changed in recent years.  Old-fashioned remedies made from roots and herbs have been almost completely replaced by better habits of life and common-sense ideas.  We used to believe that night air was largely responsible for fevers and colds.  Doctors now say that one of the surest ways to keep well is to live and sleep in the open air.  In many modern houses the whole family is provided with outside sleeping porches with absolutely no protection from the outside air but the roof.  I have followed the practice of sleeping in the open air for some time, and in midwinter without discomfort have had the temperature of my sleeping porch fall to six degrees below zero.  Of course it is foolish for any one to sleep exposed to rain or snow or to think that there is any benefit to be derived from being cold or uncomfortable.  The whole idea of open-air sleeping is to breathe pure, fresh air in place of the atmosphere of a house which, under the best conditions, is full of dust and germs.  If we become outdoor sleepers, coughs and colds will be almost unknown.  General Sherman once wrote a letter in which he said that he did not have a case of cold in his entire army and he attributed it to the fact that his soldiers slept and lived in the open air.

[Illustration:  A Child’s May Day Party (Photograph by Mary H. Northend)]