786 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



prevail over it that it should agitate the whole inwardly, and by ardent 

 application to learned pursuits cause the body to waste away. Nor is 

 this to be regretted, because if the danger so stated were a prevailing 

 one we should have two evils to cure in lieu of one which is all-suf- 

 ficient for the reforming work of many of the coming generations of 

 men. 



I have not, I trust, dwelt too long on what I may call the practical 

 definition of recreation as it ought, I think, to be understood, as it 

 once was understood and practiced, and as it is still practiced, if not 

 systematically understood, by a few whose varied and delightful works 

 and tastes make them the healthiest and longest-lived among us. 



It is well always to have a standard before us, though it be seem- 

 ingly unapproachable, and the illustrations I have endeavored to supply 

 of all work and all play, and of long-continued recreation thereupon, 

 form the standard I now wish to set up for observation. 



To make all England, and all the world, for the matter of that, a 

 recreation ground ; to make all life a grand recreation ; to make all life 

 thereby healthier, happier, and longer — this is the question before us. 



Confining our observations to our own people and time, it may now 

 be worth a few moments of analytical inquiry as to how far we, in dif- 

 ferent classes of our English community, are away from so desirable a 

 consummation — the consummation of all human 'effort toward the per- 

 fected human life : the dream of some poets that such a life has been 

 and will return — " Redeunt Saturnia regna "—the dream of many poets 

 that it is to be, if it has not been. 



The Registrar-General, with much judgment, due to long and wide 

 experience of the component parts of the nation comprised under the 

 title of England and Wales, has divided the community into six great 

 classes, which classes are, in many respects, so distinct that they may 

 almost be considered as great nations of themselves, having their own 

 individual pursuits, habits, tastes, and, if the word be allowable, recrea- 

 tions. He describes for us— 1. A professional class, made up of govern- 

 ing, defending, and learned persons, and numbering some 684,103 per- 

 sons, chiefly of the male sex ; 2. A domestic class, wives and women of 

 the household, and hotel and lodging-house keepers— a large class, the 

 great majority women, numbering as many as 5,905,171 — nearly, in 

 fact, six millions ; 3. A commercial class of buyers, sellers, lenders, and 

 transporters of goods and produce, chiefly men, and numbering 815,424 ; 

 4. An agricultural class, cultivators, growers, and animal-keepers, the 

 majority men, numbering 1,657,138; 5. An industrial class, mechan- 

 ics, fabric manufacturers, food and drink producers, and purveyors of 

 animal, vegetable, and mineral produce— a very large class, having in it 

 members of both sexes, and numbering 5,137,725 ; 6. An indefinite, 

 non-productive class ; persons of rank and property ; and scholars and 

 children ; nearly an equality of representation of numbers of both 

 sexes ; the whole class including a total of 8,512,706, of whom 7,541,- 



