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

new language with which to converse
with her. The artist with his sketch
book, the photographer with his camera,
the astronomer peering into the night,
and the student of weather lore watch
ing the clouds and the veering winds
by day, all have larger facilities than
other men for intercourse with nature
and deriving from her an inspiration
and an enjoyment which blesses and
adorns the life. Thoreau and Audubon
and Gilbert White all teach us to know
nature, because in ways like these they
had entered into her secrets. Sci
ence," says John Burroughs, ''confers
new powers of vision. Whenever you
have learned to discriminate the birds,
the plants or the geological features of
a country, it is as if new and keener
eyes were added" Let this be said,
too, with all tenderness for even the
faintest readings after life and phe-
nomena of the outward world, that he
who only loves +" Nature" with large
IN" and has but general sense of
her more vigorous effects, has every
thing to learn about her. She never
reveals her real beauties, she never be-
slows her most precious treasures upon
those who look her over with this SUI
perfcial stare. Her best favors are
withheld for those who, lover like,
come the closest to her side and enter
into the most intimate associations
with her. And he must bring, moreover,
something besides eyes and ears. He
must bring the spirit of learner, the
| heart of child, the soul of a wor-
shipper. For all such the heart of nat
ure is an open book. For all others it
is shut and sealed.
1t is not without reason that this
opportunity of the SUNNI er time has
been interpreted by the men and women
of this generation, as hint that mid
summer is good time for the brain
workers, the planners, and schemers,
and thinkers, and teachers, and stu
dents, to take their vacation. This is
the time of all the year, when the body
pleads most persuasively, and with the
best show of reason, for rest. There is
a great deal in nature at the height of
summers tide to tempt us into the
feeling that bare enjoyment is very
proper end in life for certain days and
certain seasons. 1t was of a glorious
summer day that Longfellow wrote
30 gift of God, perfect day
WhereOn no man shall work but play.
Whereon it is enough for me
Not to be doing but to be-
Some thrifty brother may call that
stanza lazy mans sentiment, a pre-
MUM upon idleness. And, yet it is the
only fair response one can make to some
of these enticing days. And indeed, in
disposing us to rest, the languor of the
summer heats is not the advocate of
idleness, but of economy and far-sighted
prudence. 1t is not unthrifty to take
time out Of life's business for rest and
for pleasure. On the other hand, it is
wise business policy. 1t replenishes
the vitality. 1t lubricates the mind.
1t repairs the damage done by over
work. Some men and women work
through life like unoiled machinery,
wearing out before their time, and run
ming at a waste while they last, be-
cause they despise and ignore the
pleasant oil of rest and enjoyment.
But it is good economy to let muscles
and brains lie follow sometimes, as well
as fields. 1t does the ground good to be
an idler part of the time. Why not a
mans organism and spirit? Indeed,
nature enforces sort of rest upon the
earth, in the long sleep of winter. We
may venture to take the hint she gives.
1t is good for us to idle sometimes and
take little pure enjoyInen So we best
prepare ourselves for the hardest work.
Enjoyment, recreation, play,-these are
Gods restoratives for tired souls and
bodies. If more people would take
them, there would be less work for the
doctors.
That truth has marked relation to
our own time. The wear and tear of life
was never so great as it is to-day. HUI
man pursuits never made such drafts
upon human endurance, the forms and
the strictness of responsibility were
never so varied and binding. The men
and women who are bearing these re-
sponsibilities, and following these pur-
suits, cannot live as their grandfathers
did, who lived under different regime.
That is why the vacation is becoming
so general habit. The times demand
it. The exactions of modern life make
it imperative on many classes of work
ers. There is no respite for the brain
worker of this generation, unless he
makes one for himself. And without
some break in his work, some occasional
change from the wearing routine of this
high pressure life, he will soon find
himself taking an enforced vacation,
whose scene will be sick room, whose
companions the nurse and the doctor.
l could point to score of friends and
acquaintance, men who began life's