The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-07-05
SUMNER RESORTS.
= the Indianapolis Journal.

Written for the Indianapolis Journal
Ills now the very witching time of year, when
the summer resort hend and the railroad mag
nate. after many mysterious consultations have
arrived at a satisfactory understanding and have
set aaoat upon adefenseless country myriads
of seductive pamphlets, portraying in the most
elegant and melodious rhetoric and the most
exquisite engravings, the unparalleled attractions
of their stock in trade. Cold indeed must be
the heart and calloused the mind, which can
view without emotion this dazzling representa-
ton of relocated green breeched fisherman,
pulling into yellow boat, with purple oars. this
undesirable pink fish of at least twenty pounds
weight and closed forever to all the eievating
effects of beauty must be the soul which can
behold nnmoFed this astonishing portrait of q
much berufded pink-clad, and French-heel
slippered maiden reclining in an impossible at
titude in ar impossible hammock,
under impossible trees on an impossible
clid, overhanging impossible bay.
Effective, indeed as are the Autographs,
the engravings, the wood cuts, the Unequal de
scfiDtiOn stands beside them no insignificant
rival We read with moist eyes and twitching
lips Of tian that is lovely and enhancing IN
natural scenery. an endless vista of green fields
and orchards fowery meadows, crystal lakes
and pebbly banks; a wondrous witch-like tangle
scapes of woodland stream and spray wreathed
falls dells and grottoes-an endless feast to eye,
heart and imagination Truly, upon paper at
least an enchanted land, a veritable Arcadia.
Far be it from the intention of this sketch to
attempt to render null and void the glowing in
ducements held out by the Tourists Guide
Long may he wave and may his tribe increase
and annually make large additions to its stock
of lakes crags, forests, mountains ana water
falls; its tents, yachts hammocks and fountains;
hs water lilies and its gamy bass, its picturesque
cliffs, its rambling glens, its Pickering camp
fires, and its nineteen Varities of ferns, its gas,
its electric bells, its thousand feet Of veranda,
and its fre-escapes from every room in the
house. While there are tourists the
summer guide book must endure, and
while midsummer pleasure seekers re
main complete and distinct species
kind-hearted railroad magnates will place the
world before them where to choose.
But far from this madding crowd of boat
roBers, hammock swingers cliff climbers, lily
gatherers and glen-ramblers, the quiet mind
lores TO turn down q little by-pafh and muse
upon the merits of summer resort whose man
field attractions have seldom. if ever, been per-
trayed by fluent pens or pictured proudly forth
by skilled engrayers. This resort is not down
in all the guide books or gaily set forth on the
walls of every railroad station; no pamphlets
gorgeUusly allure to its hidden Businesses, or
any finger posts point you to itsImyriad pleas
llFes Although its attractions have not as yet
been eatalogued they are UNSURPASSED in any
country known to man. Here alone IN all the
known world reigns feckless freedom, pure and
undsfled. Here alone may man commit the
terrible crime OF appearing IN shirt+sleeEed ease
and GOODNESS; here may woman wear her old
clothes and not erinp her hair; and here
may children walk ON the grass and
turn @summersettss at their own sweet
viii Here it is that human nature may lounge
en- diEhabille, mental and physical, and even be
disagreeable Hnrebnked. Here only yon May
safely untether your disposition and literally
- iii
old jokes, if SO dispoged,1 or try the PAGES of
your new ones. You may habble safely what
comes to the top in your mind, or You may brood
in sweet and nHchidden silence ON any happy
thought which neStles In its stilleSt corners.
Here you may go to bed early, or you may lie
abed late you may comment upon the bill Of
fare and take fruit from the table without Elk
ira expense; you may lunch between times, and
make lemonade of real lemons when the spirit
moves you. Here, too. you may sit under yonr
own vine and fig tree. and look ont upon land
seape of your own arrangement; that eldeP.bnsh
y0u brought from the woods yourself and that
ncfie, waving willow tree you stuck In the
ground tiny switch; that proppedllp near TREE
means fruit 30 look forward to; and that impn-
dent robin is making an audacious breakfast
from your own cherries right before yenr face
aud eyes That densey shaded arhor is the
most satisfactory union of the useful and the
beautiful that yon ever beheld and You
are convinced, deep in your own heart, that this
very Identical red wooden pump has secret con-
nection with the arctic region SO cold the linipd
draught with beaded bubbles winking at the
brims-which it offers. Surely the mind reader
or the witch hazel, to point out the way to this
delightful summer resort is wholly superhuoHs.
Each one to his taste, but for us the dearest
spot on earth.-a spot to be left only to afford
the Joy of return. Happy ne who cam agree
with the apostle of serenity, that "traveling is
a fools paradise and who has reached that sa-
gaeious standpoint in life at which rocking
chair in the grass in his own back yard, under
his own trees, with his own friends and his own
books, is worth more> than all the bewildering
visions of PARKWAY pleasures that the world
affords. He has learned, to his profit that it is
only an appearance, delusipn, which makes
the grass look always greener on heother side of
the creek, and the incest places to fish seem
ways little further on. Here and now is
.lways, in reality, the greenest, the coolest and
he shadiest place for hfels picnic The expenses
are small, the pleasures great, and the content
beyond compare
Home, sweet homei May we ali revel in thy
true and pure delights until we drop our dusty,
earth worn shoes to enter upon slipperBa rest
and peace in the Land of Eternal Summer.
INDIANAPOLIS. E. c.