Precept & Practice – MARCH 28 – Hobbies

I would have every man of close occupation make it a sacred duty to keep up a living knowledge of, and interest in, some pursuit, science, art, or craft, outside the circle of his daily task.   Thereby he will keep his mental faculties in fair play upon their appointed objects, and lay up for himself a pursuit and an education which will occupy nobly and happily the autumn of life.   What men want is something to carry on their education till they die – something which will continually draw them out to fresh observation, fresh reflection, fresh acquisition, with ever stronger and riper power.

J. Baldwin Brown

A celebrated physician has laid it down that no one ever died from overwork alone.  What has killed a good many persons has been hard work in conjunction with a disregard of the laws of health – with worry, for instance, or physiological errors of one kind or another.  This is only a particular way of saying that brains are not intended by nature to be idle except during sleep – a truth which was pleasantly dwelt upon by Sir Gilbert Parker in his address at Northfleet.   Change of occupation, not cessation of occupation, is the best cure for weary brain and quivering nerves, and so it is that a hobby, really enjoyed and regularly cultivated, is a valuable as well as an agreeable possession.   To the man of affairs it is, as Sir Gilbert had little difficulty in showing almost indispensable.

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From the Introduction to Precept and Practice

The kindly welcome given to my other little books, ‘Being and Doing’ and ‘Character and Conduct,’ must be my excuse for adding another collection of extracts to the number now in circulation.

The quotations are gathered from the books of many earnest thinkers, and deal with Life in all its length and breadth, with ourselves, our characters, our plain unvarnished faults and weaknesses, our often untoward circumstances, and with all that drags us down;-  with our purposes, our religion, our love and friendships, and with all that uplifts us;-  with our relation to others, our influence and responsibilities, and finally with those stages of our journey which bring us to the Road’s Last Turn and to the Silent Land.

CONSTANCE  M. WHISHAW