Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-09-23

scene for while. lest peradventure, the
scene quit him forever. But he must
quit it absolutely, both it and eli its
work. He must transport himself. as il
were, to another world, where NOT only
the external but the internal conditions
of existence shall be in as direct a con
trast as possible 20 those under which he
haze been working. He must give the
lie to the latin proverb and prove that it
is possible for the traveller to effect
change within as without; when he goes
to Rome he must not only ko as the
Rorsans 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 mus. 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.
1t he will be content to suffer so absolute
change as this, and can encompass it,
let him who feels change of tsome sort
to be necessary, and has satisfied himself
that the feeling be not born of some pass
ing tit 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 Ia
bors are not and will not be in vain, need
tease or Halter himself with no less dras-
tic remedy. He will find but little bene-
tit from those temporary retreats from
Saturday to Monday which are so much
IN vogue among 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 to certain extent be, is based
on matter or 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
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 the
packing, the unpacking and the repack-
ing, all of which consume their share, and
more than their share, of the brief holi-
day, all tend to neutralize
its advantages, to change the
rest that should be into hurry and thought
and care, which, though of a 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
instead of feeling himself
and filed with fresh life
and energy, goes back whence he came,
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,
and with which, therefore, those of the
latter can amicably march, it is 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 the 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. A visit to the picture CALLER
les or museums, a 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 simple a
change is within the reach of all, and he
who tries this, failing any other method
of satisfying 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
it after a few hours of life under different
and abnormal conditions thrust violently |
in between two jolting railway journeys.
OFF THE BOARDS.