There is a growing tendency with our New England people to make rest and recreation matters of considerable importance in themselves. Business is driven at a greater speed than it used to be, and an annual relaxation from business or professional cares and toils has become a positive necessity. The earlier generations worked more slowly and coolly, and a man could endure many years if need be without a thought of a regular vacation, while those who did go from the city to the mountains or seashore in the summer months were those who could afford it as a luxury, rather than so doing as a matter of physical or mental economy. Then again, country accommodations were very limited, and facilities for travel were exceedingly meagre as compared with the present. This was the case no more than a score of years ago. The era of great summer hotels, of "special trains for the season," and of swift and commodious steamboats to the beaches had not begun. Now the vast amount of summer travel forms almost a world of itself. All classes are included. The rich merchant resorts to his beautiful cottage by the sea, or to the splendid hotel in the mountains, for a stay of perhaps three or four months; the family of moderate means engage board at some one of the multitude of "resorts"; the ill-paid clerk or poor artisan may arrange for a week or two in the country, or, at least, may enjoy a few Saturday afternoons at the beaches; and now, God bless them! even the half-fed children of the narrowest street and lane may have a run in the green fields or shady woods on some hot summer day. That ways exist for the relief of so many, rich and poor, from the pent-up city in the sultry months is indeed a blessing, and, like all others, it requires intelligence for its proper use and appreciation. To work and worry eleven months at fever heat, and then relax both brain and body for one, may not afford a longer or more happy life than a continuous routine of labor performed in a more temperate, less-exciting way; but if we _must_ work at such high pressure in this age, let us make the most of our times of rest. Woe to the man who carries with him to the cool mountains or the quiet beach such a paraphernalia of civilization (?) and fashion that he comes back to town more jaded than he went. * * * * *