Holidays and Health
BY SIR LEONARD HILL.
LORD HANWORTH'S Committee on legal reform has proposed to shorten the Long Vacation from ten weeks to eight, remarking that eight weeks in the summer, together " with the other vacations and the absence of sittings on Saturdays, was a reasonable allowance even for persons working under so heavy a mental strain as barristers and judges. Most people will agree with that opinion, but it raises the interesting question of what is in fact a reasonable allowance of holidays a year for men and women in different walks of life. On that, of course, views may vary. Listen to Stevenson, for instance. " Will anyone," he demands, dare to tell me that business is more entertaining than fooling' among boats ? " He must have never seen a boat, and never seen an office, who says so. And for certain the one is a great deal better for the health. There• should be nothing so much a man's business as his amusements. The Royal Nautical Sportsmen of Brussels; who in the ' Inland Voyage ' gave such timely aid to the - drenched Cigarette ' and Arethusa,' were all employed iri commerce during the day, but in the evening voyei=oous, nous sommes serieux. " These young men had still these clean perceptions of what is nice and interesting, and what is dull and nasty, which envious old gentlemen refer to as illusions.' Custom had not yet squeezed the life out of their souls."
Most of us are mere cogs in the social -engine, moving on principles that we do not understand, and for purposes that we do not care about. We must do our work honestly and efficiently to earn our weekly wage, but the real business of life is in our free hours, and not in those spent, say, in casting up figures, machine minding or filling goods into tin boxes. The amount of space devoted to sport by the newspapers obviously reflects the real national taste. The Roman Emperors kept their citizens quiet by seeing that they were provided with corn and amused with games. In the time of Augustus there were 200,000 drawing the " dole " and public games were given on 175 days in the year and the people were admitted to them without payment. The chariot circus seated 200,000 spectators; our stadium i5 small in comparison. We who earn our bread also desire to play games or sec them played, and do not the unfortunates who depend on the dole divide it between food and games, and who can blame them ? Most of the workers unfortunately have no playing fields and unable to show skill themselves must find amusement in watching the skill of others. They spend their leisure at football matches, prize fights; motor, horse and dog races—add to their excitement by gambling, and is not gambling in the open air at a dog race at least better than drinking in the foul air of a gin shop ? During his evolution through vast, ages the adventure of life has been natural to man and manual dexterity his highest attainment. The human brain developed with the skill of hand and eye. The craftsmanship of the skilled workman or artist is im- measurably higher than the craft of the money-grabbers, of one devoted to " Mammon, the least erected spirit that fell from heaven."
Quite erroneous is the Bolshevik theory that brain- workers need a mode of life no other than that which suits the field labourers. Sedentary life in stuffy atmo- spheres, the strain and anxiety of brain work, alters the metabolism and upsets the vigour of digestion and lessens the purification of the tissues ; the brain-worker needs more delicate food and holidays in which to recuperate by open-air life and sport. On the other hand, a milkman doing a round in a pleasant suburban district spends much of his time out of doors and alternately rests (while driving a milk-float) and gets physical exercise in deliver- ing milk, thereby keeping himself in thoroughly sound condition. He can live healthily without the necessity of holidays. So, too, an agriculturist. His employment is varied and the outdoor life keeps him fit. A " holiday," if he gets one, will be spent most likely in working in his own garden or allotment. It is the indoor sedentary workers whose health suffers, living, as so many do, in the confined, over-heated and under-ventilated environment of the shop, office, tube- railway, spending leisure hours in teashops, cinema and flat, and eating too much of an artificial and ill-chosen diet, deficient in the health-giving principles of natural fresh foods. These it is whose spirits flag, and for whom holidays and change of scene and food are most necessary. Artisans and miners doing strenuous work, often in disagreeable surroundings of dust and heat, need a holiday as much as sedentary workers. A worker bee becomes old and worked out in some three weeks in the summer. Our workers should not be worked out and become prema- turely aged by factory conditions. Sickness and lost time can be prevented by the wise giving of holidays, and a far better spirit brought about among the workers. Happy is the man who can move- from- one occupation to another, and thus gain change of mind and refreshment, who gardens, carpenters, fiddles or paints, or has some other /lobby which develops manual dexterity and stimulates interest.
Holiday pursuits ivhich are suitable for youth may be far too strenuous for the middle-aged, for holidays proper to one age and one type are not suitable to another age and type. Those out of condition and untrained are wrong to embark on an exhausting holiday such as climbing -Alpine peaks, playing two full rounds of golf a day, or swimming until• shivering and blue with cold. The error of excessive sun-bathing must be avoided, because in the first exposure. of the 'skin it takes very little sun- shine to cause distressing burning and discomfort. -Men tired out by the strain and anxieties of business need a quiet holiday with complete change of scenery, plenty of rest in the open air, and quiet amusements. A motor tour, although exhilarating to some with its daily and hourly change of scenery, is tiring to a man with a heavy year's work behind him. He should make many breaks in his journey and rest frequently from the nervous strain of driving. For most of us there is nothing better than the ordinary seaside holiday, spent for the most part in simply sitting and playing games with the children on the shore, getting the maximum of open air and one or two short stimulating bathes a day.
• Three weeks are required to get the full enjoyment and benefit from such a holiday, and this should be the standard time for sedentary workers. A month is all the better, if possible. A fortnight is too little, because the first week is spent in settling down to the new climate and conditions, and the second in preparing to go home. Thanks to the aeroplane we can now get far afield even on a short holiday, and the liner cruises now in fashion combine the 'variety of travel with the restfulness of the sea. But a luxury steamship is no place for the young and vigorous. Physical achievement is a better aim for youth on holiday. Lying in motor boats on the Broads and with a gramophone on the cabin roof may be a form of holiday tolerable for middle age, but the practice of skill and the acquisition of health in rowing and sailing is something much more worthy of the young and vigorous. " Hiking," of course, is one of the most healthy recrea- tions possible, and the provision of cheap hostels for " hikers " deserves every encouragement.
Holidays come -and adventures are sought, but at the end " when you come back at nightfall and look in at the familiar room you find Love or Death awaiting you beside the stove ; and the most beautiful adventures are not those we go to seek."
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