THE PLAY SPIRIT by Frederick Griggs

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 18, 1900

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 26, No. 16.

THE PLAY SPIRIT.

By Frederick Griggs

It is a fact that needs no careful observation, that the young of all forms of animal life have a spirit of playfulness. This may be seen in some of the lowest forms of life. They manifest in infancy activities, which, as they become older, cease. All enjoy the gambols of lambs, colts, calves, and the many other animals.

Now this playful spirit manifests itself perhaps more in children than in any other form of life. We must all grant that it is given by the Creator for some wise purpose, and, because this is so, it needs to be studied and turned to a right use. I recently heard of a young girl who was to play a difficult concerto in a musical program. As it came her time to play, she turned to her teacher, and in an animated manner whispered, “Isn’t this fun?” That spirit was a fortune, for it brought into her work a sprightliness and joy that is bound to win success.

Some time ago a paper announced that Dr. Adam Miller had propounded a new theory of the sun’s light. Dr. Miller was eighty-eight years old. In speaking of his experience, the paper said, “Of late he has been badly handicapped by the absence of sunlight, but when the clouds finally dispersed, he pitched into his investigations with the delight of a youth of twenty.” If the spirit manifested by this young miss, who played the difficult concerto, is continued until eighty-eight, she will always have the same joy and enthusiasm in her work that she had that evening. It is this spirit that brings pleasure into work. But this is nothing more nor less than the play spirit developed and trained. This is that which lifts us above the sordid cares of life, and fills our hours and days, even tho the sun is behind clouds, with joy. Its absence makes Jack, whether he be a boy or a man, dull.

“A moody child, and widely wise, Pursues a game with dullest eyes.”

With children, playing is something more than simply a manifestation of animal activities, as it is with colts and lambs. Play is a manifestation of animal activities, it is true, but in the child there is a mind which controls these activities. Thus play becomes a means of calling forth thought. In this view it possesses a seriousness which is often overlooked. Play tends to establish more harmonious relations between the mind and the body. The mind thinks, the body acts, or, vice versa, the spontaneous activities of the body demand thought.

Play has too long been considered as the wasting of energy on the part of children, and, therefore, too many parents feel that they must have that energy employed in a “more useful way,” and, as a result, the children of such parents have not had the opportunity to develop spontaneity of thought and action. Work does not call forth all the spontaneous activities of the child, and it is these spontaneous activities that are needed to do work thoroughly and well; for, if developed, they bring joy and energy to our work.

I do not mean to intimate in what I have here said, in contrasting work and play, that I do not believe that children should be given definite duties, which are to be faithfully performed, for I most certainly do, but I am simply emphasizing the trite old saying, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.” This is true, but the opposite is just as true, that “all play and no work makes Jack a big shirk.”

Let me again affirm that the small child’s mode of thinking is through play, as any one observant of little children knows; and to disregard this is to misjudge the child and to do violence to his nature. As a result, many children’s minds are darkened and their dispositions soured, because they are continually being dealt with from the adult point of view, forgetting that the little one is capable of possessing thought.

This method of dealing with children is driving more than one child into the firm belief that it is absolutely impossible for him to do anything right. This only manifests the great necessity of illustrations in dealing with the child mind. Games are the natural way for the play activities of the small child to manifest themselves, but, in speaking of games, I do so with some hesitation, for fear of being misunderstood, because it is charged that many games are followed by harmful results. But games may be the means of accomplishing very much in the education of the child.

It must not be forgotten, in this connection, that imagination plays an exceedingly important part in the mental operations of the child, and this causes a reality to all that he does. It may be seriously questioned whether a child does not have more real enjoyment in getting astride a broomstick and riding it around, than he would were it a real horse. Accordingly, whether a child is playing tag, driving horse, building a playhouse, or in whatever manner his playfulness is manifesting itself, the means of educating him are offered in a most practical manner, practical because he is thoroughly in agreement with these means.

Those games which involve a training of the various sense faculties, are to be most highly approved. Every year, examiners of men required to fill various places in which good clear senses, such as sight and hearing, are required, turn away an incredible number of applicants because of color-blindness or some other deficient sense. We are told that this is due not so much to anything that has been inherited as to a lack of proper development, and that the use of these senses has been lost because of atrophy through non-use. This is true of any one of the senses. Now children enjoy everything through the senses. A little fellow in a school-room solemnly arose and announced, “Oi loike that noise,” when a man was pounding in the room.

Much might be said of the delight of children over color. The same is true of feeling, taste, and smell. The flowers never seem so sweet, the pumpkin pie never tastes so good, the kitty’s fur generally does not seem so soft, after childhood days are gone. This must be due to a lack of proper training of the senses.

“O, the world is so full of a number of things, I am sure we ought all to be as happy as kings!”

FREDERICK GRIGGS.