San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1883-08-09
August.
Charles Dudley Warner

August, Notwithstanding u.
name, is a sort of flabby, wat avGas'
place month. 1t is fy.time. ; i =
days time, it is Irritation tims +" q9og'
a period of general Istlessnss. NS
indecision. 1t is said to be ver yer, h aas
in August to make up the nina NIy 0i aaid
to accept or reject him. And v u
shll,it is apt to be the latter mart " "ta
month before he makes IN his U U
to propose. Indeed, to speak Of m mas
ing up the mind at all, in Apa !, na9-
nearly absurd, for there is no @;ns a
make up. Nature and people. III 80
expression may be permitted. s ae
seedy. Inland it is muggy, on u.
seacoast it is foggy. In the cities s I as
the taste has gone out of life; evan :? y
the hills everybody is languid' ana
disposed to lounge on piazzas, a anS
watch things simmer. The v0 %Ia
like the garden, owns itself PLAYED l Ort
The days are growing short AGAIN s srS
it might be expected that the ;ntsn'
perate heat of July would abata I Iu.
the heat continues, although It i. MI ="
the clear sunheat of the lusty groviTna
season, but a sort of oven heat steam
ing up from the earth. It is II.
month to get away from evervtbina
even from ones self. Even Il"
churches slow down. 'A
Yet there are good things abon,
August. The schools are Shut N,
the everlasting process Of education :
eased off, and a chance is given f.,
the mind to stretch itself and crow
little naturally. People forget that
the mind needs those periods of Semi
dose in which to ripen. We under.
stand all about the convolutions ana
the gray matter of the brain, and inst
how and where the memory cells
are, and where lie the coils of imaein.
alton and ideality, can put our fin. |
ger on the spot, that if excited, makes
man willing to pay his debts, and
on the spot where exists the impulse
to forgive our debtors if our creditors
will forgive us; but no one can tell
how it is that if a thought is dropped
into the brain over night, and left to
simmer there, and, indeed, remains
for long time unheeded, it will BE-
found, when again called up, to have
blossomed into sermon, an essay,
OF magazine paper worth ten dollars
page. I know clergyman who is
obliged to set his sermon overnight
in this way, exactly like a batch Of
bread, OF it will not rise in the morn.
ing. The little idea seems to be yeast,
and that furnished, the brain will 60
on unconsciously, and work the rest
itself. The trouble with a good many
sermons and essays is that they have
no yeast in them. Perhaps August,
which seems SO stupid, is the yeast
month of the year, and perhaps this
is the reason that so many authors
find September the most fruitful
month of the year.
August is also lawyers vacation,
and their clients have rest, and an
opportunity to settle up their differ
ences in an amicable way. When
the lawyers quit the ship it is a sign
that everybody else ought to go---to
be Off to the Rockies, to the North
woods, to Norway, to the rocks BY
the sounding sea, if there is by that
time rock any where on our thou
sands of miles of coast that has not a
young lady sitting on it, with a spread
parasol and a novel in her hand, and
a still more interesting work OF ma
ture and art by her feet, talking to
her languidly about friendship, anu
how can you know if two people are are
suited to each other, don't you know!
1t is the harvest month of the novel,
list, for then,if ever, one wants mover
Ito put in the pocket in the woods Of
to carry down to the beach, OF ~
leave lying round with the spn,
zephyr. People will buy novels ID
August if they cannot borrow then q,
aud if they are in cheap editions II
is nice holiday, August, Just Oe :,
cause it has no vitality in 1t. Pity II
cannot be more of a holiday to NOR
people. For the shops ought to smut
and the banks and the ife-lnsufal''
men ought to go off into the Wilder 3
ness with the lightning-rod men, anu
the canvasser ought to cease llUb
canvassing, and the weary be a! y rs n,
1t would be a good thing Il 'ni
politicians would clambake S anr
barbecue, and make no speeches. wv, MS,
wouldn't make any If the sPeecus.
were not reported. 1t would Ds
good thing if ali the newspapers T S.Ts