The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1905-09-14
THE SUMNER BOARDER.
Depends on the Individual How Joys of
Country Life Are Taken.

Depends on the Individual How Joys Of
Country Life Are Taken.
The exodus from the city to the
country and to the seashore reaches
high tide in August, and the summer
boarder and summer people, in gen.
eral are abroad in the land. They are
putting great deal of money into cir
culation in the rural and seashore dis
tricts, and yet they are not regarded as
an unmixed blessing in some localities.
Indeed, the writer has heard them
characterized as ''them summer trash"
by at least one scornful old woman,
who added that she dreaded to see them
and their drafted auttymobiles' in
vading the neighborhood in which she
lives. She was generous enough to
admit that some of them were not $50
bad," and summed up the whole matter
by adding:
1T depends altogether on who you
git"
One can readily understand that the
summer boarders capacity for being
pleasant" his willingness to adapt
himself to his environment without
tesy are all to be considered when sum-
ming up his desirability as a boarder
The old woman was right. 1t does de-
pend on whom you '.git" if the rural
boarding house keeper is to derive any
pleasure in keeping summer boarders.
There's turrible lot O diff renee in
summer boarders," said this rural
oracle. eff some of them ever had any
manners they leave them at home when
they come to the country. 1t rifles me
so to hear them maxim fun of ev'ry-
thing they see and hear in the country,
an the best you can do for them amt
nOwayS good enough nor up to what
they are accustomed to- in their own
homes. An them that has the least in
their own homes are the ones that put
ON the most when they come to the
country, an some o the things they
can't get accustomed to going without
in the country are things they never
had in their own homes. | knows that
my sons folks had couple boardin'
with them last summer, an they fused
all the time because there want any
'baWth' in the house, an both of them
talked about how much they missed
their morning plunge an they didn t
see how on earth us country folks ever
got along without a 'bawth tub an we
happened to find out afterward that
they lived in three little tucked up
rooms in the city an that they didn't
have any 'bawth' of ther own, an they
must have taken their morning plunge
i'll wash bowl or common tin wash
pan, for all | know. It's just as l say;
them that puts on the most airs in the
country has the least in Their own
homes"
The charge that the summer boarder
sometimes leaves his manners" at
home when he goes to the country is
not altogether unfounded. Everything
becomes an object of ridicule to GER
tain class of summer people and the
sweet flower of courtesy" seems never
They make fun so Unfortunately
and with SO little tact and so little re-
gard for the feelings of others that
they deserve to be charged with having
mo manners at ALL" Every old person
they see becomes a character" or a
queer old party" in their estimation,
and the most ordinary occurrence be-
comes lawfully funny" to them.
''Then there are Others" said the old
woman who was sitting in judgment
on the summer boarder, ''Who are just
as nice and pleasant as they can be.
They don't expect to find 'bawths' an
| finger bowls an meals served in half a
dozen courses in the ordinary farm
houses, an they don't forgit that it is
| possible for country bred person to
have just as much feelin' an refine
ment as city bred person. They don't
make fun of your friends an neighbors,
nor of the pictures in your family al
bum, nor on your walls, nor of any
thing else. They don't ask you to wait
on 'em as if they was in the Hotel AS
tory, an some of 'em even amt above
maxim their own beds. Them kind
amt SO bad"
/ The summer boarder who is disposed
to do so may bring great deal OF
pleasure into the oftentimes monoto
nous and wearisome lives of those who
receive them into their homes. One
farmers wife, living far up among the
| Vermont hills and rarely seeing beyond
them. while an actual city like Boston
or even Springfield, was an unknown
world to her, voiced sentiment not
uncommon to farmers wives when she
said: my summer boarders bring tt
me the great world to which l cannot
60. They bring happy change into
my life, and l am always glad wheI
they come and sorry when they go
even though Cncy duu MuCIl " LIZ
household duties. They leave maya
zines and papers, and even books, be
hind them, and now and then our rura
postman brings me package OF fresf
papers and magazines from them tx
show that they keep me in mind, an(
once in while letter comes along
telling me how much they appreciated
my efforts to make them comfortable
while they were with me-"
This woman's summer boarders were
manifestly of the kind that were mo
SO bad," and their manners mus
have come to the country with them.
The city dweller actually accustomed
to bath rooms and finger bowls and
fresh napkin at each meal can oftel
find in Gods great and beautiful out-ot
doors in the country enough to com
penSate him for the loss of these lux
uries when he is a guest at some oil
farmhouse in which he has no right t.
expect such things. If he cannot he
misft in the country and should g.
elsewhere. The real lover of nature
glad to put behind him all the conven
tionalities of city life, and his two o
three or four weeks on the hills or II
} some fair green valley are worth NOR
to him than all the rest of the veal
The clear streams or lakes afford MIN
more enjoyable bath than the mos
luxurious CITY bath room can give nlu