THE AMERICAN WAY.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1929, 11 December 1913, Page 5

THE AMERICAN WAY.

MR PEIXOTTO TALKS TO COLLEGE BOYS.

At the distribution of sports prizes at St. Patrick's College, occasion, was taken bv Mr. Eustace Peixotto, the manager' of tho visiting American team of athletes, to address the assembled pupils. Mr. Pcixotto's address was in the nature of an informal talk, and his subject consisted of an explanation, per medium of a fino scries of lantern slides, of the organisation and administration of public school athletics in San Francisco and other cities of the Pacific Slope. This is a subject on which Mr. Peixotto is entitled to speak with authority, from llis official position as suporvfsor'of Public School Athletics and Director of tho Public Schools' Athletic League at San Francisco. To view these pictures was to bo convinced that the,,education., authorities in California 'regard the athletic side of a child's education as being not tho least important. The devices and apparatus which are installed in ,the. school grounds include all sorts of ingenious arrangements to tempt the rising generation to stretch their limb 3. Thus advantage has been taken of the propensity that ."■mall boys have for sliding down bannisters, and long smooth poles are set at an alluring slant to sots of uprights. But before tho slide can.be enjoyed, the would-be slider has first to climb on high. In a similar manner, sliding chutes arc provided, but whilst this apparatus is in decided favour with the small boys, it is not regarded too kindly by their parents—evidently from the toll it extracts from their clothing. While the foregoing applies for the most part to tho boys, the school girls have not been forgotten. An interesting part of their athletic education is the folk dances they are taught. These inchido German, Norwegian, Swedish, and Old English Morris dances. In addition to the playground equipment, most public schools have also an athletic centre, or gymnasium, which besides providing facilities for indoor athletics, is used for club rooms or amateur theatricals, etc. In Chicago many schools in the poorer districts are equipped with open-air swimming tanks. Before a swim is indulged in, however, tho child has to satisfy an inspector that his or her body is clean. To do this they have first to take a shower and uive themselves a good soaping. In this way the water is kept us clean as possible. In regard to school athletics, nothing is done haphazard. Every playground contains a male and female director, who organiso and conduct tho various games for tho bovs and girls respectively. In speaking of tho system, Mr. Peixotto said that undoubtedly they took- their athletics very seriously in America. _ His advice to his hearers was contained in a series of dont's. Don't smoke, drink, or keep late hours.