Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1880-08-18
Profit In Vacations.


Sensible people who pass a few weeks in
camp, or at quiet country places, on the
mountains or by the sea, often find them
selves at a loss for something that shall in
terest without wearying them. They do not
wish merely to "kill time feeling, as it
has been said, that such a phrase would
have been ill-used by Methuselah in his nine
hundred and sixty-ninth year. And so they
take along books,-and go TO sleep over
them a benefaction to many that ought to,
but commonly would not, make an author
feel that he had not written in vain. There
are very few books that can stand the test OF
outdoor reading, and they mostly deal with
nature, or with life in some of its lighter and
more active expressions. The little volume
of essays, or the learned treatises, that held
the attention so fxedly by the open fire in
the winter cannot compete with the whis-
pering trees, the lazily-moving clouds, the
creeping tide, the happy birds and children,
and the hundred diverting objects in the
summer-garden of the world. Studies lag,
and they ought TO. Games play out. Con-
versation becomes bore. Even repose
loses a part Of its fine zest If the mind feels
that it is missing something which might
secure without sacrificing the real end of rec
reation. The philosophy of getting rest out
of change, aud profit from vacations, and of
finding recreations that recreate, needs to
have more thought put into it than people
are apt to do when, hurrying away from
their business and their cares, they suddenly
find themselves with "nothing to do," which
ought to be rarer pleasure than Charles
Lambs ideal of nothing to pay" For ex-
ample: suppose that instead of dawdling
away the time, or seeking exercise and
healthful change with the deliberation and
anxious thought that are part of our work.
day life, we take them unconsciously. For
example how many children-or young peo-
pie, either, for matter--reared in the cities
or large towns, can tell the names or de-
scribe the characteristics of all common song
birds, not to mention the wood birds and
small wild animals How few can tell the
names of our forest trees by their leaf or
bark, or of the flowers and plants that deck
the fields and make the shady wood-nooks
lovely. The aromatic plants and roots; the
numerous family of graceful ferns; the sea-
shells and mosses; the small fruits and ber-
ries; even the ordinary industries of the
farmer,-all these and many other kindred
out-of-door things afford subjects for delight
full and profitable study. Let the father and
mother take it up with the children, and
iCoih W ech CNoig pho ny ito notc duu ilS
appearance to know its habits and the
cheerful routine of its happy and busy life.
One of Thoreau's, or Wilson's, or John Bur.
roughs' charming books will be read with
new interest, as an aid in such studies. Let
the daughter learn the fora of the neighbor-
hood, and the boys the wood and field lore
within their range. At the seashore, the
mystery of the tides, the wonders of the
myriad forms of life within the water and
many facts popularized by modern science,
may be examined with an interest that
could not possibly be awakened at home.
Young people whose studies have taken them
into the fields of geology, botany, or natural
history in any of its branches, may find OBJ
ject lessons in every direction which, with.
out detracting in any way from the real ends
of their vacation, can blend recreation aud
learning most delightfully."-. If, as Mr.. Low
ell intimates, the art of easy and deliber-
crate idling is in the limbo of lost accom-.
plishments, we ought, at least, to try and get
more profit from our conventional vacations