The Washington herald., 1917-06-17

one OF Ine DeSL SOlIs 70 war
Is doing for the nervous high-strung
American people, especially for the
city dwellers, Is the sending them back
to the cultivation Of the soil. No mat
ter II il Is only raising bed of onions
in a vacant city lot, nothing is better
for tired nerves and overwrought
brains than contact with Mother
Earth.
Vacation time is at hand. and there
could be no better way for the tired
city business man and the woman who
has been working indoors in store,
factory, school, studio or home for the
past year, to spend their vacation than
in the country helping the farmers,
at least part time. The work need not
be strenuous. and yet be Of immense
benefit both to the yacationist and the
farmer.
A really enjoyable vacation is not an
absolutely idle time. Any normal,
healthy man or woman would find
neither recreation nor rest IN sheer
ton.
OUr energy is elastic just as our gen.
eTal ability Is, and a change rather
than a complete cessation OF activity
is what most city people need when
vI"&tion time comes around. How
often, for Instance, you return home
at night, Jaded, used-up, after the
days business. feeling that you
haven't a particle OF energy which you
could use for any purpose, but your
children coax you into their games,
and you play tag or hide-and-seek
with them, you toss them about. you
frolic with them on the lawn or on
the floor, and before you realize what
you are doing. that tired feeling Is
largely gone. You are fresh in your
expression, your spirits are buoyant,
You are renewed, rejuvenated, and you
do not know how 1t was all done. Yet
the whole thing Is very simple. Your
mind Is relieved from the business
strain; new activities are brought into
play, your mental outlook is entirely
changed and so your whole being Is
The great object of a vacation is to
give absolute change and rest to the
mind And the mind regains its spring
and freshness only when under favor
able conditions.
Many people who take vacations do
not get recreation. They come back
to their work as tired. often more
tired, than when they went away be-
cause they worked harder. physically
and mentally, trying to have a good
time than they worked at their regu-
lar vocation.
Whatever you do. whether you 20
to help the farmer for a couple OF
weeks, and thus do your bit in aid
ing your country, or assist in some
other way, take a vacation of some
sort. one that will get you out of your
It Is well known that vitality di-
minishes in proportion to the con-
tinuance Of indoor life and activities.
We all need some time in the open
each year to renew our mental and
physical machinery, to get a new and
broader outlook. The great Chemist
has mixed the atmosphere in just the
right proportion Of oxygen, nitrogen,
hydrogen and other elements to pro-
duce The maximum of physical we'll
being. When you give her chance
nature brings all of her remedial
forces to the healing OF your city
hurts. your city wounds. She gives
You new mind, new body, a new
spirit.
Your vacation ought to be your best
1t in the right way II will be worth
infinitely more to you than any money
investment you can possibly make.
The best vacation Is the one which
gives you the best bargain for your
time and money in health and real
country, in the woods, or at the sea-
shore.
The best vacation is the one which
puts iron, stamina and vigor in your
blood and beauty in your life, in
Which sar you lay up store Of happy
AhEIAOAAC1s d65OCldllOlA1
which you can look back upon with
pleasure in the year that follows.
a vacation which brings regrets. a
good time. which makes you think less
Of yourself after the excitement Is
over. wnich makes you dcspise your
self for having compromised your self.
respect, for having put yourself in a
questionable position, or smirched
Your ideals. Is not a good vacation.
The best vacation Is the one which
brings you home In the best condition.
physically and mentally, the one
which brings you back to your work
AZ the top of your condition, able to
do The biggest thing. the grandest
thing that Is possible Of you.
Said John Burroughs recently to an
interviewer: 81 go. up to woodstock
Lodge. my place In the mountains, to
get away from this world agony Of
war. There / can be removed from
the naturalization and debasinR fea-
lures Of our time. There can dwell
in the IDEAL.
''To, follow up this open-air VEIN"
with the veteran naturalist; ito rub
against nature back In the woods
and the felds:" to get back. II only
for q week or two, with Natures
primal sanities," and dwell in the
idest," Is about the surest way to get
81 ANS~-A F0~tlstCAAs