THE GUIDE TO NATURE— LOCAL 
VII 
Choosirg the Right Kind of Plsasu~es. 
In a very interesting talk by the 
Reverend William J. Long before the 
Kiwanis Club of Stamford, Connecti- 
cut. he quite rightly stated that the im- 
portant question is how we choose our 
pleasures : 
“You are busy men, meeting the 
problems of a rough and busy world ; 
but under your skins you are every one 
of you natural men, and when the even- 
ing comes or the holiday comes you 
turn instinctively to pleasure, as other 
creatures do, or as flowers turn to the 
light; for play is in your blood, and in 
one form or another you must have it 
or become animated machines, unnat- 
ural, inhuman. 
“Now I beg you to remember, for 
your boy’s sake more than for your 
own, that what a man chooses for his 
pleasure is quite as important as what 
he chooses for his work. Indeed, from 
the viewpoint of philosophy (which is, 
as you know, the eternal viewpoint or 
an honest try for it) the selection of 
your pleasure is more important than 
the selection of your work. Most men 
and all boys who go wrong go in the 
direction of their false pleasures. You 
never heard of a man who took to drink 
or gambling or wife-beating or licen- 
tiousness because of the demands of his 
daily work; but you have heard of 
many, and know a few, who follow the 
primrose path of pleasure to a bad end. 
To choose the right pleasure is to in- 
crease your manhood and the joy of 
living manfully ; to choose the wrong 
pleasure is to head for the “Dewey 
Club,” or the jail or the reform school, 
or some other institution where we put 
those who don’t know how to play. 
“For this reason, largely, I am urg- 
ing you to have one form of pleasure 
that takes you to the great outdoors. 
And take your boy with you. You can 
do more for him than the boy scouts ; 
and there by the trout stream, or over 
the campfire where you have cooked 
dinner like two healthy and hungry 
boys together, he will take and remem- 
ber the advice that passes over his head 
in home or school. The outdoor object 
may be birds or pictures or botany or 
fishing or nature study — what you will ; 
so long as you are outdoors, away from 
the false gods of civilization, you are 
right and sane, yes. and are getting a 
lot of good fun that you need quite 
as much as you need bread and meat. 
Any such pleasure is wholesome for 
the body, for muscles and appetite and 
restful sleep. It is wholesome also for 
the soul, for broad and kindly views 
of life, for courage and self-control, for 
silence and harmony and peace. One 
of the best things about this pleasure 
is that it grows on you and with you. 
You enjoy it as a boy; you enjoy it 
more and more as you grow old. The 
man who has an outdoor recreation 
always knows what to do with his day 
off or his week off ; before the good 
day comes he is happy anticipating 
and preparing for it. I need not am- 
plify. You who go fishing know well 
what 1 mean.” 
Let us say, for the benefit of our 
readers who are not local, that at the 
present time the chief topic in mind in 
Stamford is the Dewey Club, a gam- 
bling place that has been brought out 
into the limelight by the raid of bandits 
and the killing of a young man, gener- 
ally regarded as respectable and much 
liked. It is claimed that it was his first 
visit to that notorious gambling place 
because of curiosity and time hanging 
heavily. He met his death because, 
soldierlike, he very bravely refused to 
hold up his hands and have his pockets 
searched by the raiders. 
To return to Dr. Long’s speech, 
which the local daily says was inter- 
rupted by prolonged applause, he 
argues quite rightly if we keep our 
pleasure in the great outdoors it is 
different. 
We are sure that all who appreciate 
this magazine and the work of The 
Agassiz Association heartily agree 
with Dr. Long that the great need at 
the present time is what to do with 
pleasure whether it be the outcome of 
generally shorter hours of labor or of 
business depression which throws a 
great many people out of work. The 
problem is and always has been “things 
that Satan finds for idle hands to do.” 
The greatest of all earthly blessings is 
work, liking for it and the ability to do 
it. By that we mean not merely voca- 
tion but avocation. Keep busy at some- 
thing. When the bread earning hours 
have been completed look forward with 
enthusiasm to taking up the pleasures 
of outdoors and the interests thereof. 
We are sure that every thoughtful per- 
