Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 19, Number 93, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 July 1898 — THE REST SEASON. [ARTICLE]

THE REST SEASON.

A Hint for Housekeepers About Midsummer. The season of heat4nd midsummer the housekeeper swoulXl be warned is a season when all living creatures rest somewhat from their w’ork. Even the birds in the fields cease their song during the heated period and all animals seem to relax their efforts —even in their search for daily food. Wanderers in woodland ways near sunset will catch many delightful glimpses of their friends in fur and feathers at this tiine which they would never see during a midday walk. It is at this hour the pretty raccoon ventures out with her furry’ babies or the clownishly awkward woodchuck goes forth with no fear of prowling dogs. The hermitthrush, the sweetest songster of our groves, sings at sunrise and sunset, but ceases her songs altogether in midsummer. Th® thrush is the mavis of old English ballads. Gil Monice’ssong was: Like the mavis on the bush. And gart the valleys ring. Even our domestic animals rest during the heat of the day and exercise themselves in pursuance of food in the cool of the morning and evening.; These dumb animals set us an excellent example. •No woman, however strong in health, can afford to work continuously through the heat of the day. Every woman should always take a systematic midday rest. Even the strong laborer in the field finds his noonday nap as essential as his noonday meal. This meal is frequently quite a light one, compared with the "hearty supper” which he enjoys when his work is over. “The woman who riseth while it is yet night” should take a rest in the heat of the day, which will compensate for her loss of sleep. She cannot afford to burn the midnight oil insummer as she can in winter, when all living creatures can work more vigorously. This is because the system is kept ata higher tone in winter than in summer. The practical experiment of sending energetic people to hot lands has been too frequently tried to admit of any’ doubt of the result. Vigorous and energetic men sent from a northern land to the tropics in a fewmonths seem to change their nature and become languorous lovers of ease. The legend of the lotus eaters was not entirely a fable. The whole land of the tropics seems filled with a subtle poison which weakens the energies, and against which probably’ it would be unsafe to contend. The same state of energies weakened by heat makes it a mistake for women to attempt by sheer force of will to work in summer as they do in winter. Fortunately haying is usually- over before July, our hottest month, and the principal other harvests are gathered later in the year, so even farmers’ wives, who are among our hardest summer workers, have a chance to take a vacation at the hottest season of the year. The canning and various preserving, which keeps them from this necessary relaxation, had better be dispensed with. No worker needs a summer rest more than the farmer’s wife. There are now many delightful places on the Chautauqua plan for such a rest. Here a few weeks’ outing may be combined with an attractive lecture course on various topics which furnish plenty of food for thought during the long winter evenings to come. A vacation in winter is not half as valuable to any worker as one in summer.—N. Y. Tribune.