PLAYGROUNDS 273 PLEDGE economical essays were collected and published under the title "Subjects of Social Welfare." He was also an LL.D. of Edinburgh (1869), F. R. S., member of many learned societies, and possessed several foreign orders. He died May 29, 1898. PLAYGROUNDS AND RECREA- TION ^CENTERS. The first two dec- ades of the twentieth century witnessed an increased interest in the welfare pf children on the part of the Amer- ican public. Legislation prohibiting child labor and restricting the hours of labor for young persons between the ages of 15 and 20 has been passed by the Federal Government and by nearly all the States. Educators have pointed out that in play all the child's energies and talents are given scope, because only in play can his deepest interest be aroused. Some intensity of interest and attention can be secured in work, but nothing in comparison with what can be obtained by play when that play is prop- erly directed. The city of Boston established the first playground in 1882, and New York, five years later appropriated $1,000,000 to be used in purchasing small parks to be used as playgrounds. In 1894 the Tenement House Commission secured two small plots from the city of New York to be used as playgrounds for the children of the tenements. One of these parks, left without any apparatus and with no directors, was of little use. The other, however, was directed by the Rec- reation League of New York, who raised funds to supply apparatus and to pay for the proper direction of the play. This was opened to the children in July 1899, under the name of Seward Park and at once proved an immense success. In the same year the school boards of the dif- ferent boroughs comprising the city of New York appropriated money to equip the school-yards of the city with appa- ratus and to pay the directors of the play. From 1900 on, the number of playgrounds in New York have steadily increased, but not sufficiently to answer the requirements of the children. The success attending the experiment in New York led other large cities, both American and European to establish playgrounds. In 1920 nearly all cities in the United States having a population of over 50,000 had made some provision for playgrounds and for the most part they have had paid supervision. In 1907 the Playground and Recreation Society of America was founded and began to publish a monthy magazine, "The Play- greund." The ownership and management of the playgrounds was at first entirely private but lately it has tended to take its place among those functions expected of a modern municipality. The chief agency in such cases of public ownership has been the school board. Very few play- grounds have been a success unless they have been under the supervision of some older person skilled in the direction of children. To meet this demand for trained leadership classes have been opened in many cities. Many large cities finding the space provided for playgrounds insufficient have set aside certain streets for chil- dren's play. Traffic on these streets is prohibited during the hours from three in the afternoon until six at night. Chicago has made perhaps the most elab- orate provision for playgrounds and rec- reation centers of any American city. PLEA, in English law, that which is pleaded or alleged by a party to an ac- tion in support of his demand; in a more restricted sense the answer of the de- fendant in a cause to the plaintiff's declaration and demand. Pleas are two sorts: dilatory pleas, and pleas to the action. Pleas to the action are such as dispute the very cause of suit. PLEADING, the act of advocating a cause in a court of law. In the plural, the written statements of parties in a suit at law, containing the declaration and claim of the plaintiff, or the answer or defense of the defendant. Pleadings consist of the declaration, the plea, the replication, the rejoinder, the sur-re- joinder, the rebutter, the sur-rebutter, etc., which are successively filed. Plead- ings were formerly made by word of mouth in court. PLEBEIANS, or PLEBS, in ancient Rome, one of the great orders of the Roman people, at first excluded from nearly all the rights of citizenship. The whole government of the state, with the enjoyment of all its offices, belonged ex- clusively to the patricians, with whom the plebeians could not even intermarry. The Lex Hortensia (286 B. c) gave the plebisclta, or enactments passed at the plebeian assemblies, the force of law. From this time the privileges of the two classes may be said to have been equal. PLEDGE, the transfer of a chattel from a debtor to a creditor as a security of a debt, or that which is pledged or pawned as security for the repayment of money borrowed, or for the perform- ance of some obligation or engagement; a pawn. Pledges are generally goods and chattels, but anything valuable of a personal nature, as money, negotiable
