Sport and Recreation
The new Britannica is an exhaustive and practical compendium of sports, games, and recreations of all kinds. Part 6 of this Guide contains a survey of this department in the book. There are over 260 articles on sports and games alone, and they describe clearly how each is played, and also give expert advice. There is also much that is extremely interesting in the historical development of pastimes, a knowledge of which heightens the interest and pleasure of those who participate in them; and parents can be of real assistance to their children in instructing them about their sports, and by acquiring this information themselves can give sympathetic appreciation to the children’s amusements. Among the noteworthy contributions on sports and games there are Children’s Games (Vol. 6, p. 141), an article for parents by Alice B. Gomme, an expert on this subject; Games, Classical (Vol. 11, p. 443), an account which every boy will read with pleasure, by Francis Storr, editor of the Journal of Education, London; Athletic Sports (Vol. 2, p. 846); Base-Ball (Vol. 3, p. 458), by Edward Breck; Basket-Ball (Vol. 3, p. 483), Football (Vol. 10, p. 617), of which the American section is written by Walter Camp, the football expert; Kite-flying (Vol. 15, p. 839), by Major-Gen. Baden Powell; Marbles (Vol. 17, p. 679), by W. E. Garrett Fisher; Lawn Tennis (Vol. 16, p. 300), by R. J. McNeill; Swimming (Vol. 26, p. 231), by William Henry, founder and chief secretary of the Royal Life Saving Society; Skating (Vol. 25, p. 166), and Coasting (Vol. 6, p. 603).
Diverting Occupations
Recreation in the form of diverting occupations is sometimes more attractive to children, especially to those of a practical turn of mind, than sports and games. It is often difficult for parents to encourage these inclinations, since they themselves may not be familiar with the subjects for which their children show a special aptitude, and a real talent may thus fail to be cultivated. As soon as any particular bent in the child is discovered, a parent ought to consider it a duty to learn to help the boy or girl.
The new Encyclopaedia Britannica will, on all subjects of diverting occupations, prove of immense practical assistance to parents. They will find all that they need to know to help their children under such headings as Photography (Vol. 21, p. 485), by Sir William de Wiveleslie Abney, formerly president of the Royal Photographic Society, James Waterhouse also a former president of the same society, who writes on photographic apparatus, and A. H. Hinton, author of Practical Pictorial Photography, etc.; Bee, Bee Keeping (Vol. 3, p. 628), by W. B. Carr, formerly editor of the Bee-Keeper’s Record; the article Aviary, on the keeping of birds (Vol. 3, p. 60), by David Seth-Smith, formerly president of the Avicultural Society; Poultry and Poultry Farming (Vol. 22, p. 213), by Lewis Wright, author of The Practical Poultry-Keeper; Basket, Basket Making (Vol. 3, p. 481); Horticulture (Vol. 13, p. 741), by M. T. Masters, late editor of The Gardener’s Chronicle, W. R. W. Williams, superintendent of London County Council Botany Centre, John Weathers, author of Practical Guide to Garden Plants, Prof. Liberty Hyde Bailey, director of the College of Agriculture, Cornell University, and Peter Henderson; Carpentry (Vol. 5, p. 386), by James Bartlett, lecturer on construction, at Kings College, London; Conjuring (Vol. 6, p. 943), by John Algernon Clarke, G. Faur, and John Nevil Maskelyne.
CHAPTER LXII
FOR SCHOOL-CHILDREN
Importance of Correct First Impressions
When a stick of hot glass is drawn out, no matter how far it is stretched, the slender stick retains the original shape of the piece—square, round or oval. In the same way, a child’s mind retains in after life the shaping originally given to it. Everyone knows from personal experience how difficult it is to rid the mind of a wrong impression received in childhood. The editors of the new Britannica feel that they have solved a great problem in making a work of the most accurate and authoritative character interesting to children, for they have received much valuable testimony that this end has been attained. Dr. Charles W. Eliot, president-emeritus of Harvard University, was an early subscriber for two sets for the use of his grandchildren. He said that he found the work “altogether admirable; and my grandchildren, who are at the most inquisitive ages, are of the same opinion.” Professor W. G. Hale, of the University of Chicago, wrote, “My children feel the same fascination in it that I do.” Judge J. P. Gorter, of the Baltimore Supreme Court, has expressed his opinion that “every family with growing children seeking information should have this invaluable work in the library.” The owner of the new Britannica should constantly encourage his children to go to the volumes for further information on topics included in the course of the day’s studies at school. It will not take long to make them realize that the volumes open an inexhaustible mine of knowledge, and answer any question as to which curiosity has been aroused. With a little help from you, at the beginning, they will soon learn to use the Britannica for themselves.
The Britannica Interesting to Children
The love of reading is quickly developed in children. Some are attracted to history, to the lives of great men, to exploration and to adventure; others become more interested in the world of nature; still others have a natural bent toward science and the mechanical arts. Whatever the inclination may be, the Britannica stands at the child’s service, giving to him the true facts in such a way that he can easily understand them.