Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-08-04
VOICES OF THE PRESS.
Veranda Weather.
(Bangor Commercially.

(BangOr Commercially.
There are some very satisfactory COM
pensatlons for the usual heat of mid-Sum-
mer. To be sure we have not yet been
greatly oppressed by the torrid weather
this season, but a few indications give US
OCCASIONAL touches of what may be ex-
pected before the season passes in the
way of genuine veranda weather. And
the veranda season is the one joy of sum-
mer We do not now speak of days al the
SeaShore or at k1neO or at some lake or
mountain resort-these pleasures are for
the few The business man occasionally
gets few days off at this time of the
year, but even il he does there are so
many days which must be spent at shop
or office in the grind of business that he
looks forward each day to one bright spot
of solid enjoyment-the evening hour up
on the veranda.
The broad, wide, hospitable veranda
as large as reception room and as free
and joyous as all outdoors, with it's de-
lghtfully cool awning covering, or what
IS better, real protected covering from
the house into which it is built as a part
of the modern residence, such a summer
room is a modern institution most con-
ducive to familiarity and good cheer.
There was time in the old days Of house
building when no such necessary annex
was thought of. Then came the plain
portico about the front door which af-
forded room for two or three chairs, fol-
lowed by the small, narrow, stifled piazza
upon which two persons could hardly pass
without interference. But when the day
of the modern veranda came, a new
pleasure came to the outdoor life of the
household This roomy, inviting, entic-
ing, open air parlor, so conducive to
neighborly calls of the most informal ma
ture introduced new and joyous exis-
tence for business men, for wife, for
children, for visitors. What place so ap-
propriate in which to receive your even
ing guest, what harbor of refuge so rest
full to a business man at close of day
where he may read the newspaper, what
boudoir SO cool and easy in which my
lady may gossip about her neighbors to
a friend or read new book, what place
SO jolly for the children to spend the last
half hour after tired day at play before
going to their restful slumber halls when
mamma says time is up-as this charm
ing outdoor parlor?
Moreover the veranda life invites to
little neighborly confidence which no win
ter attachment of the house can possibly
develop. You are somewhat bold to
speak to your friend on the veranda as
you pass. when it would appear discour-
teous to enter his house to say the same
thing. You do not know him over much
perhaps you have purchased something
of him down town, or spoken to him in
his office where he is reserved-but here
it is altogether different. When he sits
on his veranda he really invites you to
say good evening How the petty con-
ventionalities of life disappear with the
coming of veranda weather. Formally
is put aside and friendly amenities hold
poSStSSlpI w ere IL HOl IOT the Joyous
summer life of the veranda, what masks
we should always wear, and what strang-
ers we should be to our next door neigh
Dor. The veranda life of summer makes
1t possible for us to form friendships
which otherwise might not enter into our
entire eXiStence-for the better we get ac-
quainted with humanity in individual
lives the more we find in humanity in
general to admire and respect. The man
whom we may have found dull in bust
ness, Is jolly upon his veranda-the place
where his real life is inventoried as he
plays with his children and talks heartily
with his guests. What joy there is t.
child-life upon the summer veranda.
What inspiration we get from the person
of beautiful woman upon the veranda al
evenng-and is there another place any
where where she is so charming as when
upon the half secluded, half open veranda
on a summer evening, where all women
are beautiful?
The summer heat is needed to give
beauty to the corn field, color to the
crimson rambler. blush upon the cheek of
the apple and fruitage to all the plants If
the EARTH But more than these as the
intellectual life is higher and nobler than
the things that perish with the using, is
that charm which it gives to personal
intercourse and the gracious amenities of
social life as we find them in full and
generous play among the inhabitants of
our open-air palaces-the informal sum.
mer veranda.