In Worcester, Massachusetts, there is a city within a city. Garden City it is called, and it is a community of boys and girls incorporated under the state laws of Massachusetts. The Junior Citizens of Garden City elect their own mayor, city council, street and water commissioner, police force, and members of the court. The mayor presides at meetings at which the various projects are discussed. During the summer, vacant lots in the city are put to good use by these Junior Citizens. Vegetables are sold to parents and others at market prices. In this enterprise, everyone concerned benefits, and the city is more beautiful as a result.

Students of the Buckeye High School in Louisiana repaired and painted their farm shop buildings and improved the appearance of the entire school.

In Prince William County, Virginia, boys and girls formed a club to plant and care for the school grounds and thereby added greatly to the beauty of their surroundings.

Another similar organization is the Junior Improvement Association of Fairhaven, Massachusetts. This association is made up of students of the high school and the elementary school down to the fifth grade. The activities of this organization include clearing snow from sidewalks, making a tree census, doing public playground work in summer, taking care of home lawns, planting trees for shade, and undertaking many other interesting and worth-while projects.

One summer the members of the association were told about an unsightly vacant lot near a main thoroughfare. At a meeting a committee was appointed to investigate the situation and obtain permission from the owner to improve the lot. The committee reported favorably and a contest was started for the best plans for improvement. The student who submitted the best plan was given the job of supervising the improvement. Before long, shovels, picks, and rakes were busy on the lot. The city carried away the rubbish on its trucks, and plowed and harrowed the ground. With this start, a fine lawn was planted with seed donated by an interested adult. Shrubs and plants were also donated, and from an unsightly lot there emerged a beautiful spot with a rock garden in the center.

Organizations like the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and Camp Fire Girls have also been active in campaigns to beautify communities. The Future Farmers of America of Maryville, Missouri, with members ranging in age from fourteen to twenty-one, planned and carried out a campaign of home beautification. The result of this campaign was a great improvement in the homes and yards of the members.

Just for fun, why not select some spot in your own neighborhood, make a scale map of it, and see how you could improve it with comparatively little trouble? You may select your own school grounds, or a vacant lot near by, or even your own backyard. Look at some pictures in magazines and other places to see how such a spot might be landscaped. Discuss your plan with your friends and some adults who might be interested. It may be that out of such a beginning a very suitable project will emerge.

The Camp Fire Girls of Sherman, Texas, found great satisfaction in planting a garden of flowers near their church and from it supplying invalids in hospitals with freshly cut flowers. By carefully selecting the kind of flower and properly caring for it, they are able to have flowers all summer for this purpose.

Thus, from the vacant lots and a little interest on the part of a few persons can come civic beauty. Leisure time used in beautifying surroundings contributes to the richness of life of many different people.

Good-deeding projects must grow out of the needs of a particular community, as is shown in the examples cited in this chapter. Just what you will do depends upon the type of community in which you live and your own particular interest and ability. The project that would be suitable this year may not be a good one next year. The true spirit of democracy is to interest different people in doing what is good for the whole community at some particular time. Community projects are carried on not for reward or approval, but for the satisfaction there is in seeing your own surroundings improve as a result of your own efforts. Leisure time can be valuable to any group of people if they use it constructively.

In Conclusion

Why not explore the possibilities of good-deeding? All you will need to invest are time and energy. Scatter the seeds of good fellowship in your own community and share in the harvest of a better world in which to live.

Some Interesting Things To Do

1. Make a list of the good-deeding possibilities you see in your own neighborhood.

2. What valuable relics or natural beauty spots in your community should be preserved?

3. Make a list of the possible good-deeding hobbies that are included in this section.

4. Draw a map of the community showing present recreational facilities and suggesting plans for developing additional facilities.

5. Discuss how the public-school system may co-operate fully in the development of a well-rounded community recreational program.

6. How would you provide for the greater utilization of school buildings and grounds after school hours and during weekends and vacations as community centers for recreational purposes, if you had authority to do it?

7. List the advantages and disadvantages of using the school, the church, the playground, and the park as community recreational centers.

8. What plans can you suggest for increasing recreational facilities for young people who live in congested areas?

9. Make an effort during a week to eliminate as many safety hazards as you can at home, at school, and on the street. List these in your scrapbook.

10. Make a list of the things you find in your neighborhood that might cause the spread of disease.

11. Make a poster designed to reduce traffic accidents involving children.

12. Invite a recreational specialist to make suggestions for the improvement of the play facilities in your community.

13. Discover unused and down-at-the-heel tennis courts, athletic fields, and play areas and plan to make them available for use.

14. Find out where the nearest blind persons live. Is there any way in which you can help these people?

15. Volunteer to supervise the play of smaller children in your neighborhood for a short time each day or week.

16. Find out if you can help by leading a group of Cubs (boys) or Brownies (girls) in your neighborhood. For information, visit the local Boy Scout or Girl Scout headquarters.

17. Organize a play group on your street for younger children. With your friends, help these children at regular hours once or twice a week to play games or learn craftwork. Give your group an interesting name.

18. Invent some street games out of the materials at hand.

19. Draw a map of the area in which you live. Plan it as you would like to see it, with your house as the center.

20. Select some vacant lot near by and make a scale map of it. Upon this map make a plan for improving the lot. Estimate how much the improvements would cost.

21. Make a list of the organizations, movements, and other ways of good-deeding described in this section that are available to you in your own community.

22. Talk to several adults who have a hobby of good-deeding, such as leading a Boy Scout or Girl Scout troop, and list the reasons he or she gives for enjoying the hobby.

23. Write a letter to a friend and ask him to serve in some organization in which you are interested. List as many reasons for his joining as you can.

24. How could you assist in the local Red Cross Roll Call? Community Chest? Hospital Tag Day?

25. What methods can you suggest for raising funds for a worthy cause? You might ask people who have already raised funds for their opinions.

26. Talk with several people who have good-deeding hobbies. Make a list of the reasons they give for the enjoyment that they get from their hobbies.

27. Make a list of good-deeding hobbies that might be developed from some of the other activities outlined in this book, for example, hiking, puppets, and enjoying music.

28. Make a list of the values you see for yourself in good-deeding as a hobby.

Helpful References

Addams, J., Spirit of Youth and the City Streets. American Red Cross Circular 414, Braille Transcribing. Arnold, J. I., Co-operative Citizenship. Bone, W. A., Children's Stories and How to Tell Them. Bourke, J. P., After-School Problems of the Deaf and Dumb. Boy Scouts of America, Handbook for Boys.

Butler, G. D., The New Play Areas. Community Chests and Councils, 155 E. 44 St., N. Y. C, Leisure Time Activities.

Elsom, J. C, Community Recreation.

Girl Scouts of America, Girl Scout Handbook.

Hambidgc, G., Time to Live; Adventures in the Use of Leisure.

Hanmer, L. F. and others, Public Recreation.

Herrioft, F. W., Community Serves Its Youth.

Lansing, C. F., Studies of Community Planning in Terms of the Span of Life.

Long, J. S., Sign Language.

Loomis, M. S., Braille Grade One and One-Half and How to Learn It in Ten Lessons.

May and Petgen, Leisure and Its Use. Michaels, J. W., Handbook of the Sign Language oj the Deaf. Miller, G. T., Story-Telling to Live Wire Boys.

National Institute for the Blind, Braille System for Reading and Writing.

National Probation Association, Community Co-operation for Social Welfare.

Norton, E. V., Play Streets and Their Use for Recreational Programs.

Pangburn, W. W., Adventures in Recreation.

Scott, T., Use of Leisure. Shedlock, M. L., Art of the Story-Teller. Stone, W., Community Planning for Social Welfare.