Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-09-24
RECREATION.
Daily Change OF Pursuit More Invigor.
ating to Mind and Body Than an Ill
Spent Vacation of Weeks.


Daily Change of Pursuit More Invigor.
ating to Mind and Body Than an Ill
Spent Vacation of Weeks.
The vacation season has its failures
as well as its successes. The Spectator
strives to explain why pleasure-seekers
who strive hard to enjoy the summer
holiday sometimes exhaust themselves
in futile attempts to find genuine en-
joyment-. 1t lays stress upon the mis-
take of confounding rest with
recreation, since while it forms a con-
siderable part of a well-spent holiday,
it is not the whole of it. Nothing"
it remarks, really tends so much to the
resting of the energies which have
been over-used as the bringing into
play of those which have been inactive
or suppressed" 1t maintains that in
order to have recreation one must not
only discontinue his usual routine but
also find something to do which will
awaken new sense of power distinct
from that which ordinary vocation
awakens. Precisely as a mathema-
tician employed his holiday in writing
'Alice in Wonderland one must re-
fresh himself during the vacation
season by eXerting dormant faculties
or disused powers. which receive no
stimulus in life's ordinary routine.
The obvious criticism upon this spe-
cial regimen for recreation is that it
can only be recommended for men of
marked intellectual force. The effect
of mental elasticity and freshness is
produced by unaccustomed intellectual
-
muscles is relieved by the action of an
other. But the world is largely made
up of busy, oyerstrained. practical peo-
pie, who have no favorite studies to re-
vive, no scientific tastes to crafty, no
intellectual pleasures to pursue. 1t
would be as absurd for them to under
take any unwonted literary tasks in
quest of recreat on as it would be for
jaded clergymen. wearied out by a long
season of parish activity. to apply
themselves to laborious farm work in
the hope of getting thoroughly rested.
Professor Tyndall may find both rest
and recreation in dropping his scientif-
ic studies for a season and writing
review on a theological work. but sus-
tanned intellectual effort after an active
year of bu>iness or professional
labor will ordinarily exhaust
both the tired body and the
weary brain. Even if the mind could
be refreshed by the revival of former
studies or the awakening of new inter-
ests. recreation would be obtained at
the expense of rest. which after all
constitutes the essence of an invigor-
ating vacation.
The common mistake that is made is
in allowing ordinary occupations to
absorb so much time and energy as to
exclude everything else from ones
thoughts. The man Incapable of think
ing of anything except his business or
his profession can not make the best
use of vacation, since he has few if
any interests outside of his daily rou-
tine. Like Issachar COUGHING between
the burdens Of his business life. he
sees that rest is good. but he has bowed
his shoulder to bear and become ser
want unto tribute. The iron of ordi-
nary routine has entered into his soul.
The machine can scarcely stop running
during the vacation season. The mind
is preoccupied with business projects. or
harassed with domestic cares. There
may be peace and quiet for the tired
body and the overstrained nerves, but
there is no real change of thought
along wish the change of scene. He
may be satisfied to return to his bust
rested, and in that case his vacation
will be accounted success. But if the
season has passed in dull methodical
way almost as fatiguing as his worka-
day life. he will go back to work with a
jaded and hopeless feeling that he is
not fit for anything except hard work.
Is there anything that tends to make
man more disseminated and forlorn
than the feeling that he has tried hard
to enjoy himself and has made a signal
failure of it? 1t seems to imply that
the mind has not sufficient elasticity to
react under favorable physical condi-
tons. To return after vacation with
depressed spirits and a consciousness
of intellectual debility involves a hui
initiating confession OF lack of capacity
for recreation.
How different is the result if habits
of relaxation are formed during the
working year! Let the tension of daily
business be relieved every day by
change of pursuit, an hour of reading
or study, the cultivation of special
tastes, the awakening of new interests.
and the annual vacation will not find
even the busiest man without resources
for recreation as exhilarating to his
mind as the rest is invigorating to his
body. The professional man who
works in his own garden an hour or
two a day, and interests himself in
everything that grows, will be happy
in the quietest farm village during Au-
gust. for he will dwell among flowers
and birds, in the wholesome compan-
ionship of woods and fields. an intelli-
gent observer trained to comprehend
the manifold pleasures of rural
surroundings. Put the over
worked salesman. who occupies
his leisure through the year in making
a close study of trees and native woods
in Central Park, for single fortnight
in the Adirondacks, and how keen will
be his pleasure in roaming through
thicket and forest! Let the artistic
senses be trained by FREQUENT visits to
picture galleries or by familiarity with
good engravings of landscapes. and the
summers vacation will promote de-
velopment of the finer senses; the eve
will easily reflect the clearness of the
sky, and contact with mountains or
ocean will awaken Inspiring thoughts.
Rest can not do more for the body
than recreation can do for the mind,
when habits of relaxation are already
formed and the narroWness of profess
sional or business occupation has dis
Y. Irtbsne.