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PARK AND PLAYGROUND. 313
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
> Iw Are We Better Than We Were In The O...
school playground , as is tlie case In inost of the densest London neighbourhoods , they do so at the expense of becoming familiarized
with all the coarse actions and bad language which are so rife in our streets ; for little boys and girls are sent off _from the quiet places
lest the genteel inhabitants should suffer from the noise , and the spots where the policeman's vigilance will allow them to playare
, those whose vicinity to public houses , cab stands , and other centres of moral infection has already secured a sufficient amount of clamour
to drown the noise of the game . The most deserving parents are so well aware of the dangers of street play , that their children are
often kept at home , or " put to a little place" before the mind or the body has acquired strength to rough the world , in order to keep
them safe . Since the publication of the Society ' s prospectus , Mr . Dickens has himself given , in an eloquent speech at the London
Tavern , a description of the street troubles of poor children , and , himself a member of the committee , has afforded powerful support
to the objects of the Playground Society . I cannot add to his words , but I wish to bring the difficulties of the little girls into notice , as
they are often charged with the care of one or two younger ones , a charge sometimes found more than enough for a grown up person . This
is one of our own many experiences . In a narrow street in one of the outskirts of London , a little girl about two years old , ran along
sobbing with despair , a lost and frightened child . On being asked the " She cause ' s got , she Bill said y . " " 6 i I Can ' ve lo you st Emma shew me . " where " Who you was live with ? I Emm will take a ? "
you home . " " Please don't , " was the answer in baby accents , " Mother will beat me , ' cause she told me to stay with Emma , and I sat down
and lost her . " However the child was persuaded to come on , and in age a d few eight minutes carrying another 1 Billy trag almost ic scen as e big presented as herself itself , aged . Emma fifteen ,
, , months , and accompanied by Eliza , aged seven years , a companion , the little girls crying in the last degree of trouble , Billy for
sympathy . The first expressions on both sides were joyful , the next , mutually recriminative . It then appeared that Emma had on losing
Maria , gone home to see if the child were there , but had been so violently threatened by the motherthat she now dreaded to return
, and report the lost one found . The whole party proceeded together and met the mother , an overworked laundress coming in search of
her family , each of whom she forthwith threatened with a good beating to make them more careful . This last , however , with some
persuasion she was induced to remit . Would it not be a great boon to these poor little Emmas and
Marias , burthened with cares beyond their years and strength , if they toocould have a portion of the playground for themselves and
their babies , , with a few seats and a shed for shelter ? The mischiefs of which I have spoken , and many more , were
seen by the Rev . David Laing , the good clergyman whose
indefatigable benevolence has originated , among many other charitable
Park And Playground. 313
PARK AND PLAYGROUND . 313
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), July 1, 1858, page 313, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01071858/page/25/
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