Evening star., 1934-08-06

from abroad every week. that several
hundred thermos cans may make UP
q single consignment, that each can
has an electric heater and aerator.
and that the fishes are nos fed for
several days prior 10 shipment, in
order to keep them from getting sea-
sick, which they do as readily as hu-
man beings, but that the malady is
much more disastrous TO them then
than with human beings, on account
Of the pollution OF the comparatively
small amount Of water they are in
Mr.. Solemn viii find in time, II he
viii not believe us now, that keeping
small tropical fishes in home tanks is
not essentially q juvenile sport, but
quite a mature one, which will offer
him as much honest amusement as
any one has a right to demand, and
which viii afford his mind and hand
much exercise. for their proper keep
ing is not as easy as it sounds. at first.
Something is always coming up to
exercise his best judgment. This
particular hobby has the benefit of
Offering him a chance of going just
as far as he wants in it. He can have
few tanks or many, and he can spe-
cialize as much as he wishes, or he
can raise fishes for sale, or for gifts
| to his friends. He can read or not
| read, Just as he pleaSes, and II he
reads he may in time become one of
the leading ichthyologists of the
| world.
1t is an amazing thing, when one
stops to think of it, that amateur in
terest in such hobbies could have
made the advances it has, because
America is essentially interested in
the making of money. and the essen
TALLY amateur interest in anything
/ puts money strictly in the back
| ground. We believe this is good. 1t
shows Americans to be, basically, more
| idealstic than they often are given
| credit for being by foreign peoples,
whose frames of mind often are diff
| ferently cast than our own. If the
| cry Of too grossly commercial is
| leveled at us. as a race, we may reply
| justly by pointing out our immense
interest in hobbies and outside in
| terests" of all sorts.
Il
A good hobby Is an indication that
a human being has not lost his sense
| of proportion. One has but to read
the news of the day, any day. to see
that many persons, both here and
abroad, have lost their intellectual
| balance wheel
They need hobbies, and plenty of
them, interests into which they can
throw themselves simply because they
find them interesting, not necessarily
profitable. And if children like them,
too, so much the better for their
| elders One has but to read the afore-
mentioned daily news from all parts
OF the world, with its incesSant dis
play of the worst traits OF the human
animal, to realize that the children
have great deal to teach those who
have grown past that stage, If grown
ups" will listen to them, or, better,
watch them. It will be seen at once
that intense personal interest is the
keynote of happy child character.
Whatever they do, they throw them
selves into 1t as If 1t were the one
thing in the world worth doing most
at that particular time. 1t is the
touchStone of happiness in what often
seems to be curiously perturbing
world, world in which man might
| be so great, so glorious, yea, so beau
tiful, but he hasn't enough common
sense and sufficient real desire to at
tain. A good hobby permits him to be
really interested in something for the
sake of the thing itself, without
| thought of contempt, or pride of place.
The interest assumes that first i'm
portance, that it is interesting! From
this primary Importance stems
whole chain of happy features. each
adding to the whole. When the roll
is called in heaven, the question will
be, not what did you do. but what were
you interested IMP