Daily Republican., 1884-05-07
LEIsURk

IEIsURk
It might be raid Of leisure, rs 1t has
ben said Of variety, that 1t Is
"The spice OF life
That gives 1t all It's flavor"
Indeed, leieure and variety are con.
vertible terms. 1t Ia only by means of
leisure that the bulk of mankind can
give to their lives that spice Of variety
without " hich existeD CO would In truth
be a drearv affair. OF all human afilic.
tions, an absolute lack of leisure is sure
ly the worst. In the "SoDg of the
Shirt "--perhaps tn. most pathetic
poem ever writteD-thers IL no more
touching line than the despairing ex.
clamatiOn:
mo blessed leisure for love or hope"
For the full development on the one
hand, for the true erjoym on the
other, OF all that In most ennoblipg in
our nature, leisure Is necessary. For
love, for hope, for thought, for feeling or
remembrance FOR whatever gives sweet
nsss and light to our being, we must
have leisure.
That there should be any doubt a. to
what Is leisure may ut first glance ap-
pear an absurd idea. Nevertheless,
there IL leisure and leisure. There il a
passive leisure aud an active leisure, q
reflective le sure and leisure ofperform-
ance, founded upon the principle that
" absence Of occupation Is not rest. I"
There Is true leisure. and leisure false
ly 80 called. The victims of this last
are almost as much to be pltied AZ are
those to whom the blessing of leisure Is
denied. They are the beings whose
lives appear TO the tboughtless to be all
leisure. &" They toll not, neither do they
spin"
They appear to lead an enviable ex.
istence; but only appear. All pleasure,
even more than oil work, makes life
dull. Pleasures are the sweets Of ex-
istence, and q diet of all sweets soon
pals and nauseates. Paradoxical AZ 1t
may sound, all leisure is no leisure. 1t
Is the mere pleasure seekers and sheer
idlers who find most Of. the bitterness
of Dead Sea fruit in the taste Of life,
who are most inclined to answer mega
lively the momentous question, "1s life
worth living" Leisure, to be true and
enjoyable, must be the reward of labor
must be earned. 1t may be used
restfully and lightly in taking our
favorite amusements, or cultivating
" the social relations" or it may be
applied to some specific and tangible
labor of love some study or occupation
taken up con amore, and quite distinct
from, often, indeed, curiously in con.
trast to, the calling daily followed for
daily bread ; or from ambition, where
the necessity to labor for daily bread
does not exist. Such labors do not tire
they invigorate. As Shakespeare has
it, 1.-THE labor we delight in physics
pain" And that which delights the
voluntary laborer may enrich the world,
not for an age only, but for all time"
Milton was Latin Secretary to the
Common wealth's Council Of State-no
sinecure office-when he wrote "The
Defense Of the People of England" 1t
is to be remembered, too, that even
before he held his secretaryship he did
but "doff his garland and singing
robes" to pom "The Plea tor Liberty Of
Unlicensed Printing" and his other
great prose works-prose writings as
magnificent as are his poems. Some Of
Burns finest pieces were written In the
leisure that fell to him as q working
farmer and Lambs Essays of Ella"
were composed latter office hours"
Mems leisure occupations-their hob
bies, as some would .tyle them-illus-
trate more strikingly than anything
else that quality of character of which
most of us have, consciously or uncon-
sciously, some tinge. Dickens. in his
own forcible and humorous manner,
works upon this point in the character
of Wemmick, in "Great Expecta-
tions." Mr.. Wemmick, as we see him
in Mr.. Jagger's Office, dealing with the
clients of that much sought after Old
Bal ey practitioner, seems harsh and
overbearing, and about the last man
one would suspect of beng" given to
the melting mood"
- But Wemmick, as we see him in his
leisure, as we see him in his cottage at
Walworth, tenderly devoting himself
to the Aged One" and delighting in
his miniature fortress and real
flagstaff, is, in manly fashion, all that
is gentle and lovabe. Here the dualityof
character which leisure develops is
strongly marked and vividly portrayed.
None the less, however, is 1t broadly
true to life. There are few men, proba-
bly,, who, if they would bethink them,
would not remember WemmiCk
among their acquaintance.
Leisure, like other good things, is
sometimes abused or misused but,
speaking generally, 1t is one Of the
most potent of humanizing intiuen-
ces. Happily it Is to a certain extent
possible to make leisure. OF this we
have proofs in all ranks of life, from
the humble artisan to the great states
men who have to bear the weight of
weightest monarchies" A Gladstone
comes before the world as the first of
Homeric critics, and a Beaconsfeld
gives us the novel of the season, while
a Robert Dick, baker, of Thurso,
geologist and botanist whose strug-
giles and triumphs DR. Smiles has 30
eloquently put upon record-makes
leisure to get together single handed,
collections which professors and COL
leges, with all their means and appli-
ances to boot, cannot equal.
Such examples as these should be as
beacons to us all. To secure we'll
regulated exercise of our faculties,
leisure is absolutely essential. We
should strive, therefore, to earn, or If
need be, to make it. Further, we
should endeavor to 80 use it that its |
results may in some higher sense Of
the word prove profitable as well as
l,nv hof !