CHAPTER XXX.

The Grand Canyon For Pleasure, Rest And Recuperation

Unchanging Value of the Canyon. Many people think of the Grand Canyon as a show place, which, once seen, does not need to be revisited. Never was there a greater mistake, for its resources are inexhaustible, even though one visit it annually for a lifetime. The business man invests in stocks and bonds. A panic may wipe out their values and ruin follow in a night-time. But a visit to the Grand Canyon is an investment that yields interest manifold and compounded, as long as the faculty of memory remains. Better still, there is no middleman in the deal. The ticker does not reel off the changing values. You yourself are the banker, and the joys of beholding and possessing are permanent.

Its Mental and Spiritual Influence. The first impressions, maybe, are productive of physical and mental excitement. But when the traveler comes into complete harmony with the Grand Canyon's sublime features, bodily rest and mental tranquillity are sure to follow. Of course, we get out of Nature what we bring to her mentally and spiritually, but of no other place can it be truly said that the play of external forces has so sure a charm, so direct an influence. A man big mentally cannot be satisfied (when away from his work) with a place inferior to that with which he is habitually acquainted. Thus many a man, wise and thoughtful in all the other relations of his life, will go to some inferior place for his holiday, and return home dissatisfied. He has chosen unwisely. He has associated with that which is beneath him. Man's scenic environment and its influence over him are as much a matter of scientific knowledge, as the influence of his heredity or his food. A wise man, therefore, puts himself, at vacation time, in relationship with that scenic environment which will best minister to his welfare. Nature is God's provision for supplying man with his needed rest and recuperation.

Its Restful and Strengthening Qualities. Some prefer the forests, others the mountains, others the sea, others the plains, others the solitudes of the desert. Among them all in power to recuperate man's exhausted energies, the Grand Canyon stands supreme. "I come here again and again, because nowhere else do I find such rest and strength," said one of the leading men of California to me, in the rendezvous of El Tovar, only a short time ago. My own life and experience is a proof of this statement. For nearly twenty years I have been visiting the Canyon annually, and for many years there were few conveniences, such as railway and hotels. Now these are provided. One may leave his office in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago or Kansas City, and in a Pullman car ride direct to the Canyon, where a few steps will lead him into one of the most perfectly equipped, yet homelike hotels in America. And there, without effort or fatigue, he comes face to face with this rest-giving, strength-producing Canyon. As soon as a man or woman learns this, you can scarcely get him, or her, to wait the coming of the regular holiday period. The appeal of the Canyon is as strong as the "call of the wild," and that man or woman needing quiet is wisest who yields to the call, and yields often, going to the Canyon in perfect faith that it has within itself recuperative powers which it is ready to give in full measure to those who are in need.

Ways in Which to Recuperate. To those who recuperate best by contact with Nature out-of-doors, the suggestions contained in the chapters devoted to the various outing trips will be useful. Those who wish to lounge and rest, surrounded without by all the sublimity of this unequalled scene, and within by all the comforts and luxuries of a modern hotel, will find that the Grand Canyon absolutely satisfies their most exacting demands. Easy and gentle drives, with perfect equipment; over forest roads, in the restfully stimulating atmosphere of Arizona, at an elevation of nearly seven thousand feet, soothe tired brain and nerves. More vigorous horseback exercises, taken through the park-like glades and reaches of the Coconino Forest, produce perfect digestion and the restfulness of dreamless sleep. The sun tans you. You breathe a pure, thin air, laden with scent of pine and cedar. Your lungs expand, your muscles harden. Soon you are "fit for a king."

The Mecca of the Traveling World. There are many canyons, but the Grand Canyon of Arizona is the Mecca of the traveling world; and El Tovar always has the housing of the choice spirits who have run the gamut of tourist delights in other lands. This home-like inn shelters men of letters, scientists, geologists, artists and business men. Any night, in the year, on the rim of this wonderful abyss, there will be found a miniature city, with its life and sparkle, its fellowships and social converse, its bustle and abandon, and, best of all, the simon-pure democracy inherent among traveled men and women.

In magical contrast with this human centre, is the near by solitude, for one may in a moment step from the companionship of men to the isolation of the desert or mountain--at will you may be one of the crowd or a hermit.