90 WORK AND PLAY. mere physical insensibility to pain or that high-minded consciousness which is based on a sense of duty. There it is that a boy, if he has any genuine stuff in him, reveals it; and there it is that keen eyes detect it or the want of it. For boys are the shrewdest and most unsparing of critics, with an utter contempt for pretence and affectation, and a quick and generous recognition of all that is true and honest. They soon take the measure of their companions; soon learn to appraise them at their exact value; and it is specially in the playground that this critical faculty bears fruit. Take a new boy, and set him down in the playground, the centre of a circle of cool and impartial observers; in ten minutes they will read you his character with all the exactness of the physiologist. Whether he be "muff," or "sneak," or "bully," or "cheat," or a "right good fellow," our young Lavaters will find him out, and thenceforth their intercourse with him will be regulated by that knowledge. I have commented on the fallacy that boys with a partiality for athletic exercises will not distinguish themselves by their scholarship, though the elder Disraeli represents a disinclination for such amusements to be one of the signs and characters of a youthful genius. And he quotes Milton, who says 66 "When I was yet a child, no childish play On the other hand, Byron was always foremost at Harrow in all out-of-door sports, and everybody knows what a fine swimmer he was. Goethe, the great German, handled the foils splendidly and danced gracefully. Thomas Carlyle, the sage of Chelsea," was an adept in the vigorous Scottish games. Cowper, the poet of "The Task," was a capital cricketer and pre-eminent at football. Alfieri, the Italian poet, was a great rider; and Tasso, like Goethe, was a skilful dancer and swordsman. It remains true, nevertheless, that boys who become absorbed in and devoted to gymnastics and athletics make but a poor figure when they come to grapple with the intricacies of Greek syntax. The illustrious men whom we have named gave only a portion of their leisure to their physical education; they threw their real strength into the higher culture. In praise of leisure — Some rhymes about it — The right employment of leisure strongly advocated-As in the study of nature-Every season brings fresh objects of interest-What we may see in a green lane-A song for a summer morning-Lessons for our leisure lie close at hand -What nature teaches to him who carefully studies its aspects-The study of botany-Anecdote of Dr. Darwin-Wonderful structure of the flowers-The ranunculus-Pleasures of geology-Of chemistry-Of music-Musical instruments and the boys who play them-A box of tools and its virtues-Pets-Take care of your leisure. HETHER at school or at home, the boy will daily enjoy a certain amount of time on which there is no special calls. He cannot always be engaged upon his lessons or immersed in play; like his elders, he will have his "leisure." It is by no means an unimportant question, therefore, What will he do with it? Those hours or half-hours which are not occupied in the schoolroom or the playground, what use will he make of them? We have already protested against the enervating habit of "mooning"-i.e., of loitering about, assiduously engaged in doing nothing; and we venture to hint that neither boys nor men can afford to waste their "leisure," any more than they can afford to waste the time definitely set aside for work. It is quite true that the most eager spirits weary at time of their lessons, and the greatest enthusiasts cannot always take delight in cricket or 92 THE SONG OF "LEISURE." in football; and so, at the first glance, it seems difficult to say how they can turn their leisure to advantage. The difficulty is only apparent. There is much to be done for which "leisure" is the proper name. There are many pleasant ways of making pleasant hours, which will furnish some of the brightest and most agreeable memories in after years. Oh, happy Leisure! boon companion of the schoolboy! beneficent friend of the student! What should we do without thee? Where would be our blackberrying and nesting expeditions but for thee? Where our quiet saunter by the well-known stream, rod in hand, and the joyous capture of the finny prey? Where our long rambles into far-off valleys, or our exploration of the old castle's ivy-shrouded ruins, or our summer afternoon voyages on the lake of the waterlilies? Leisure, blessed Leisure! How thou dost refresh the weary mind, and bring balm and bliss to the careworn heart! How often, when my corrugated brows have ached over the abstruse problems devised by Euclid for the torture of boykind, or when I have bent exhausted over the Hamiltonian mysteries of metaphysics, have I sighed, sweet maid, for the sunshine of thy presence! RECREATIONS FOR SPARE HOURS. Of all the nymphs of Arcadie, To lull the weary brain to rest! Then come; sweet joys thou bring'st to me, Oh, come! 93 Many boys occupy their leisure in foolish pastimes, in smoking and card-playing, and other pursuits which are good neither for the body nor the soul. Our wiser readers will eschew these follies, and devote themselves to occupations which are instructive as well as agreeable. For instance, what can be more refreshing, more invigorating, more entertaining, than the study of nature? It is in our leisure hours that we may hope, by close and careful observation, to attain to a knowledge of its beauties; to understand and appreciate all that lies embodied in the everlasting hills, the venerable woods, the ripple of the stream, the sweet breath of the flower. It is in our leisure hours that we may penetrate the mystery of the woodlands, and catch the organ harmonies of ocean as it rolls its waters on the rocky shore. It is in our leisure hours that we may survey the wonderful glory of the heavens, with their changing aspects of cloud and sunshine, or their deep silence of night, with its wealth of stars and broad tracts of sapphire-shining profundity. The study of nature will provide us with abundant recreation for our leisure. At one time we may find our way into some forest dell, where the ferny hollows are brimful of wild flowers, and all around wave the mossy branches of ancient oaks, and the song of birds animates the breezy air. At another we may revel in the thousand and one delights of spring, when the lark sings high at heaven's gate, and the melody of the thrush and the blackbird breaks through the green young leaves; when the gorse lifts its golden spikes all along the hedgesides, and in every dingle and on every bank sparkle the starry primroses. "The wood anemones are in thousands. The turf here and there is actually sown with violets. Cowslips are putting up their heads all over the meadows, and the oxlip-half primrose, half cowslip-is also in bloom. On the purple stems of the woodspurge hang its pale green flowers, and in old orchards the ground is actually bestrewed with white violets. The laugh-like cry of the woodpecker and the harsh note of the jay awaken the forest, and the dusky wings of rooks glance in the sun as they are driven from the newsown fields by the clapper of the bird-boy." At another time we may wander forth among the cornfields, which shine like burnished gold in the beams of the harvest sun, and rejoice in the glories of the autumn. How clearly, brightly blue the sky, its intensity of colour being relieved by soft flakes and patches of silvery cloud! How full and rich the foliage; for the trees seem to have budded afresh, and the oak and the elm are dotted with new shoots of a lighter tint. "The hedges put on the same vernal-looking hue, and the heather on the moors, and scabiouses, blue chicory, and large white convolvulus, hawkweeds, honeysuckles, and the small blue campanula make the fields gay. The nuts, still green, hang in prodigal clusters on the tall old hedges of woodland lanes." Yet again we may make an excursion among the lonely hills, and climb to their green tops, which overlook so wide and rich a prospect : "Hills, vales, woods, netted in a silver mist, And cattle grazing in the watered vales, The fresh pure air comes upon us with an invigorating influence like that of a strain of noble poetry, and sweet odours rise from beneath our feet as we tread down the thymy sward with its crop of golden crowfoot and star-eyed daisies. How the shadows swiftly chase each other across the green declivities, as flakes of cloud are wind-driven over the face of the blue heavens! And what a glory rests upon the bosom of the sea, which from our high watch-tower seems waveless and windless, a vast sheet of immovable glowing silver, though we know that if we stood by its surfy margin we should see its wild waves champing and careering like warhorses in the press of the fight! Now let us pass, while we have the leisure, into yonder green and leafy lane, so narrow that the hay-laden waggon can scarcely creep along it, and deposits on each hedge a store of sweet-smelling fodder, which the cattle in the meadows on either side scent from their place of rest, and |