Lake George 



and to help him realize the only legitimate aim 

 of all vacation — a sound mind in a sound body. 



As everyone knows, in a small village, "ex- 

 empt from public haunt," and especially when 

 several miles distant from a railroad, the only 

 thrilling and perennial episode in life is the 

 daily arrival of the mail. And this little fact 

 fully shows what extremely adaptable creatures 

 we all are. It is said that no other animal is 

 able to endure such extremes of heat and cold 

 as man, and certainly no other is able to sur- 

 vive, as he can, the shock of alternate excite- 

 ment and monotony, which are the soul's heat 

 and cold. And how great is man's ingenuity 

 to invent excitement where none exists! In a 

 little summer-resort one still enjoys something 

 like the exhilaration of grand opera, as he sees 

 the approaching coach down the road. And 

 when it actually rolls up to the door he almost 

 feels the thrill of a theatrical climax. 



In daily excursions to and from the post- 

 office I passed the village school-house, with its 

 brood of hardly a dozen pupils ; and I soon 

 discovered that beneath the eaves a flock of 

 cliff swallows were building their homes — a sort 

 of collegiate annex, which is so much in vogue 

 nowadays. They had just begun the erection 



