Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-06-17
Take a Hike Westward
BY Frederic ]. Haskin

~ ASNSA
Washington, D. c.. June 15.-You
can't run at high gear unless you
keep your machine in perfect repair,
and even then you can't run at high
gear all Of the time. That is the
rationale of the need Of modern man
for vacation. He does more in year
than his forefathers did in Ave and
he therefore has pressing need to
knock off once q year. and do moth
ing, or something else. for at least
two or three weeks. All Of the more
important business organizations Of
regular and important institution.
They are organizing camps and play
grounds. They realize that human ef-
ficiency is the deciding factor in the
success of any business and that eff
ficiency is matter Of health.
The individual faces exactly the
same problem. His success depends
upon the amount Of zest that he puts
into his work and the zest depends
upon health. Many of us never do
catch up with the modern pace. We
are tagged laggards all the way
through the struggle. Only few Of
us are as much as fve-eighth alive
most of our waking time. We drink
buttermilk to live long, but are only
half alive while. living. And so few OF
us ever realize that the way to achieve
is not to try harder but to quit trying
for while. to give our nerves the
tonic of freedom from responsibility
and our lungs breath Of fresh air.
Change is the prime essential Of va
cation. II you live in the country and
raise cucumbers. the proper thing for
you to do is to have your whiskers
curled and 20 to New York. But most
Of us live in the city and therefore
the thing we need is to go out doors.
Now living out-of-doors Is at once
a habit and achievement John Muir
saws that going back to the woods is
going home because we all came tom
the woods. To many westerner this
Is very true The east has somewhat
to learn from the west along that line.
In western towns everybody is of for
hike every few weeks or months.
Most of the men hunt and most of the
women ride. and throwing squaw
hitch over a pack Is as common an
accomplishment as playing golf is In
the east. When your real westerner
gets vacation he has no doubts
about what to do Only hundred and
twenty-five miles away there Is a trout
stream that he has been intending to
try for several years. He puts the
grub box and bed in the blackboard,
bitches up his team Of native cayuses
80 10 cfv m
in two days without fatigue. He knows
how to take care of himself and have
a good time out-of-doors. And to that
familiarity of his with the mountains
and mesa you may trace much of what
is best and most typical in 'him-his
breadth Of thought. his physical STAN
ina his resolute love Of freedom.
Now there is no denying that there
are many good amateur woodsmen In
in the east but numerically they are
the merest handful The typical east
erner Is about submerged in his own
urban existence Turn him loose in
the woods and he is lost and miser
able. Give him freedom and he does
not know what to do with it. He falls
heavily back upon the resort hotel.
which is very well for women and
children and inva]ids but surely re-
veals a lack of all imagination and
spirit of adventure in youth and man.
hood.
So the east has something to learn
from the west, and-this is the nub OF
the storv-the west is now ready to
teach. Through the department of
the interior, ably and enthusiastically
abetted by several large railroads, the
west is inviting the east to come out
and take look at its great national
parks. There is room for hundreds
of thousands without any crowding.
Scattered from the Canadian. border
to southern California, these national
parks contain the most wonderful
variety of scenery and wild life to be
found anywhere in the world. Yet un.
til recently they have been almost en-
tirely neglected except by people liv-
ing within few hundred miles OF
them and occasional adventurous
globe trotters. who have looked and
proclaimed them far more striking
than the Alps and wondered that they