The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-07-10
WORLD

: careful not to steal away a woman's
| good name as we would be not to
/ steal her purse but in the fatal three
/ months when we line up with the
| scandal mOngers or the hotel piazza
! we are at il hammer and tOngS and
a foolish and indiscTeet young girl had
| better be raked by the fire of a gat-
thing gun thar by our pitiless tongues.
! Ordinarily, we can keep our own coun-
| sell but the second time we take "A
! stroll on the beach with some chance
acquaintance with a sympathetic smile.
we tell her the family secrets we have
hidden for years. and that we ought
to be murdered for revealing. While
as for fiirtations-oh. naturally, we are
models of wifely devotion. but we
could tell you tales of Mrs. This. That,
or the others who carry on so with
that handsome young Flighty, and
but it's a long story, and its record is
written in the divorce courts anyway.
Not all of US women who go off on
Summer vacations are firtatious
Some of us are too good. Some of
us are too old and ugly. But there
are others.
Then there is the summer child. and
| confess that / never see it without
wondering how any mother can con-
slider any pleasure worth paying such
a price. The summer hotel child is
the worst feature of summer life. 1t
is always an unlocked little demon.
tearing up and down the galleries with
shrill shrieks, and as guiltless of man
ners or respect for it's elders, or any
consideration for the rights of others,
as a pTimeval savage. Sometimes the
summer child is a little boy, and he
hangs around the barroom and pool
room doors from early morning till
far in the night hearing things and
seeing things that he should not know
"a thirsty little sponge that sucks up
the dirty drippings of the bar, and
that never can be made quite clean
again.
Sometimes the summer hotel child
is a little girl precoCiously mature.
with no thought in her empty little
head but dress and show, no aspira-
ton in her snobby little heart but for
fashion and style. Already she judges
people by their clothes and expendi-
ture Already she oggles men, childish
IN nothing, God help her. but her lit
tie body. Mamma doesn't come off to
summer resort, you may be sure,
10 play nurse, and so these sweet
creatures are left to their own de-
vices. You may see them hanging on
to the outskirts of gossiping women,
listening to racy scandal: you may OBJ
serve them clinging like impets to the
pail room chairs hours after they ought
10 ne IN bed and they are forever in
evidence at the hotel table. ordering
with free hand everything on the
Dill or fare that tastes good to their
sophisticated little palates, and is I'M
wholesome for their little stomachs.
However, much a mother NAV enjoy
summer hotel life. she is bound to ad-
init that for children 1t is nothing short
OF generalization. And that's pref
~ high price to pay for a holiday.
Ihen there is the summer widower.
me summer woman, off on a vacation
makes him possible. The wife who
always shuts up the house and leaves
at the first breath of hot weather
doesn't know much about him. She
misses him just as she does the parks
IN June and other gay sights. Those
OF us who stay at home know him bet
ter. We know that there are two
species of him, one of whom is the
martyr, and the other one isn't thank
you.
One kind of him works like slave
all day in an office. and goes home to
lonely and cheerlesS house at night
to eat whatever sort of hot. greasy
dinner an unsuperintended servant has
prepared and when we think of his
wife we say she is the browning ex-
ample of unmitigated selfshness.
The other kind Of a summer wdower
meets the situation with cheerful resig-
HdAluIl- ne uOeSn NOPE around fJl-
nereal house. He's out with the bows
Maria is off at n summer resort enfoy-
ing herself. He is doing ditto at home.
We hear his little jokes and games.
We see his fiirtations with pretty shop
girls, and meet him looping the loop
with blonde ladies that his wife doesn't
know. People shrug their shoulders
when they look at him and say: when
the cats away the mice will plav."
And when we think of his wife we
call her fool. For sometimes when
Maria comes home i'm the fall she can
get John back into domestic harness,
and make him strike a steady gait
again, and sometimes she can't, and
that's the price many a woman paws
for her summer outing
stu, for all it's dangers, the summer
vacation Is not to be condemned in
toto. It Is often a necessity. 1t is fire.
quently an advantage. If people who
see too little of each other are apt to
grow estranged. those who see too
much of each other are sure to become
bored. The summer vacation is good in
proportion to its moderation. A few
weeks away from home may do a wo-
man a world of good. few months
may bring her world of sorrow. and
before she decides on the prolonged
absence from home, she does well to
sit down and count the cost, and see If
II will pay.
DOROTHY DIX