Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1901-03-01
Americans Out.ci.Doors.

Americans Out. Doors.
There has been, perhaps. no more
striking change in the habits of Ameri-
cans during the last twenty-five years
than the immense extension of their
out door interests and activities. 4
generation ago the number OF men en-
gagged in business life who took any
form of recreation was 50 small that it
was hardly calculable. Men of fortune
were comparatively few. and The coun-
try was given over 10 steady going
persistent, hard work. To-day, more
work ana harder work is being done
than ever before. but the men who are
doing the work are in Very large num-
bers also the men who are seeking and
finding health and recreation in all
manner Of outdoor activities. y gener-
alton ago. a business man took his
vacation, II he took ii at all. with re-
luctance. regarding it as a Kind OF I'M
lawful pleasure. today he takes II. not
only a. pleasure. but as business duty.
In may cases he takes q Hay cut of
each week during the season which
permits him To- be ou;-of-doors. As a
father was H. bears heavier r-Spon-
siblities. and does more work
In every branch OF business condi-
tons have changed. Responsibilities
are Very much heavier and risks very
much greater than they We're gener-
alton ago. Business enterprises have
grown immensely in magnitude. and
the men who direct them are carrying
titanic loads on their shoulders. They
are able to carry these loads and to
direct these great enterprises because
they have learned that the secret of
health is abundance of play and that
the only way TO carry successfully the
colossal burdens of modern business
is to give large amount Of time to
recreation. Many leaders in the world
of finance are conspicuous devotees Of
golf, yachting. wheeling. and hunting,
they take their outdoor recreation with
as much regularity as they attend to
their business affairs. and they do this
because they have discovered. what
our ancestors did not know that the
ability to do heavy work continuously
depends on recurring intervals Of rest
and change.
1t is estimated that men work. on an
average. ten years longer than they
worked fifty years ago: in other words.
life has been extended full decade.
But life is not to he measured by mere
duration of time: it is to be measured
by intensity. and il is very certain
that. from this point Of view. men live
today as they have never lived before
in the history of tn" world. II is rue
that great many men arc living too
intensely and that many are over
working: but it is also true that there
has been great gain in the fuller
evolution of individual energy which
modern life has brought about. Few
men work up to their fun capacity.
Some men are today working beyond
this limit. but as a rule. men have not
yet reached it. There is more to be
gotten out Of life than men. as rule.
have hitherto taken because they have
not put forth their full strength.
Society during the last generation has
been energiZed in a hundred different
ways: it has responded to the facilities
offered by new mechanical appliances,
experimenting the senses in marvellous
ways. TO new fields of knowledge to
the opening OF new continents to the
reconstruction of thought along in
Vulnerable lines: to the vitalization of
religion philosophy. and art by reason
OF deeper and more vital conception of
their origin and relationships All
these larger physical. material and
spiritual opportunities have evoked the
sleeping energy of the race. and men
a vii 70 int
they are more fully responding to the
invitations to live.
With this intenser life. and as part
of it, has come the new interest in
nature. the passion for health the love
of out-of-door living. The American
people have come out of their houses
and taken 10 the fields and woods: and
they weigh more. have larger frames.
better compilations. and far more
vigorous health than their predecessors
of fifty years ago. The physical char
acter Of the people has radically
changed for the better There is vastly
more variety. more freedom in dress
and habit. Men are no longer clad in
the monotonous dreariness Of black
broadcloth
There has been great liberation Of
the spirit 1t i true that this liberia
ton is net without its perils. Some
men have suffered themselves to revert
to paganism. and have become mere
worshpers of the body. They have
substituted the g0lf-tleld for tn.
church and they have gained physical
health at the expense of spiritual
growth. But every opportunity brings