250 AMUSEMENTS. 



ing adventures — as the American humorist puts 

 it, "of beer and skittles." Maturer ^ge can afford 

 to do without tliese romantic sorrows. As Mr. 

 Andrew Lang, the poet of cahner 3^ears, amusingly 

 writes : — 



Oil, foolish youth, untimely wise! 



Oh, phiintoins of tlio sickly mind! 

 What ? Not content with seas and skies, 



With rainy clouds and southern wind, 

 With common cares and faces kind, 



With pains and joys each morning brought? 

 Ah, old and worn and tired, wc fmd 



Life's more amusing than we thought ! 



The last line sums up in a playful fashion the 

 common-sense philosophy of ten thousand ordi- 

 nary middle-aged people. 



And yet it is of very little use to rail at amuse- 

 uients in the midst of an age which is probably 

 more amused than any other since the beginning 

 of all things. Every day sees more and more places 

 of amusement of every sort opened throughout 

 town and country. The number of theatres built 

 during the last ten years is something prodigious. 

 The fetes and galas are forever on the increase. 

 If the old-fashioned fair has been dying out, the 

 modern benefit-club and the new-fashioned festival 

 have taken its place even in the country village. 

 Lawn-tennis has supplanted croquet, and tourna- 

 ments — with a difference — have once more come 

 into vogue. Our watering-places increase apace ; 



