Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1923-06-15
RECREATION AID
TO KEEPING WELL
DURING SUMMER
(By United States Public Health

(By United States Public Health
Service.)
What one should do to keep well
in the summer" says Surgeon Gen.
eral ii. s. Cumming, of the U. S.
Public Health Service, depends on
what one has been doing during the
winter" As winter occupations are
infinitely varied it may seem at first
blush that this dictum calls for equal
ly varied summer programs. How
ever, most occupations fall into GER
tain groups which call for correspond
ing vacations.
For instance, most men and an
increasing number of women work
hard all winter and take a vacation
when summer comes. On the other
hand, large groups of men and women
tfarmers, for instance) work hard all
summer and take a vacation, if they
ever get one. in the winter, when
farm work is slack. Most women
work hard in their own homes, and
they too have earned vacation
though their right to it is not always
acknowledged. Some men and women
appear not to work at all and would
probably be very angry If any one
accused them of working. These also
need vacation, but very few of them
get real one.
"A vacation should mean very diff
ferent things to these different class
es. A clerk, for instance, should do
something that would make him use
his muscles (though not to excess)
and an iron mill worker something
that would enable him to rest his. A
girl who has been typewriting on
packing cigarettes or cooking in
somebody else's home should use her
vacation in outdoor sports such as
playing tennis or something like that.
A tired wife and mother should rest
by. getting away from husband and
children, soothing her nerves by chat
ting with othmer women, and having
a few moments of genuine privacy. A
society" girl who really works about
as hard as anybody in the service of
the Goddess of Pleasure and is prob
ably temporarily, at least) sick of
teas and men and other girls, would
do well to attend Summer Normal
school, where she would at least get
brand-new outlook on life-unless
she has courage enough to get a lob
In factory, where, if she was not
too naughty some factory girl''
might take pity on her and teach her
the ropes.
The usual prescription for a vaca-
non is exercise In the open air. Such
ADVICE assumes that exercise in the
open Is the one important thing that
most workers do not get. This is, of
course, true in regard to many per-
sons, but IL is not true in regard to
many others--farmers, street clean
ers, and chauffeurs, for instance.
Anybody who has been spending his
or her winter evenings in stuffy rooms
studying. playing cards, dancing, or
Just nothing, should by all means, get
out into the open air in the summer.
A truck driver, on the other hand,
might well spend his vacation indoors.
Exercise, particularly, in the open
air, Is valuable, and, indeed, essential
to continued good health. Exercise.
however, looks chiefly to physical and
Ignores mental health; and mental
health is now considered to be about
as important as physical health.
Millions of persons, women in par
ticular perhaps, need a Change
rather than a rest"
AS matter of fact, nearly eyery-
one feels this and unconsciousiy
strives to act upon 1t. The tired
business man of whom papers saw
so much is not so foolish as some
persons think when he goes to the
theater to listen to a farrago of nom
sense; for this is the very antithesis
OF ms daily work. Unfortunately go.
ing to the theater Is like his business.
indoors.
Clerks or working men or girls
VINO attend baseball games show bet
Ter Judgment, for they get mental
STIMULUS; and, if they applaud the
players or denounce the umpire with
enough enthusiasm they get a good
zeal OF physical exercise in the open
alr. On the other hand the farmer
VINO works 10 hours a day from early
spring to late fall might do worse
than spend two winter weeks in the
city, hghting off the willy Confidence
men and attending the movies. And
more or less similarly for his wife.
Iney would both get enough mental
stimulus to sustain them through the
iaoorous days of next summer
The point is 10 get new ideas for
the brain to null over. All persons.
after being tied to one set of ideas
Tor TO no ideas at ALL for months,
VIII ma themselves a lot healthier
ana happier If they can pick up a
totally inherent set during their vaca-
uon: whether the ideas are wise or
FOOLISH, they can get a lot out of
mem, particularly if they can find
friends who are considerate enough to
hha contradictory set and to stand
up Tor Them The two will prevent
eaeh other from negotiating and keep
eaeh other happy (even If furious)
.lii the next vacation. Negotiating
Is the worst thing in the world for a
human Deing-at any rate for the