APTER XII.

RECREATION.

Recreation is another name for amusement. Both words express the same
idea. Recreation means to create over again, the building up of the
system when it is exhausted. Amusement primarily is said to be derived
from the halt which a dog makes in hunting, when he pauses to sniff the
air in order to see in which way the scent lies. Having done this, he
starts off again with redoubled speed. Both these words in themselves
suggest the place that the things which they signify should occupy in
life. They are for the refreshing of our strength, in order to renewed
effort.

Recreation is a necessary part of life.--There are two great laws under
which we live: the law of work and the law of recreation. Man has to
work, and to work hard, in order to live. Work also is necessary to
happiness. "He that labors," says the Italian proverb, "is tempted by
one devil; he that is idle, by a thousand." The industrious life, it
is perfectly plain (as we have shown in a previous chapter), is that
which we should all follow. But recreation is as needful in its place
as work. (_a_) This is the teaching of nature. God has made us
capable of enjoying ourselves, just as He has made us able to think, or
talk, or work with our hands. The first sign of intelligence in the
infant is a smile. The child's nature unfolds itself in play, and as
man grows up, it develops itself in many forms. The universe also is
full of joy and gladness. The sky is blue, the sea glistens, the
flowers are strewn over the earth. We speak of the waves playing on
the shore, of the shadows playing on the mountain side. All this
indicates that there is "a certain play element" that rejoices in the
world around us. (_b_) This is the teaching of experience. Unvaried
and unbroken toil becomes a sore burden; it breaks the spirit, weakens
energy, and saddens the heart. "All work and no play," according to
the proverb, "makes Jack a dull boy." There are men around us working
so hard that they have no family life, no social life, no time for
thought or for culture. They are simply cogs in a great wheel that is
ceaselessly turning round and round--wearing themselves out before
their time by excess of labor. This cannot be right. There is an
interesting tradition of St. John, the disciple of our Lord, that while
amusing himself with a tame partridge he was asked by a huntsman how he
could spend his time in so unprofitable a manner. S