Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1896-06-01
SPRING FEVER.
A "State of Mind" Which Comes
with the Birds and Flowers.
1t Is Easily Cured II One Only Has tile
Means to Follow His Inclinations-
Sort of Migratory
Malady.

birds return and the brown earth
steams and swells beneath the midday
warmth, there comes 10 us restless
longing for something different from
the ordinary life, which is perhaps the
survival of migratory instinct trans
mitted from long-forgotten ancestor
who changed his skies with tile chang.
ing seasons. Call it by whatever name
we may, 'spring fever" or "bad blood y
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 a
little while and to spend day. a week
or month, If we can, "far from the
maddening crowds ignoble strife" II
matters little what the excuse NAV be
that we make to ourselves and our busi-
ness associates, whether it is to 90 fish
ing on the opening day or to collect
plrds or wild flowers or to take long
plcycie 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 all
at the same time nor by reason of the
came causes. One man may recognize
It's 1lrst symptoms as he walks through
the crowded streets and feels q warm
soft air of spring blow upon his face:
another may be stricken as he walks
through a 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 thousand miles afield. or
yet another may find the sweet poison
III 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-
hecked streams, whose waters are
kissed by the swollen catkins of bend
ing willows and boarded by spranglipr
alders, make ready his rod and start
Tor the trout stream. There he will
perhaps catch some fish, but whether
lie Goes or not, he will find what is of
more worth to him than trout. thouob
he may not know it. He will see the
newly-come sandpiper wadinC along
're swallows OF the stream, and the
water thrush and the red-poll warbler
sedately marching by the waters edge.
the little tortoises scrambling alone
the bottom, and the muskrats diving in
the quiet places. He will hear the
merry gurgle of the blackbirds, the
cllnk 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
ana Wlll come to his resting place at
night honestly tired ont, and with an
appetite such as he has not had for
months.
or, If his dreams be of Florida, what
more easy tEan to take train and find
himself in a day at the long white
peaches where the surf thunders nm
ceasin@ly, where the sun is ever brirbt
and warm, where the waters are bluer
IMAM the sky above them, where light
winged seabirds sail and dip and where
lhe man may turn back the pages of
~ years and at once become a bow
again, running barelegged over the
ss'hd or wading in the surf to capture
smells or fish, 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
from man to bov.
The mountain climber or the big
game hunter has his attack of the
spring fever as other men do, butit 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 a bear; or they figure on
unclmbed mountain peaks and talk of |
and crevasses and bergschrunds |
and couioirs and cornices. And it NAV |
be that out of all this talk and planning |
ana 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 wear
and looked back On for the other hall.
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 unending round of narrow
business life.
The laying aside for a time of the
1aliy routine, the mental rest, the de-
ll'ght OF again seeing beautiful things.
long known yet ever fresh, and OF seeing
other things which are wholly new
all these combine TO pour into a mans
system new vigor which will enable
him when he returns to his work to do
that work with an increased interest.
and earnestness. From