Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Women and Men

[36] the gay world should be seen. If it were necessary to designate these houses in any public way, they should be covered with warning mottoes: “Rest Cure for Saints! No Sympathy given away! No Committee Meetings held here! No Cause need apply! Domestic and Foreign Missions carefully excluded!” They should be furnished with no doorbells; or else these bells should be adjusted, like those you see at Safety Deposit Vaults, to summon the whole police force at a touch, for the protection of the treasures within. What deposit vaults, though they held millions, are so precious as the walls that are to guard our saints in their vacations?

Within these abodes a variety of spiritual nervines and anodynes might be applied. Goethe recommends to people in health that they should every day read a good poem, hear a good piece of music, and if it be possible-mark the considerateness of that suggestion-speak a few sensible words. In the Rest Cure for Saints the first two prescriptions may be applicable, but the last should be very guardedly administered. Some tolerably somnolent nonsense — for instance, extracts from the last English tourist's book about America-would be far better. To be sure, different cases would require different treatment. In mild instances a punning brother might be a sufficient alternative for the nervous tension of a too useful life. Others might be