SUGGESTIONS TO MECHANICS AS TO THE PROPER EM- 

 PLOYMENT OF THEIR LEISURE HOURS. 



Editors of The Inventor : 



I noticed in the last issue of The Inventor, an invitation to me- 

 chanics to contribute to your valuable journal, articles of general 

 interest to that class of your readers. I do not know that I can send 

 anything that will be particularly interesting, but I am going to try, 

 and you may ' print' what I send, or not, as you shall judge proper. 



Mechanics, as a general thing, sadly neglect their own interests 

 by not 'reading themselves up ' in their several professions. The 

 mechanic thinks and feels (and rightly too,) that after the toil of 

 the day is over, he needs some recreation to compensate him for his 

 close application to business. But the difficulty lies in the choice of 

 his recreations. I have heard it said, and I think it true, that any- 

 thing which will direct the mind to any other channel than the one 

 which has occupied it through the day, will tend to recreate it. It 

 is the same with the body. The carpenter will shove the plane all 

 day, and then walk two miles to his home, and feel fresher than when 

 he left his work. 



I once had an invitation to join a gymnastic club which met two 

 evenings in a week. The reply I gave was, that my labor of ten 

 hours a day was work enough for me. My friend said that the ex- 

 ercise in the club room actually relieved him of all weariness. Now, 

 I think that after the toil of the day, if the the work is sedentary or 

 confining, a walk of a mile or two, and then an hour or two spent in 

 reading — first, the news of the day, then some scientific work, of 

 which there are many on diff"erent subjects, within the reach of the 

 working man — would be a recreation of both body and mind. Too 

 many mechanics choose for recreation, places of resort, where they 

 not only throw their time away, but much of their money, and often- 

 times their health. 



The money and time thus lost, would purchase all the scientific 

 works the mechanic would need, and at the same time his mind would 

 be stored with useful knowledge. It is not to be supposed, that the 

 mechanic is going to be able to vie with those who make learning 

 their life's business ; but we can take the advantages which are pre- 



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