rsion: exertion of
the mind as well as of the body. There is such a thing as mental play
as well as physical play. We ask of play that it shall rest, refresh,
exhilarate. Is there any form of mental activity that secures all
these ends so thoroughly and so directly as doing something that a man
really likes to do, doing it with all his heart, all the time conscious
that he is helping to make the world better for some one else?

A man's "play" can take many forms. If his life has been barren of
books or travel, let him read or see the world. But he reaches his
high estate by either of these roads only when he reads or travels to
enrich himself in order to give out what he gets to enrich the lives of
others. He owes it to himself to get his own refreshment, his own
pleasure, but he need not make that pure self-indulgence.

Other men, more active in body and mind, feel drawn to the modern arena
of the great questions that puzzle. It matters not in which direction
a man goes in these matters any more than the length of a step matters
so much as does the direction in which the step is taken. He should
seek those questions which engross his deepest interest, whether
literary, musical, artistic, civic, economic, or what not.

Our cities, towns, communities of all sizes and kinds, urban and rural,
cry out for men to solve their problems. There is room and to spare
for the man of any bent. The old Romans looked forward, on coming to
the age of retirement, which was definitely fixed by rule, to a rural
life, when they hied themselves to a little home in the country, had
open house for their friends, and "kept bees." While bee-keeping is
unquestionably interesting, there are today other and more vital
occupations awaiting the retired American.

The main thing is to secure that freedom of movement that lets a man go
where he will and do what he thinks he can do best, and prove to
himself and to others that the acquirement of the dollar is not all
there is to life. No man can realize, until on awakening some morning
he feels the exhilaration, the sense of freedom that comes from knowing
he can choose his own doings and control his own goings. Time is of
more value than money, and it is that which the man who retires feels
that he possesses. Hamilton Mabie once said, after his retirement from
an active editorial position: "I am so happy that the time has come
when I elect what I shall do," which is true; but then he