his body and mind.[29]

The third agency which we may employ in developing the physical powers
of the child is that of games. Games, however, are not merely useful as
means for the attainment of the physical development of the boy or girl;
they also may be made instrumental in the creation and fostering of
certain mental and moral qualities of the greatest after-value to the
community. No one acquainted with the important part which games perform
in the life of the Public School boy can doubt their great educational
value. By means of them the boy acquires experiences which in after-life
tend to make more efficient certain classes of actions essential for any
corporate or communal life. In the playing-fields he learns what it is
to be a member of a corporate body whose good and not the attainment of
his own private ends must be the first consideration. Through the medium
of the games of the school he may get to know the meaning of
self-sacrifice, of working with his fellows for a common end or purpose,
and of sinking his own individuality for the sake of his side. In
addition he learns the habits of ready obedience to superior knowledge
and ability; to submit to discipline; and to undergo fatigue for the
common good. If found worthy, he may learn how to command as well as to
obey, to think out means for the attainment of ends, and to know and
feel that the good name of the school rests upon his shoulders. These
and other qualities similar in character may be created and established
by means of the games of the school. And just as the utilising of the
play-instinct is nature's method of education in the fitting of the
young animal and the young child to adapt itself in the future to its
physical environment, so we may lay down that the games of the school
may be largely utilised as society's method of fitting the individual to
his after social environment, and in training him to understand the true
meaning and the real purport of corporate life.

On account, however, of the vast size of many of our Public Elementary
Schools and for other reasons, such as the limited playground
accommodation in many cases and the want of playing-fields, organised
games play but a small part in the physical and moral education of the
children attending such schools. But even here much more might be done
than is done at present by the teachers in the playground to encourage
the simpler playground games, and "to replace the disorganised roug