‘NURSERY’ FOR GROWN-UPS

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 259, 29 July 1937, Page 6

‘NURSERY’ FOR GROWN-UPS

*. German Men and Women Have Playroom Where They Blow Soap Bubbles Without Being Ashamed TF you were to see a respectable doctor sitting crosslegged on the floor blowing soap bubbles, you might feel justified in ringing for ail alienist. Sane, grown citizens who have long ago put away childish things, should turn themselves with a whole mind to the serious business of money-getting. Yet all the world does not agree upon this point. In the heart of Berlin has been established recently a club of toy-loving adults, where men and women can spend hours in placing tin soldiers and coloured blocks, even in blowing soap bubbles. Mrs. H. E. Schultz, a German widow on a holiday visit through New Zealand with her daughter, described this novel situation in an interview in Wellington this week.

QNE of the most miserable experiences of childhood is that impatient period between seeing a new toy and holding it.’ Ten chances to one. if the toy is at all ingenious, father will demonstrate how it works. “See?” he asks. "Can you do it?” Then, taking no notice of the child’s affirmative reply, he demonstrates again, and again, and again. Finally, the child becomes a jumping, clutehiiig. wailing mass of frustration—and father reluctantly bands over the toy. It would seem that, deep down within every man, there lurks an unconquerable instinct of play. Sometimes it expresses itself in a passion for stamp-collecting, sometimes it. finds vent in strenuous exercise on mountain I snow-slopes. Napoleons of finance are found after office hours greedily devouring the most lurid of yellow-back detective magazines: learned professors steal their son’s mechanical sets: and rough-tongued naval captains keep I canaries in their spare time. The I forms which filie play instinct lakes are manifold and various. I The Berlin “nursery" for adults is. however, the first time that the uniI versality of-the instinct has been pnhj liely acknowledged. A stranger entering it would imagine he had strayed into a mental hospital in error, said Mrs. Scbulta. There were men and women of all ages to lie seen winding up miniature cars, running toy locomotives and working mechanical cranes. Others were content with simple block-htiilding and some men spent hours planning military manoeui vres with tin soldiers and tiny canInons. tanks and aeroplanes. None of the club members were below the ordinary in intelligence and many held very important positions.

r FHE club had been opened only reI L cently, but so popular was it. that there was already talk of expanl sion. “I myself have gone only as a | visitor,” explained Mrs. Schultz, "and I I was there for a mere quarter-hour, j Even that, however, gave me some idea i of the value of this seemingly childi ish relaxation. The adults are com- ! pletely absorbed in the trivial tasks they set themselves. It must afford a wonderful break from the routine of their everyday lives.” There are psychologists to support Mrs. Schultz’s opinion. One of the j most eminent in Berlin, sbe said, had stated publicly that it was quite as intelligent for a man of 30 or 50 years to build a house of blocks of wood as it was for a child to do the same thing. The house was simply an exi pression of his imagination. i Moreover, when people worked with I l.lielr brains as they did to-day. they I needed some form of manual relaxaI lion which would require coneentra- ) lion and yet give results quickly. If I only more people were to take up the I so-called childish pastimes. there would be a smaller proportion of nervous disorders. i Descriptions of the Berlin "nursery” I which appeared in England and France did not draw unfavourable or slighting comment, added Mrs. Schultz. Apparently, the playroom was similar in aim to model railway and model boat clubs formed in Britain. She believed New Zealand had its model aeroplane enthusiasts, and in one North Island town she had seen a garden where the owner had constructed an elaborate miniature railway amonir the trees. Mrs. Schultz has returned. to Auckland to sail for the Continent.

Twisted Idiom The charming Viennese visitor to Wellington spoke English with a strong accent. Her husband, who gave several lectures in the city, was no greater master of the tongue. "Surely, he must tied it difficult to express himself in speeches,” 1 suggested. The Viennese wife shook her head. “Him? No,” she said. “On the platform, he is, what you say, a tish in the water.” A Woman’s Sin Karori tram terminus on a cold and windy night can make one positively yearn for (he warmth of hell-fire. That, iit least, was the reaction upon me as; I waited there for a homeward car. But my companion, a short, comfortable. plump woman with a merry smile, did not seem to mind at all. She went on industriously knitting the sweater sleeve she had been working all evening. "Here it. comes—at last,” I breathed through chattering teeth. "Well, I’ve done an inch,” was the reply as the knitter opened her bag. But:'as she stepped toward the tram, the ball somehow dropped out and rolled under the tram. The knitter tugged gently, but. the thread held firm. “It’s caught,” she lamented. "What shall I do?” "Break it, break it. Hurry,” 1 called, my foot on the step. "But I might not have enough to finish.” she wailed, "and it was so hard to match.” Before ■ had time to ask help from the conductor, the tram started. Ruefully my companion watched it go. "Another wait,” she remarked. “Oh well, never mind. I can rewind this and I may get another inch done.” Indifference l.ittle Johnny bad been promised a visit to the Newtown Zoo. so long ago that he had given up hope of it ever coming to anything. When a kindly aunt: from the country unexpectedly gave him the optmrtunity, he was struck speechless with excitement. They had the happiest: time. They bought peanuts and buns at the gate, and fed the animals in every cage, and made faces at the monkeys and touched the elephant’s trunk and pullet! grass for the bison. Then they watched the lions being fed. and Johnny made friends witli the deer. When it was all over, they had afternoon tea with cream buns, and only returned to the prosaic world when they waited in the tram shed to go home. As the tram rattled city-wards, Johnny peered back longingly. Then he stared at the people walking down the pavements. After a few minutes he turned away. "Why, Atitdic, they aren't going to the Zoo!” lie whispered incredulously.