JOY OF SUMMER DAYS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18553, 10 November 1923, Page 13

JOY OF SUMMER DAYS.

SUNSHINE THE PHYSICIAN.

CHARM OF THE BEACHES.

{PLAYGROUNDS ALWAYS NOT;

Summer has come, and Auckland has forgotten the long wet winter and the cold, boisterous spring.* ast discomforts i»re easily forgotten in these warm, smiling days. Those of us who have been jealously guarding our influenza legacies and revelling in that queer kind of satisfaction that comes from a determination to be miserable, have suddenly decided that all is not lost. The "miserable" pose which causes more physical disorders than battalions of germs becomes rather a bore when the summer sim mounts rip the skies, and the trees and birds and flowers join in a common song of praise. With an exultation that even a sanercivilisation could not destroy, Auckland has joined in the carnival of summer We know something of the healing power of sunshine, but it is not only bodily ills that are being discarded these bright days. Worry, the bane of humanity, gets short shrift from the spirit of summer. It becomes reallv hard to worry while Nature holds high* carnival The exact connection between the brightness warmth, colour, and comfort, and the revitalised body, the banished physical distresses, the more cheerful attitude of mind, may be well left to those who must reduce great miracles to a scientific formula. Enough for the rest of us to • b;> glad. After all the man who experiences the miracle needs no mentor. Back to the Beaches. As always in Auckland, the summer spirit sends the people flocking to the beaches. From early mom until the fall of daricness most of the manv beaches have their people. Those stout-hearted, robust folk— and their number is small— who take a morning "dip" the whole year round, are now being joined by others who not only receive the benefit of the bathe, but a pleasurable sense of stimulation from the mere fact that they have risen from their beds an hour earlier. Had they been of the small band of Stoics who do not acknowledge seasons as far as their bathing is concerned, they would not experience this gratifying feeling of _ virtuous achievement. Certainly they would no* so enjoy the calm of the early morning, with its exquisite tones of light and shade and its soft colours if their expeditions to the water were a matter of ruthless daily habit. They might indeed be honestly pretending that the raw, dismal mornings of winter were much finer. They would be talking of the fine "crispness" of a period they are really anxious to forget, and indulging in other hypercritical fancies, for humanity is a master of selfdeception. Animal Life, After the departure of the early '•"dippers," the beach may be vacant for a time, unless there be an individual who prefers painting a boat or tinkering with an engine to eating a good breakfast. But even if he is absent there are always the sea-birds noisily quarrelling over morsels of food or placidly standing upon one leg on rocky points of vantage, considering, no doubt, that the world goes very well. Often a pair of gay dogs come down for a romp. There is that fine young pointer which has not yet learned that the drinking of sea water is' a very bad and absurd habit. His friend, a fox terrier, who does not know what a fox is, divides his time between the impossible task of taking a fall out of the big chap and scaring the seagulls. Occasionally he entertains the idea that, he may yet catch a seagull, and with head strained upward he races below the indignant turds, imagining, no doubt, that he might sprout a pair of wines at any moment. Soon/ come the little children, A nursemaid or an older sister is in charge and tiny toddlers quaintly garbed' in a splendid beach costume called "rompers" (emulate the irresponsibility of young ducklings. They find a place where the .slippery papa shows through the sand to upset themselves and sometimes a bold boy rushes blithely into the water and is pulled dripping, kicking bundle of .life. Often' there is a small boy of a most inquiring disposition who wants to know the why and wherefore of the whole universe. His caretaker usually answers in « manner that suggests she does it merely from habit without taking her mind off other matters much more important to her. The small boy is quite content and continue*, to ply questions to which there are no possible answers. Family Parties. The forenoon sees family parties "down for the day." The mothers who come .show an excellent example to their sisters who are so troubled about the many things of a household that they can never *' just leave things and laze for a day en the seashore. It is not always an easy day for mothers, because a good mother sever can fully trust to the offices of the children's guardian angel, but it is a change and so often a needful one. Some young women come to readand go to sleep in the comforting embrace of the warm sand. They all look beautiful in repose because a floppy hat and j filmy trimmings go a long way as aids to beautv. Now and then a youth, escaped for a brief space from the thraldom of the city, comes to meet his love, and together they build castles not of sand, but of glorious fancy. Let us not break the spell that holds them. Let them paint their wonderful world with the pigments of love and dream the dreams that never vet have come true on this mortal strand, for soon the years with their woes will be upon them' "••■' An old man limping out of life, and a small boy trudging bravely into it come by The youngster calls the old man " eranfer." They have a fishing-rod and no doubt intend to catch amazing fash from the deep end.

Romping Children. The atmosphere changes when the children, free from the tasks of school, come storming to the sea. The spirit of tranquility departs. Riotous shouts and forcing shrieks proclaim that the beach %is been invented, invaded, and captured by the merry young barbarians, burdened with energy and desperate jm* ous to expend it while the. daylight remains What splendid swimmers most of them are! What life they possess! There some boys have launched a cockleshell of a boat and with a ragged piece #of sacking spread to the breeze, obey an instinct that has made an Empire A teatload of school girls rounds the point pulled bv a worthy daughter of a sealing race. And long, after the cookinC pots have been waiting the arrival of hunjrv mouths boys still linger to grasp already the wash of the. flowing tide, onlv by the wash of the flowing tide* and solitude.