The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1880-09-09

serts his business at the call of duty
ana goes to a watering-plaee hotel
After enduring the Indebtedness OF .
railway journey, he finds himself shut
up in miserable little room, where
the heat is intolerable and the mosque
toes maddening, and where the noise in
the corridor prevents him from Sleep
ing. He is compelled to dine amid the
uproar of vast and crowded dining
room, where a swarm of walters are
constantly playing their favorite hide
and-seek game Of eluding the calls OF
hungry guests. In the evening, life is
made q burden to him with hops and
concerts, and he is lucky if he escapes
the picnics and rides wherewith cum
Rlng landlords hope to make their ho-
tells seem comfortable by way of con-
trast.
Ii the martyr selects q country
boarding house his case is little better.
His room is. perhaps, smaller and hot
ter than the average room at the fash
ionable hotel. and his diet of peniten-
tial pork and indigestible pie under
mines his health with fearful rapidity.
He is, of course. free from the noise
and hustle of the hotel, but after he
has spent two consecutive afternoons
in the parlor, examining the family
photographs, reading the bound
volume of the "Lady's Book and the
illustrated gift-book published in 1929,
he knows the bitterness of life.
The vacation spent in the wilderness
is, perhaps, the most painful of all.
The constant hard work, the daily
tramp diet, the frequent wettings, and
the wearisome nights spent on the hard
ground would break down any but the
it takes the man who has passed vaca-
ton at q watering-place or farm
house three months to recover his
usual health and spirits, but at least
ten are required to repair the ravages
of fortnight in the wilderness. OF
course. the time required to repair
such incidental injuries as sprains,
bruises, and shotgun wounds are not
included in this estimate, which has
reference solely to the injury which
the miseries of camping out" infict
upon the constitution.
The actual physical suffering which is
undergone during a vacation is, how
ever, of minor consequence compared
with the terrible necessity of enjoying
ones self. This is what the conscien-
tious man constantly does. He reasons
that the object of going on vacation
is enjoyment, and he makes a point of
enjoying himself from dawn to mid
night. A man in good health, who is
regularly employed in business, can en-
joy himself at odd moments without in
flicting any permanent injury upon
himself, but a fortnight of uninterrupted
enjoyment is probably worse than the
rack or the other ingenious recreations
of the Inquisition. In whatever part
of the country we may go during Au-
gust, we are constantly liable to be
shocked by the haggard countenance of
the man who is enjoying himself. Some
men nerve themselves to the task, and
pass through their two weeks of enjoy
ment with a stern unmoved face that
commands our admiration while it
thrills us with pity, but the average
man, after steadily enjoying himself for
week or ten days, wears an expression
of anguish and despair that would
draw tears from eyes of stone. No one
knows how many brave and persistent
men break down in this tremendous
effort to enjoy themselves, and perish
with sweet, sad smile, comfort
ing themselves with the reflection
that they are going where they can
never again be compelled to enjoy u
vacation. The other miseries of vaca-
ton are as nothing in comparison with
the misery of rising up every morning
with the burden of enjoying ones self
weighing on the mind, and lying down
every night with the knowledge that
the next day must be spent in further
enjoyment. If one could 90 on a vaca-
ton with the knowledge that enjoy
ment could be wholly omitted from it,
all other ills could be borne with ease,
but this awful necessity of enjoying
ones self might well appall the stout
est heart.
While we must admire and reverence
the heroism displayed by the thousands
who annually undergo the suffering of
a summer vacation, it is reasonable to
ask ourselves if, after all, vacations
are necessity. Is it every mans duty
to devote two weeks in every year to
enjoyment and other miseries? Why
need we leave our comfortable homes
and undergo fortnight of fearful
moralists to discuss, and could they
decide that a goodman need take no
vacation, life would suddenly be filled
with a burst of sunshine.-N. y.
Times.