The mother’s appreciation of child psychology began in the days when she excused baby pranks often misunderstood by others with the statement that “he is just playing.” Realizing the persistence of that play instinct all through childish development, and never eliminated in fact, women have sought to direct play so that it may not react to the injury of the player. That is the explanation of all the intimate guarding of children from the moment they learn to walk and then on until the child leaves the protection of home. Public recreation is but the effort to provide better and safer places for babies to play in, for growing boys and girls to combine the work they later desire with play or to make work their play, as they do instinctively themselves when conditions are suitable, and for adults to come together for that conviviality or stimulation through association which leaves no sting in additional family expenditures or ill health or misery. From all over the country we hear of women initiating and carrying through movements to provide play facilities for young and old. PLAYGROUNDS We may cite a single example which may serve as an inspiration to other public-spirited women. A few weeks before her death, Mary Graham Jones, of Hartford, Connecticut, who did so much during her life for the betterment of child life and neighborhood life in her native city, submitted to the city authorities a plan for providing small local playgrounds for young children in various parts of the city. Her scheme was that each playground should be near enough to its neighborhood to make it convenient and safe for the children to reach and use it. The report recommended the leasing from the city at nominal rent of a dozen or more vacant lots, the preparation of the lots to be in the hands of the park department and their supervision in the hands of the department of education. The juvenile commission of Hartford petitioned the board of aldermen for permission to lease these lots and for an appropriation to pay for their support. The request was granted, and $2,500 was allowed for the first year’s expense. Nearly all this sum was expended and the work was carried out under the supervision of the superintendent of parks, with various successful results. It seems highly probable that the work will be continued another summer and perhaps something may be done during the winter to provide for skating and like sports. Thus the citizens of Hartford feel that Miss Jones has left their children a city-wide playground system as an enduring legacy. The Mary Graham Jones Playground is the name given by the North Street Settlement of Hartford to a place set aside for all neighborhood children under nine years of age. Miss Jones had spent sixteen years in settlement and child welfare work in Hartford. In 1900 she became headworker of the North Street Settlement.[18]