Page:The Art of Helping People Out of Trouble (1924).pdf/226

 customers, the sight of new things, the conversation of the other employees gave the woman an excitement and an interest that she carried home with her at the end of the day for the vicarious enjoyment of her mother. "I didn't know people could talk about such cheerful things," she said in appreciation of what her work meant to her.

She had profited by what might be called the dynamic of adventure. Adventure, change, variety, new experience help to maintain an individual's alertness and to quicken his zest for living. It is frequently as much this as the physical advantage of climate that physicians have in mind when they prescribe the mountains or the seashore for a convalescing patient. It is what many people derive from travel. The woman who mastered a fit of depression by rearranging her furniture and giving a fresh aspect to her home was making excellent use of this dynamic of adventure and change.

Adventure has a contribution to make to the life of every human being. Depending as it does, however, upon variety and change it has not the substantial qualities of some of the other dynamics. It is a relish that usually needs to be accompanied or followed by meat. It was this