University of Nanking - Linguist Yearbook (Nanking, China)

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52 PHYSICAL EDUCATION In later years when attending a Y. W. C. A. conference in the StateS, I heard that the Chinese girls were very keen 'I about physical education, and were just eating it up. I recalled this earlier experience and forth with decided to add my lot to that of the women who were feeding them this delectable grub. Here in Nanking occasionally I find time to direct a few games among the younger children in one of the schools. The reckless hails of delight that greet me, and the squeals of sheer enjoyment that burst forth during the simple games, give one a tight feeling around the heart, and one realizes the hungry craving of their little bodies. Just one such experience alone repays me a thousanclfold for that horrible trip across the Pacific. In the homeland, the four seasons usher in their own types of play. One sees hop-scotch dia- grams decorating even the New York sidewalks in the spring, and i11 the fall groups of boys tumble all over each other in their serious imitation of the big college football games. S0 too in China, the boys Hy their kites in March, and with the native New Year all sorts of interesting forms of play flock in. But I have noticed into how few of the romping games the girls enter. Old China - Photo by Mission Photo Bureau

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- n. ix - '..! Il PHYSICAL EDUCATION Ea F C-1- 515.325 C-s ron f ii cm Esc GIRLS UST now as I sat huddling over the lire and figuratively chewing my pencil, the familiar sound of blum-blum-blum stole in from outside. I knew it to be the peddlar who carries a tall cloth-covered ease on his back. The sound brought back memories of childhood thrills at the fascinating things stowed away in that pack. I spoke my thoughts aloud, and our hostess asked the alnnah what sort of things the peddlar carried. The answer included silks, cloth, thread, powder, tooth-powder- Tooth-powder? I asked, incredulous. Yes, the natives use Lyons Dentifrice, and others. Most of them Use plain salt, however. The school girls, when they go home, take their toilet utensils, which include mug, soap. tooth-brush, and powder. I was amazedg the proverbial family tooth-brush would be an im- Provement on none at all, but to find the individual brush and even Powdcrs so commonly used was an agreeable surprise. For this matter of introducing health-habits to a race whose common people have long been accustomed to unsanitary methods is much more of an appalling problem than is that of the more appealing, purely physical side of the Subject. Undoubtedly the physical element oiiers the desired approach in this field. Some years ago when at home in tl1e interior for a brief visit, mother asked me to direct a few exercises and teach a game or two to her Bible-class girls. Very tentatively and stolidly they attempted to do those unheard-of stunts, but the next week their numbers were doubled, and the week after the mob was truly pathetic. 1515

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THE LINGUIST 53 Nature, in the girl, has for years been thwarted. She has been kept bllsy most of the day caring for the little brothers and sisters. When she has been free to play, her feet have pained her too much to allow much really vigorous sport. But one has only to note how eagerly she hovers about the peep-shows at New Year time, or with what delight she parades her pretty lantern, to realize that the spirit of play is yet strong within her. It takes only a visit to the schools wl1ere the girls are given illstruction in play, to appreciate from their rapturous yells how the instinct of play longs for expression. The girls of China who have been S0 cramped physically by their bound feet, and mentally and morally by the general attitude toward their sex, remind one of a child who samples the contents of the jam jar with a grimy linger, and upon finding the taste good, puts his whole fist to diligent work. . Yes, the approach is easy, for they are ready for us. The handicaps are not to be found, as one might suppose, in a mental inability to grasp the point of a game, nor in the lack of true sportsmanship, and certainly not in lack of zeal. Perhaps you would guess that one handicap in winter is those wads and wads and wads of clothes! But just watch a while! That little girl with the impossible name. starts to run her lap in the Photo by lllflssion Photo Bureau and the New