The Washington herald., 1913-08-14
By FRANCES sHAFFER.

The other. day when man announced
that his dream Of rest and relaxauon
was Just to stretch out at full length
under the open sky and watch the last
changing clouds drift by, some one asked
him IL he had the grace to thank MS
lucky stars for that. He said no. for
when he had the chance he was SO LOST
in his own contentment that he did not
stop to question his luck In being
favored with the ability to enjoy the
very things that some blind folk never
see at all.
But the some one told him he was GER
tainly not very grateful, for to her mind
IL was a sign Of greatness to be able 70
look at the clouds and while away an
hour or so as contentedly as another
man would in a way far more preten-
tious. For it presupposed something
within-at least, that is the way 1t i'm
pressed her.
And as she thought of him. with cares
and vexations folded away, lazily scan
ming the Enthusiastically shaped clouds and
genuinely enjoying himself. a stray little
sentence came to her mind, sentence
that did not mean very much in particu-
lar, but just set her thinking.
1t was evidently written by somebody
associated with folk who did not take
their vacations and their playtime very
seiously because they always came upon
a wish. or maybe something else. This
little sentence declared that every one
is going abroad this summer"
Now, that does not mean anything at
aT to the few who wake up some. fine
summer morning with the wanderlust
spirit upon them. then just touch a but
ton or so. order their toys and affairs put
in readiness for a trip oversee and Ian
guidly sail away on the fastest. best
e Iuipped steamer. But the stay-at-homes
of whom til e are quiet few, after
all-read it with smile half of self
pity, half something else.
Throngs of Stay-at-HIomes.
For somehow the great throngs on the
streets and elsewhere at home do no.
seem to be greatly lessened by the exodus
of everybody to Europe.
And the woman wonders who gains the
most from their outing. 1t is the man
and the man like him who seldom, IL
ever in their lives. have a chance to
travel along the highways and the b.
ways over the water. peeping into well
known art galleries and one place and
another but still with an infinite capacity
for enjoying the simpler things? Or the
folk into whose varied lives event crowns
event with amazing rapidity?
Monotony and narrow horizons crowd
pretty hard sometimes, and folk who are
more or less bound down by circun-
stances have days and days when they
wish for something to happen to aroCss
them from their sleep. And there is
real hunger and thirst for strange scenes.
strange faces. and ''red-letter" events,
ihat will leave some kind of prop for the
WORKOUT mind to lean upon. and some
thing fresh to stir the imagination.
~, Low 80 tIr1 ~
Coor wide open to experience and change.
and find something new to think abo~t
and TO do. after all. it seems that there
must DE something wrong with the quail
itv of mind that must depend upon ever
changing events to arouse it. And some
thing right with the mind that looks oct
Of the fleecy clouds as they hurry by and
sees something new and interesting in the
nature-pictures overhead.
Ones own Garden of Thoughts.
For though ones world of experience
RAY not be so very wide, ones little
garden of thoughts may be sort of inter-
Esting to oneself, if 1t is not very big, or
wide. or important
And for those who are not going to
Europe this summer or perhaps the next
Or the next, it is a bit consoling to re-
member that the pilgrims in foreign
lands, or the folk who shift about from
our own seaside to our mountains can
not bring back a whole lot more than
they take with them. For sometimes
those minds are most asleep that most
need new events to arouse them.
Perhaps it is not exactly apropos., but
on the walls of a Swedish inn there is
the simple inscription-''You will find at
Trolhate excellent bread, meat and wine.
provided you bring them with you
And one fancies that the man who
loves to get out under the open sky with
his face straight up to the heavens finds
interesting thoughts and pretty visions
spread before him, for the simple reason
that he takes them with him.
And why should he not thank his lucky
stars for that? For some tired folk
travel from continent TO continent, and
over many seas, and they come back