Date: July 25, 1930
Location: Northampton, MA
(Original document available here)
The vacation season has come again. Rightly used it restores the vigor of mind and body by change and relaxation. We cannot always dwell on the heights. We cannot always be at our best. If we are to do work of the highest excellence our periods of high activity must be followed by periods of rest. Some firms where the pressure is very great require their members to take two or three months’ vacation.
A great wealth of out of doors awaits those who seek it. The long stretches of shore by sea and lake, the woods and hills of our Northern states, all have a variety of scene and charm which the world cannot surpass.
But many of us would pass by the great scenic beauties, the natural wonders of the nation, or the fashionable watering places, to revisit the quiet, secluded and humbler regions of our childhood home. It may be changed now. The old familiar forms may be gone. But memory remains. The love of a mother and a father dwelt there. From that shrine we return always bringing with us a renewal of the strength of the hills or the plains and the inspiration of a nobler purpose.
Citation: Calvin Coolidge Says: Dispatches Written by Former-President Coolidge and Syndicated to Newspapers in 1930-1931 (Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation)
The Coolidge Foundation gratefully acknowledges the volunteer efforts of Greg Harkenrider who prepared this document for digital publication.