The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1890-01-16

of fox hunting used to be not unlm-
portant source of political popularity
and strength. Our own statesmen
Henry Clay and Andrew jackson, llv-
ing in youth in the unsettled South
western widest, were noted tor their
hunting exploits.
Many men OF fame, however,
have found their chief recreation
and preparation for work in the reg
ular habit of taking long walks. Walk
ing was nothing less than passion
with Charles Dickens, whose pedes-
trian match with James r. Osgood,
the publisher, some years ago at Boston
will be remembered by Dickens own
humorous description of it. Dickens
rival, Thacilcray, was also fond OF walk
ing, though, like Dickens, Thackeray's
tastes were in a high degree social ana
convivial. Both loved to sit at good
dinner with a choice circle Of familiar
friends. All the Lake poets, especially
Wordsworth, habitually took long
walks about the lovely water eXpanses
of Cumberland and their contempo-
rary, the genial Christopher North,
was as famous for his long jaunts atoot
as he was for the burly humor OF the
Notes I4D,Jrosian1. He boasted that
he once walked seventy miles to attend
a meeting in honor OF Burns; whereat
che electrified the assembly with
new fervor Of eloquence which had
never been heard before North's
daughter declared that her father had
once walked forty miles in eight hours,
a claim which must be taken with
many grains Of allowance for ti!ial
partiality.
Music hath charms to soOthe the
breasts of beings of q far higher intel
lectual calibre than savages while the
drama, especially in modern days, has
rested many spacious brain wearled
with labors of state or literature, The
most redoubtable of living warriors,
even the renowned nonagenarian Won
Moltke himself is as passionately fond
of the operas of Mozart and the SYM
phonies of Beethoven as is the great
mass of his Teutonic fellow-country-
men. His sturdy old master, the first
Kaiser Wilhelm, was up to his latest
days q constant attendant at the Ber-
lin opera. Music was a passion with
Byron and Shelley, whose melancholy
was deepened perhaps, yet softened,
by the dulcet melodies. Our own eNot-
ic statesman, Carl Schurz, may be
accounted as skilful in his piano-forte
performances as in his political elo-
quence or literary mastery Of his
adopted tongue. The late Russian
Car, Alexander II, is said to have
been melted to tears whenever he heard
q pathetic air played or sung.
Many famous men have chosen the
horse as the favorite companion Of
their hours Of ease and recreation. On
horseback Carlyle sought to rid HIM
self of the dyspepsia which tormented
his days, the bitterness Of which re-
flected itself upon his faithful wife.
And the great Viceroy of India, War
rem Hastings, always, when possible,
escaped from his perplexities by a long
jaunt on horseback. Washington, who
also liked hunting in his early days,
was noted for bis foudness for and skill
in the saddle down to the time Of his
death.
Of course many great men have
been so absorbed in the affairs of ma
tons or in the exercise of their exact
ing occupation. Napoleon does not
seem to have really enjoyed such re-
Taxation as he had from the cares of
state and the planning and executing
Of military campaigns. Many, to say
the least, of the great musicians were
wrapped up in music, and took pleas
ure in music alone. Macaulay's favor
ite pastime must be said to be talking,
which, with him, was certainly one
branch of his literary art. Darwin was
wholly absorbed by his long and pa
tient researches in science. Victor
Hugo spent very nearly all his time in
his literary work. So Cowper was
wrapped up, too much for his bodily or
mental good, in his compositions and
his morbid cogitations, which left him
in too little freedom to enjoy any Of the
sensations of life's pleasures.
We should omit an abundant and
perennial source of recreation to men
of note, especially of the literary craft,
if we said nothing Of the attractions to
them afforded by clubs. Both in En-
gland and in the United States clubs
o: conyenial spirits have long filled in
the leisure time efmen of letters Of a so
cial disposition.