To the Editor of the Sm,—Ifthere boone habit more beneficial to both mind and body than another, it is that of spending one's hours of rest and recreation in a different place from that in which one performs one's daily tal 'The Settlement of Shanghai is monotonous in the extreme; ench flat, narrow road, each yard of the Bund and' every room in the Club, become at length as nauseously familiar as the very desks and pigeon-holes in one's office, and here is but ttle relict to be derived from a contemplation of their beauties. No wonder that, with so little change of scene, persons grow dull and stupid, and go. through. their daily routine with a stolidity and luck of interest worthy of a mill-horse, degenerating meunwhile into a state of mental and physical vegetation, The stutly atmosphere of the Settlement and the heated, poisonous atmosphere of billiard rooms act with infinite injury upon the brain; the mind gets dazed, the eyes grow dim, one's very sleep at night is heavy and unrefreshing, and a man wakes up one fine morning with a sudden conviction that he wants a change, and would be all the better for a trip to Chefoo.
Bat in nine case out of ten, he can't go and it is really not necessary that he ould, There is not much change and relaxation to be had here, it is true, but still there is some, and o the best things to do is to live in the country. By the time a man has driven past the race-course on his way out of town, ten to one he has also driven business worries out of his head, and f thoroughly than a man does who the next room to his offices. The sight of the fields and cottages is as refreshing to his system asa champagne cocktail, and infinitely more wholesome; even the smell of the rich, light, loamy soil which is found beyond the Well of many Bubbles, has a sort of exhilaration of its own, while the associations and pursuits of a country life are restful and health-giving in the extreme. Rest is not idleness, nor idleness rest; rest is nothing but relief and change, and there is nothing better to fit a man for a close day's work in an office, than the continual change to a purer atmosphere, Then his tastes are improved. Reading grows upon aman in the country; 80 does early rising. Bed-time is more welcome, and sleep far sweeter in the clear air of the open fields, than in the noisy streets, Pigs become invested with an interest never before dreamt of by the jaded man of town; even chickens are not without their claims upon.his attention, and his care. But more than all, there is the exquisite pleasure of having a garden of one's
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.