784 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



influencing being the recreative character of the work. His observa- 

 tion is so sound, so eloquent, and above all so practical, that I can feel 

 no necessity for apology in giving it at length. He is comparing, in 

 the passage to be quoted, what he calls the happy brain-worker with 

 the mere muscle-worker, and this is the argument : 



Brain-work is the highest of all antidotes to worry ; and the brain-working 

 classes are, therefore, less distressed about many things, less apprehensive of in- 

 definite evil, and less disposed to magnify minute trials, than those who live by 

 the labor of the hands. To the happy brain-worker life is a long vacation ; 

 while the muscle-worker often finds no joy in his daily toil, and very little in 

 the intervals. Scientists, physicians, lawyers, clergymen, orators, statesmen, 

 literati, and merchants, when successful, are happy in their work without refer- 

 ence to the reward; and continue to work in their special callings long after the 

 necessity has ceased. Where is the hod- carrier who finds joy in going up and 

 down a ladder; and, from the foundation of the globe until now, how many 

 have been known to persist in ditch-digging, or sewer-laying, or in any mechani- 

 cal or manual calhng whatsoever, after the attainment of independence ? Good 

 fortune gives good health. Nearly all the money in the world is in the hands of 

 brain-workers ; to many, in moderate amounts, it is essential to life, and in large 

 and comfortable amounts it favors long life. Longevity is the daughter of com- 

 petencJ^ Of the many elements that make up happiness, mental organization, 

 physical health, fancy, friends, and money — the last is, for the average man, 

 greater than any other, except the first. Loss of money costs more lives than 

 the loss of friends, for it is easier to find a friend than a fortune. 



The contrast put before us in these forcible remarks is most striking. 

 It is the key to the position in trying to unlock the secret as to what 

 true recreation should be. These brain-workers of whom Dr. Beard 

 speaks are, indeed, the modern Greeks, not perhaps in perfection but 

 in approximation. The Greeks might, possibly, have gone higher than 

 they did in the way of developed phj^sical beauty and of mental endow- 

 ment, and these happy brain-workers of later ages might, perhaps, more 

 nearly approach the happy Greeks, But both were on the lines to- 

 ward the highest that may be attainable, and this, as a means of indi- 

 cating the right line, is my reason for using the illustrations that have 

 been offered. 



That which I have so far urged consists, then, of two arguments: 

 Firstly, that recreation to be healthful must, as its meaning convej^s, 

 literally, be a process of re-creating ; that is, of reconstructing or re- 

 building ; a practice entirely distinct from what is called play, when by 

 that is meant either cessation from every kind of creation, or enjoy- 

 ment of abnormal pleasures which weary mind and body. Secondl}'-, 

 that they who are able to live and re-create in the manner suggested 

 are, in positive fact, they who present the healthiest, the happiest, and 

 the longest lives. 



From these premises I further draw the conclusion that we have no 

 open course of a reasonable kind before us except to strive to beget a 

 Uiealthful recreation in the direction indicated. 



