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Show .HA Gods aM" W "" ' - ... : , ' 2 J "Si:- ,v;vv -V " - J A. Jt - - - - - : . . - :'r'(' -i i By JOHN DICKINSON SHERMAN JS HE reourn-nt miracle j 8 of the spring stirs us i nil, for it is then ilmi 5 3 tlie "ReJ Gods" chII : T juu. louJost imd with most .;. UL insistence. Their ::!! .. t j;k goes out from tlu'ir f f't:) a'''J'nS r':1C0s tlu-SyLcjj tlu-SyLcjj unspolioil places of earth, the silent "s places, the places where Nature Is ut her nlldest and best. And everyuhere 7nd by every-1 one the call Is lieurd. This imperative j call of the Ked Gods Is always the 1 same. And the n;ess:'.g.? we get Is v- this. j Come anJ piay, all ye that work and ' are heavy laden. Drop ike strenuous life. Take up the sircp.e life. You , well know the penally fur ail work 1 and no play. Pause, take brealh. re- i laj. rest! That'j the message, simple and V clear. ja.";ut of course this message! O m'ind Aifferent things to different i the Wrsince we can interpret only ac- 24th of .S to our Individual understand- J The exI,('rience. Those of us are .' j.-j (y-e fortunate to whom the call , ' -ans but one thing whether it's for-tf for-tf it i -.ign travel or the fashionable summer -t"iesort or tlie leaping stream where 1, hide the trout or the camp beside the C; '' placid lake or the broad highway that lures the automobile ucros the contl- , - nent or the mountain trail to peaks of everlasting snow. Or it may be that -JZ. some of us are so tired thn1 we would say with the anonymous rhymster: I wish I was a little rock A-siufn' on a hill, -!" A-doir' nothln" all day long .Exrept a-sittln' still. I wouldn't eat, I wouldn't drink. I wouldn't even wash: I'd ust alt still a thousand years ;.- Just restln up, b' gosh! But many of us are not so fortunate and are more ambitious. To the un-fortunate un-fortunate the Ited Gods' call bears no clear message. They know not where or at what to play. So the annual Jt spectacle of the American people at 2P play includes the saddening spectacle of thousands getting no real enjoy- - ment and less rest wasting their pre-ff pre-ff cious vacation daxs. V Let us not be or these unfortunates. Let us mix brains with ou- play. Let us put a fair amount of common sense nt enough to spoil adventure Into our vacation pluns. Let us profit by ' the successes and failures of past va- cations. Let us play temperately; It Is easy to make the piny too strenu-j. strenu-j. ous. On the other hand. "A-sittln' still" does not bring rest as compared with a change of occupation In a dlf- ferent environment. ' jj Getting right down to rock-bottom, the right sort of vai-ati'Mi Is a god-Send, god-Send, while the wrong kind may be worse than none. To come back from j playtime to rest up from the play j that's one thing. T return with renewed re-newed strength and courage that's another and very different story. Let us therefore play wisely. So shall we return to the duties of everyday life refreshed and restored and with determination deter-mination to face anew lis responsibilities. responsi-bilities. Yes; we Americans are loyal and devoted subjects of the Ited Gods. The I'nited States Department of Commerce reports that In T,'123 American Ameri-can tourists spent ?."ji.0."Ml,(HX) In pleasuring abroad. The Tourist Bu- j reau of Montreal reports that 132,f)D5 automobile s from tlie I'nited States entered the Province of Quebec last year. It estimates that Ihe l"2,;Mjr ' autom biles brought oOrt,i"0 visitors and adds that "a conservative esti-; mate in regard to the amount of. money brought Into tlie province by automobile tourists alone amounts to close to ?17,XK),000." Kery state In tlie Union except Utah and Nevada was represented. However, the slogan, "See America First !" has not fallen upon deaf ears. Approximately 10,000,0tx auto campers camp-ers hit the trails of the country during dur-ing 1023, according to the touring bureau bu-reau of tlie Chicago Motor club. The Scenic West national parks and national na-tional forests attracted Ihclr share of this tourist travel. figures furnished fur-nished by the national park service of the Interior department show that the national parks the public playgrounds play-grounds of the American people are a large economic asset of the nation. Here are some of tlie figures: Rocky Mountain National park In Colorado the most easily accessible and most popular of all the parks had an attendance of Jiy.orx). The oliicial estimate Is that -hese visitors spent ?7,700,(XJf) In and about the park. About $2,000,000 wus expended in Yellow-stone by visitors and $-1,000,-000 was expended by these tourists In the Immediate adjacent states A large proportion of these motorists motor-ists carried camping outllts. Some always camped out; some used hotels at their convenience. Uvery self-respecting community In the Scenic West has an up-to-date auto camp. Tourists usually pass by all towns that have no camp. The point Is: The American people are rapidly becoming efficient campers who can be comfortable comfort-able out-of-doors and are Indeiiendent of hotels. Two of the pictures herewith suggest sug-gest the possibilities of such a pro- gram. The lower oiio 1h a scene In Hie Soiilh SI. Vralu Cany o n, n e a r Itm-Ky Mountain National park. Tim im-n and hoiiui of Ihe women - have been whipping Hi" si ream for trout, anil now all hands are busy gelling lunch. ThousandN of such Hi-cues are singed every day all through lliu West. The group of cars coulaliiH all Muds. The group of humans contains all kinds. Ami maybe may-be II doesn't do the liunians good. Angling, Ang-ling, you know, makes all men hrol liei s - at least for the time being. And eating together varniM the cockles of the human heart. The farmer from Kansas and the hanker from Maine and the merchant from Louisiana, lifter such an experience, ex-perience, havo a belter understanding understand-ing of their fellow citizens and a kindlier kind-lier feeling. Great Is the democracy of Iho out-of-doors. The lop picture shows a permanent camp In a national forest. 1'ninplng, by the way, Is the severest test of the real worth of people. peo-ple. After a month In camp, every one knows every one else for keeps. If a person has a lazy ' streak or a mean streak or a yellow streak It will show as "sure as God made little fishes." So a valuable valu-able hint for vacation vaca-tion campers Is this: Choose your company carefully. The Scenic West Is tho "Lund of Knickers" In summer sum-mer time. Every one wears trousers which Is more or less unfortunate. Put the average 13 high. Take a well-shaped American girl nnd put her In a modern sport "get-up" nnd she's Just about the most fetching woman In the world. So the general efTed Is pleasing. Moreover, trousers are necessary for ninny recrentlons. The woman who rides side-saddle In the West Is a genuine curiosity. And mountain-climbing, if It's the real thing, cannot be done safely In skirts. The girls In the picture are Mount flialnler visitors. Mount Hninler, by the way, has It on all the other parks. The top of the mountain Is always sr.ow-covered nnd winter sports in July are the regular thing every year. And here's something interesting. Young America Ameri-ca Is apparently taking up winter sports from coast to coast. New England was full of people playing In the snow last winter. Itockv Mountain had two months of It February nnd March with many visitors. It's a good tldng, too. Chasing the summer the year 'round Is not good for people. A touch of frost Is needed to harden up the fiber of a man nnd bring him to full mental, moral and physics' stature. Of course the real value to the American people of the national parks Is their spiritual, educational nnd physical possibilities. Tlie physical Is self-evident. The educational Is as evident, with reflection. These national na-tional parks are vast nalursl museums of exhibits of our earth In the making. The people, up to the present, have enjoyed them emotionally. The National Na-tional Parks association, a nationwide nation-wide organization of nature-lovers. Is pushing a campaign of education. It believes that with understanding of these exhibits the visitor's enjoyment will be doubled, to say nothing of increased in-creased mentality. Most of the principal prin-cipal parks have nature guides and lectures nnd museums In aid of this laudable campaign of education. As to the spiritual : The mountains Longs Peak, "King of the ltockies " ; Mount Rainier, the "Mountain That Was God"; Mount McKinley, most majestic of all North American peaks are majestic indeed, but even more majestic Is the response to them that Is awakened in the human mind and soul. The man Is a poor specimen of the human race who Is not bettered by association with the beautiful and mejestlc In nature. Oh It la there, I think, that all The roads of learning end! And It Is there tiue wisdom la. Our wisdom to transcend. |