Omaha daily bee., 1885-01-15

Philadelphia Record.

Hobbies.
Philadelphia Record.
No man or woman, no Young pcrsor
who has put away playthings, should bc
without what is usually called q ''hobby. >
In other words, every adu I ought To have
an av. cation as well as a vocation. 1t can
be maintained without fear of disprooi
that IN intelligent human being cannot
attain TO that degree of content, that ap-
proach to happiness, which is possible un-
less he undertakes, for hisown del citation,
to know something about some other mat
ter besides the one which affords him his
dai Y bread. That this hobby, this avoca-
ton, shall be, is worthy of consideration
of every individual, for upon the charac-
ter of the hobby largely depends that of
the life. In a sense, every one has q
hobby. Dissipation, drunk enness, vice
of every description, are often the hob
bies of the ignorant and depraved, and
also, to their shame be it spoken, of many
of the educated and intelligent.
Others, not depraved nor densely
ignorant, yet either from want
of energy or want of requirements, not
knowing what better to do with them
selves, have simply an inclination to idle
away the hours they can spare from bust
ness, wi h, perhaps, n game of chance or
skill to kill time. Others again, with the
same distinct idea of beneftting the body,
follow the hcalthful, but IN themselves, as
usually carried on, not highly intellectual
pursuits of boating, fishing, cunning, pc
destl ianism, swimming, etc The last set
of hobbies is that of the respectable,
steady-going, healthy living and well-ed-
ucated class; yet even these do not reach
to the full enjoyment and full benefit of
a hobby. The man who can manage n
yacht and is, in a general way, fond of the
sea would find his pleasure qu~adrupled
were he to study the tribes of beings, so
unlike those of the land, which people its
surface and its depths or fly over its broad
expanse; and the woman who enjoys a
quiet walk through the fields, admires the
woods and flowers and gazes with admira-
ton at the sunset, would find herself in a
new world WEI she to learn the structure
and uses of the plants she passes by, or
the form and the habits of the birds
and the insects that people woods and
fields.
The noblest hobbies are science and art,
and they are also the most useful. They
teach their ~votaries the insufficiency of
human effort, for whoever sat down to
draw or paint wood, glen or distant view,
landscape or seascspe, the features of the
human face, the contour of the figure, or
! even one of the humblest animals, with.
out feeling, after his best efforts, how
vastly nature excelled; aud who, after
years of patient study of the structure
and life-history of plants and animals, of
the wonders of the worlds crust, or Of
the grand mysteries of the vault OF
heaven, has not at last confessed the ex-
Yet while such hobbies tend in one direc.
ton to check mans pride, they yet give
him the purest satisfaction. To be init
mate with nature in all her moods, to
reproduce on canvas her beauty and
grandeur, to make her ours, while 30
many others are strangers to hers no
this O purer source of pride
than to be the conqueror of
a country or the winner in o inan-
cial gamblel To know the lives of the
birds of the air and the fish of the sea to
read the Eermon in the rocks and the
books in the trees, is not this a purer
pleasure than to be the spoiled favoii.e of
for une, yet without an interest in life2
The s udy of mankind, the evolution of
socie les and ma ions, is one of the noblest
of sciences, and is s rally married to art.
Its true student is not satisfied with por-
ing over the pages of printed books, but
visits the scenes celebrated in history, and
.4,,1.o. Al. .-,..,. .loA l.,-. o-,o lo-r,,
to us to show how life wenton in the days
that have passed away. Literature itself
is not wor hy TO be called a hobby. Mere
book eollectingand mere book knowledge
are but secondhand and second-ate
subs.i utes for acquaintance with
the things they treat of. The
student of zoology out of door should be
the student of geological books whenever
he wishes to learn of other chimes or of
others knowledge; the student of
geology needs books and charts to supple.
ment his field knowledge; the artist
student must learn of the works and the
lives of other artists, and thus each book
that Is worthy of being a book falls into
Its place as a supplement to studies
which relate to nature, living or dead,
past or present. Tho usefulness Of the
intelectu al hobby is not confined to the
interest it gives to existence, the power
it confers to get away from the cares and
vexatiors which surround the life of
every one of us, but extends also to the
practical mGttero of a livelihood He who
has art, science or the knowledge of
human history and progress for an ave
cation may find, If in some Storm his
work Is taken away, that his hobby will
become his work, and feed himgelf on
those dependent on him. The man or
woman who knows but one mode of
making q living may ~starve, however well
he or she may know that mode.