“Justice, moderation, self-control, truthfulness, loyalty, brotherly feeling and again, strict impartiality--who, when he approaches a group of boys engaged in such games, could fail to catch the fragrance of these delicious blossomings of the heart and mind and of a firm will; not to mention the beautiful, though perhaps less fragrant, blossoms of courage, perseverance, resolution, prudence, together with the severe elimination of indolent indulgence? Flowers of still more delicate fragrance bloom … forbearance, consideration, sympathy and encouragement for the weaker, younger and more delicate; fairness to those who are as yet unfamiliar with the game. “Would that all who, in the education of boys, barely tolerate playgrounds might consider these things! There are, indeed, many harsh words and many rude deeds, but the sense of power must needs precede its cultivation. Keen, clear and penetrating are the boy’s eyes; keen and decided therefore, even harsh and severe is his judgment of those who are his equals, or who claim equality with him in judgment and power. “Every place should have its own common playground for the boys. Glorious results would come from this for the entire community. For at this period, games, whenever it is feasible, are common, and thus develop the feeling and desire for community and the laws and requirements of community. “The boy tries to see himself in his companions, to feel himself in them, to weigh and measure himself by them, to know and find himself with their help. Thus the games directly influence and educate the boy for life, awaken and cultivate many civil and moral virtues.”--_E., p. 113._ It was in watching boys one day--“boys,” he says, “of the right age for these plays, but whose life is not awakened, or has been dulled, and who now idly lounge around, getting in their own way, as it were”--that a friend said to him, “I do not understand how these boys cannot play, how many plays we had at their age!” And it is here that Froebel gives his version of the “surplus energy” theory when he writes: “In every case the plays of this age are or should be pure manifestations of strength and vitality, they are the product of fullness of life, and of pleasure in life. They presuppose actual vigour of life, both inner and outer. Where these are lacking, there cannot be true play, which, bearing life in itself, awakens, nourishes and heightens life.… This shows clearly that even the plays at this age should be under guidance[40], and the boy made ready for them, i.e. his life, his experience both in school and out of it, must be made so rich that it must necessarily break forth in joy from within, like the blossom from the swelling bud. Joy is the soul of every activity of boyhood at this period.”--_E., p. 303._