We as parents must recognize and help establish the truth of the law that the same virtue is needed in both sexes for the happy development of that family life on which the security of the race and the progress of civilization depend. CHAPTER IV RECREATION The old maxim, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy,” has been amplified in the past twenty-five years in many ways. All work and no play may make Jack a sick boy or a delinquent. If Jack plays not at all, neither can he work. What is true of Jack is true of all the members of Jack’s family and of all his relatives and neighbors. What is true of Jack is equally true of Jill. In order therefore to prevent dullness, illness, crime and delinquency, recreation has been provided in cities in homeopathic doses, at least, for Jack and Jill and their relatives and neighbors. The interest in, and advocacy of, municipal recreational facilities for the people of the urban districts grew out of the knowledge that, unless wholesome recreation is provided, unwholesome recreation will be sought and found. There is no alternative. Interesting figures have been compiled by Mrs. Max Thalheimer, Assistant Probation Officer of Syracuse, N. Y., which show that in one section of the city, where a public playground has been established, juvenile delinquency has decreased about 30 per cent. in two years. The neighborhood of the Frazer School Playground was selected for the study. The records show that during the year immediately preceding the establishment of the playground there were 127 cases from that neighborhood in the Juvenile Court, as compared with a total of but 180 cases for the two years which have since elapsed. The more time a child spends in well-directed play, the less time does he have to get into mischief.[17] It has also been made clear that municipal prevention of arrests, illness, unemployment, inefficiency, is cheaper than municipal care of delinquents and criminals, of the sick, of those illy equipped to earn a livelihood, and of the vicious whose supervision entails such administrative expense and anxiety. Even motives of economy therefore may lead to this form of municipal enterprise. Because the keynote to all modern social activity is prevention and because prevention is cheaper than cure always, recreation today is of public concern. That the public’s interest and belief in municipal recreation has been guided into faith in its educational advantages is due in no small degree to the patient work of women in behalf of amusement facilities. In their recreational work, women have also sought to make recreation serve the purposes of family unity, community spirit, and an increase in the real joy of living.