The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1906-08-04
n: THE LONELY I man /
POOR WORKER LEFT ALONE BY
WOMEN HOLIDAY MAKERS.


Men Away from Home Miss Fa-
miliar Chores - Women Have
Small Resources to Pass the Time
The Man with Fad Most For
tunate-Book Reading Unsatis-
factory in Deserted House-Sum-
mer Time Hardest on the Man
+ Whose Family Goes Away.
BY MARGARET E. SANGsTER.
Copyright, 1906, by Joseph B. Bowles.)
A cat in strange garret, a dog
that has lost it's owner, a, fish out of
water, each in turn symbolic the ex-
| treme of discomfort and misery. Dis
content with ones environment is
wretchedness.
Nobody who is intensely lonely can
be anything but forlorn, although he
may put brave face on the situation
and hide from the people he meets the
yearning he has for home companion
ship. Men often feel the pangs of
inconsistencies and rebel against the
dullness of solitude when their neigh
bors suspect them of no tedium and
suppose them to be quite free and
easy in their independence. A mar
ried man whose wife and children
have gone away for a summer holi
day, leaving him to hold the fort
alone, picking up meals at clubs or
restaurants, and sleeping in a house
that echoes to the tread and has
ghosts prowling about in every shad-
owy corner, is much to be pitied.
Scores of such men go to business
every day during the heated terms in
our cities, and at night return to sleep
in houses as silent as the tomb. They
do not complain, they write jovial let
ters to the absent ones, and they make
a pretense of engaging in such pas
times as are open to them, but the
summer wears on their nerves.
A boy or man away from home for
the first time, missing the familiar
chores at morning or evening, and the
other-brOOding that has been so con-
slant and so sweet from childhood on,
finds a boarding house among entire
strangers as desolate as the desert.
What diversions are there for the
lonely man?-What shall Adam do in
an Eden where there is no genial COM
rade to take him by the hand and
make him feel that he is of much ac-
count?
Eve, left to herself, finds plenty of
occupation for brain and fingers. She
may busy herself with delicate laun-
dry work not to be entrusted to the
rough handling of servants. Stocks,
lace handkerchiefs, cuffs and collars
and the various etceteras of a fem
mime toilette, may be periodically
renovated in her own room, if she
have the needful apparatus. She has
stockings to darn, mending to do,
shirt-waists to make, hats to trim,
embroidery to fill her leisure, and al
ways endless letters to write and
sometimes books to read. A woman
has the advantage over a man in a
multitude of small resources, trifing
in themselves, but essentially worth
while in their results, and excellent as
things that pass away time that might
be empty and lonely.
j. Notwithstanding a general opinion
to the contrary, man is more de-
pendent on the society of others and
on the friendship of his equals than
is the average woman.
When man has a fad or a hobby
or some knack at cabinet making or
upholstery, he is vastly better off than
his neighbor who understands only
the single round of the days work.
A fellow who plays a musical instru-
ment, whether it be banjo, mandolin
or piano, can always while away soli-
tary evenings, but the man who is
most to be envied is the one who can
take an old, disreputable and broken
down bit of furniture, a desk, table, a
sofa, and spend long and patient hours
on rubbing it down, polishing and re-
storing it, so that he serves double
purpose; not only does he save the
enormous expense charged by the
j trade for renovating antique furni-
ture, but he makes his wife or sister
the envy Of all her friends blythe
marvels. of his workmanship. :, <,
In plain little; parsonage in the
mountains, never E,ind where, there
are chairs and dressing tables that
anyone in the smart set might covet,
evolved from the rubbish heap by the
deft hand and skillful labor Of mem
ber: of the family, who never finds.
time hanging heavily or knows the
meaning OF solitude, except in, the
sense Of privilege and benefit. >.8= 81 &
stA naturalist, whatever his field, is
mastef Of moods and often considers
comp mpanionsh1p superhuous. & II one is
devoted to the study of birds or but
! i terflies or beetles, one need not dread
la hermit life. al though ones home
L N-a+E