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AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 



August, 1906 



Monthly Comment 



JUGUST has long retained its reputation as 

 the vacation month. To the great employed 

 class it means a period of no work and regu- 

 lar pay. It is a delightful situation which, 

 could it but be continued throughout the 

 year would bring unalloyed joy — perhaps. 

 To the smaller class of employers it brings varied feelings. 

 The very great can, of course, have their vacations whenever 

 they want it and, as a matter of fact, have it pretty much 

 all the time. To the less great it means an adjustment of their 

 business to meet the necessities occasioned by the absence of 

 valued employees. To the small employer it means paying 

 out money for nothing, for is he not paying wages and getting 

 no return in work? The philosophical economist will doubt- 

 less assure him that this is not the case, but that the in- 

 creased zeal and renewed faithfulness which comes from 

 wages-paid vacations is more than returned at other seasons 

 of the year. The practical man will retort to this that there 

 is no such thing as gratitude on the part of employees and 

 that all his people think of is to do as little as they can for 

 the largest amount of money, and that the vacations they get 

 count more than the work they do. In many cases the prac- 

 tical man is right, but the theorist is not wholly wrong. As a 

 matter of fact it should be quite the other way; the theorist 

 should speak for the majority of cases, the practical man for 

 the exceptions. In a very real sense vacations should mean 

 an equal benefit to the employer and the employee; both 

 should be the gainer, both should profit by them. 



Leaders of the columns of the daily press wherein are 

 chronicled the doings of the very rich must notice, from time 

 to time, that the owners and occupants of great country 

 houses change their summer abode quite as frequently 

 as those possessed of less attractive places of resi- 

 dence. It is a singular and interesting phenomenon. A 

 great country house implies fine grounds and a beau- 

 tiful garden, even if it is not necessarily accompanied with 

 a large estate. These properties are never so beautiful as 

 in th summer season, and hence never so enjoyable as at 

 that time of the year. Why not, then, it may be asked, stay 

 at home and enjoy them? Natural as the question is it indi- 

 cates a profound ignorance of the wealthy temperament. This 

 is distinctly the temperament of unrest, of craving for change, 

 of weariness of the good things of life and a seeking after 

 the unattainable. It is even more necessary for the rich to be 

 amused than for ordinary folk, for amusement and occupa- 

 tion is in most cases, their single occupation in life. It is 

 not to be wondered, therefore, that the most sumptuous 

 of summer places fail in interest at times, and the home 

 grounds, beautiful as they be, cease to give daily interest. 

 Forthwith another great place is rented and the family emi- 

 grates to another home, only, it is to be hoped, to return 

 to their own in due season, amply refreshed, and with a 

 keener sense of the beauties and conveniences of their own 

 abiding place. 



A VACATION means more than a mere change of air and 

 scene. Both these are important and valuable in their way, 

 but they are very far from representing all the benefits a true 

 vacation brings. The chief of these is unquestionably com- 

 plete relaxation from ordinary occupations. This is particu- 

 larly the case with the business man and woman, who must 

 put away all thought of business, all regard for ordinary oc- 

 cupations, all reminders of worry, vexation, work. New 

 scenes, whether they be natural or artificial; that is, whether 



the vacation be spent among nature's wonders or amid a gay 

 social life, are the greatest possible helps towards this end, 

 since they afford fresh matters of interest, the very sight of 

 which commands attention, excites interest, provides the mind 

 with new ideas, and promotes that forgetfulness of the usual 

 and the ordinary which is the end and aim of all vacations. 

 In arranging for a vacation, therefore, it is a first essential 

 that one's affairs be so adjusted that no harm will result to 

 one's business or occupation. And they must be so arranged 

 that no thought of these matters need present themselves dur- 

 ing the period of relaxation. The employed, rather than the 

 employers, have somewhat the better of this situation, if they 

 can be assured their "job" awaits them on their return. The 

 man of affairs is differently situated, since he must provide 

 for the running of his business during his absence and the un- 

 broken continuity of his occupations. But it is just this man 

 that stands in most need of a complete vacation, and of all 

 persons he is the one who most needs to completely forget 

 home affairs while away. Some men do this better than 

 others, and some do it in a complete and thorough way that 

 is little short of surprising. 



Nothing is more needful in a vacation than that it be com- 

 plete. Anything short of completeness means failure and 

 waste of time. Incidentally it means loss of money, and a 

 new kind of weariness and vexation when the usual grind is 

 resumed at the end. Singularly enough a complete vacation 

 is often difficult to obtain. One may, indeed, adjust one's 

 affairs so that everything runs like clockwork, but the hold 

 that ordinary occupations have on people is often so complete 

 that their very absence entails a sense of loss, a feeling that 

 something is absent from one's life, that something that 

 should be done each day is not done. For such persons the 

 quiet life of the country is quite unsuited. It offers too little 

 variety, there are not enough things to do. The most charm- 

 ing landscapes, the most comfortable of hotels and boarding 

 houses pall on one when there is not an engrossing occupa- 

 tion. It is not sufficient that one's habitat be changed, there 

 must also be welcome change for the mind, new occupations 

 and new interests. A vacation planned towards that end has 

 every chance of being successful. And a successful vacation 

 is not only one that has meant an agreeable period of time 

 but one that has been accompanied with a complete forget- 

 fulness of the ordinary cares that, with too many people, are 

 altogether too engrossing. 



While August is still the great vacation month it is well 

 known that other times of the year afford opportunities for 

 pleasurable vacations quite as numerous as the height of the 

 summer. It is not so many years since when an all-the-year 

 hotel at the seaside was a rarity of a very unusual sort; now 

 they exist by the score and the mountain and other resorts are 

 finding early and late trade almost as profitable as that of 

 the height of the season. A large summer hotel is a very 

 expensive establishment to maintain, and there is no wonder 

 that proprietors close up as soon as the crowds begin to grow 

 less. But as a matter of practical affairs it is not possible for 

 every one to have their vacation at the same time. The 

 vacation season has, therefore, widened at both ends, and for 

 those who must have their holiday in the winter there are 

 southern and California resorts that give delights unnum- 

 bered. One need not enjoy their vacation the less because it 

 comes at a time of year when every one is not engaged in 

 the same pursuit of idleness and pleasure. 



