There is another aspect of the outdoor runway of which less is said.  I mean gardening, or the care of live stock of some kind, or bee culture.  This is practical remunerative work which for the girl living at home and going to school should serve famously as a grass-cure; it would keep her out-of-doors with profit to both her health and her purse.  And then there is another kind of grass-cure:  the outdoor life out-of-doors, to be taken in long country walks, in fishing expeditions, in picnics, in camping or wherever roads, hills, meadows and brooks lead.  Finally, there is the outdoor life indoors.  This life insists upon windows open to the air and open to the sunshine, and this life every one of us may have all the time.

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A GIRL’S SUMMER

Any girl who settles down to a summer with the idea of doing nothing, or in an aimless, not-knowing-what-to-do-next fashion, lessens her opportunities for pleasure.  Pleasure is not idleness, although in the minds of a great many people who have not thought very much it is.  The right sort of leisure is full of opportunities for doing interesting things.

There are some girls who look upon their summers as an escape from the slavery of their school year.  There are others who think of their summers as something to be endured until they can go back to the more or less selfish freedom of the school.  Neither is the right way.  The summer ought not to be an entirely frivolous season, neither ought it to be too workaday.  If a girl has work to do, everything should be so arranged as not to deprive the vacation of its recreative side.  On the other hand the summer should be all the happier because of a definite object to be accomplished.  Something is wrong with a girl unless she finds both summer and winter full of opportunity and pleasure.

No one can possibly do all the delightful or useful things which may be done in a single summer.  In these months there is opportunity for growth just as in the winter—­perhaps more opportunity physically.  And intellectually there is much to be seen and observed.  For the girl who can, it is well to plan to be out-of-doors as much as possible.  For some, there are opportunities for camping, for long walks, for gardening, to learn how to do certain physically useful things, to row, swim and ride.  Only an extraordinary emergency would deprive a girl of all the out-of-door exercise which she needs.  If she isn’t able to be by the sea or in the mountains, in almost all cities there is opportunity for exercise and games.  With a short car ride she can go to golf links, to tennis courts, into the country.  In many semi-citified homes there is space for a girl to do some gardening, one of the most profitable of pleasures, good for the girl and good for the home.  Many homes would be much more attractive if there were more of the garden spirit in them.  But if there is no chance for this, there can always be physical culture, an opportunity to build one’s self up in health, to live sanely and wisely, to get plenty of sleep, and to take corrective exercise.  In physical culture a girl should find out what she most needs—­almost any gymnastic instructor in school or college would be glad to outline work—­and then in ten or fifteen minute exercises develop herself along those lines.