Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-07-05
VACATIONS COME FROM ROME,
BUT THEY ARE NATURALlZED
And the Economists Are Saying That
They Are Worth Much More
Than They Cost

Indn lhey Cost
THOUSANDS of the people who left the
L city last Saturday returned last night
or this morning. But other thousands will
remain away for a week or n month or until
September, according as their convenience
or their necessities dictate.
This is because the annual vacation season
begins with the Fourth of July. The schools
are closed and tic children can be taken
to the shore or to the country. where the
mothers will get such rest rs possible away
from the cares of the houses in town.
Some day an industrious investigator will
write book about the development of the
vacation habit in modern man. 1t Is not
very old in the United States save among
the town dwelers. Fifty years ago 1t was
rare for business man in a village of 20O0
population or less to take vacation. He
was on the job from January l to December
81 of every year. He shut up shop on New
Years Day, the Fourth Of July. Thanks
giving and Christmas. hut that was about
ALL The same rule was observed by the
little man in the cities also at that time.
But the word vacation is much older than
the custom which it describes in the United
States. Indeed, it is about as old as the
Latin language. Cicero and Horace and
QuintiIlian used It in the same sense that
1t is used today, as leisure or freedom from
labor. And in the brilliant period of
Rome in which these men lived those
who could afford it took vacations.
They went to their villas in the mountains
or to the more luxurious villas in Pompeii,
which bore about the same relation to
Naples and Rome that Atlantic City bears
to Philadelphia and New York.
The ancestors of the men who now speak
the English language were then living
sort of a tribal life in huts and worshiping
strange gods But Roman civilization car
red its language with it and the original
Anglo Saxon was enriched from time to
time by thousands of words, either directly
from the Latin or indirectly through the
Italian, French or Spanish. And among
those words was vacation. IT had n limited
meaning in England originally. being re-
strictcd at first to a description of the in
tcrval between the sessions of the high
courts. Then it came to describe the period
when the colleges were not in session, and
now it is the common term in use in America
to indicate the short or long period which
a man takes from his work for rest and
recreation.
The English use holiday also in the same
sense. and speak of taking n holiday where
we speak Of taking n vacation. Some city
moogists say that holiday traces back TO the
Anglo Saxon wor1 meaning day of rest.
to Latin derivatives prefer holiday to vaca-
tion.
But by whatever name the thing is called,
IL is one of the most wholesome inventions
of the human race. Economists are be-
ginning to think that it has money value
that the man who has two weeks or a month
free from grinding toll every year will do
better work than the man who is on the job
for twelve consecutive months.
The campaign of the labor unions for m
eight hour day is based on the theory that
there is limit to the number of hours
during which n man can do productive work.
Twelve and sixteen hours day used to be
required but that number was reduced to
ten and the results were so satisfactory that
in most occupations the eight hour day is
now the rule.
The demonstration Of the economic value
of the conservation of human energy will do
more than all other forms of propaganda to
spread the vacation custom into industries
where il is not now observed. If it can be
proved that something pays in dollars and
cents few will object to it.
The man who gets the rest from work
knows that it pays him in many ways. It
roruncs hi, tangled nerves. 1t smoothS the
wrinkles from his brow. 1t enables him 10
get n new grip on his job when he returns
to it and it prolongs his life.
Now and then one meets man who
boasts that he has never taken vacation
md has never suffered from the lack Of it.
But it frequently happens that such man
coIIapScs suddenly as the famous one hoss
shay. and there is no rebuilding him.
II is frequently said that the mother ot
Young children never gets vacation This
is true for few years But tn" children
grow up and leave home, and then the
mother with empty arms ycarns for her
hahic, back again If she can get them in
the form Of grandchildren she is blessed in
decd. and she appreciate, her good fortune.
But If some arrangement could b" mad"
hy which mothers could get relief during the
wears when their children are little. the old
age of many a woman would be s"ren"r than
/, now possible. for sh" j. paying the penalty
of ovcrstrain endured for too long period.