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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/17956-h.zip b/17956-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2c3ab21 --- /dev/null +++ b/17956-h.zip diff --git a/17956-h/17956-h.htm b/17956-h/17956-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..90ad2c9 --- /dev/null +++ b/17956-h/17956-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1469 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Recreation, by Viscount Grey of Fallodon, K.G.</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 65%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{ margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%} + + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + } /* page numbers */ + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; color: black; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + /* .style1 {font-size: small} */ +.style1 {font-size: x-small} +.style2 {text-align: center; font-size: x-small; } +--> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Recreation, by Edward Grey + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Recreation + +Author: Edward Grey + +Release Date: March 10, 2006 [EBook #17956] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RECREATION *** + + + + +Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Sjaani and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> + +<table width="90%" border="0" summary="Cover and Title Pages"> + <tr> + <td><div class="figleft" style="width: 330px;"> +<img src="images/recillus01.jpg" width="330" height="500" alt="Cover" title="Cover" /> +</div></td> + <td><h1>RECREATION</h1> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>VISCOUNT GREY OF FALLODON, K.G.</h2> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"> +<img src="images/recillus02.jpg" width="137" height="125" alt="Pattern" title="Pattern" /></div> + +<p class="center style1"> +BOSTON AND NEW YORK<br /> +HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY<br /> +<i>The Riverside Press Cambridge</i></p> + +<p class="center style1">COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY</p> + +<p class="center style1">ALL RIGHTS RESERVED</p> + +<hr /> +<p class="center style1"> +The Riverside Press<br /> +CAMBRIDGE - MASSACHUSETTS<br /> +PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.</p> + + +<p class="center style1">ADDRESS DELIVERED AT +THE HARVARD UNION +DECEMBER 8, 1919</p></td> + </tr> +</table> +<br /> +<hr /> +<br /> +<p>It is sometimes said that this is a pleasure-seeking +age. Whether it be a pleasure-seeking +age or not, I doubt whether it +is a pleasure-finding age. We are supposed +to have great advantages in many ways +over our predecessors. There is, on the +whole, less poverty and more wealth. There +are supposed to be more opportunities for +enjoyment: there are moving pictures, +motor-cars, and many other things which +are now considered means of enjoyment +and which our ancestors did not possess, +but I do not judge from what I read in the +newspapers that there is more content. Indeed, +we seem to be living in an age of discontent. +It seems to be rather on the increase +than otherwise and is a subject of general +complaint. If so it is worth while considering +what it is that makes people happy,<!-- Page 4 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> +what they can do to make themselves +happy, and it is from that point of view +that I wish to speak on recreation.</p> + +<p>Let it be admitted that recreation is only +one of the things that make for happiness +in life. I do not even recommend it as the +most important. There are at least four +other things which are more or less under +our own control and which are essential to +happiness. The first is some moral standard +by which to guide our actions. The second +is some satisfactory home life in the form of +good relations with family or friends. The +third is some form of work which justifies +our existence to our own country and makes +us good citizens. The fourth thing is some +degree of leisure and the use of it in some +way that makes us happy. To succeed in +making a good use of our leisure will not +compensate for failure in any one of the +other three things to which I have referred, +but a reasonable amount of leisure and a<!-- Page 5 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span> +good use of it is an important contribution +to a happy life. How is this happy use of leisure +to be ensured? We sometimes meet +people who do not seem to know what to do +with their spare time. They are like the man +of whom it was said, "He doesn't know +what he wants, and he won't be happy till +he gets it." The first thing, therefore, is to +take ourselves out of that category, to know +definitely what we want, and to make sure it +is something that will make us happy when +we get it; and that is the beginning of +recreation. You are entitled to say to me, +"That is all very well as a general piece of +advice, but tell us how you have followed +and applied it yourself"; and it would not +be fair for me to shrink from answering +that question. In one respect I must plead +failure. I have been a failure as regards golf, +not because I did not succeed, but because +I did not want to succeed. I have a great +respect for golf. I am sure it is very good<!-- Page 6 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span> +for many people; I know very many good +people who play golf; but it so happens that +it does not give me a good time, and so I +leave the recommendation of it to people +who can speak of it with more appreciation.</p> + +<p>But I do recommend some game or games +as a part of recreation. As long as I could +see to play and had sufficient leisure, I enjoyed +immensely the game of real or court +tennis, a very ancient game, requiring +activity as well as skill, a game in which +Americans may take interest and some +pride, because for the first time, at any rate, +in the recent history of the game, an amateur +is champion of the world and that +amateur is an American. The English are +sometimes criticised for paying too much +attention to games. A British officer whom +I know well, who happened to be in Africa +at the outbreak of the war and took part in +the fighting there, tells me that in one of<!-- Page 7 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span> +the German posts captured by the British +there was found a map made by the Germans +and showing Africa as it was to +be when the war was over. The greater +part of Africa had become German, and +there was nothing left for the British excepting +a small patch in the middle of the +Sahara Desert which was marked "Footballplatz +for the English." Football is a +national game in America as well as in England, +but I do not suppose that either you +or we think that our soldiers fought any +worse in the war for having been fond +of football. I put games definitely as a +desirable part of recreation, and I would +say have one or more games of which you +are fond, but let them, at any rate in youth, +be games which test the wind, the staying +power, and the activity of the whole body, +as well as skill.</p> + +<p>Sport shall be mentioned next. I have had +a liking for more than one form of sport, but<!-- Page 8 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span> +an actual passion for salmon and trout fishing. +Perhaps the following little confidence +will give some idea how keen the passion +has been. The best salmon and trout fishing +in Great Britain ends in September. The +best salmon fishing begins again in March. +In my opinion the very best of all is to be +had in March and April. In October I used +to find myself looking forward to salmon +fishing in the next March and beginning to +spend my spare time thinking about it. I +lay awake in bed fishing in imagination the +pools which I was not going to see before +March at the earliest, till I felt I was spending +too much time, not in actual fishing, +but in sheer looking forward to it. I made +a rule, therefore, that I would not fish pools +in imagination before the first of January, +so that I might not spend more than two +months of spare time in anticipation alone. +Salmon fishing as I have enjoyed it, fishing +not from a boat, but from one's feet, either<!-- Page 9 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span> +on the bank or wading deep in the stream, +is a glorious and sustained exercise for the +whole body, as well as being an exciting +sport; but many of my friends do not care +for it. To them I say, as one who was fond +of George Meredith's novels once said to a +man who complained that he could not +read them, "Why should you?" If you +do not care for fishing, do not fish. Why +should you? But if we are to be quits and +you are to be on the same happy level as I +have been, then find something for yourself +which you like as much as I like fishing.</p> + +<p>There are many other subjects for recreation. +I cannot even mention them all, much +less discuss any of them adequately. But I +must mention for a high place in recreation +the pleasure of gardening, if you are fond +of it. Bacon says, "God Almighty first +planted a garden, and indeed it is the purest +of human pleasures." It is one of those +pleasures which follow the law of increas<!-- Page 10 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>ing +and not of diminishing returns. The +more you develop it and the more you know +about it, the more absorbing is the interest +of it. There is no season of the year at which +the interest ceases and no time of life, so +long as sight remains, at which we are too +old to enjoy it.</p> + +<p>I have now mentioned games, sport, and +gardening. No one perhaps has time or opportunity +to enjoy all three to the full. A few +people may have sufficient range of temperament +to care for all three, but many people—I +would say most people—who have +opportunity may find, at any rate in one of +them, something that will contribute to their +happiness. I will pass now to a subject which +is more important still.</p> + +<p>Books are the greatest and the most satisfactory +of recreations. I mean the use of +books for pleasure. Without books, without +having acquired the power of reading +for pleasure, none of us can be independent,<!-- Page 11 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> +but if we can read we have a sure defence +against boredom in solitude. If we have not +that defence, we are dependent on the charity +of family, friends, or even strangers, to +save us from boredom; but if we can find +delight in reading, even a long railway journey +alone ceases to be tedious, and long winter +evenings to ourselves are an inexhaustible +opportunity for pleasure.</p> + +<p>Poetry is the greatest literature, and +pleasure in poetry is the greatest of literary +pleasures. It is also the least easy to attain +and there are some people who never do attain +it. I met some one the other day who +did not care for poetry at all; it gave her no +pleasure, no satisfaction, and only caused +her to reflect how much better the thought, +so it seemed to her, could be expressed in +prose. In the same way there are people who +care nothing for music. I knew one Englishman +of whom it was said that he knew only +two tunes: one was the national anthem,<!-- Page 12 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> +"God Save the King," and the other wasn't. +We cannot help these people if they do +not care for poetry or music, but I may offer +you one or two suggestions founded on +my own experience with regard to poetry. +There is much poetry for which most of us +do not care, but with a little trouble when +we are young we may find one or two poets +whose poetry, if we get to know it well, will +mean very much to us and become part of +ourselves. Poetry does not become intimate +to us through the intellect alone; it comes +to us through temperament, one might almost +say enters us through the pores of the +skin, and it is as if when we get older our +skin becomes dry and our temperament hard +and we can read only with the head. It is +when we are young, before we reach the age +of thirty-five, that we must find out the great +poet or poets who have really written specially +for us; and if we are happy enough +to find one poet who seems to express things<!-- Page 13 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> +which we have consciously felt in our own +personal experience, or to have revealed to +us things within ourselves of which we were +unconscious until we found them expressed +in poetry, we have indeed got a great possession. +The love for such poetry which +comes to us when we are young will not disappear +as we get older; it will remain in +us, becoming an intimate part of our own +being, and will be an assured source of +strength, consolation, and delight.</p> + +<p>There is another branch of literature to +which I must make a passing reference: it +is that of philosophy. I am bound to refer +to it here because I know two men, both of +them distinguished in public life, who find +real recreation and spend leisure time when +they have it in reading and writing philosophy. +They are both living and I have not +their permission to mention their names, +but as I admire them I mention their recreation, +though with an admiration entirely<!-- Page 14 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span> +untinged by envy. An Oxford professor is +alleged to have said that every one should +know enough philosophy to find that he can +do without it. I do not go quite so far as +that. When I was an undergraduate at +Oxford I read Plato because I was made to +read it. After I left Oxford I read Plato +again to see if I liked it. I did like it so +much that I have never found the same +pleasure in other philosophical writers. I +hope you will not think that I am talking +flippantly. I am talking very seriously—about +recreation, and I feel bound to mention +philosophy in connection with it out of +respect to my friends, but I do not lay much +stress upon it as a means of recreation.</p> + +<p>I come now to the main source of literary +recreation in reading: the great books of +all time on which one generation after another +has set the seal of excellence so that +we know them certainly to be worth reading. +There is a wide and varied choice, and<!-- Page 15 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> +it is amongst the old books that the surest +and most lasting recreation is to be found. +Some one has said, "Whenever a new +book comes out read an old one." We need +not take that too literally, but we should +give the old and proved books the preference. +Some one, I think it was Isaac Disraeli, +said that he who did not make himself +acquainted with the best thoughts of +the greatest writers would one day be mortified +to observe that his best thoughts are +their indifferent ones, and it is from the +great books that have stood the test of time +that we shall get, not only the most lasting +pleasure, but a standard by which to measure +our own thoughts, the thoughts of +others, and the excellence of the literature +of our own day. Some years ago, when I +was Secretary for Foreign Affairs in England, +when holidays were often long in +coming, short and precious when they did +come, when work was hard and exhaust<!-- Page 16 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>ing +and disagreeable, I found it a good +plan when I got home to my library in the +country to have three books on hand for +recreation. One of them used to be one of +those great books of all time dealing with +great events or great thoughts of past generations. +I mention Gibbon's "Decline +and Fall of the Roman Empire" as an instance +of one such book, which had an +atmosphere of greatness into which one +passed right out of the worries of party +politics and official work. Such books +take one away to another world where +one finds not only pleasure, but rest. "I +like large still books," Tennyson is reported +to have said. And great books not +only give pleasure and rest, but better perspective +of the events of our own time. I +must warn you that Gibbon has been called +dull. It is alleged that Sheridan, a man of +brilliant wit, said so, and when a friend +reminded him that in a famous speech he<!-- Page 17 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span> +had paid Gibbon the compliment of speaking +of the "luminous page of Gibbon," +Sheridan said he must have meant to say +"voluminous." If you take the same view +of Gibbon, find some other great author +whom you do not find dull. There is a host +of great writers to choose from. There are +plenty of signposts to direct us to old books +of interest and value. They have well-known +names, and so they stand out and +are known like great peaks in mountain +ranges of the human intellect.</p> + +<p>The second of my books would also be +an old book, a novel which had been approved +by successive generations. The +third would be some modern book, whether +serious or light, and in modern books the +choice is not so easy. There are many that +are excellent, but there are many in which +we may find neither pleasure nor profit. If +our leisure is short we have not much time +to experiment. The less spare time we have,<!-- Page 18 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span> +the more precious it is, and we do not want +to waste any of it in experimenting with +modern books which we do not find profitable. +It is worth while to cultivate a few +friends whose intelligence we can respect +and whose taste is sympathetic and who +read, and to get from them from time to +time the names of modern books which +they have read and found good. I have had +too little time for reading, but that my advice +may not be entirely academic I will +recommend you, at any rate, one good modern +novel. Its name is "The Bent Twig," +the authoress is Dorothy Canfield, and I +can tell you nothing except that she is an +American, but the book seems to me one +of the best pieces of work in novel writing +that has happened to come under my own +observation recently. There are others, +no doubt, in plenty, and if you get half a +dozen friends who are fond of reading each +to recommend you one book as I have done,<!-- Page 19 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span> +you will have provision for a little time to +come.</p> + +<p>To conclude my suggestions about reading +I would urge this. Like all the best things +in life, the recreation of reading needs a +little planning. When we have a holiday in +prospect we make plans beforehand so that +when the time comes we may know exactly +where we want to go, what we want to do, +how the holiday is to be spent, and have +all our preparations ready. If we do not do +that the holiday finds us unprepared and +the greater part of it is wasted. So with our +spare time, our casual leisure. Do not let it +find us unprepared. It is a good plan to +make a list of books which either from our +own thought, our own experience, or the +recommendation of friends, we feel a desire +to read. We should have one or two +of these books always at hand, and have +them in mind, too, as something which we +are longing to read at the first opportunity.<!-- Page 20 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span> +I think some people lose the habit and pleasure +of reading because they do not take +this trouble and make no plan, and when +the spare evening or the long railway journey +or the wet day comes it finds them without +any book in anticipation, and they pick +up a newspaper or a magazine, not because +they specially want to read it, but because +they have nothing present to their minds +or at hand which they really care for. The +habit of planning ahead is essential to real +cultivation of the pleasure of reading, just +as essential as planning is for sport or travel +or games or any of the other pleasures of +life. I know friends who are fond of sport. +They choose a long time beforehand the +river they will fish or the sort of shooting +they will pursue. Another friend likes travel +and plans months in advance where he will +go and what he will see. Without this fore-thought +and planning they would not get +their pleasure, and so it is with reading. If<!-- Page 21 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> +we once acquire the habit of planning, we +find out increasingly what it is that we like, +and our difficulty at any spare moment is +not to find some book that we are longing +to read, but to choose which book of those +to which we are looking forward in anticipation +we shall take first.</p> + +<p>I have spoken about planning for a holiday, +and I will give an instance of how +thoroughly President Roosevelt planned for +a holiday. Several years ago when I was at +the Foreign Office in London, I got a letter +from Mr. Bryce, who was then British Ambassador +at Washington, saying that President +Roosevelt intended to travel as soon +as he was out of office. He was going to +travel in Africa, to visit Europe, and to come +to England, and he was planning his holiday +so minutely as to time his visit to England +for the spring, when the birds would +be in full song and he could hear them. For +this purpose he wanted it to be arranged<!-- Page 22 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> +that somebody who knew the songs of the +English birds should go for a walk with +him in the country, and as the songs were +heard tell him what the birds were. That +is a pretty good instance of thorough planning +in advance for a holiday. It seemed to +me very attractive that the executive head +of the most powerful country in the world +should have this simple, healthy, touching +desire to hear the songs of birds, and I wrote +back at once to Mr. Bryce to say that when +President Roosevelt came to England I +should be delighted to do for him what he +wanted. It is no more a necessary qualification +for the Secretary for Foreign Affairs +in London than it is for the President of the +United States that he should know the songs +of the birds, and it is an amusing coincidence +that we should have been able to arrange +this little matter satisfactorily between +us as if it were part of our official duties, +without feeling obliged to call in experts.<!-- Page 23 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span></p> + +<p>Time passed, and when the President retired +from office he went to Africa and had +much big-game shooting and travel there. +Then he came by way of the Sudan and +Egypt to Europe. The leading countries of +Europe were stirred to do him honour, England +not less than others. He had a great +reception and everywhere a programme of +great and dignified character was arranged +for him. European newspapers were full +of it long before he got to England, and I +thought this little walk to hear the songs +of English birds suggested some two years +previously would be forgotten and crowded +out by greater matters. But it was not so. +Without any reminder on my part I got an +intimation from the English friend who +was to be Colonel Roosevelt's host in London +that Colonel Roosevelt had written to +him to say that this promise had been made +and that he wished time to be found for the +fulfilment of it. I saw Colonel Roosevelt<!-- Page 24 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span> +once soon after he came to London. The +day was arranged and at the appointed time +we met at Waterloo Station. We had to +ask the newspaper reporters not to go with +us, not because it made any difference to +Colonel Roosevelt, but because birds are +not so tame, or perhaps I should say are +more self-conscious than public men and +do not like to be photographed or even interviewed +at close quarters, and it was necessary, +not only that Colonel Roosevelt and +I should be alone, but that we should make +ourselves as inconspicuous and unobtrusive +as possible.</p> + +<p>So we went alone, and for some twenty +hours we were lost to the world. We went +by train to a country station where a motor +was awaiting us. Thence we drove to the +little village of Titchborne in Hampshire, +and got there soon after midday. In the village +of Titchborne there lives also the family +of Titchborne, and in the old village<!-- Page 25 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> +church there is a tomb with recumbent figures +of one of the Titchbornes and his wife +who lived in the time of James the First; on +it is inscribed the statement that he chose +to be buried with his wife in this chapel, +which was built by his ancestor in the time +of Henry the First. That shows a continuous +record of one family in one place for +some eight hundred years. I forget whether +we had time to go into the church and look +at it, but the songs of the birds which we +had come to hear are far more ancient. +They must be the same songs that were +heard by the inhabitants of England before +the Romans came, for the songs of birds +come down unchanged through great antiquity, +and we are listening to-day, in +whatever part of the world we may be, to +songs which must have been familiar to +races of men of which history has no knowledge +and no record.</p> + +<p>I was a little apprehensive about this<!-- Page 26 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span> +walk. I had had no personal acquaintance +with Colonel Roosevelt before he came to +England in 1910, and I thought to myself, +"Perhaps, after all, he will not care so very +much about birds, and possibly after an +hour or so he will have had enough of them. +If that be so and he does not care for birds, +he will have nothing but my society, which +he will not find sufficiently interesting for +so long a time." I had relied upon the birds +to provide entertainment for him. If that +failed, I doubted my own resources. I need +have had no fear about his liking for birds. +I found, not only that he had a remarkable +and abiding interest in birds, but a wonderful +knowledge of them. Though I know +something about British birds I should have +been lost and confused among American +birds, of which unhappily I know little or +nothing. Colonel Roosevelt not only knew +more about American birds than I did +about British birds, but he knew about Brit<!-- Page 27 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>ish +birds also. What he had lacked was +an opportunity of hearing their songs, and +you cannot get a knowledge of the songs of +birds in any other way than by listening to +them.</p> + +<p>We began our walk, and when a song +was heard I told him the name of the bird. +I noticed that as soon as I mentioned the +name it was unnecessary to tell him more. +He knew what the bird was like. It was +not necessary for him to see it. He knew +the kind of bird it was, its habits and appearance. +He just wanted to complete his +knowledge by hearing the song. He had, +too, a very trained ear for bird songs, which +cannot be acquired without having spent +much time in listening to them. How he +had found time in that busy life to acquire +this knowledge so thoroughly it is almost +impossible to imagine, but there the knowledge +and training undoubtedly were. He +had one of the most perfectly trained ears<!-- Page 28 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span> +for bird songs that I have ever known, so +that if three or four birds were singing together +he would pick out their songs, distinguish +each, and ask to be told each separate +name; and when farther on we heard +any bird for a second time, he would remember +the song from the first telling and +be able to name the bird himself.</p> + +<p>He had not only a trained ear, but keen +feeling and taste for bird songs. He was +quick to express preferences, and at once +picked out the song of the English blackbird +as being the best of the bird songs we +heard. I have always had the same feeling +about the blackbird's song. I do not +say it is better than the songs of American +birds, which I have not heard, and I think +Colonel Roosevelt thought one or two of +the American bird songs were better than +anything we had in England; but his +feeling for the English blackbird's song I +found confirmed the other day in a book<!-- Page 29 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span> +published by Dr. Chapman, of the Natural +History Museum at New York. He has +written a chapter on English birds and picks +out the song of the blackbird for excellence +because of its "spiritual quality." Colonel +Roosevelt liked the song of the blackbird +so much that he was almost indignant that +he had not heard more of its reputation before. +He said everybody talked about the +song of the thrush; it had a great reputation, +but the song of the blackbird, though +less often mentioned, was much better than +that of the thrush. He wanted to know +the reason of this injustice and kept asking +the question of himself and me. At last he +suggested that the name of the bird must +have injured its reputation. I suppose the +real reason is that the thrush sings for a +longer period of the year than the blackbird +and is a more obtrusive singer, and +that so few people have sufficient feeling +about bird songs to care to discriminate.<!-- Page 30 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span></p> + +<p>One more instance I will give of his interest +and his knowledge. We were passing +under a fir tree when we heard a small +song in the tree above us. We stopped and +I said that was the song of a golden-crested +wren. He listened very attentively while +the bird repeated its little song, as its habit +is. Then he said, "I think that is exactly +the same song as that of a bird that we have +in America"; and that was the only English +song that he recognized as being the +same as any bird song in America. Some +time afterwards I met a bird expert in the +Natural History Museum in London and +told him this incident, and he confirmed +what Colonel Roosevelt had said, that the +song of this bird would be about the only +song that the two countries had in common. +I think that a very remarkable instance of +minute and accurate knowledge on the part +of Colonel Roosevelt. It was the business +of the bird expert in London to know about<!-- Page 31 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span> +birds. Colonel Roosevelt's knowledge was +a mere incident acquired, not as part of the +work of his life, but entirely outside it. I +remember thinking at the time how strange +it seemed that the golden-crested wren, +which is the very smallest bird which we +have in England, should be the only song +bird which the great continent of North +America has in common with us.</p> + +<p>But points of view are different in different +countries. We may find ourselves looking, +not only at political questions, but at +incidents in natural history from a different +point of view when we are on different sides +of an ocean. The other day I was in a contemplative +mood not far from Washington. +I was thinking what a great country I was +in, how much larger the rivers were and +how vast the distances, and generally working +up in my own mind an impression of +the great size of the country. Then I happened +to recall this incident of the golden-<!-- Page 32 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>crested +wren, and I found myself thinking, +of course, in a tiny little island like Great +Britain, where one cannot go in an express +train at fifty miles an hour from east to +west or from north to south in a straight +line for more than fifteen hours without +falling into the sea, the only song we could +have in common with a great continent like +this would be the song of the smallest bird.</p> + +<p>One trivial incident there was in our +walk which gave us some amusement. +We were going by footpaths down a river +valley, a very beautiful, but a very tame +and settled country, where anything like +an adventure seemed impossible. We were +on a path which I had known for many +years, and along which I had walked many +times, not only without adventure, but +without even incident. Suddenly we found +ourselves stopped—the path was flooded, +some weeds had blocked the river close by, +and instead of a dry path we had about<!-- Page 33 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> +twenty yards of water in front of us. The +water was not very deep, certainly not +above our knees, but I had not intended +that there should be any wading in our +walk nor had I prepared for it. I asked if he +would mind going through the water, to +which, of course, he replied that he would +not. So we went through, got wet, and in +the course of the afternoon got dry again as +we walked. Nothing of the same kind had +happened there before; nothing has happened +since. I think there was some magnetism +about Colonel Roosevelt's personality +which created incidents.</p> + +<p>After going a few miles down the valley +we got into our motor, which was waiting +at a village inn, and drove to what is called +the New Forest, though it is more than +eight hundred years old. We were now in +a country of wild heath, quite uncultivated, +and the part we went through was mostly +natural forest. Here we heard some birds<!-- Page 34 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> +different from any we had heard in the valley +of the Itchen, and got to a little inn +standing on the open heath about nine +o'clock in the evening. We had dinner, +and next morning we breakfasted together +and went to Southampton, whence Colonel +Roosevelt returned to America.</p> + +<p>I am not attempting here a full appreciation +of Colonel Roosevelt. He will be known +for all time as one of the great men of America. +I am only giving you this personal +recollection as a little contribution to his +memory, as one that I can make from personal +knowledge and which is now known +only to myself. His conversation about +birds was made interesting by quotations +from poets. He talked also about politics, +and in the whole of his conversation about +them there was nothing but the motive of +public spirit and patriotism. I saw enough +of him to know that to be with him was to +be stimulated in the best sense of the word<!-- Page 35 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> +for the work of life. Perhaps it is not yet +realised how great he was in the matter of +knowledge as well as in action. Everybody +knows that he was a great man of action in +the fullest sense of the word. The Press has +always proclaimed that. It is less often that +a tribute is paid to him as a man of knowledge +as well as a man of action. Two of your +greatest experts in natural history told me +the other day that Colonel Roosevelt could, +in that department of knowledge, hold his +own with experts. His knowledge of literature +was also very great, and it was knowledge +of the best. It is seldom that you find +so great a man of action who was also a +man of such wide and accurate knowledge. +I happened to be impressed by his knowledge +of natural history and literature and to +have had first-hand evidence of both, but I +gather from others that there were other +fields of knowledge in which he was also +remarkable. Not long ago when an English<!-- Page 36 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> +friend of mine was dying, his business +agent came over to see him. One of the +family asked the agent whether he had +come on important business. "No," he +said, "I have come for a little conversation +because I was feeling depressed this morning +and I wanted to be made to feel two +inches taller." That saying would, I think, +have been specially applicable to Colonel +Roosevelt also. He could make people feel +bigger and stronger and better.</p> + +<p>And now my last discourse shall be on +one sentence from Colonel Roosevelt which +I saw quoted the other day. It is this: "He +is not fit to live who is not fit to die, and he +is not fit to die who shrinks from the joy of +life or from the duty of life." Observe that +the joy of life and the duty of life are put side +by side. Many people preach the doctrine +of the duty of life. It is comparatively seldom +that you find one who puts the joy of +life as something to be cultivated, to be en<!-- Page 37 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>couraged +on an equal footing with the duty +of life. And of all the joys of life which may +fairly come under the head of recreation +there is nothing more great, more refreshing, +more beneficial in the widest sense of +the word, than a real love of the beauty of +the world. Some people cannot feel it. To +such people I can only say, as Turner once +said to a lady who complained that she +could not see sunsets as he painted them, +"Don't you wish you could, madam?" +But to those who have some feeling that +the natural world has beauty in it I would +say, Cultivate this feeling and encourage it +in every way you can. Consider the seasons, +the joy of the spring, the splendour +of the summer, the sunset colours of the autumn, +the delicate and graceful bareness of +winter trees, the beauty of snow, the beauty +of light upon water, what the old Greek +called the unnumbered smiling of the sea.</p> + +<p>In the feeling for that beauty, if we have<!-- Page 38 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> +it, we possess a pearl of great price. I say +of great price, but it is something which +costs us nothing because it is all a part of +the joy which is in the world for everybody +who cares for it. It is the "joy in widest +commonalty spread"; it is a rich possession +for us if we care for it, but in possessing +it we deprive nobody else. The enjoyment +of it, the possession of it, excites +neither greed nor envy, and it is something +which is always there for us and which may +take us out of the small worries of life. +When we are bored, when we are out of +tune, when we have little worries, it clears +our feelings and changes our mood if we +can get in touch with the beauty of the natural +world. There is a quaint but apposite +quotation from an old writer which runs as +follows: "I sleep, I drink and eat, I read +and meditate, I walk in my neighbour's +pleasant fields and see all the varieties of +natural beauty ... and he who hath so<!-- Page 39 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span> +many forms of joy must needs be very much +in love with sorrow and peevishness, who +loseth all these pleasures and chooseth to +sit upon his little handful of thorns."</p> + +<p>There is a story of a man whom others +called poor, and who had just enough fortune +to support himself in going about the +country in the simplest way and studying +and enjoying the life and beauty of it. He +was once in the company of a great millionaire +who was engaged in business, +working at it daily and getting richer every +year, and the poor man said to the millionaire, +"I am a richer man than you are." +"How do you make that out?" said the +millionaire. "Why," he replied, "I have +got as much money as I want and you +haven't."</p> + +<p>But it is not only in the small worries +of life that we may be saved by a right +use of recreation. We all realize how in +the Great War your nation and our na<!-- Page 40 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>tion +and others engaged in the war were +taken out of themselves, I was going to say +lost themselves, but I ought rather to say +found themselves. It was a fine thing on +your part to send two million soldiers across +the sea in so short a time to risk their lives +for an ideal. It was even more impressive +to us when we heard that in this country +you had adopted conscription, and that +your millions of people, distributed over so +vast an extent of continent, were so moved +by one public spirit and one patriotism and +one desire to help the Allies in the war +that they were rationing themselves voluntarily +with food and fuel. That voluntary +action by so many millions over so great an +extent of country was a tremendous example, +showing what an ideal and a public +spirit and a call to action can do for people +in making them forget private interests +and convenience and making them great.</p> + +<p>That was an example of what could be<!-- Page 41 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> +done by not shrinking from the duty of life; +but you can get greatness, too, from some +of the joys of life, and from none more than +from a keen sense of the beauty of the +world and a love for it. I found it so during +the war. Our feelings were indeed roused +by the heroism of our people, but they were +also depressed by the suffering. In England +every village was stricken, there was +grief in almost every house. The thought +of the suffering, the anxiety for the future, +destroyed all pleasure. It came even between +one's self and the page of the book +one tried to read. In those dark days I +found some support in the steady progress +unchanged of the beauty of the seasons. +Every year, as spring came back unfailing +and unfaltering, the leaves came out with +the same tender green, the birds sang, the +flowers came up and opened, and I felt that +a great power of nature for beauty was not +affected by the war. It was like a great sanc<!-- Page 42 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>tuary +into which we could go and find refuge +for a time from even the greatest trouble +of the world, finding there not enervating +ease, but something which gave optimism, +confidence, and security. The progress of +the seasons unchecked, the continuance +of the beauty of nature, was a manifestation +of something great and splendid which +not all the crimes and follies and misfortunes +of mankind can abolish or destroy. +If, as years go on, we can feel the beauty +of the world as Wordsworth felt it and get +from it</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Authentic tidings of invisible things,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of ebb and flow and ever during power,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And central peace subsisting at the heart<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of endless agitation,"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>then we have, indeed, a recreation which +will give us, not merely pleasure, but +strength, refreshment, and confidence. +Something of the same feeling we may get +from an appreciation of great music, beau<!-- Page 43 --><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>tiful +pictures, splendid architecture, and +other things that stir us with an impression +of everlasting greatness. Enjoy these and +cultivate the appreciation of them, but especially, +if you can, cultivate the enjoyment +of the beauty of nature, because it costs +nothing and is everywhere for everybody; +and if we can find recreation in such things +as these, then, indeed, we may make the +joy of life great as well as the duty of life, +and we may find that the joy of life and the +duty of life are not things adverse or even +to be contrasted, but may be, as Colonel +Roosevelt puts them, companions and +complements of each other.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Recreation, by Edward Grey + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RECREATION *** + +***** This file should be named 17956-h.htm or 17956-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/9/5/17956/ + +Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Sjaani and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Recreation + +Author: Edward Grey + +Release Date: March 10, 2006 [EBook #17956] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RECREATION *** + + + + +Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Sjaani and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + +RECREATION + +BY + +VISCOUNT GREY OF FALLODON, K.G. + +BOSTON AND NEW YORK +HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY +_The Riverside Press Cambridge_ + +COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY + +ALL RIGHTS RESERVED + + * * * * * + +The Riverside Press +CAMBRIDGE - MASSACHUSETTS +PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. + + + +ADDRESS DELIVERED AT +THE HARVARD UNION +DECEMBER 8, 1919 + + + +RECREATION + + +It is sometimes said that this is a pleasure-seeking age. Whether it be +a pleasure-seeking age or not, I doubt whether it is a pleasure-finding +age. We are supposed to have great advantages in many ways over our +predecessors. There is, on the whole, less poverty and more wealth. +There are supposed to be more opportunities for enjoyment: there are +moving pictures, motor-cars, and many other things which are now +considered means of enjoyment and which our ancestors did not possess, +but I do not judge from what I read in the newspapers that there is more +content. Indeed, we seem to be living in an age of discontent. It seems +to be rather on the increase than otherwise and is a subject of general +complaint. If so it is worth while considering what it is that makes +people happy, what they can do to make themselves happy, and it is from +that point of view that I wish to speak on recreation. + +Let it be admitted that recreation is only one of the things that make +for happiness in life. I do not even recommend it as the most important. +There are at least four other things which are more or less under our +own control and which are essential to happiness. The first is some +moral standard by which to guide our actions. The second is some +satisfactory home life in the form of good relations with family or +friends. The third is some form of work which justifies our existence to +our own country and makes us good citizens. The fourth thing is some +degree of leisure and the use of it in some way that makes us happy. To +succeed in making a good use of our leisure will not compensate for +failure in any one of the other three things to which I have referred, +but a reasonable amount of leisure and a good use of it is an important +contribution to a happy life. How is this happy use of leisure to be +ensured? We sometimes meet people who do not seem to know what to do +with their spare time. They are like the man of whom it was said, "He +doesn't know what he wants, and he won't be happy till he gets it." The +first thing, therefore, is to take ourselves out of that category, to +know definitely what we want, and to make sure it is something that will +make us happy when we get it; and that is the beginning of recreation. +You are entitled to say to me, "That is all very well as a general piece +of advice, but tell us how you have followed and applied it yourself"; +and it would not be fair for me to shrink from answering that question. +In one respect I must plead failure. I have been a failure as regards +golf, not because I did not succeed, but because I did not want to +succeed. I have a great respect for golf. I am sure it is very good for +many people; I know very many good people who play golf; but it so +happens that it does not give me a good time, and so I leave the +recommendation of it to people who can speak of it with more +appreciation. + +But I do recommend some game or games as a part of recreation. As long +as I could see to play and had sufficient leisure, I enjoyed immensely +the game of real or court tennis, a very ancient game, requiring +activity as well as skill, a game in which Americans may take interest +and some pride, because for the first time, at any rate, in the recent +history of the game, an amateur is champion of the world and that +amateur is an American. The English are sometimes criticised for paying +too much attention to games. A British officer whom I know well, who +happened to be in Africa at the outbreak of the war and took part in the +fighting there, tells me that in one of the German posts captured by +the British there was found a map made by the Germans and showing Africa +as it was to be when the war was over. The greater part of Africa had +become German, and there was nothing left for the British excepting a +small patch in the middle of the Sahara Desert which was marked +"Footballplatz for the English." Football is a national game in America +as well as in England, but I do not suppose that either you or we think +that our soldiers fought any worse in the war for having been fond of +football. I put games definitely as a desirable part of recreation, and +I would say have one or more games of which you are fond, but let them, +at any rate in youth, be games which test the wind, the staying power, +and the activity of the whole body, as well as skill. + +Sport shall be mentioned next. I have had a liking for more than one +form of sport, but an actual passion for salmon and trout fishing. +Perhaps the following little confidence will give some idea how keen the +passion has been. The best salmon and trout fishing in Great Britain +ends in September. The best salmon fishing begins again in March. In my +opinion the very best of all is to be had in March and April. In October +I used to find myself looking forward to salmon fishing in the next +March and beginning to spend my spare time thinking about it. I lay +awake in bed fishing in imagination the pools which I was not going to +see before March at the earliest, till I felt I was spending too much +time, not in actual fishing, but in sheer looking forward to it. I made +a rule, therefore, that I would not fish pools in imagination before the +first of January, so that I might not spend more than two months of +spare time in anticipation alone. Salmon fishing as I have enjoyed it, +fishing not from a boat, but from one's feet, either on the bank or +wading deep in the stream, is a glorious and sustained exercise for the +whole body, as well as being an exciting sport; but many of my friends +do not care for it. To them I say, as one who was fond of George +Meredith's novels once said to a man who complained that he could not +read them, "Why should you?" If you do not care for fishing, do not +fish. Why should you? But if we are to be quits and you are to be on the +same happy level as I have been, then find something for yourself which +you like as much as I like fishing. + +There are many other subjects for recreation. I cannot even mention them +all, much less discuss any of them adequately. But I must mention for a +high place in recreation the pleasure of gardening, if you are fond of +it. Bacon says, "God Almighty first planted a garden, and indeed it is +the purest of human pleasures." It is one of those pleasures which +follow the law of increasing and not of diminishing returns. The more +you develop it and the more you know about it, the more absorbing is the +interest of it. There is no season of the year at which the interest +ceases and no time of life, so long as sight remains, at which we are +too old to enjoy it. + +I have now mentioned games, sport, and gardening. No one perhaps has +time or opportunity to enjoy all three to the full. A few people may +have sufficient range of temperament to care for all three, but many +people--I would say most people--who have opportunity may find, at any +rate in one of them, something that will contribute to their happiness. +I will pass now to a subject which is more important still. + +Books are the greatest and the most satisfactory of recreations. I mean +the use of books for pleasure. Without books, without having acquired +the power of reading for pleasure, none of us can be independent, but +if we can read we have a sure defence against boredom in solitude. If we +have not that defence, we are dependent on the charity of family, +friends, or even strangers, to save us from boredom; but if we can find +delight in reading, even a long railway journey alone ceases to be +tedious, and long winter evenings to ourselves are an inexhaustible +opportunity for pleasure. + +Poetry is the greatest literature, and pleasure in poetry is the +greatest of literary pleasures. It is also the least easy to attain and +there are some people who never do attain it. I met some one the other +day who did not care for poetry at all; it gave her no pleasure, no +satisfaction, and only caused her to reflect how much better the +thought, so it seemed to her, could be expressed in prose. In the same +way there are people who care nothing for music. I knew one Englishman +of whom it was said that he knew only two tunes: one was the national +anthem, "God Save the King," and the other wasn't. We cannot help these +people if they do not care for poetry or music, but I may offer you one +or two suggestions founded on my own experience with regard to poetry. +There is much poetry for which most of us do not care, but with a little +trouble when we are young we may find one or two poets whose poetry, if +we get to know it well, will mean very much to us and become part of +ourselves. Poetry does not become intimate to us through the intellect +alone; it comes to us through temperament, one might almost say enters +us through the pores of the skin, and it is as if when we get older our +skin becomes dry and our temperament hard and we can read only with the +head. It is when we are young, before we reach the age of thirty-five, +that we must find out the great poet or poets who have really written +specially for us; and if we are happy enough to find one poet who seems +to express things which we have consciously felt in our own personal +experience, or to have revealed to us things within ourselves of which +we were unconscious until we found them expressed in poetry, we have +indeed got a great possession. The love for such poetry which comes to +us when we are young will not disappear as we get older; it will remain +in us, becoming an intimate part of our own being, and will be an +assured source of strength, consolation, and delight. + +There is another branch of literature to which I must make a passing +reference: it is that of philosophy. I am bound to refer to it here +because I know two men, both of them distinguished in public life, who +find real recreation and spend leisure time when they have it in reading +and writing philosophy. They are both living and I have not their +permission to mention their names, but as I admire them I mention their +recreation, though with an admiration entirely untinged by envy. An +Oxford professor is alleged to have said that every one should know +enough philosophy to find that he can do without it. I do not go quite +so far as that. When I was an undergraduate at Oxford I read Plato +because I was made to read it. After I left Oxford I read Plato again to +see if I liked it. I did like it so much that I have never found the +same pleasure in other philosophical writers. I hope you will not think +that I am talking flippantly. I am talking very seriously--about +recreation, and I feel bound to mention philosophy in connection with it +out of respect to my friends, but I do not lay much stress upon it as a +means of recreation. + +I come now to the main source of literary recreation in reading: the +great books of all time on which one generation after another has set +the seal of excellence so that we know them certainly to be worth +reading. There is a wide and varied choice, and it is amongst the old +books that the surest and most lasting recreation is to be found. Some +one has said, "Whenever a new book comes out read an old one." We need +not take that too literally, but we should give the old and proved books +the preference. Some one, I think it was Isaac Disraeli, said that he +who did not make himself acquainted with the best thoughts of the +greatest writers would one day be mortified to observe that his best +thoughts are their indifferent ones, and it is from the great books that +have stood the test of time that we shall get, not only the most lasting +pleasure, but a standard by which to measure our own thoughts, the +thoughts of others, and the excellence of the literature of our own day. +Some years ago, when I was Secretary for Foreign Affairs in England, +when holidays were often long in coming, short and precious when they +did come, when work was hard and exhausting and disagreeable, I found +it a good plan when I got home to my library in the country to have +three books on hand for recreation. One of them used to be one of those +great books of all time dealing with great events or great thoughts of +past generations. I mention Gibbon's "Decline and Fall of the Roman +Empire" as an instance of one such book, which had an atmosphere of +greatness into which one passed right out of the worries of party +politics and official work. Such books take one away to another world +where one finds not only pleasure, but rest. "I like large still books," +Tennyson is reported to have said. And great books not only give +pleasure and rest, but better perspective of the events of our own time. +I must warn you that Gibbon has been called dull. It is alleged that +Sheridan, a man of brilliant wit, said so, and when a friend reminded +him that in a famous speech he had paid Gibbon the compliment of +speaking of the "luminous page of Gibbon," Sheridan said he must have +meant to say "voluminous." If you take the same view of Gibbon, find +some other great author whom you do not find dull. There is a host of +great writers to choose from. There are plenty of signposts to direct us +to old books of interest and value. They have well-known names, and so +they stand out and are known like great peaks in mountain ranges of the +human intellect. + +The second of my books would also be an old book, a novel which had been +approved by successive generations. The third would be some modern book, +whether serious or light, and in modern books the choice is not so easy. +There are many that are excellent, but there are many in which we may +find neither pleasure nor profit. If our leisure is short we have not +much time to experiment. The less spare time we have, the more precious +it is, and we do not want to waste any of it in experimenting with +modern books which we do not find profitable. It is worth while to +cultivate a few friends whose intelligence we can respect and whose +taste is sympathetic and who read, and to get from them from time to +time the names of modern books which they have read and found good. I +have had too little time for reading, but that my advice may not be +entirely academic I will recommend you, at any rate, one good modern +novel. Its name is "The Bent Twig," the authoress is Dorothy Canfield, +and I can tell you nothing except that she is an American, but the book +seems to me one of the best pieces of work in novel writing that has +happened to come under my own observation recently. There are others, no +doubt, in plenty, and if you get half a dozen friends who are fond of +reading each to recommend you one book as I have done, you will have +provision for a little time to come. + +To conclude my suggestions about reading I would urge this. Like all the +best things in life, the recreation of reading needs a little planning. +When we have a holiday in prospect we make plans beforehand so that when +the time comes we may know exactly where we want to go, what we want to +do, how the holiday is to be spent, and have all our preparations ready. +If we do not do that the holiday finds us unprepared and the greater +part of it is wasted. So with our spare time, our casual leisure. Do not +let it find us unprepared. It is a good plan to make a list of books +which either from our own thought, our own experience, or the +recommendation of friends, we feel a desire to read. We should have one +or two of these books always at hand, and have them in mind, too, as +something which we are longing to read at the first opportunity. I +think some people lose the habit and pleasure of reading because they do +not take this trouble and make no plan, and when the spare evening or +the long railway journey or the wet day comes it finds them without any +book in anticipation, and they pick up a newspaper or a magazine, not +because they specially want to read it, but because they have nothing +present to their minds or at hand which they really care for. The habit +of planning ahead is essential to real cultivation of the pleasure of +reading, just as essential as planning is for sport or travel or games +or any of the other pleasures of life. I know friends who are fond of +sport. They choose a long time beforehand the river they will fish or +the sort of shooting they will pursue. Another friend likes travel and +plans months in advance where he will go and what he will see. Without +this fore-thought and planning they would not get their pleasure, and so +it is with reading. If we once acquire the habit of planning, we find +out increasingly what it is that we like, and our difficulty at any +spare moment is not to find some book that we are longing to read, but +to choose which book of those to which we are looking forward in +anticipation we shall take first. + +I have spoken about planning for a holiday, and I will give an instance +of how thoroughly President Roosevelt planned for a holiday. Several +years ago when I was at the Foreign Office in London, I got a letter +from Mr. Bryce, who was then British Ambassador at Washington, saying +that President Roosevelt intended to travel as soon as he was out of +office. He was going to travel in Africa, to visit Europe, and to come +to England, and he was planning his holiday so minutely as to time his +visit to England for the spring, when the birds would be in full song +and he could hear them. For this purpose he wanted it to be arranged +that somebody who knew the songs of the English birds should go for a +walk with him in the country, and as the songs were heard tell him what +the birds were. That is a pretty good instance of thorough planning in +advance for a holiday. It seemed to me very attractive that the +executive head of the most powerful country in the world should have +this simple, healthy, touching desire to hear the songs of birds, and I +wrote back at once to Mr. Bryce to say that when President Roosevelt +came to England I should be delighted to do for him what he wanted. It +is no more a necessary qualification for the Secretary for Foreign +Affairs in London than it is for the President of the United States that +he should know the songs of the birds, and it is an amusing coincidence +that we should have been able to arrange this little matter +satisfactorily between us as if it were part of our official duties, +without feeling obliged to call in experts. + +Time passed, and when the President retired from office he went to +Africa and had much big-game shooting and travel there. Then he came by +way of the Sudan and Egypt to Europe. The leading countries of Europe +were stirred to do him honour, England not less than others. He had a +great reception and everywhere a programme of great and dignified +character was arranged for him. European newspapers were full of it long +before he got to England, and I thought this little walk to hear the +songs of English birds suggested some two years previously would be +forgotten and crowded out by greater matters. But it was not so. Without +any reminder on my part I got an intimation from the English friend who +was to be Colonel Roosevelt's host in London that Colonel Roosevelt had +written to him to say that this promise had been made and that he wished +time to be found for the fulfilment of it. I saw Colonel Roosevelt once +soon after he came to London. The day was arranged and at the appointed +time we met at Waterloo Station. We had to ask the newspaper reporters +not to go with us, not because it made any difference to Colonel +Roosevelt, but because birds are not so tame, or perhaps I should say +are more self-conscious than public men and do not like to be +photographed or even interviewed at close quarters, and it was +necessary, not only that Colonel Roosevelt and I should be alone, but +that we should make ourselves as inconspicuous and unobtrusive as +possible. + +So we went alone, and for some twenty hours we were lost to the world. +We went by train to a country station where a motor was awaiting us. +Thence we drove to the little village of Titchborne in Hampshire, and +got there soon after midday. In the village of Titchborne there lives +also the family of Titchborne, and in the old village church there is a +tomb with recumbent figures of one of the Titchbornes and his wife who +lived in the time of James the First; on it is inscribed the statement +that he chose to be buried with his wife in this chapel, which was built +by his ancestor in the time of Henry the First. That shows a continuous +record of one family in one place for some eight hundred years. I forget +whether we had time to go into the church and look at it, but the songs +of the birds which we had come to hear are far more ancient. They must +be the same songs that were heard by the inhabitants of England before +the Romans came, for the songs of birds come down unchanged through +great antiquity, and we are listening to-day, in whatever part of the +world we may be, to songs which must have been familiar to races of men +of which history has no knowledge and no record. + +I was a little apprehensive about this walk. I had had no personal +acquaintance with Colonel Roosevelt before he came to England in 1910, +and I thought to myself, "Perhaps, after all, he will not care so very +much about birds, and possibly after an hour or so he will have had +enough of them. If that be so and he does not care for birds, he will +have nothing but my society, which he will not find sufficiently +interesting for so long a time." I had relied upon the birds to provide +entertainment for him. If that failed, I doubted my own resources. I +need have had no fear about his liking for birds. I found, not only that +he had a remarkable and abiding interest in birds, but a wonderful +knowledge of them. Though I know something about British birds I should +have been lost and confused among American birds, of which unhappily I +know little or nothing. Colonel Roosevelt not only knew more about +American birds than I did about British birds, but he knew about +British birds also. What he had lacked was an opportunity of hearing +their songs, and you cannot get a knowledge of the songs of birds in any +other way than by listening to them. + +We began our walk, and when a song was heard I told him the name of the +bird. I noticed that as soon as I mentioned the name it was unnecessary +to tell him more. He knew what the bird was like. It was not necessary +for him to see it. He knew the kind of bird it was, its habits and +appearance. He just wanted to complete his knowledge by hearing the +song. He had, too, a very trained ear for bird songs, which cannot be +acquired without having spent much time in listening to them. How he had +found time in that busy life to acquire this knowledge so thoroughly it +is almost impossible to imagine, but there the knowledge and training +undoubtedly were. He had one of the most perfectly trained ears for +bird songs that I have ever known, so that if three or four birds were +singing together he would pick out their songs, distinguish each, and +ask to be told each separate name; and when farther on we heard any bird +for a second time, he would remember the song from the first telling and +be able to name the bird himself. + +He had not only a trained ear, but keen feeling and taste for bird +songs. He was quick to express preferences, and at once picked out the +song of the English blackbird as being the best of the bird songs we +heard. I have always had the same feeling about the blackbird's song. I +do not say it is better than the songs of American birds, which I have +not heard, and I think Colonel Roosevelt thought one or two of the +American bird songs were better than anything we had in England; but his +feeling for the English blackbird's song I found confirmed the other day +in a book published by Dr. Chapman, of the Natural History Museum at +New York. He has written a chapter on English birds and picks out the +song of the blackbird for excellence because of its "spiritual quality." +Colonel Roosevelt liked the song of the blackbird so much that he was +almost indignant that he had not heard more of its reputation before. He +said everybody talked about the song of the thrush; it had a great +reputation, but the song of the blackbird, though less often mentioned, +was much better than that of the thrush. He wanted to know the reason of +this injustice and kept asking the question of himself and me. At last +he suggested that the name of the bird must have injured its reputation. +I suppose the real reason is that the thrush sings for a longer period +of the year than the blackbird and is a more obtrusive singer, and that +so few people have sufficient feeling about bird songs to care to +discriminate. + +One more instance I will give of his interest and his knowledge. We were +passing under a fir tree when we heard a small song in the tree above +us. We stopped and I said that was the song of a golden-crested wren. He +listened very attentively while the bird repeated its little song, as +its habit is. Then he said, "I think that is exactly the same song as +that of a bird that we have in America"; and that was the only English +song that he recognized as being the same as any bird song in America. +Some time afterwards I met a bird expert in the Natural History Museum +in London and told him this incident, and he confirmed what Colonel +Roosevelt had said, that the song of this bird would be about the only +song that the two countries had in common. I think that a very +remarkable instance of minute and accurate knowledge on the part of +Colonel Roosevelt. It was the business of the bird expert in London to +know about birds. Colonel Roosevelt's knowledge was a mere incident +acquired, not as part of the work of his life, but entirely outside it. +I remember thinking at the time how strange it seemed that the +golden-crested wren, which is the very smallest bird which we have in +England, should be the only song bird which the great continent of North +America has in common with us. + +But points of view are different in different countries. We may find +ourselves looking, not only at political questions, but at incidents in +natural history from a different point of view when we are on different +sides of an ocean. The other day I was in a contemplative mood not far +from Washington. I was thinking what a great country I was in, how much +larger the rivers were and how vast the distances, and generally working +up in my own mind an impression of the great size of the country. Then I +happened to recall this incident of the golden-crested wren, and I +found myself thinking, of course, in a tiny little island like Great +Britain, where one cannot go in an express train at fifty miles an hour +from east to west or from north to south in a straight line for more +than fifteen hours without falling into the sea, the only song we could +have in common with a great continent like this would be the song of the +smallest bird. + +One trivial incident there was in our walk which gave us some amusement. +We were going by footpaths down a river valley, a very beautiful, but a +very tame and settled country, where anything like an adventure seemed +impossible. We were on a path which I had known for many years, and +along which I had walked many times, not only without adventure, but +without even incident. Suddenly we found ourselves stopped--the path was +flooded, some weeds had blocked the river close by, and instead of a dry +path we had about twenty yards of water in front of us. The water was +not very deep, certainly not above our knees, but I had not intended +that there should be any wading in our walk nor had I prepared for it. I +asked if he would mind going through the water, to which, of course, he +replied that he would not. So we went through, got wet, and in the +course of the afternoon got dry again as we walked. Nothing of the same +kind had happened there before; nothing has happened since. I think +there was some magnetism about Colonel Roosevelt's personality which +created incidents. + +After going a few miles down the valley we got into our motor, which was +waiting at a village inn, and drove to what is called the New Forest, +though it is more than eight hundred years old. We were now in a country +of wild heath, quite uncultivated, and the part we went through was +mostly natural forest. Here we heard some birds different from any we +had heard in the valley of the Itchen, and got to a little inn standing +on the open heath about nine o'clock in the evening. We had dinner, and +next morning we breakfasted together and went to Southampton, whence +Colonel Roosevelt returned to America. + +I am not attempting here a full appreciation of Colonel Roosevelt. He +will be known for all time as one of the great men of America. I am only +giving you this personal recollection as a little contribution to his +memory, as one that I can make from personal knowledge and which is now +known only to myself. His conversation about birds was made interesting +by quotations from poets. He talked also about politics, and in the +whole of his conversation about them there was nothing but the motive of +public spirit and patriotism. I saw enough of him to know that to be +with him was to be stimulated in the best sense of the word for the +work of life. Perhaps it is not yet realised how great he was in the +matter of knowledge as well as in action. Everybody knows that he was a +great man of action in the fullest sense of the word. The Press has +always proclaimed that. It is less often that a tribute is paid to him +as a man of knowledge as well as a man of action. Two of your greatest +experts in natural history told me the other day that Colonel Roosevelt +could, in that department of knowledge, hold his own with experts. His +knowledge of literature was also very great, and it was knowledge of the +best. It is seldom that you find so great a man of action who was also a +man of such wide and accurate knowledge. I happened to be impressed by +his knowledge of natural history and literature and to have had +first-hand evidence of both, but I gather from others that there were +other fields of knowledge in which he was also remarkable. Not long ago +when an English friend of mine was dying, his business agent came over +to see him. One of the family asked the agent whether he had come on +important business. "No," he said, "I have come for a little +conversation because I was feeling depressed this morning and I wanted +to be made to feel two inches taller." That saying would, I think, have +been specially applicable to Colonel Roosevelt also. He could make +people feel bigger and stronger and better. + +And now my last discourse shall be on one sentence from Colonel +Roosevelt which I saw quoted the other day. It is this: "He is not fit +to live who is not fit to die, and he is not fit to die who shrinks from +the joy of life or from the duty of life." Observe that the joy of life +and the duty of life are put side by side. Many people preach the +doctrine of the duty of life. It is comparatively seldom that you find +one who puts the joy of life as something to be cultivated, to be +encouraged on an equal footing with the duty of life. And of all the +joys of life which may fairly come under the head of recreation there is +nothing more great, more refreshing, more beneficial in the widest sense +of the word, than a real love of the beauty of the world. Some people +cannot feel it. To such people I can only say, as Turner once said to a +lady who complained that she could not see sunsets as he painted them, +"Don't you wish you could, madam?" But to those who have some feeling +that the natural world has beauty in it I would say, Cultivate this +feeling and encourage it in every way you can. Consider the seasons, the +joy of the spring, the splendour of the summer, the sunset colours of +the autumn, the delicate and graceful bareness of winter trees, the +beauty of snow, the beauty of light upon water, what the old Greek +called the unnumbered smiling of the sea. + +In the feeling for that beauty, if we have it, we possess a pearl of +great price. I say of great price, but it is something which costs us +nothing because it is all a part of the joy which is in the world for +everybody who cares for it. It is the "joy in widest commonalty spread"; +it is a rich possession for us if we care for it, but in possessing it +we deprive nobody else. The enjoyment of it, the possession of it, +excites neither greed nor envy, and it is something which is always +there for us and which may take us out of the small worries of life. +When we are bored, when we are out of tune, when we have little worries, +it clears our feelings and changes our mood if we can get in touch with +the beauty of the natural world. There is a quaint but apposite +quotation from an old writer which runs as follows: "I sleep, I drink +and eat, I read and meditate, I walk in my neighbour's pleasant fields +and see all the varieties of natural beauty ... and he who hath so many +forms of joy must needs be very much in love with sorrow and +peevishness, who loseth all these pleasures and chooseth to sit upon his +little handful of thorns." + +There is a story of a man whom others called poor, and who had just +enough fortune to support himself in going about the country in the +simplest way and studying and enjoying the life and beauty of it. He was +once in the company of a great millionaire who was engaged in business, +working at it daily and getting richer every year, and the poor man said +to the millionaire, "I am a richer man than you are." "How do you make +that out?" said the millionaire. "Why," he replied, "I have got as much +money as I want and you haven't." + +But it is not only in the small worries of life that we may be saved by +a right use of recreation. We all realize how in the Great War your +nation and our nation and others engaged in the war were taken out of +themselves, I was going to say lost themselves, but I ought rather to +say found themselves. It was a fine thing on your part to send two +million soldiers across the sea in so short a time to risk their lives +for an ideal. It was even more impressive to us when we heard that in +this country you had adopted conscription, and that your millions of +people, distributed over so vast an extent of continent, were so moved +by one public spirit and one patriotism and one desire to help the +Allies in the war that they were rationing themselves voluntarily with +food and fuel. That voluntary action by so many millions over so great +an extent of country was a tremendous example, showing what an ideal and +a public spirit and a call to action can do for people in making them +forget private interests and convenience and making them great. + +That was an example of what could be done by not shrinking from the +duty of life; but you can get greatness, too, from some of the joys of +life, and from none more than from a keen sense of the beauty of the +world and a love for it. I found it so during the war. Our feelings were +indeed roused by the heroism of our people, but they were also depressed +by the suffering. In England every village was stricken, there was grief +in almost every house. The thought of the suffering, the anxiety for the +future, destroyed all pleasure. It came even between one's self and the +page of the book one tried to read. In those dark days I found some +support in the steady progress unchanged of the beauty of the seasons. +Every year, as spring came back unfailing and unfaltering, the leaves +came out with the same tender green, the birds sang, the flowers came up +and opened, and I felt that a great power of nature for beauty was not +affected by the war. It was like a great sanctuary into which we could +go and find refuge for a time from even the greatest trouble of the +world, finding there not enervating ease, but something which gave +optimism, confidence, and security. The progress of the seasons +unchecked, the continuance of the beauty of nature, was a manifestation +of something great and splendid which not all the crimes and follies and +misfortunes of mankind can abolish or destroy. If, as years go on, we +can feel the beauty of the world as Wordsworth felt it and get from it + + "Authentic tidings of invisible things, + Of ebb and flow and ever during power, + And central peace subsisting at the heart + Of endless agitation," + +then we have, indeed, a recreation which will give us, not merely +pleasure, but strength, refreshment, and confidence. Something of the +same feeling we may get from an appreciation of great music, beautiful +pictures, splendid architecture, and other things that stir us with an +impression of everlasting greatness. Enjoy these and cultivate the +appreciation of them, but especially, if you can, cultivate the +enjoyment of the beauty of nature, because it costs nothing and is +everywhere for everybody; and if we can find recreation in such things +as these, then, indeed, we may make the joy of life great as well as the +duty of life, and we may find that the joy of life and the duty of life +are not things adverse or even to be contrasted, but may be, as Colonel +Roosevelt puts them, companions and complements of each other. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Recreation, by Edward Grey + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RECREATION *** + +***** This file should be named 17956.txt or 17956.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/7/9/5/17956/ + +Produced by Audrey Longhurst, Sjaani and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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