The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-05-20
SPRING FEVER.
A "State Of Mind" Which Comes
with the Birds and Flowers
L Is Easily Cured IL One Only has the
Means to Follow His Inclinations-
Sort of Migratory
MalRdy.

warmth, there comes to us a restless
longing for something different from
the ordinary life, which is perhaps the
survival of a migratory instinct trans
mitted from a long-forgotten ancestor
who changed his skies with the chang
ing seasons. Call it by whatever name
we may, "spring fever" or dad blood"
this state of mind exists and needs a
cure.
There is no better remedy for it than
to yield to the feeling. just as the birds
and beasts do. to burst our bonds for
little while and to spend day, week
or a month, if we can, "far from the
maddening crowds ignoble strife" 1t
matters little what tae excuse may be
that we make to ourselves and our bust
ness associates, whether it is TO go fish
ing on the opening day or to collect
| birds or wild flowers or to take long
bicycle ride; any excuse is a good one
which for time frees man or woman
from the restraints of everyday life and
gives opportunity for communion with
nature, now just stretching her arms
after her long sleep.
Although this restlessness comes to
| everyone except the most hardened
business man, it does not come to AL
OF the same time nor by reason of the
came causes. One man may recognize
it's first symptoms as he walks through
the crowded streets and feels warm,
soft air of spring blow upon his face;
another may be stricken as he walks
through city park and sees the SWELL
ing buds of the soft maple or elm; a
third may sit at his desk dreaming for
an hour over a letter containing some
chance remark which sends his
thoughts a thousand miles afield, or
yet another may find the sweet poison
in some spring odor or in the voice of
newly-come bird. Whatever its cause.
all know the symptoms of the disease
and all know the remedy.
Let him who dreams of brown. foam
fiecked streams, whose waters are
kissed by the swollen catkins of bend
ing willows and boarded by sprangling
alders, make ready his rod and start
for the trout stream. There he will
perhaps catch some fish, but whether
he does or not, he will find what is of
more worth to him than trout, though
he may not know it. He will see the
newly-come saHdpiper wading along
the shadows of the stream, and the
water thrush and the red-po!l warbler
sedately marching by the waters edge;
the little tortoises scrambling along |
the bottom, and the muskrats diving in I
the quiet places. He will hear the |
merry gurgle of the blackbirds, the |
ciink of the jay, the tumultuous cawing
OF the mating crows and the far-off
screams of the soaring hawk. He will
stretch his legs in long days tramp |
and will come to his resting place at !
night honestly tired out, and with an
appetite such as he has not had for
months.
Or, if his dreams be Of Florida, what !
more easy than to take train and find |
himself in day at the long white |
beaches where the surf thunders IN.
ceasingly, where the sun is ever bright |
and warm, where the waters are blueP |
than the sky above them, where light.
winged seabirds sail and dip and where |
the man may turn back the pages OF
20 years and at once become a bow /
again, running barelegged over the |
sand or wading in the surf to capture |
smells or hsh, winning at the same time |
the rest and the new strength which /
mean for him, in the months to come,
better work and more of it than he |
could have done without this interval of |
transformation from man to boy.
The mountain climber or the bio
game hunter has his attack of the |
spring fever as other men do, but it does
not send him away, for he knows that
his time is not Yet. But he plans, oh.
he plans! He orders new guns or new
ice axes and new climbing shoes: he
studies maps, he corresponds with
guides, and, above all, he talks over
the contemplated trip with his chosen
companion. They discuss elk coun-
tries and sheep countries and the best
way to get bear; or they figure on
unclimbed mountain peaks and talk of
glaciers and crevasses and bergschrunds
and couloirs and cornices. And it NAV
be that out of all this talk and planning
and anticipation they get more pleasure
than they do at last out of the trip.
There are many to whom these out
ings are their sole recreation, pleas
ures anticipated for one-half the year
and looked back on for the other half.
and the number of such is constantly
increasing. 1t ought to increase. for
they who really delight in such things
do better work and make more useful
citizens than those who pin themselves
down to the amending round Of narrow
business life.
The laying aside for a time of the
daily routine. the mental rest, the de-
Light Of again seeing beautiful things.
long known yet fresh. and OF seeing
other things which are wholly new
all these combine TO pour into 4 mans
system new vigor which will enable
him when he returns 10 his work TO do
that work with an increased interest,
intelligence and earnestness. From
the point of view of mere dollars and
cents. II is worth every mans while 10
take two vacations each year. one in the
spring and one in the fall. Such play
spells pay for themselves in the better
work man by reason Of them can do
through the long months Of cold and
heat.-Forest and Stream.
When n Car Was Near Death.
The late Russian general Tcbe-ev;-
was the founder OF the Okhrana. OF
cars oocyguard, composed OF men OF