VOCATION VERSUS AVOCATION 



The thought naturally suggests itself, that, if your 

 business is one that induces sedentary habits, your 

 hobby should take you into the open and give you 

 physical exercise. Hunting, fishing, riding, yachting, 

 automobiling at once come to mind ; and such games as 

 tennis, and in particular golf. All these have their 

 utility as purveyors to health of mind and body. But 

 it is only for the least intellectual minds that these 

 pursuits, severally or jointly, could quite fill the needs 

 of our present purpose. As ideals for the leisure of 

 later years; as boon companions of the spirit in all 

 weathers and in all seasons, these scarcely serve, what- 

 ever the measure of enthusiasm with which they may be 

 followed in youth or in middle life. 



Moreover, there are many men who have a positive 

 distaste for physical exercise, and who take little or no 

 interest in games or competitions of any sort. Many 

 men of the greatest mental activity are physically lazy, 

 even though possessed of fine physique and great 

 physical strength. Such a man, for example, was Abra- 

 ham Lincoln, who used to pronounce himself the laziest 

 of men. In such a case, a physiological explanation 

 is perhaps to be found in an inherent tendency of the 

 brain centres that have to do with higher mental ef- 

 forts to operate at the expense of the so-called motor 

 centres. 



But whatever the explanation, the fact holds, and 

 must be reckoned with in determining the choice of 

 an avocation. For such a person, no mere physical 

 diversion could fully serve the varied and comprehen- 

 sive purposes of a hobby. 



