The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-07-10
THE SUMMER VACATION.

things that it has actually done. not
what it is .whereasing." and be it re-
solving TO do in conventions. 1t seems
to me that every other achievement
pales into insignificance before the fact
that somehow it has managed to pre-
empt the summer season for its own
and converted into a holiday for its
sole behoof and benefit Just how it
has done this nobody knows. Just why
it does it is an equally inscrutable
mystery, but the truth remains At the
beginning of summer, every woman
who can afford it, and a good many
who can't pack their Saratogas, shake
the dust of their homes off their feet,
and HE away on two, or three, or
four months vacation, and no hus-
band dares say them nav.
The right to vote is a poor thing
compared with the right to get up and
go where and when you please and I
confess that I always look with awe
upon the summer exodus of wives as
final and complete proof of wom-
ans real emancipation. In the be-
ginning of the hegira some sort of ex-
cuse was always put forth, such as,
for the sake of the children" my
poor nerves" THE doctors orders"
etc, but women have now abandoned
all such subterfuges, and they boldly
seek the spring, or seashore, or noun
tains, frankly and solely for the pur-
pose of enjoying themselves, and not
because they are driven away from
home by the necessities of their chill
dren or their own i'll health.
In way. no phase of our curious and
contradictory social system presents
more points of interest, or is more typ
ically American. for the custom of the
wives of rich and well-to-do men for
saking husband and home to enjoy
themselves in the summer, belongs ex-
clusively TO this land of the free and
home of the brave woman. To begin
with, there is the humorous suggestion
involved in the spectacle of the class
who least need a vacation, getting the
best one. If it were the hard worked
and over-burdened husbands who were
going off for a long rest nowl But no!
nobody expects them to more than
snatch a few days holiday at the best.
Mrs. Benedict and the girls being off
at an expensive summer resort is all
the more reason why Mr.. Benedict
should remain in town at his office.
Mrs. b. comforts herself with the
thought that poor, dear John couldn't
leave his business anyway. and that
her presence at home wouldn't change
the thermometer or lower the temper
allure. Moreover, wives, as a rule hold
the cheerful philosophy that Provi-
dence tempers the sun to the shorn
husband, and that men don't suffer
from heat like women do, so it is with
light heart that they fare forth to
cooler clmes.
Having convinced herself that il is
her privilege and duty to leave home
for the summer, nothing is more inter-
esting than to note how a woman pre-
pares for it. One might think that
some compunction and pity for the
husband left behind her might visit
her at such a moment, and induce her
to try to make things as agreeable and
comfortable for him as she could. She
never thinks of such a thing. In the
winter her home is a model of taste
and vision of beauty, with all of its
artistic bric-a-brac and furnishings
and her husband takes just as much
pride and delight in ii as she does. Let
her begin to get ready to go away
The first move is to strip the house
of every ornament, and pack it out of
sight. The next is to put all the furni-
like ghost, and every time one sits
down he feels as if he was in the clam
my embrace of a corpse. A tomb is
not much more unhomelike, or cheer
less, or more uncomfortable than is the
average house as the mistress arranges
it for her husbands occupation, while
she is gone. 1t is the quintessence of
summer selfishness, for il does look as
if a wife were going to leave her hus-
49,, L.
chasing around enjoying all the de-
lights of new scenes and new pleas
ures, she might at least let him have
what consolation can be found i'm pref
~ and attractive surroundings at
home. But she never does.
Now ii is written in the memorable
book of fate that for everything we get
in this world we must pay the price.
At summer resorts the rates are al
ways high, morally and commercially.
and sometimes when / read i'm the long
lists of Mrs. So and Sos who are
spending the summer here. and there.
and everywhere but at home, l wonder
if they ever sit down and figure out
the cost. At best they get "A pleasant
trip, with whatever benefits the change
has given them. At its worst they get
the discomforts of a poor hotel, heart
burning and jealousy because other
women are better dressed, and the
meagre. and sorry satisfaction of brag-
ging that they went off for the sum
mer.
But what do they pay?
The first price a woman pays for her
summer vacation is the deterioration
In her own character. This does not
refer to any weighty matter of the law.
hut the woman who has spent a season
at a summer resort, and who doesn't
feel at the end of 1t as If she needed to
send all her ideals to the laundry and
have them washed aud starched before
she puts them on again. is either of
more than mortal strength OF mind
and angelic goodness-or she is hope
less. What is there in the air of a
summer hotel that brings out an erup-
tion Of all ones weaknesses as a hot
poultice brings out the measles? I
leave II to wiser heads than mine to
say, but that there is an occult de-
moralizing influence no one win deny.
At home we would simply &c incapable
of the vulgarity Of Dragging, but we
are not three days al a summer hotel
before we are referring to the man
who does our chores as our butler"
and dragging our revolutionary ances-
tors into every conversation by the
head or the heels, If they won't come
IN any other way
Nine months OF the year we hold our
selves above gossipng, aud are as