THE Mount Ida Chronicle FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1872.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume III, Issue 198, 13 December 1872, Page 4

THE Mount Ida Chronicle FRIDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1872.

.Recreation is now generally recog- | nised as being a constitutional necessity, on the same principle 011 which from very ancient times, it has been found advisable to fix periodic intervals of entire cessation from. work. Nor has any ra e of men yet been discovered SO utterly barbarous as to be totally destitute of some means of mental diversion. Adult Englishmen have the credit;—rightly or wroiigiy of possessing' fewer forms of healthv amusement than almost any other European race —ie., amusement that, by entirely removing the strain caused by constant w »rk and anxiety, at the same time strengthens and builds up, by providing a proper st'mulant to the over-worked brain. , , It is not everybody that can afford the time or the expense for a trip to Dunedin, or a tour through the fine scenery of the Lake District; neither can all obtain the necessary amount of cellular reparation from the delights of the tea-table, nor from the more elaborate attractions afforded by amateur entertainments and the lecture hall. It cannot be too thoroughly recognised that no two persons can reap exactly the same amoa :t of benefit from the same relaxation, and that what in some case?, physiologically speaking, would be beneficial to one, might very probably be injurious to another. Horse-racing in the Polonies has two sides—a black and a fair one.; The dark side may shortly be summarised as consisting of the gambling tendencies . that the racecourse fosters and encourages, and the opportunities it affords to men —who, through a course of dissipation, have lost all control over their actions—to place themselves in a class lower than the brutes. On the other hand, some hundreds of people, who have no other enjoyment, meet together, without any intense interest in the racing, but thoroughly relishing the change from the dull gully to the. picnic in the cart, and the innocent display of finery carefully hoarded and preserved for such occasions. Nor should the typical shepherd be overlooked, who, having come in from the station hut, walk* about with-mouth slightly open and downcast eyes^—as is the manner of those who live alone -—looking miserable in the e.\t.r me, and vet who, despite his looks, carries away a fum:l of curious mi n ute i n for mati on to become food for niuch after-thought and pleaa.Mr§» .?®p.it«illy, correcting the undue prevalence of morbid thoughts that so often ass>ume., that., terrible influence over the humsn mind,\vhich, in move Mati one case witldn our osvn knowled:.'/;!, in the Mount da district, has ended in sulci 'e and the asvluin.

As d driver away of dull' as nieans of affording invitoratinij ainus* 1 - =n|^rtt > tp- I tiby..irisiiiy l ; and ns a protection from tHe ill effects no liable -to he engendered .in the. brains .of th<W • who lead solitary lives, and also as affording practical erk*oura«emenfc to the owners of good animals—a point of no slight importance where, to get about at all, dependence has to be placed upon our gladly the return of the Mount Ida .Jockey Club 8 Annual Meeting.