THE USE OF HOBBIES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 144, 9 June 1908, Page 2

THE USE OF HOBBIES.

Concentration is <uii' "I' (In' secrets nf success, but coiieenlratinn is attended liv tin- inevitable danger nf hecuminjr tile -hu- „l on- idea. This ,hlllf:cr menace, no mole tlniii I lie successful S»IS-iIU num. I'nr veins lie lllllst (jive nil his powers tu building up his career. When In- linUhc- one day's wink lie be business, imleeil. often heroine his life. This is regrettable from many points of view. The man who care- only for his business and wlm. however expert lie may lie mi Unit subject, knows nothing else, is neeessiirilv a narrow man. 1111(1 is Ihible tu see things ill a Uroiy pcr-pcctivc. )|e lacks the power of makiiiL' comparison-, and he will probalily be le-s ellieient. even in his own line.'than a rival with more wiilelv cxten.le.l intcicl-. 'To think oiilv of one subject, ilnv after ilav. vear in all,l vcar nut. is terrible trvin» to the brain. A chnnjrc nf interesi provides (he best of all resl. Tu Mviirh ||„, mind oil' ilmain oeenpalinn for a few hours i> to lie able to -larl iil'imii with renewed Ucciiiii-s. It .-hoiihl be remehiljcrcl. 100. thai an end eoines at la.-t to 11,« business career, nnil then the man who has lived only for his work linds him self ntterlv rconrcclcs and miserable. '■' A L>ood iiobhv.-' >avs a writer, ''is a man's salvation." 'What (lie hubby shall lw is a mailer nf secondary importance. The vital point is to find 6onietliing that is really absorbingly

interesting to the individual. Home men lly 'to golf, and forget tlieir work while manoeuvring the balls and discussing handicaps. Other men—an increasing number in these days—spend happy hours in their gardens, and the pride in the home-grown flowers worn in the buttonhole is as great as the pride earn by a good dividend. Another type collects coins or prints or pewter, or even postage stamps. Again, still another class of man shuts his ledger to read romance or poetry—sometimes, indeed, to write it—and recuperates for the workaday world in the world of Hie imagination. The result in all cases is the same a widening of life, the making of a more complete man. To have only cue idea, one thought, one interest, u to lose the lwst of oneself—even tliougi the whole world be gained.