PICNICS ARE BEING STREAMLINED

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 50, 27 August 1938, Page 27

PICNICS ARE BEING STREAMLINED

Picnics, those care-free affairs of many years, are being streamlined and regimented in Ohio this year, says the "Christian Science Monitor." With the recent opening of the first Picnic Institute, under the auspices of the Akron V.M.C.A., picnics have become the serious subject of a tourteenpage manual, with "principles" and programmes hashed and rehashed and the proper types of games and songs given plenty of attention. Even an instrvictor in just how to "picnic wisely and well" presides over the institute, in the person of O. L. Catt, V.M.C.A. director. No longer will Mrs. Jones place a few tasty sandwiches into a basket and get father to drive her, the youngsters, and several family friends out to "most any old place so. long as it's.! cool," if the institute picnic rules are to be observed. Even the choosing of j a place to go must be carefully thought i

out beforehand, according to the new rules. "In choosing the picnic site, be sure of the following," says the manual: 1. Woods enough for shade. 2. Dry and well drained. 3. A level open space large enough for games and activity. 4. Good drinking water available. 5. A shelter in case of rain. More than that, however, each picnic must have a "control" theme, the rules say. The test has these four questions: 1. Is the picnic built with the group or just for them? 2. Does it afford wholesome pleasure and enjoyment? 3. Does it afford opportunity for natural expression of the group? 4. Wiil the results justify the time, money, and energy expended? . Having reached the end of the manual in due time, Mr. and Mrs. [Jones will find themselves equipped. [for a whole summer of picnics.