The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-10-05
ENGLISnMEN'S HOBBIES
NEARLY EVERY BRITON HAS ONE
OUTSIDE OF HIS WORK.
An Important Element In British Life
and Encouraged I'm Every Way
No originality.
London Letter in Boston Transcript.


| features in English life that strongly COM
| pels my attention is the universatility OF
| the hobby. After ascertaining a mans
| business. sometimes even before taking
interest in that relatively unimportant
matter. the first question is "what is his
hobby?" Hobbies are many and various
| golf, archaeology, stamp or book collecting,
cricket football or politics-no matter what
| the interest may be. it is the hobby that
calls forth a mans best energies. that fills
| his mind, that makes life worth living to
him. Nor is this hobby worship confined to
| one class. In one form or another it is all
| pervasive.
So essential to a full and satisfactory
| life Is the hobby deemed, that in many
| schools much trouble is taken to inspire
boys and girls with love for some hobby.
| For this purpose archaeology is carefully
| taught, rooms are fitted up for amateur
| photography; collections. whether OF
stamps or fossils. of pressed flowers, but
terfiies or book plates. are encouraged.
| wood carving is provided for, and the boy
| who cannot become an enthusiast in some
one or more of the hobbies offered to his
choice is looked upon as deficient in proper
| spirit and feels himself under disapproba-
| ton.
Finding the hobby so universal, I was
naturally led to inquire into the reason for
| it's much greater sway here than in the
| United States. The foremost reason seems
| to be the uninterestingness and hopeless
ness of the daily work of very large pro-
portion of Englishmen. There are in Eng
| land, of course, a few men who make their
| daily work also their hobby, as so very
| many men do in the United States. Such
| men in England, however, are few. In
very many cases il is absolutely impossible
| to center ones interest in ones work.
| Neither the work nor the conditions under
| which 1t is done permit of it. There is
| little hopefulness or spring in English life.
Nine-tenths of the workers are employees,
/ and there is little prospect before them of
| being anything else. In very many cases
| they have reached their fullest measure of
| success early in life; no advancement is
possible to them the daily grind is all they
| can look for. Their employers neither ex
| pect nor desire them to show any special
| interest in the conduct of the business in
which they are employed, and resent as
an impertinence any suggestion of improve
| ment or reform which emanates from an
| employee.
ZEAL NOT DESIRED.
1.-The Upshire Herald does not want zeal,
1t wants a column" was the pithy COM
| ment of an old hand on that worthy and
| highly respectable newspaper to a young
| reporter who suggested the possibility of a
| scoop.
81 don't take much notice of what is do
| ing in the Office" remarked letter carrier
in a provincial town from whom 1 was try
| ing to extract some information as to the
working of the English postal system. II
| just get my own rounds finished and then
am free for my studies"
81 used to take an interest in the work
| all around, he continued, but" with
| shrug of his shoulders, Its better not.
| You save trouble by taking no notice of
things" This letter carriers hobby. by the
| way was archaeology, and when APP
! preached on this special subject he bios
| somed out from ordinary. commonplace
| drudge of a worker into an enthusiast
trimming over with interest and informa-
| ton.
Another striking example of the place of
| the hobby in English life came under my
notice in connection with the son of an old
| friend. The father all his life had been
| Of the minority who. find their hobby in
| their work. His reading and his interests
| had always been in the line Of his occupa-
| ton, and he had never seemed to feel the
need of a hobby. The son had entered the
| civil service, with its secure tenure, easy
work, short hours, small pay and slow adj
| vancement, and was in an environment
where enthusiasm or zeal for work would
| be sadly, even ludicrously, out of place.
| His fathers attitude toward Ii all was:
| ''Well. it does not matter. His real inter-
| est in life is in his hobby. He collects
4 ~,
| reading, all his enthusiasm and all his
| spare time were devoted to this absorbing
but unremunerative occupation.
| Specific examples could be multiplied in
| definitely. But the specific examples are
hardly necessary. The hobby is not con-
| fined to individuals. 1t is a national char
err observers Of English life deplore the
| new or increased prevalence of pleasure
| seeking, of hunger for excitement, of in
| tense interest in football and cricket games
4 In hnQ tdr rOip nd inc hos
! are merely phases of the hobby, and where
| the employer feels hardly respectable IN
less he can show that he has some hobby
| some absorbing interest outside of his BUSH
ness-can he wonder that the workingman,
| with far less incentive to interest in his
work, also seeks a hobby? The employer
may find his In politics. national munic-
| ipal, in golf or in horses. The employee
seeks his, perhaps in socialistic propaganda
or in betting. The instinct is the same.
and in both cases 1t arises out of the fact
| that a mans heart Is rarely wholly in his
business. and frequently is wholly in some
thing else: Whether one agrees wholly
are plenty of ''fianneled fools" in England,
and his point is the same as mine.
WHY THEY LAG BEHIND.
When / contrast this feature of English
| life with my experience In America 1 see
good reason for England to tremble for her
commercial supremacy. call to mind how
was told that in certain American metal
| working shops II was found necessary to
post rule that men were not to construct
labor-saving devices or machines without
permission Of the overseer. / remember
the give and take between employers and
employed in many industries which have
come under my observation-the ambition
Of the employee to make the most of HIS
work, and the ready, cOmradely co-opera-
ton Of the employer. / think of the loyalty
of American workmen to the machines put
under their charge and their anxiety to get
the best possible work out of them; and
without idealizing the American working
man attempting to deny that labor diff
ficulties exist in abundance in the United
States, / still see cause enough why Eng
land must quickly bestir herself or be left
behind in the race. The fault is not wholly
with English workmen, nor yet wholly
with employers. Ii seems to me to lie in
the lack of interest in work and the abb
sorption OF the men in their hobbies: while
this is again true to the uninteresting char
ter OF most English employments and the
fact that they have long ago got into ruts
out of which Ii seems Very difficult to ex-
tricate them. 80
Let il net be imagined that Z am with
out good word for the hobby. The hobby
is absolutely essential to English life. With
out IL the dull grind of daily occupation
would be insufferable. OF course there are,
as have already indicated, a few men-a
small minority among the workers-who
take a keen interest in their occupation
But these are few and the course of things
is against them. The factory system for the
operatives; trusts and great combinations
for the middle classes, gradually close the