16 THE IDYL OF THE SPLIT-BAMBOO 



woman, and child, hero and convict, neurasthenic and 

 deep-sea fisherman, needs the blessing of God 

 through these four gifts. It is not often, I believe, 

 that a whole life is possessed by any one of the ele- 

 ments of play, work, or drudgery. Work usually 

 makes up the larger part of life, with play and 

 drudgery sprinkled in. I have rarely seen drudgery 

 so overwhelming as to crush out altogether the play 

 of humor and good-fellowship during the day's toil 

 as well as after it.' 



So this book has particularly to do with refresh- 

 ment through the play that is " sprinkled in," 

 through the contact with art since the building 

 of a bamboo fly-rod and the skilled use thereof both 

 are arts and with the beauty of nature and its in- 

 centive to truest worship of God; and all of this nat- 

 urally enough is of interest to the medical-man from 

 the viewpoints both of outdoor recreation and of 

 indoor handicraft. 



In some way, and at stated intervals, all of us 

 should divert from our routine work, and do some- 

 thing spontaneously whole-heartedly, with the 

 zest and abandonment of the boy we used to be, and 

 still should be on occasion. For 



" He that works, then runs away, 

 Will live to work another day." 



Very few of us indeed are so placed as never to find 

 it possible either to " break out " or to " break 



