Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1874-07-02
Vacation.

Is SUMMER the end of one winter or the
beginning of anotherg A close observer
of nature can detect the process of decay
almost as soon as the trees seem fairly
to have put on their full adornment of
leaf and in ones routine of occupation,
scarcely has summer come as relief
from the rigors of close winter applica-
ton before plans are formed for the
coming winter. The truth is, that our
busy life is essentially winter life. 1t
wants cold weather for hard work, and
finds more satisfaction in overcoming the
sharp obstacles of inclement weather
than in holding up against the enervat-
ing tendencies of heat. Ii a thing is to
be done, winter is the time to do it in. So
the buster our life becomes the more lost
we seem in summer, until we grow
almost impatient at the invitations to
| leisure which it constantly offers. 1t
gets to have in our eyes the character of
an interminable holiday; we cannot
work, and work has become so part of
our habit that we are at our wits ends
without it,
Probably holidays would be more en-
durable to man Of business ii they
| came often enough to count in his plans,
but day now and then thrown into his
| machine-like existence is too short time
to allow of adjustment to his move
ments, and he simply stops in an aimless
way until he can be set going again.
When summer vacation comes, one often
times must needs take a good part of it
to free himself from the tolls he has
| wound around himself, so that only when
| II is nearly over he is sufficiently averse
from work to be again ready to enjoy his
playtime. Then there begin to creep
out old tastes and inclinations which had
| retreated to innermost corners of his
| mind, and now the return to work brings
| with 1t a half-regret that these tastes
must be foregone, and a half-resolution
to secrete some portion of enjoyment
from exercise in them each day.
Modern civilization, which is always
lugged in to explain why we are not like
our fathers-though this is really only a
pretentious way of saying that we are
| not-is supposed to require OF us more
| intense mode of life than our fathers
lived, and therefore that our relief must
| be sought in occasional vacations, jour
neys and total abstinence for period
from work Why not take step more
into the heart of the matter and see if
the existing state of life must needs be
regarded as inevitable, and all our con-
duct governed by itg Is it necessary that
we should drive so furiously about our
work that we are forced to stop our
machinery for repairs every few years or
even months? We contend that every
one should provide himself with some
city of refuge in the way of occupation,
or hobby, if you will, to which he may
flee daily from the iron grasp of his
business If he have this resource, then
not only will his vacation be less phys
ical necessity, but when it comes he
will at once be furnished with a sufficient
end for his vacation life. The pursuit
which is relief from days toll will be-
come the prime occupation, and NAV in.
deed in some cases quite change places
with that, giving its old master the right
to half-hour or an hour of the day.
The true secret of the endowment of
vacation is to bring to it not the tired
mind and body but the eager anticipation
OF health. Who enjoys a vacation like
boys 1t is because he is not worn ont
when he enters upon it, but has an infin-
lite fund of occupation most to his mind
from which to draw; and so he who
breaks off from his routine of work 10
spend fortnight in the country would
not miss his work if his mind were so
furnished with store of healthy tastes
that, for the time being, his walks. Ash.
ing hunting gardening or other out-d door
employment were his absorbing delight.
The trouble is that most people carry a
faded mind and jaded body to their yaca.
ton and are unfit to enjoyit. They treat
vacation as II It were vacancy, instead of
being, as it might be, the very fullness of
1 In 2rS