CONCLUSION. 117 



in the fancy of my own respected father, who 

 at eighty odd still enjoyed the sight of a good 

 bird — fowl or Pigeon. ... I am a father 

 whose elder boys were allowed and encouraged 

 by me to keep all kinds of pets, and my sons 

 ' went straight ' in life and have done well, and 

 I think permitting them to have fancy Pigeons 

 had something to do with it." 



By encouraging your boys in their hobby, not 

 only are you now providing them with innocent 

 and healthful recreation, you are also laying up 

 a rich legacy, which in after life when they 

 withdraw from the cares and contentions of 

 business may prove a precious and acceptable 

 boon. Life has two seasons of youth — one at 

 each end of it. Intuitively in our receding years 

 we go back with a strange fondness and freshness 

 to the tastes we formed in early life. 



It is the orthodox English custom for the 

 successful man to retire into the country to 

 enjoy himself when his fortune is made. But 

 what creature under the sun is so utterly 

 miserable as the retired business man with 

 nothing to do ! To sit still is intolerable. He 

 must be active. The problem is how shall he 

 change his activity ; he cannot stop it. He has 

 acquired no taste for literature or art, and cares 



