Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1884-03-12
RecreatIons OF Men of Letters.

| hecrcatlOnS OF Men oil Letters.
Wordsworth composed his verses Will
walking, carried them in his memory an'
got his wife or daughter to write then
down on hIs return. When a visitor q
Rydal Mount asked to see the poets stud,
the maid Is reported to have shown hin
little room containing a handful o
books lying about on the table, sofa ant
shelves. and to have remarked: This i
the masters library where he keeps hi
books, but, returning to the door, ''hi
study Is out of DOORS" whereupon sh,
curtsied the visitor INTO the garden again
Landor also used to compose while walk
ing, and therefore always preferred Il
walk alone. Buckle walked every morn.
ing fer quarter of an hour before break.
fast. and said that having adopted thi:
custom upon medical advice, 1t had be
come necessary. ''Hest or cold, sun.
shine or rain, made no difference to him
either for that morning stroll, or for the
afternoon walk which had its appointed
time and length, and which he would
rarely allow himself to curtaIl, either for
business or for visits" Equally careful
was LOngfellow In the preservation Of his
health. He persisted in outdoor exercise,
even when the weather was the reverse OF
pleasant. Both in the Spring and Autumn
when raw and clustering winds prevailed.
he mover omitted his daily walk, though he
might go no further than tie bounds of
his garden. Darwin was at one time fond
or horseback exercise, but after the death
OF his tsvorIte horse, some ten or twelve
years ago, he never rode again, but pre-
ferred to walk around his garden, or along
the pleasant footpaths through the lovely
fields of Kent.
Walking was Macaulay's favorite recre-
alton, but, like Leigh Hunt, he seems to
have been unable to sever himself from
his books. He once SAID that he would
Ike nothing so well as to bury himself in
some great library and never pass a waxing
hour without book before him. Certainly
he could never walk without his book.
"He walked about London reading: he
roamed through the lanes of Surrey read
Ing; and even the new ard surprising spec
tacle Of the sea-so suggestive of reverie
and brooding thought-couId not seduce
him from hIs books" Macaulsy reminds
US OF Thirlwall, who, whether eating,
walking or ridiRg, was never to be seen
without book.
The favorIte recreation OF Charles Dick
ems was walking. BY day, Professor
Ward points out, Dickens found In the
London thoroushfares stimulatIve variety;
and by night, In seasons OF intellectual ex-
cltement, he found IN these same streets
the refreshment of isolation among the
crowds. But the walks he loved best
were long stretches on the cliffs, or across
The downs by the sea, where, following
The tracks OF his '5reathers,' one half ex-
poets TO meet him coming along agslns. |
The wind at four aud half miles an hour,
the very embodiment Of energy and brim- |
tul OF life"
Carlyle usually took vigorous walk of |
several miles, enough to get himself into |
glow, before he commenced the days Is
Dor. Whether the spirit moved him or
not, he entered his workshop at 10, tOIIed |
Until 3, when he answered his letters, saw |
friends, read, and sometimes had second |
xslk. Victor Hugo loves to ride outside |
IN omnibus; Carlyle was fond OF riding
inside. Apparently, neither walking in
he streets, nor riding IN rickety, bone
making omnibus, aided Csrlyle's diges-
Ion; for more dyspeptic and i'll natured
Iuthor never bresthed. 1t was he who
allied Charles Lamb and Mary ''very
oiry pair Of phenomena" and pronounced
lis talk ''contempubly small, indicating
Tondrous ignorance and shallowness"
Never did men of such distinguished tastes
meet before, but they had one taste IN
COMMON, and that was walking, for which
1amo confessed restless impulse. How
le loved London! Though he liked to
luck buttercups and daisies a: times IN
he country, his sympathles were entirely
With London. Like DR.. johnson, he be-
ieved that when q man was tired of Lon
on he was tired OF life, and he seems
ever 10 have grown weary OF sounding
be praises OF that wonderful city, Lon
on, whose dirtlest Arab-freGuented alley
nd her lowest-bowing tradesmsn," he
Did Wordsworth. he would not exchange
Or Sklddaw aud He,vellyn, James Walter
nd the parson into the bargain. lie
Dved not only the print-shops, the thea
res, the bookstalls, but the crowds of
unlsn faces. ''rhe wonder OF these
Ights,' he says, 'fmpels me into night
'alks aboat her crowded streets, and /
ften shed tears ia the motley Strand,
rom fulness of joy at 50 much life."
Recently new form of exercise has
cen commended TO brain-workers by DR.. .
richardson, who contends that trIcycling ,
nil enable them to obtain the change of
lought and scene which they need. =
'ncycles are, unfortunately, awkward
lings to stow away, and cannot with
.fety be used after dark. StablIng &C
for them Is hard to find in
Cndon, as well as dear, and they are
,arcely suitable ornaments for drawing
'om, oreven back parlor. DR.. Rict-
-ison stables his machine Ia the lobby Of
Is house in Manchl Square. An ar
oithis kind is convenient for
lie rider, but would be tolerated by few |
ives. II