Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-07-04
HAIL TO THE HOLIDAYS.
WRITTEN FOR THE DISPATCH !

HAIL IU The nULlDa1O.
WRITTEN FOR THE DIsPATCH.I
ALL hail to all the holidays-except the
sort which they are celebrating just now out
at homestead Welcome the Fourth of July!
Would that some remarkable event had
taken place upon the Fourth OF August also,
and some other notable occurrence upon the
Fourth OF September, and SO on throughout
the year, making imperative a whole new
cycle of additional holidays! Even though
they should necessitate the endurance OF tin
horns and fre-crackers, yet would the bless
ing far over ba lance the nuisance-the bless
ing of rest. of "day OFF, more often.
1t is possible, of course, to exaggerate the
benefits of holidays. 1t is proverbially true
that too much of a good thing is as bad as
too little; flood is as fatal as famine. In
the middle ages. when every other day was
saints day, and when every saints day
was an occasion for prayers in the morning
and for skittles and beer in the afternoon.
and for no work from early morn till dewy
eve. the multiplication of holidays hindered
traffic and obstructed progress. Holidays
had to be put down by stress or law. But we
have long got past that stage. what we
need now is a reversal of the process We
work too much and too long. We have for.
gotten how to play.
Result of the Infrrquency.
SOME people point to the abuses of holi-
days as an argument against having any
holidays. But these abuses are only the
natural result of the infrequency with which
the "day' off, comes round. Men do not
have enough holidays to learn what to do
with them. The only way to learn to swim
is to venture persistently into the water,and
the only way to find out the best uses OF
spare time is to have some spare time to
practice on. They say, perhaps with some
eXaggeration, that every successful ocullSI
learns his business by spelling a peck Of
eyes. What wonder If the act of keeping
holiday is also attained by q similar spelling
of holidays? 1 am not disposed to blame
the craftsman who gets literally drunk in
the celebration of his infrequent holiday. l
deplore it. I am sorry for the ignoramus
who has not yet got any further along than
that in his ideas of a good time. But; poor
fellow, how should he know any better? He
has never had a chance.
l believe in the people. They can learn
anything-even how to enjoy themselves
if they have chance. The more holidays
there are in tile year-within reasonable
limits-the better they will be kept. The
more hours of leisure the working people
have, the less will they be disposed to spend
them foolishly, until by and by we can use
the same word for holiday which they use in
Germany, and call it a hochzeix that is, q
"high time" The national holiday, if it is
but sufficiently multiplied, will come to be
a time for occupying ourselves with high
things rather than with low things. Holi-
days will become holy days. days which
will minister to health, health of body, mind
and soul.
The Benefit Of Fireworks.
ACCORDINGLY, rejoice in the empha-
sizing of this day. It means not only rest.
but patriotism. It reminds us Of our coun-
try. Some people think that 1t is too bad
to spend several thousands Of dollars for
fireworks at Schenley Park. They say that
1t would be better to use that money for the
poor. I doubt it. 1t is great thing to care
for the poor, but it is great thing also to
care for the country. One of the first steps
toward good citizenship is realization of
the greatness of the nation. And there are
hosts of men who cannot be taught that out
of books, nor even by the eloquence of
patriotic speeches. They need to have it
banged into their ears by the din of cannon,
and blazed into their eyes by the fame and
glow of fireworks. We cannot afford to
leave the Fourth of July out OF our national
calendar.
lam glad TO see in some shop windows the
sign, Saturday Half Holiday" and in still
more windows the announcement, "This
store closed at P. NJ" wish that these
placards were as many as the leaves OF
Valambrosa Every retail business in this
city ought to shut its doors upon its GUS
toners every Saturday afternoon, and open
them for the exit OF its clerks into the fresh
air and the green fields. We are little be-
hind the times here in this matter. In the
East there are more stores closed for the
holf do fbon a 10
a little in the adoption of this beneficent
custom. In England the half holiday is
well-nigh universal. I well remember try
ing to make purchase in London on a
Saturday afternoon. The shops were as de-
serted as the shops Of old Pompeii.
And. really, they make quite as much
money over there as we do. The man who
wants to get the most work out of his horse
does not make him trot up the hills, and
docs not keep him at his fastest gait all the
the time even along the levels. He uses his
Judgment as well as his whip. And the
merchant who would get the best service
out of his clerks does not treat them like
machines, but gives them a let-up now and
then, and, for his own sake. as well as for
them, take some interest in their health.
Better to Be a Man Than a Mint.
AFTER all, the whole of life, even on
Wood street, does not consist in making
money. Humanity and happiness are of
more value than a whole library of check
books. To make a reasonable amount of
profit. and to live in peace with ones EN-.
ployes and with ones own conscience is
better than to be q millionaire task-maker
like old Pharaoh and to live in daily fear Of
a visitation of plaques. 1t is better to be a
man than a mint.
AS it is, the men and women who have the
most need of holidays get the least rest. It
would be well to have our blessings Ii title
more evened up. The early closing and the
Saturday halfholiday are steps in that di-
rection. They are the just provisions which
men make who say: "I have q good vaca-
tion every summer, ana live in q house all
the year round in which life is a blessed
holiday after my working hours. Now am
going to try to share some of these blessings
with my brothers and sisters who lack them.
1 will give out of my abundance an hour or
two of fresh air every day, and whole af-
ternoon, once q week, out in the fields"
As for the good people who are packing
their trunks just now for the long vacation,
1 hope that they will not forget those who
will have to spend the hot days in the tene-
ment houses. Especially the mothers and
the little babies, to whom the blue sky and
the green trees would be medicine and
strength and delight and health. hope
that the parents who are preparing to take
aims will remember those other parents and
those other children. The Society for the
Improvement of the Poor have q summer
home at Oakmont, and for every fve-dollar
bill put into their hands they can take
oh;Io ba ron {,to tho y,o II