The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1885-10-02
Benefits of Travel.


e As boy is pleased with whistle or
i knife. and in youth finds delight with
either horse or bicycle, so in man
am bition. The pleasures of twenty
are out-lived at thirty, and at forty we
are looking through the tunnel to the
light at the other end, and not until
very much older, believe, do we long
for the lost days of boyhood.
The years that seemed slow in pass
ing at twenty 60 by like fast coaches
before forty, and startle us like a
night express at fifty.
The longing to keep young is an
average desire in so, many, that one
who could tell of land where youth
is renewed, would be hailed as lead,
er with spendid following. An yet,
climates, simple change to the mild
| er weather of Southern Missouri, Kan
sas, New Mexico or California, will
work wonders i'm the renewing of
youth.
A air bath by travel and new sur,
rounding, provided one is employed
and contented, is one of the surest
means of reviving lost energy and in
ereasing vitality. The wine-like winds
OF travel-for nothing is SO much like
1T, In stimulating vigor, as the swift
draughts of air one inhales by contrast
| of elimates-is of all things intoxica-
| ting to the senses. We feel the world
| is+larger, we know the earth is. beauti-
full and of all things to the debilitated,
travel is the key TO happiness.
/ Travel breaks up our narrowness,
enlarges our love of enjoyment, in
creases our belief in improvements,
revives our recollections, and snlarges
/ cur view of others. 1t does raOre. It
adds new life to the old one and
brings to the newer the right to live
/ over the other, and fulfills the longing
to be boy again, for travel in a
| strange and romantic countryis to be-
gin life anew; and settling foE a sea-
son in some fair valley ("where the
smile of the Creator has eeystalized
on the landscape''), or in some city of
refinement, is a world that before was
undiscovered.
l. AS an aid to conversation and, a
theme of general use in business. or
/ pleasure, it is broad and instructive;
as means of learning history it is be-
yond all books, maps and teachers;
for acquiring knowledge it is rare
experience. He is a wise man who
has known many men,, seen many
| cities.'
The influence of travel on reading,
love of learning, and general advant--
age over information gained in books,
need not be urged to enforce its mean
| ing. We all know that the. more one
learns tho more he will learn, and
fact once outlined of fields well known
will outlast all descriptions.
From the chances of trade and the,
| changes of business, we often meet
men and women who have seen better
| days, whose ample fortune once af-
forded the luxury of ease and comfort.
Notably is this true of the once.
wealthy planters at the South, who
have lost in the vortex of commerce,
and the tide Of affairs, the means that
| had furnished many feast of eniov-
ment, whose present chief solace is in
the fond recollection of what was
theirs so long in reality and is now
| only cherished IN memory. From
these we may learn that next to our
| nearest friendships Will ever be the.
gain and profit of strange lands wis.,.
tied. fortunes enjoyed, and fond scenes
remembered.
And what, after all, is life but lit
tie journey in strange land, with a
few companions, less friends, flying
train, halt at the little stations, a.
rest and recollection of what we
have seen, known and enjoyed most
as we travelled, even though they may
be unpossessed of like Impressions
and surroundings.
The chief gain of travel is that
means of making one at home with
the many classes of associates who
read from the start that one of easy
manners has at least some superior
knowledge of the world. Then, too,
the pleasures of contemplation must
ever be source of companionship,
and one that has travelled many miles
with attention will have mind we'll
stored with natural paintings and
pleasant places, to recall at leisure
and enjoy when alone.
The enlargement of the mind on
seeing the growth of great cities, the
progress Of vast improvements in
mechanism and arts, with the still
greater wonder at the works of nature
as seen in rivers and mountains, val
leys like Harper's Ferry and the Yo-
semitic, falls like Niagara, the grander
sights of the Yellowstone, are all
themes to contemplate, enlighten and
inspire. Books and paintings can
never wholly define them,-J W. DOM
ovara, in The Current. .