Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1895-09-21
our SAVAGE ANCESTORS.

One rhinR Inherited from Them IL . rasts
for ficnlos
Perhsps there are few more exact In
stances Of what h called atavism than
the disposition Of the whole civilized
world In summer time toward the pic
MIC. II d not by any means the need
Of association. Of eating hard-boiled
s0gs and dry sandwiches and drinking
warm lemonade In company, or OF
sharing even daintier satisfactions 10
the appetite. II IL not the need OF et-
ting shoes full Of sand, ofcoming HON,
with dragged skirts and limp linen
and aching backs and burned faces, TO
say nothing of insipisnt influerzssa and
rheumatismA II Il purely aai simply
the need of being In the open air. aud
of deceiving ones self into the glad
idea that one Ia rarely living thcre, OF
having the freedom Of earth and SKY
and water and wind and oil outdoors,
a the first savage ancestors dill. For
Il Il not so many generations since the
cabins and caves were mere sleeping
places, aud the life Of people was lived
out doors, and not 10 many more since
the dens Of the forest gave all the
shelter there was. So It Is not Mt
all impossible that, beyond the
love of what 10 pleasant, this
craving for outdoor life Is merely
hereditary tendency, Q survival OF the
ancestral quality that probably had the
animal instinct for home. and loved Its
environments Is In the main we love
our own. and II 1t did not love II knew
of no other and SO accepted IL rs q
natural affair. Perhaps this Is still
more probable because on the picnic,
moro than elsewhere, we are apt to re-
turn In our manners In some measure
to the savagery of our earlier people.
We sit upon the ground there, we lie
upon It; there is nothing else to sit on;
we do not scruple to eat pie with our
fingers; water au naturel In the alb
sence of Ice is not undrinkable; clam
she'll in cleft stick makes MS a salts
factory spoon; crawling and creeping
things about us are matters OF no con-
Germ: sometimes we even dispense
with chaperon; we do not always
pause to regret that we have not the
woodcraft of these early people that
taught them how to get the most COM
fort out of the least material. or
course there are picnics where ice is
taken along, and pate de foie. and
aspic jelly, and champagne, where
there are buffers and walters follow
ing, and all is made as conspicuously
like the life of the picnickers when ut
home as possible; but these only prove
still more strongly the inherent love
of outdoors, us the Vatican party,
painted on q fan, demonstrates its
value when II showed people with
every luxury OF life in palaces finding
the picnic attractive enough for chief
pleasure.
To most people the pleasantest room
in the world is not so pleasant Us an
open piazza; and to the healthy the
widest and loveliest vine-hung piazza
Is not as enchanting as the wood. the
seashore, the mountain, or even the
high field or the lakeside. The love of
liberty seems TO be fed and gratiied in
the sense OF the surrounding height
ard space. whether consciously or 9th.
erwise. The love OF beauty, too, finds
its nearest satisfaction in the outer
world.
Thou canst not wave thy stan In air.
Or dip thy paddle In the lake.
But It carves the bow OF beauty there,
And the rippes In rhymes the oar forsake.
Moreover, IL Is not impossible that,
without being aware of il, we are at
tracted to this semblance Of wild life
by the blind instinct OF returning to
the dear old mother earth, or laying
our head on her warm breast, and ut
receiving her unspoken sympathy in
our joys, her silent consolation in our
trouble. And although we do not go
camping and picnicking with any ulti-
mate view to philosophy and the study
of the science of the unknown, yet n
thousand questions that find no an
swer in the house answer themselves
outdoors
Uprose the merry sphinx
And crouched no more in stone,
She melted into purple cloud.
She sllvered In the moon.
She splred into yellow flame.
She lowered In blossoms red,
She flowed into q foanlng wave,
She stood Monadnoc's head.