A  m.  Jour.  I'harm.  \ 
September,  18(9.  f 
Editorial. 
437 
EDITORIAL. 
SUMMER  WORK  AND  SUMMER  VACATION. 
To  probably  most  people  the  summer  vacation  is  associated  with  the  thought 
of  a  time  for  securing  physical  culture,  a  recuperation  of  health  and  rest  cf 
mind  from  the  exacting  cares  of  the  remainder  of  the  year.  A  great  many  people, 
in  taking  their  summer  vacation,  are  physically  recuperated  by  visiting  places 
where  the  nights  are  cool  and  the  air  is  pure;  or  by  engaging  in  a  strictly 
out-door  life,  either  on  the  water,  in  fishing  or  sailing,  or  in  the  woods,  camping 
and  hunting.  A  great  many  persons  also  either  own  or  rent  summer  resi- 
dences, and  devote  their  time  to  bathing,  driving  and  riding,  and  to 
receiving  their  friends.  Those  who  prefer  a  quiet  life  are  distinguished 
from  those  who  visit  the  hotels  at  the  fashionable  watering-places  and 
mountains,  in  that  the  latter  are  beset  with  temptations  for  gluttony  and 
intemperance,  so  that  their  vacation  may  resolve  itself  into  a  time  of  indul- 
gence, rather  than  a  time  for  recuperation  of  any  kind. 
There  is  a  broader  significance  and  value,  however,  in  the  summer  vacation 
when  it  is  associated  with  mental  and  spiritual  culture,  and  this  is  what  most 
people  would  call  summer  work.  When  one  of  the  most  esteemed  citizens  of 
the  United  States  the  other  day  said  in  an  address  :  "I  am  very  glad  that  I 
broke  through  my  determination  not  to  interrupt  my  vacation,  and  that  I  broke 
into  my  outing  to  be  here  to-day,"  he  expressed  a  thought  which  is  becoming 
more  and  more  evident  in  the  desire  of  at  least  some  persons  for  mental  culture 
and  the  willingness  of  others  to  impart  this  culture.  A  summer  vacation  can 
hardly  be  said  to  be  truly  complete  when  it  only  brings  one  back  with  a  few  more 
pounds  of  flesh  and  an  apparent  rest  of  nerves  and  muscles.  That  vacation  only 
is  truly  complete  that  has  been  devoted  to  one's  hobby,  and  in  which,  in  addi- 
tion to  a  physical  recuperation,  one's  mind  and  soul  are  refreshed,  reanimated, 
re-purified  and  re-created.  During  an  ideal  summer  vacation  one  ought  not 
only  to  wade  the  trout-stream  and  fish,  but  one  ought  to  find  here  an  opportu- 
nity for  work,  if  you  choose  to  call  it  such,  where  the  mind  is  quickened  and 
the  soul  brought  into  close  touch  with  nature  and  nature's  God.  Do  we  won- 
der, then,  that  the  orations  of  Demosthenes  are  still  heard,  and  that  in  our 
own  country  the  words  of  Webster  still  live  ?  The  one  perfected  his  creations 
at  the  seashore,  and  the  other  as  he  waded  the  trout-streams  with  his  rod. 
It  is  surprising,  when  we  think  of  it,  how  the  impulse  for  summer  work  (i.  e., 
mental  and  spiritual  culture)  is  growing  in  this' country.  In  order  to  afford 
opportunities  of  this  kind,  one  of  our  universities  has  its  courses  extending 
throughout  the  entire  year.  Many  others  have  been  successfully  carrying  on 
summer  schools;  as  Harvard,  Cornell,  University  of  Wisconsin,  etc.  Then 
there  are  special  laboratories  for  investigation  and  research  ;  as  the  Marine 
Biological  Laboratory,  at  Wood's  Holl,  Mass.,  and  the  laboratory  at  Cold 
Spring  Harbor,  L.  I.  Besides  these,  a  certain  number  of  advanced  courses  are 
offered  in  various  places  by  the  Society  for  Promoting  University  Extension. 
There  are  also  opportunities  for  more  or  less  elementary  study  of  various  sub- 
jects ;  as  in  the  Chautauqua  Societies  and  in  the  Natural  History  Camps  ;  and 
we  might  add  that  the  various  scientific  and  other  associations  that  hold  annual 
meetings  during  the  summer  draw  a  large  number  who  not  only  desire  an  out- 
ing and  a  bodily  recreation,  but  who  desire  food  for  thought  and  a  re-creation 
