Off For A Holiday.

OFF FOR A HOLIDAY .

BY A TRAVELLER AND A BROTHER . A LL work and no play makes Jack a dull boy , " says an old English pro-- £ * - verb , and there is an immense amount of truth in this familiar and humble saying . If the fact be so as regards youthand ifc is undoubtedly so

, , how much more true is it of us all and for us all as we get on in years and find ourselves in the full tide of the " wear and tear" of life , amid the busy and often weary throng of men , burdened with care , engrossed with profit , or bowed clown b y toil ? For then , be it noted and remembered , we are neither so elastic nor active as we once were wont to be ; we do not so soon rally from unexpected or unprecedented pressure of labour or worry ; as the doctors like to

say in their often to us mystical and learned phraseology , our " recuperative powers " are not what they once were . This is so much the case , as we all know , more or less , that if any of us persevere too long in an overwhelming course of hard mental or bodily work , we become jaded in body , depressed in mind , morbid in fancies , nervous and " out of sorts . " Ill-health confronts us sternly , it maybe , with its moral certainty ; dyspepsia haunts us with its

" dark shadows and afflictive vagaries . " Hence it becomes necessary for all who work—reall y work , for there are " workers and workers "—every now and then to have a " break " in their continuous toil , a pause in their normal life , a breathing time in their incessant round—their very existence to have , in fact , relaxation of mind as well as rest of body . Many of us who read these lines , for instance , have arrived at that period of our natural life , when—as with youth , so also with maturity , yes , and old age—a good and needed holiday-time

for us is setting in happily ; and it is the object of this humble paper , dull , perhaps , and prosaic enough in all conscience , to try and depict , however hastily and imperfectly , the views and sentiments with which we naturally greet , and as profitably should use , this temporary change in the customary conditions of our mundane existence clay by day . I do not know whether it much matters if we are married or single . We all equally want a holiday .

The married man , no doubt , has more ' ¦ impedimenta " to think of , more possible obstacles to smooth over and " interview . " The wife of his bosom is not always easy to be pleased ; the olive blossoms " all have to be considered . What suits him exactly may not suit them at all , and " mater familias " is sometimes apt to go in for a " strongish order " when " doing the maternal ;" and taking up the " hih line " with a vengeanceshe denounces this or praises

g , that , not because it harmonizes or disagrees with the views of her " lord and master , " but because it suits or does not suit " bab y "—a fat , howling brat of eight months old—or the engaging Flossy , or that " feeble" Tommie . The poor , solitary , lonely bachelor , or as the French writer once elegantly put it , " pauvre vieux garcon solitaire , " has his troubles also to contend with . His servant also wants a holidayor cook ives noticeor Mary Ann ' s -

, g , young man won't wait , and just as he is starting he has no end of domestic embroglios to disentangle and dispose of . I think at that time many a bachelor cries for a "domestic sewing machine , " who really could be a useful " helpmate " to him in all his worries , though not like Mrs . Radde , take them " all upon herself" and desire Raddle not to " interfere . " But let us assume we are " off" at last , encumbered by many packages and

with three times too much luggage . How pleasant it is to find that we are really , for a time , free from matutinal callers or midday business , those press-