lid, he was not precisely idle. The powerful, indispensable steam-engine
was the result. One reason, aside from all religious considerations, why
we need a quiet Sunday, is that we may have that sense of freedom which
feeds mind and body, and even the crumbs of whose profitableness have
made the world rich in great inventions, in great pictures, in wonderful
books.




IX

THE OUTDOOR RUNWAY


After Nebuchadnezzar came in from eating grass there had taken place in
that potentate a great change for the good. One of the factors in this
betterment may have been the grass itself. The grass-cure has always
been popular and always will be, for it is just as good for the tired
mind as it is for the tired body. Nowadays every big school and every
college provide a grass-cure for students who are out at elbows with
their nerve sleeves, or who have not sufficient muscle to make them fit,
or who are overworking or need toning up in any way. There is more and
more recognition of the fact that a school course which is taken at the
expense of health is not worth having. And side by side with this
wholesome admission has come a great awakening in the last fifteen years
to the curative value of the _outdoor runway_, whether that runway be a
field track, energetic walking in a park or campus, or a cross country
run.