Evening star., 1924-09-07
Heard and Seen

Prospect is better than retrospect
al least in the case of the gentleman
who has watched the entire Office
take its vacation, with his yet in the
ofTing.
1T is better to travel hopefully
than to arrive" said Robert Louis
Stevenson.
Certainly there is a great deal TO
that wise crack of the immortal II.
l.. S. Maybe it is better to look for
ward hopefully to dream vacation
that to come back from one which
turned out to be somewhat of a frost.
Vacations. you know, are divided
into two distinct sorts-those that
pan out and those whose yield of the
true ore of contentment is slim.
No man knows, starting out for the
Summer vacation, which class his
brief-al1 too brief-excursion is go
ing to fall into. He may hit it right,
but if So it was more luck than any
thing else.
Winds and tides. mosquitoes. grub,
too much of one thing or not enough
or another, even the ubiquitous bed
bug. have more to do with the vaca-
ton than the railroad ticket or
money.
ASK any one who has just come
back.
= !:
One Washingtonian had hectic
week end. far beyond his expecta-
tions There was plenty Of move
ment to it. lots of excitement. in
mild sort of way, and the unexpected.
The unexpected is the spice of life.
This vacationer left Washington at
noon on a Saturday, to use some
what country-sounding phrase, but
perfectly good one, nevertheless. Like
'you-all," it has its place.
His itinerary need not be too pre-
else. 1t will be enough to say that he
went to neighborinE city. took
pleasant boat ride. then got on a
train for a not-so-pleasant train trip.
About pm. he arrived at his des-
tination AS the horses of Honor
scented the battle afar, so this weary
traveller shifted the sea air that came
from out there in the dark.
Night is the best time to arrive at
the seaside resort. The majesty OF
the ocean ought not to be viewed first
in the glare of daylight.
When that salt tang assails ones
nostrils, and that whipping breeze,
moisture-laden, nearly blows one off
the boardwalk, walking up from the
station, the traveller feels that the
long trip was much worth while.
:: ::
1t was late that first night when he
went to bed. He had sat on the porch
in the moonlight until the last loving
couple had moved on.
After he got to bed he felt some
thing bite. Investigation proved it
mosquito. Another bite. More prob
ing proved it the bug not mentioned
in supposedly polite society.
The gentleman got up, dressed,
went down on the beach. sat down in
the sand, as he had done years ago
as a child, tried to go to sleep there.
In the moonlight, with the surf
pounding away, he waited for the
dawn Those three hours seemed
eternity, a pleasant eternity, half
dreamy, half awake.
In the morning the brisk ocean
breeze had vanished, a warm land
breeze replacing it, Ocean fans know
what a land breeze means. All the
dear old ladies huddled in one section
of the porch, eyeing everybody else,
trying to get what breeze there is.
Night-add more land breeze.
So he took the train, got back to
the boat, took the boat back to the
neighboring city, got on the train for
Washington, stood up in the aisle
nearly all the way, got in Union Sta
tion at midnight, arrived home at
1880 am. and was sound asleep at l
Pm CHARLES E. TRACEWE1-L.