Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-08-26
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

! big difference between such a day here
and there Is that the city lacks the
salt air.
Air off the ocean remains the great
est tonic in the world. 1t will pep
up an appetite quicker and more
surely than any amount Of things
which come out of bottles. And the
effect Of 1t will last a great deal longer.
| Surely the good results Of sea air
cannot be because the air is simply
fresh, or because 1t is fresher than city
air. 1t must be due to the salt in 1t.
| It offers an interesting speculation, as
to whether or not huge municipal salt
works might not be established, where
this water then evaporated over the
community by means OF great fans,
| thus emulating as well as possible the
benefits of the seashore.
Stranger things have happened than
this. Undoubtedly there Is q magic
something in air on the ocean which
ordinary humidified air does not con-
tain. It is all very well to explain the
good effect away by declaring that
while one is at the shore he lives more
in the open air.
| Why, of course he does! But II It
were simply matter of open air, one
would get exactly the same results by
staying outdoors the same length OF
time In the city and suburbs. And one
will not get the same results, no matter
how many hours are spent at tennis or
| golf.
The happy result Of sea air is not
secured by every person, Of course. but
| perhaps by the majority, and Of these
some more than others, of course. This
revivifying effect normally takes about
| a week to begin to operate, and dur
ing this probationary period the visitor
| is likely to feel blue and out of sorts.
| That is why a week at the shore
seldom gives any positive results. in q
health way. Those who make it two
weeks win begin to see results about
the eighth or ninth day, and by the
time they have been at the shore IA
| days will note positive benefit Of the
finest kind.
Naturally enough, q month Ia better
| than two weeks and two months better
than one month, three months better
than two an entire Summer better than
part Of one.
The benefits of seashore sun and
salt air have been known to the dis
eliminating for centuries. The noble
Romans had their favorite Summer
resorts along the Mediterranean.
In this country the children Of mod
erately well-to-do parents have always
had the benefit of Summers spent at
the shore, when they lived near enough
to the ocean to make such Journeys
practicable.
To these children, now grown, the
modern clamor about the BENEFITS Of
, sunshine come as sort Of anti-climax,
in which, however, they are glad to
join, even though with q smile.
They knew tanned boys and girls,
men and women, when they were kids,
in the days before the scientific facts
as to the benefit OF the ultraviolet rays
OF the sun were given wide publicity.
In those early days only laboring
people and folks who went to the sea-
shore had tanned skins. It was called
"Sunburn" then, not "suntan."
To-day suntan Is stylish, and one sees
hundreds Of women walking along the
downtown streets Of the cities sporting
tanned arms no browner than those Of
the girls and boys who went to the sea-
shore in the days now called the gay
eos.
After all, there is magic in sunshine.
II used with discretion, Just as there is
In ocean air. Life is the same. the
weather is the same. In Summer we
have cold days stf1l and In the Fall we
will have days which make US think of
Baltimore.