The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1886-07-31

DOct thO0 hhO"J INV wy -
warm when he quieteth the earth by the south
wind2" Job xxxvii, III
1t is characteristic of human beings
that they think much and say a good
deal about the climate, the temperature
the seasons, which may be called the
meteorological environment of our race
These are conditions which have very
much to do with the quality of human
life. They mold races, they make and
unmake nations. There is no chance
for the jewellers under the bleak arctic
circle, nor for the inhabitants OF the
enervating tropics, to long maintain
that balance of mental and physical
powers which places men at the fore in
the race of life. Their physical sur
rounding overpower them. A hostile
climate is heavy handicap in the
struggle for existence. But when the
elements are in league with men, the
alliance becomes invincible.
So it is natural that as we stand at
the very heart of the year, looking back
from these midsummer days on the
spring which but yesterday was weav-
ing it's lovely verdure over the earth, and
forward to those autumn days which
so very soon will fill our hands with
the ripened harvests, that our thoughts
should turn to our surroundings.
Midsummer draws the mind outward.
It emphasizes the charm and the irfu-
ence of the external world. 1t reminds
us of our relations to nature. 1t presses
upon us the necessary changes in life
and it's habits which the years vicissi-
tudes impose. 1t points us to the
teeming riches which tie earth and the
elements are heaping up for us in the
wheat field and the orchard. Nature is
not didactic. These lessons are not put
before us in the shape of sermons.
You never catch the sunshine, the
trees or the open air preaching" at
you. Nevertheless, the most hardened
city-dwellers cannot entirely escape the
the power of the season as it wraps us
about with it's gracious warmth, its
charm of color and light. its serenity
and its prospect of abundance for the
material good of man.
1t is one of the blessings of this sea-
son that it draws us out of ourselves,
out of our homes, out of our cities and
towns even, and sets us down little
nearer to nature, with her recuperative
and healthful forces. Midsummer is
Gods invitation to come out of doors.
1t is the call of heaven for man to get
back to the face of the earth and see
what refreshment there is in store for
him there. 1t has been characteristic
of Americans in the past that they
have neglected this means to health
full and normal life. God never meant
us to desert nature and the world of
sky and field and forest and sea, and
immune ourselves altogether in our
houses and our city buildings. And the
craving which at this season urges men
away to the country, suggests the vaca-
ton, the camping expedition, the ex-
cursion to the woods with rod Or gun,
the voyage over the sea, or even the
simple picnic under the trees in the
park, is an instinct which cannot be
uprooted from the nature. 1t will sur
vive ages of civilization and dwelling
in the artificial life Of cities. From the
very depths of his brick or brown stone
cave, shaded with screens and glass and
curtains, and shut in with door of oak,
the man trained to city living will look
out, in dreams Of the imagination, to-
ward the reaching prairie, the distant
hill, the lake side and the mountain
top, and plan how he may reach them
for a breathing time, a brief outing
with nature. 1t is cheering sign that
our generation of Americans, young and
old, is yielding more and more to this
tendency to get back to nature and the
open air. We have been too strange to
the life of out of-doors. The open air
is our natural element. He is the health
lest and strongest man who has the
most of it. We were born into it; it
belongs to US. And civilization cheats
us if it deprives us of this hirthright.
And we ought to welcome all these de-
vices by which our young people-and
older ones, too-are won out of doors.
There is a feature of American house
building which of late years has be-
come sign of good to our people. 1t
is the growth and development of the
piazza as part, an indispensable part,
of the suburban and the country house.
1t is the response of the house builder
to the invitation which nature gives
him every summer to come out and sit
in the fresh air and bring his family
with him. sit is more necessary to our
well being" says recent writer upon
architecture, than is his IOggio to the
italian, or his paved terrace to the
Frenchman, or his vine-clad arbOr to
the German" 1t is pleasant Chicago
custom which upholsters the doorstep
in the midsummer twilight, and gath
ers the household in fresh air parlor.
After our steam and furnace heated
winter housing; after the incarceration