Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1886-09-23

scene for while, lest, peradventure, the
scene quit him forever. But he must
| quit it absolutely, both it and all its
work. He must transport himself, as it
were, to another world, where not only
the external but the internal conditions
of existence shall be in as direct con
trast as possible TO those under which he
thae been working. He must give the
lie to the latin proverb and prove that it
is possible for the traveller to effect a
change within as without: when he goes
to Rome he must not only ko as the
Ror.ans do, but be as they are Above
all he must divorce himself wholly from
his work, from the the thought no less
than from the reality; it must be for him
as though it had no existence
in the present, if it is
to have for others any existence in the fu-
ture. In short, his transformation must
be as complete as Faust's-though it
would be as well for him, perhaps, to Sc
lect some different form of distraction.
IL he viii be content to suffer so absolute
a change as this, and can encompass it,
let him who feels change of some sort
to be necessary, and has satisfied himself
that the feeling be not born of some pass
ing fit of irritation or dyspeptic fancy by
all means put it into practice with what
speed he may. But he who desires to re-
gain tone and temper, to brace his men
tai and bodily energies, to know once
again the delight of ''laborious DAYS"
and feel the happy confidence that his la
bors are not and will not be in vain, need
tease or tlatter himself with no less dras-
tic remedy. He will find but little bene-
fit from those temporary retreats from
Saturday to Monday which are so much
In vogue among a certain sort of workers
and for many are no doubt neither useful
nor ungrateful. Men whose work,
though in a sense brain work as
indeed all save purely physical
work must tG a certain extent be. is based
on matter OF fact and practiced by rou-
tine, can no doubt put it by and take it
up again without difficulty. AS such
work may practically be said to end with
the day, it suffers nothing by the inter
vention of few hours idleness. At the
worst it merely stands still; it does not
go back. But he who works with the in
tellect as well as with the brain will hard
ly, save In very rare instances, find him
self able to do this. Everyone who has
had any real experience of this sort of
work will know invaluable is vein" how
easy it is to lose, how hard to regain.
Few things are SO injurious to it as these
short and frequent Interruptions. The
two railway journeys-and terrible enc
mics to the brain are railways-even the
packing, the unpacking and the repack-
ing, all of which consume their share, and
more than their share, of the brief holt
day, all tend to neutralize
its advantages, to change the
rest that should be into hurry and thought
and care, which, though of different kind
from that from which we are striving to
escape, have their own retarding influence.
The mere external change, enough to dis
tract, yet not enough to relieve, is of
little use. Every one knows how for the
first day or two of long deferred holiday
the mind is restless and uneasy. Old
habits and associations, even the most
trivial, can not be broken up and new
ones formed at a moments notice.
When the hour for returning comes the
holiday seeker, instead of feeling himself
reinvigorated and filled with fresh life
and energy, goes back whence he came,
dissatisfied with a waste of time, which
has but kept him from his work without
as he can not but confnss to himself, Civ
ing him any solid return. Even when the
place of his weekly retreat is the same so
that there is no shock as it were of novel
ty to distract his mind when he steps at
once into habits and scenes and among
people no less familiar to him than those
among whom his working days are passed.
,1yith tub Of
latter can amicably march, it is n ques-
ton whether that harm does not over
balance the good. The mine is more at
ease during the interruption, but the in
terruption remains.
He who feels tho necessity for some re-
Taxation from his labors imperative, yet
can not afford either the time or the money
for the complete departure from his nor
NAL existence elsewhere described. will
probably find himself best served by a
change of work without change of scene;
or, possibly, better still, by an absolute
rest from all work under the same
conditions. visit TO the picture CALLER
les or museums days walk through the
streets or parks, even ones sofa and a
novel will often have the desired effect.
There is here no violent disruption of
habits, yet the brain is relieved and re-
lieved insensibly, which is the prime vir-
tue of all systems of relief. SO simnle a
change is within the reach of all, and he
who tries this, falling any other method
of satisfying q want he feels to be indis-
pensabIe, will return to his work, the
thread of which he has never really let flo
in far better trim than he will return to
il after few hours of life under different
and abnormal conditions thrust violently
in between two jolting railway journeys.