Every man owes it to himself and to his family to take a vacation each year.

Vacate means to get out or away from, and if you take your so called vacation by a trip to another city and spend your time in the whirl of industry, you are not helping yourself, you are not taking a vacation.

Neither are you resting your mind and body if you go to a swell summer resort where white duck trousers in the day and full dress in the evening is the rule.

The real vacation you get is when you take yourself away from the business marts of trade, and go to a place where you can get your feet on good old mother earth. Go where fences are unknown, where there are no "keep off the gra.s.s" signs, climb the hills, walk through the forests, fill your lungs with good ozone, say to yourself "all these beautiful things are mine."

Nature has arranged it so that the poorest man in the world can get the most priceless things as easily as the multi-millionaire. The four most precious things in the world are good air, good food, good water and good health. Money cannot buy any one of these things. The man with millions cannot get any better air, or more nourishing food, or purer water, or better health than can the poor man.

The man who goes to the big woods for his vacation, who lives out of doors, who gets near to nature, is putting by a reserve in his const.i.tution and brain that he will draw upon for the remainder of the year. Such vacations will clear the cobwebs from your brain. It will give you ability to do greater things, and make you see the beautiful side of life.

A man should not depend wholly on his two or three weeks in the woods, however. He should take a little vacation every day. He should arrange to get some benefit for his brain and body in each twenty-four hours.

He should take a few moments each day and devote it to mental and physical relaxation. And, above all, he can get a good vacation every twenty-four hours if he sleeps properly.

Our good friend Grizzly Pete, of Frozen Dog, understands the real vacation when he says.

Mighty pleasin' sport, you bet, sittin' on a rock; Beats a store or office an' workin' by a clock.

Clears away the cobwebs from your weary brain; Gives you inspiration; makes you a man again.

There ain't no medicine I know for the appet.i.te Like a summer mornin', waitin' fer a bite.

Lazy summer days are here--ain't you kind o' wishin'

That you had your old clothes on, an' was settin here a-fishin'?

Health

There is no misfortune, no real hard luck except sickness and poor health.

If you find your health is becoming impaired, change your methods and vocation. Change before it is too late. A st.i.tch in time saves nine times nine in matters of health.

Get plenty of exercise, good air, good water, sleep with your windows open in winter as well as summer, walk over two miles every day. Avoid worry. Do good deeds. Help others. Eliminate evil thoughts and deterrent influences.

If your health is impaired, forsake dollars if necessary and make health your first concern.

Dollars are worth having, but sense is infinitely better to be possessed of.

If your health will not permit you to get dollars and cents, then make it your object to get health and sense.

Rockefeller would give his millions if he could have the health of nearly any of the thousand of employes who work for him. A good stomach is rather to be chosen than great riches.

Patience

Supposin' fish don't bite at first, What are you goin' to do?

Throw down your pole, chuck out your bait, An' say your fishin's through?

You bet you ain't; you're goin' to fish, An' fish, an' fish, an' wait Until you've ketched a basketful Or used up all your bait.

Suppose success don't come at first, What are you goin' to do?

Throw up the sponge and kick yourself?

An' growl, an' fret, an' stew?

You bet you ain't; you're goin' to fish, An' bait, an' bait agin, Until success will bite your hook, For grit is sure to win.

Patient effort and hard work each day, properly directed, will surely bring success.

Failure comes to those who grow weary in the struggle, and to those who overwork themselves and overtax their abilities.

Such persons hope that by large sacrifices of sleep and happiness, and by extra application and hard work, they will build for themselves fortune, that they may be happy at some future time. They make a great mistake in this respect.

Divide your energies so that each individual day is successful, no matter how much the success may be.

It is the men who are doing little things today who will be picked out to do great things tomorrow.

And while you are making a little success each day, be sure that your heart sings while your hands work.

Men who can do things are discovered. They need not push themselves to the front. Good men are scarce, and the great successful business men of today are the ones who know how to do the work that they are hiring employes to do. Talent in this direction will surely attract the attention of your superiors.

Learn to master the details of your business yourself. Use conscientious effort and painstaking effort. Make a round-up each night of what you have done during the day. See wherein you have been in error and wherein you could have improved the day's work and you will be better fitted for tomorrow's duties. After closing your day's business, devote a part of the evening to your family and friends, and a part of it to some good book.

It is not the clock that strikes the loudest that keeps the best time.

The expensive chronometer works steadily along doing its work well and faithfully. It does not attract as much attention as the gilt clock with its sweet chimes, but men who know things are aware that the chronometer has the more real merit. Have the chronometer for your ideal and not the fancy clock, for true merit will certainly receive due reward.

We should all have some ideal which we hope to attain tomorrow, but let us remember that the way to reach the ideal tomorrow is to make today successful.

Patience is a virtue few of us are possessed of, but the story of every successful business has written on every page of its history patience and perseverance.

Do not get discouraged if your rate of progress each day is not as much as you hoped for, but, so long as you are going forward and are patient, you may be sure that you are gaining.

Hard Times

Hard times follow good times with unerring regularity and certainty; this is in perfect accordance with the rule of compensation.

In good times we should prepare ourselves and erect strong guards around our business, so that when hard times come we may find ourselves able to go through the troublous times.

If prosperity ran on unchecked, the ordinary, well-established business would soon be a thing of the past, for people would speculate instead of work.

When the manufacturer has his bills paid and finds a surplus in the bank, that surplus is likely to be turned into speculation. When everyone speculates values rise, and continue to rise until prices reach fict.i.tious alt.i.tudes, and then comes about the cashing in. It so happens that the cashing in is a general movement, and when this happens hard times quickly follow.

The successful business man should keep his money where it is get-at-able, and when hard times come and the prices go away down to low water mark, then he should buy. Later on prosperity will return, as sure as the sun will rise, and the things bought during the hard times will greatly increase in value.