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Recreation by Viscount Grey of Fallodon, K.G. By: Edward Grey Grey of Fallodon (1862-1933) |
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BY VISCOUNT GREY OF FALLODON, K.G. BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
The Riverside Press Cambridge COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED The Riverside Press
CAMBRIDGE MASSACHUSETTS
PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. ADDRESS DELIVERED AT
THE HARVARD UNION
DECEMBER 8, 1919 RECREATION
It is sometimes said that this is a pleasure seeking age. Whether it be
a pleasure seeking age or not, I doubt whether it is a pleasure finding
age. We are supposed to have great advantages in many ways over our
predecessors. There is, on the whole, less poverty and more wealth.
There are supposed to be more opportunities for enjoyment: there are
moving pictures, motor cars, and many other things which are now
considered means of enjoyment and which our ancestors did not possess,
but I do not judge from what I read in the newspapers that there is more
content. Indeed, we seem to be living in an age of discontent. It seems
to be rather on the increase than otherwise and is a subject of general
complaint. If so it is worth while considering what it is that makes
people happy, what they can do to make themselves happy, and it is from
that point of view that I wish to speak on recreation. Let it be admitted that recreation is only one of the things that make
for happiness in life. I do not even recommend it as the most important.
There are at least four other things which are more or less under our
own control and which are essential to happiness. The first is some
moral standard by which to guide our actions. The second is some
satisfactory home life in the form of good relations with family or
friends. The third is some form of work which justifies our existence to
our own country and makes us good citizens. The fourth thing is some
degree of leisure and the use of it in some way that makes us happy. To
succeed in making a good use of our leisure will not compensate for
failure in any one of the other three things to which I have referred,
but a reasonable amount of leisure and a good use of it is an important
contribution to a happy life. How is this happy use of leisure to be
ensured? We sometimes meet people who do not seem to know what to do
with their spare time. They are like the man of whom it was said, "He
doesn't know what he wants, and he won't be happy till he gets it." The
first thing, therefore, is to take ourselves out of that category, to
know definitely what we want, and to make sure it is something that will
make us happy when we get it; and that is the beginning of recreation.
You are entitled to say to me, "That is all very well as a general piece
of advice, but tell us how you have followed and applied it yourself";
and it would not be fair for me to shrink from answering that question.
In one respect I must plead failure. I have been a failure as regards
golf, not because I did not succeed, but because I did not want to
succeed. I have a great respect for golf. I am sure it is very good for
many people; I know very many good people who play golf; but it so
happens that it does not give me a good time, and so I leave the
recommendation of it to people who can speak of it with more
appreciation. But I do recommend some game or games as a part of recreation. As long
as I could see to play and had sufficient leisure, I enjoyed immensely
the game of real or court tennis, a very ancient game, requiring
activity as well as skill, a game in which Americans may take interest
and some pride, because for the first time, at any rate, in the recent
history of the game, an amateur is champion of the world and that
amateur is an American. The English are sometimes criticised for paying
too much attention to games. A British officer whom I know well, who
happened to be in Africa at the outbreak of the war and took part in the
fighting there, tells me that in one of the German posts captured by
the British there was found a map made by the Germans and showing Africa
as it was to be when the war was over... Continue reading book >>
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