The Wilmington morning star., 1946-04-27
Adventure In Leisure
BY WILLIAM DANA CIRCUIT

| That was wise old philosopher who re-
marked, If thou Wouldst know man. give
him leisure This is easily understood. Few
men actually find themselves engaged in that
particular vocation which, looking backwards,
they would have chosen foc themselves. When
the moment arrived to embark upon the great
| adventure Of earning their livelihood. most men
have followed the line of least resistance and
accepted the first worthwhile business or
professional opportunity that offered itself. Il
this proved reasonably successful, there has
been no thought of change This means that
even successful man may not be express
ing his real self in exercising his accepted
vocation
But leisure is the stored-up capital of that
unmeasured treasure called Time, from which
man may draw up to the limit of his depo-
sits in expressing his real personality In his
office he is no different from thousand other
men in their offices If you would know the
man, persuade him to lead you to his private
workshop.
! had & classmate at Harvard who majored
In art. When we graduated he autom atically
entered tne prosaic family business He started
at the bottom, mastered the detail of the bust
ness, and eventually took his place at its
head. During World War One his plant turned
out great quantities of war material for the
/
executive, and was rated as an en1inently sue
cessful businessman. But his real SELF was
never expressed in his office. At his home he
installed fully equipped workshop for silver
smiths art. He thus combined his vocation
and his avocat;on until in later years he
turned the business over to the younget,
generation, and devoted himself exclusively
to his art. His biographers emphasized his
success as a business executive; his friends
remember him as an artist who expressed
his real self in spite of obstacles.
Leisure is a much misunderstood word
largely perhaps because its meaning varies
so widely in individual cases. The diction-
ary defines leisure as freedom from neces-
sary occupation" Note the adjective 'neces-
sary." Leisure does not mean idleness but
rather the opportunity to select for oneself
that form of activity which his daily routine
fails to provide. like those lines by John Sui
livan Dwight.
Rest is not quitting the busy career;
Rest is the fitting Of self to its sphere
Absence Of occupation is no rest When
someone asked Dionysls the Elder If he was
at leisure he replied indignantly, "Gcd forbid
that leisure should ever beta1l mel" But leisure
does give one opportunity to think. In these
days OF commentators and radios I wonder
sometimes If we are not in danger to losing
our ability to think for ourselves through
sheer lack Of exercise. My old friend George
Harvey at one time my publisher when the
head of Harper & Brothers, later Ambassador
to the Court of ST.. James's, contended that
authors had ceased to think. He quoted Prior
to me:
Let him be kept from paper, pen and ink
So he may cease to write and learn to
think
pI,.
law requiring every man who writes or makes
public speeches to spend one year In solitary
confinement-no books no conversation, no
writing materials, just nothing to DO but
think"
happy concomitant of leisure is its en-
coura cement to hobbies. These surely reveal
mans real self I once met a man through
friend with whom I found difficulty in dis
covering common ground for conversation.
At last in desperation, I inquired "Whats
your hobby?'
The mans FACE lighted Up at once and he
replied with obvious interest "Bees and
Whalesi"
Noting the expression on my face, he gave
me an animated description of his EXPERT
ences hunting wild honey with a theodolite.
Noting bees flight, he would use the theo-
dolte to give him ''bee line" to the hive. AS
for the other portion of his hobby, learned
that his collection of whaling instruments and
scrimshaw is surpassed in Importance only
by that in the Smithsonian institution in Wash
ington.
It is said that George Bernard Shaw, in an
early edition of the English who's Who,'' re-
sponded to the query as to his favorite recrea-
ton, with the single word, Solitude" In this
case 1 would venture to substitute the word
s1eisure' for "solitude'' suggests loneliness
shaw's quip of course strengthens George Har-
vey' ironic statement, but I can't imag CINE
C. B. S. voluntarily cutting himself off from an
aupreciative audience to applaud his caustic
wit!-Christian Science Monitor.