Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-07-26
HOBBIES AS nECEEATIoNs.
Mu;ic, and Then COsae skeschiaE,
Natural History and NcndfnE.

Music. and Then Cnsse skeschiag,
Natural History and NcndfnE.
From the London Spectator.
q. +. Watts. the Royal Academic. ar, has
given fl.OOO 10 the Home Industries ard
Arts Association, in order to assist the
work of helping a:ti:.aIs to cultivate hob
bies. At least he says explicitly that his
desire Is not 20 promote a training school
but to help men to provide occupations
and interests for their leisure hours. That
is an unusually wise as well as kindly gift,
and one which we hope Will be largely .E,i-
tated. Nothing, we believe, corduces so
directly to the happiness of life as a dis
tinct and permanent interest in some sub
Ject other than that forced on ,,s BIZ CIR
cuinstances or by professional needs
hobby Is more than recreation for
the mind; IT is protection. 1t relieves the
man who has II from ernui from the CO.
pressive sense of the sameness of life. ard
from that tendency TO Judge everything
from single standpoint. which is the cI,,-r.
OF the e1iicient and the Industrious. II
hardly matters what 1t is, a definite k;rd
OF reading or an art or an outdoor occu-
patton. the result is always the same a
kind OF content with life which the man
without hobby lacks.
Music is, perhaps, the best OF all. for
that Is inexhaustible. can be taken UP In
fragments OF time, and when pursued by
,hose who can appreciate 1t gives a de-
variety. Those who love music yet work
nard at other things. never tire of their
taste. and never. il they can crafty II,
ma life either tedious or insupportable.
lney md In 1t not only pleasure, but oc-
cupation. and it is in the conjunction of the
Two that for the weary true relief con-
sists.
So do those who can sketch in sketching.
especially IL they can do it well enough
not to be haunted. as musicians are much
haunted. by sense of defeat in reaching
Tor an ideal After sketching we think
we may reckon the pursuit of natural his
tory. which, though IL tends to the study
OF small departments of knowledge, is prac-
ticaily ineXhaustible. and rouses, besides
thought and the pleasure OF collecting, the
passion Of curiosity.
Reading We should place fourth among
hoDoles. 1t Is the resource of the cultured,
but 1t has drawbacks. especially in that
IT tends to become an occupation only.
pleasure being impaired by fits of imperfect
attention. Your omnivorous reader, who
reads to pass the time, is apt to read with
out thinking or criticising or remembering
and Tor all the genuine pleasure he gets
might almost as well be asleep. His read
Ing Is, in fact, a mental opiate. The hobby
we should place next is gardening, for that
also Is an occupation, infinitely varied
which cannot end. or to those who enjoy
II grow wearisome and which. of course
IN yielding health, yields an advantage not
belonging either to reading or to music.
After these five We should place all the
Aiecidiiicaa occGpauons, IKE turning, car
pentering. bookblndng. working In metal
or stone. or. indeed. any one of the occu-
pations in which thought is required, but
not too much thought, the mind and the
hand together tending. when experience is
complete. TO work almost automatically,
And, last of all. because 1t is so fruitless,
we should place the writer's own hobby
of deck pacing. which is a much cominoner
and more enhancing one than is COM
monty believed. 1t is, indeed, to some men,
what sauntering was to Charles Ia sui
tana queen whose charm blinds them to
its inherent viciousness.
From all these the educated as we see
every day, gain relief which is as good
for them as sleep. and the uneducated
would gain, as Mr.. Watts with his poet
insight clearly perceives. even more, they
having less of the relief from within which
comes of many ideas.