The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-06-28

Every seat IN UNITY NAH Was oSSU-
pied yesterday morning at the closing
service Of the Unitarian church before
the summer vacation. A special must
cal programme was rendered by Unity
Male Quartette assisted by Mrs. Mar
riott, pianist Mr.. Brigham was, at his
best in the rendering Of Abt's tenor
solo. Home So Blest" And the pro-
gramme as a whole was one of the
most inspiring of the year. The church
will reopen on September 5.
Play Time" was the subject of Mr..
Hudson's sermon. He said that by the
end of June nearly all the schools in
the land, public and private, the acad-
emies, colleges and universities, to-
gether with many of the churches, viii
have closed their doors for the sum
mer vacation. Teachers and students,
pastors and people, are turning away
from the special duties which have &C
cupied their attention during the school
and church year, and are seeking re-
Taxation in other forms of activity.
But why this seeming waste of time
and energy? Is all this play time
necessary? The experience of the race
says Yes" The best results of hu-
man energy are gained by akernat-
ing hard work with periodic seasons of
play and recreat ton. The human mech
anism requires rest. 1t needs to be re-
leased from the strain of its habitual
tasks.
This is true even with machines that
are made of iron. Locomotive engineers
understand this and let their engines
rest while they do. Great power plants
usually have a double system of en-
gines so that one may rest while the
other is working. 1t has been found
by practical experience that in this
way machinery does more and better
work with less wear than if it is kept
in constant motion. Much more must
this be true with the complicated sys
TEN of delicate nerve fibres which make
up the working force of-the human
system.
1t is not merely that we are in dan
ger of breaking down from the strain
of uninterrupted work; but, what is
even more dangerous. because it comes
upon us without notice or warning, we
lose tone and elasticity; we 60 on plod
ding, but somehow we have lost the
power to do our best" Why do we so
frequently have off days? Days when
everything goes wrong and we seem
unable TO accomplish anything which
we set out to do? Is ii not because
for the time we have lost buoyancy,
elasticity, nerve-that indefinable thing
which we call ''tone?" Such days have
great significance. They should teach
US that unless we give the nervous sys-
TEN opportunity for relaxation. the
time will surely come when all our days
will be off days" and we shall lose
the power of finest achievement Bridge
builders have found that they need TO
test not only the breaking point but
the point of rebound. In like manner
we need to guard the elasticity of our
working forces.
But our human mechanism has one
great advantage over the clumsier con-
triVances of mans creation. With our
finely varied and yet related powers.
we can always command relaxat ton by
using different faculties. Rest is not
idleness, but change of occupation.
Play time may be a period of constant
activity. 1t is only necessary that our
interests be changed. This is the
value of such games as tennis, cards
and billiards as a means of recreation.
They rest the mind by taking it away
for the time from its ordinary cares
and giving it another bent. The min
lister of the old school was wrong who.
upon calling on some of his flock, found
them playing cards and reproved them
by inquiring in an unctuous tone: "Ah.
my friends, do you not realize how
much time is lost in playing cards?'
And the old lady was quite right who
there's lots of time lost in shutting"
The moments wasted were not those in
which the minds of the players were
excited by interest in the game but
rather the intervals in which they were
permitted TO revert to ordinary cares
and duties.
But in order that play time may have
any value it must come as a change
from earnest work. If vacation is to
bring US any pleasure it must be
earned. A summer of social fetes and /
dress parade at a fashionable resort. |
following a gay winter III the city. is |
not rest, but dissipation. 1t is not \
even play, but the hardest kind of I
work To make pleasure seeking a /
business deprives ii of the essential !
element of play. 1t ceases TO be relax
alton and becomes wearisome Dissi- !
patton in amusements has the same eff /
feet as overwork. 1t is the unrelieved /
and constant use OF the same set of /
faculties. This is the secret of that /
ennui. so frequently complained Of by
idlerS who have no resources in them
bore, like the fashionable woman who
complained on returning from a sum-
mer's outing that she had been aug
weeded almost to DEATH
The prejudice existing against the
idle rich arises in part from a feeling
that their leisure is not earned. Leis-
ure for play is not an evil, but a good.
1t should be a universal good. like
water, air and sunshine. But the
abuse Of leisure, the mere killing of
time, seems like wantonly turning the
water supply into the gutter while
people are dying from thirst Time for
recreation is not a mere privilege of
the rich. 1t is a duty of every one. 1t
must be said in fairness that it is not.
as a rule. the very poor, who deprive
themselves of leisure for rest. 1t is
rather the average business man.
crowded with responsibilities It is the
average woman of society absorbed in
household cares and social duties II
is these who are overworked. rather
than those whom we technically call
the laboring classes
1t is largely an American fault. We
scrimD our holidays. Business life with
Us has become too constant and intense
Z strain. This is why we are becoming
as a race SO much more nervous than
our cousins in Germany and England.
In the hurry and rush of our material
progress we are forgetting the worth
IF play time. Occasionally we find
business house which requires that each
IF its members and employees shall
take Law off once d year. But this
s the exception. The rule is illustrated s
BY the experience CT a friend Of mine. =
IN active business man. who told me !
'nly last Thursday that he hadn't taken
/ vacation since the Worlds Fair at |
Chicago. Others allow themselves n
,ew days vacation. but take all their
worries and most of their correspond
nee with them, so that they miss the q
seeded change and rest. This state {
II things demands reform. We need
.z-nr 70 Z