Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-11-21
SIMPLICITY AND CITY LIFE.
Some Practical Suggestions for Increased
Happiness While at Home.

AdPplhcbe Whttt NJ hOmes
Many of our readers have lately returned
from visits to seashore. mountain or coun-
try with new lease of life and strength. If
they should analyze the sources of the en-
joyment they have had, some would find
that large part of it has arisen from the
simplicity in which they have lived. For
short time they have in large degree laid
aside the care and strain to which they
have been subjected; they have adopted
regularity of habit, earlier hours of retiring
and rising, and, perhaps, a plainness of
dress and of fare, of habitation and of style,
that they would have thought impossible
in the city; they have consulted comfort
before show, convenience before fashion
health before excitement Conceding due
credit TO the change of air and scene, we
yet believe that much of the benefit and
pleasure of summer vacation springs from
these simpler and more regular WAYS and
freedom from conventionality in which it
| is spent. If this be so, may it not suggest
the possibility of infusing something of the
same character into our city life? Why
should that which we find easy and agree
able in one place be thought quite imprac-
ticable in another? Why should small
hardships that only draw forth joyous
laugh from a camping party in the summer
cause blush of shame or doleful moan
from the same persons in the winter?
Above all, why should we enjoy such an
! alleged independence and liberty at one
| time, and sacrifice it all at the back of Gus
tom or fashion at another? When we see
the hurry and drive that appears almost
compulsory in city life, the anxious and
weary faces that throng the streets when
we hear the continual excuse of want of
| time for Sociability, for study, for the priv
leges of different kinds that are so literally
spread before us, we feel, with a recent
| public speaker, that e it is time to discuss
with some seriousness the question wheth-
er there is any hitch in the life of cities
which make it impossible for those who
live in them to enjoy the very advantages
for which cities are buiided." Certain it
| is, however that if there be such a hitch"
it is not inherently essential to city life,
nor should it be patiently submitted to- It
| Is the fault, not of the city, but of the citi-
zens. Were they independent enough to
secure simplicity in their affairs, in their
expenditures and in their lives, all would
| be changed, and efficiency and serenity
| would reign where they are so much
needed. Fortunately, in this country we
are all, as a rule, workers, and an ider is
rare and dishOnored exception But we
| do not always work wisely or we'll Some
attempt too many things, and so accom-
| plish nothing satisfactorily; some attempt
| WIldI tIley are ilOJ htttu lot, anu therefore
| fail, while many pass their entire lives in
an eager and nervous strain, alternated
with fretful dependency because they can
not reach the impossible. If, instead of all
| this we were content to do one thing thor
! oughly and in the best manner, and to let
| that one thing be just iiiat which we can
! do best, we should attain to a simplicity in
our labor which would relieve our tired
nerves and replace the jaded, harassed look,
| that we so often carry, with q serene and
cheerful expression. The vaulting ambi-
| ton which o'eTleaps itself is responsible
| Tor much of the wear and tear of CITY life
and when it sleeps for a short time during
summer vacation the benefit is palpable.
| The simplicity of expenditure is no less
important to peace and happiness. By
| this we do not mean mere retrenchment
| but that wise and independent manner of
| spending that chooses comfort, health, ed
ucation and real refinement, and refuses
| vanity, self-indulgence and display. The
spending of money always involves choice
and usually some sacrifice One thing
must be given up for the sake of another
and the art of selection is one On which
much of LIES happiness depends Elmer
son well says "Spend for your expense
and retrench the expense that is not yours
| We are sympathetic, and, like children, we
want everything we see. But it is a large
stride to independence when a man, in the
discovery OF his proper talent has sunk the
necessity for false expenses" In our sum
mer vacations cur expenditures are usually
somewhat more in this line We then pay
| for rest, for refreshment, for health and
vigor, for pure and simple pleasures in
word, for the means wherewith to brighten
| and invigorate life and to do our work more
! efficiently. In the city too many pay for
! the privilege of initiating those a little
richer than they are, of keeping up a GER
| tain style, of preserving certain conven-
tionalities; and for these fancied advant-
ages they often pay, not only money, but
| of body, peace of mind, serenity of life.
philadelphia Ledger.