Wartime Tots Play New Yard Roles

The yawpings of excited children were heard in the PBH corner of the Yard last week as a day nursery for the offspring of Harvard men, the latest Phillips Brooks House project, was revealed to the public as an outdoor play-pen after nine months of quiet activity indoors.

The nursery, which aims to give Harvard children the recreation that in peace-time was supplied by domestic help and privately owned kindergartens, has been going on upstairs in PBH since October, 1942.

Slow Start

Though starting hesitantly, by January it had grown to the point where it took care of children both Tuesday and Thursday and employed two trained assistants. Today the nursery is also open Friday and employs four helpers.

The children themselves range from 14 months to nine years of age, and come from all sections of the country. They are of all shapes, all sizes, all racial backgrounds.

Service Juniors Aggressive

Most come from military households, and PBH assistants have noticed that these who do more aggressive than other children their ages. The nursery handles an average of 30 a day, keeping them safe and happy from 2:30 to 5 o'clock and serving fruit juice and cookies. There is a charge of 25 cents per child per day.

The play-yard contains what PBH describes as the last metal swing in the city of Boston, as well as a hose shower and galvanized iron wash-tub. Thirty boys and girls play with the crates. Swings, and toys, while the PBH janitor gleefully squirts then with the hose. Supervising the activities are four trained assistants, while the PBH secretaries lean out of the windows to watch the frolic.