We need changes from the duties and the cares of our accustomed everyday
life. They are necessary for healthy, normal living. We need
occasionally to be away from our friends, our relatives, from the
members of our immediate households. Such changes are good for us; they
are good for them. We appreciate them better, they us, when we are away
from them for a period, or they from us.

We need these changes to get the kinks out of our minds, our nerves, our
muscles--the cobwebs off our faces. We need them to whet again the edge
of appetite. We need them to invite the mind and the soul to new
possibilities and powers. We need them in order to come back with new
implements, or with implements redressed, sharpened, for the daily
duties.

We need periods of being by ourselves--_alone_. Sometimes a fortnight or
even a week will do wonders for one, unless he or she has drawn too
heavily upon the account. The simple custom, moreover, of taking an
hour, or even a half hour, _alone in the quiet_, in the midst of the
daily routine of life, would be the source of _inestimable gain_ for
countless numbers.

* * * * *

I know not where His islands lift
Their fronded palms in air;
I only know I cannot drift
Beyond His love and care.

_Whittier_