, 1921-07-21

ALL of the Wild This is the time
~ o year when 1t sounds over all the
land, creating in every normal
breast a pang unmistakable and
- poignant. Ii is the awakening of
nO @ an instinct as old as the race-the
UVW1TnWl desire for the open road. 1t is old
III NNUIIUy Mother Nature herself calling. and
III WW she says:
NA play time, everybody! AL work
@ and no play is folly; you know the
penalty l exact. Life in these modern times is
too strenuous. Stop, get your breath, relax, restl
Come and play awhileE
We Americans are the busiest people under
the sun. There was a time when we played hard
ly at all. Now we have finally learned the ne
cessity of relaxation and recreation. The trouble
is that we have learned to play not wisely but
too we'll. Our avocations, especially in the
large cities, are as strenuous as our vacations
sometimes ever more strenuous.
There should be nothing so much a mans
business us his amusements," wrote Stevenson,
and he wrote a great truth, which has not yet
come home TO us. So it is that we Americans,
many Of us, are coming TO have double need Of
a summer vacation-to rest up from both our
work and our pleasures.
The Call of the Wild means, in a sense, pretty
much the same thing to all of us. But neces-
sarily we can interpret 1t only according to our
knowledge and experience. Fortunate indeed are
they 10 whom the call means but one thing
whether gypsying by automobile, or the flying
spray of the salt sea, or the rushing stream whose
deep dark pools hide the great trouts, or the tent
and campfire beside the placid lake, or the
mountain trail to the peaks where lies the ever
lasting snow. These fortunate, hear, understand
and obey.
Those OF us who are less fortunate also hear
and rejoice. But the call has no clear message.
We do not know what TO do with our play time.
We do not know where or at what to play. and
the interesting spectacle of a great people at
play Is saddened by the sight of thousands OF
unfortunates wasting their precious vacation days
getting little enjoyment and less rest.
Caa,. l.. 49,. Ia.
Th wh sesr yet o me shs ses s1I9 han neS nav,
Is knowing what TO do.
That's the motto of the wise. They are not among
these unfortunates. They have planned their va
cation carefully and put common sense into their
plans. They have taken stock of their physical
and mental needs. They have prohted by the ex-
perience Of past vacations and their successes
and failures. They understand that a vacation
for pleasure and a vacation for recuperation are
not necessarily the same thing. hut they will try
10 combine pleasure and recuperation.
Change is n great factor in both pleasure and
rest. When play time comes around most of us
instinctively long for something that our daily
life does not offer. Often this longing is n safe
guide, provided common sense Is used. Obviously
a camping trip In the wilds Is not suited to those
who must have soft beds. delicate viands and
def service-even II they are lovers OF nature,
longing for n novel experience. Ii is equally OBJ
Vious that these nature lovers would be out OF
place in a fashionable summer resort where peo-
pie congregate to see and be seen. The com.
mon sense Of 1t is that they should go where
scenic beauty can be enjoyed and the conven-
tionnl comforts of life are not lacking.
When vacation time means to the weary work
or an opportunity to recHperate from toll. rest
is what he needs. The best rest is absolute I'm.
action. II loafe aud invite my soul" wrote Whit
Whitman. But louhng is a fine art most Of us
are too used TO bee up and doing TO enjoy sitting
and t%widdling our thumbs, A change of scene
and occupation. with the blessed consciousness
that We do not have TO do anything. is the best
rest. The hodcarrier who came into money had
the psychology of it down fine when he set his
alarm clock rs usual, threw his shoe at 1t when
It went of and turned over for II nap.
The wise man will take his vacation temperate
~. To return TO rest up from his play-that is
"A poor proposition. To come back to work with
renewed strength and energy-thats the thing.
The wrong kind OF vacation may be worse thaD
none, The right kind Of vacation may be a yer.
itnblo godsend. The wise man will so order his
play AS 10 come back refreshed and restored and
eager for new worlds to conquer.
And wherever the Call Of the Wild takes us