enterprise of his own renaissance. He must resolve with as much
intensity of will as he once put into the resolution which sent him to
propose marriage to his wife. And, indeed, he must be ready to treat
his hobby somewhat as though it were a woman desired--with splendid
and uncalculating generosity. He must shower money on it, and, what is
more, he must shower time on it. He must do the thing properly. A
hobby is not a hobby until it is glorified, until some real sacrifice
has been made for it. If he has chosen a hobby that is costly, both in
money and in time, if it is a hobby difficult for a busy and prudent
man to follow, all the better. If it demands that his business shall
suffer a little, and that his life-long habits of industry shall seem
to be jeopardized, again all the better. For, you know, despite his
timid fears, his business will not suffer, and lifelong habits, even
good ones, are not easily jeopardized. One of the most precious jewels
of advice ever offered to the plain man was that he should acquire
industrious habits, and then try to lose them! He will soon find that
he cannot lose them, but the transient struggles against them will
tend always to restore the sane balance of his nature.

He must deliberately arrange pleasures for himself in connection with
his hobby, and as often as possible. Once a week at least his
programme should comprise some item of relaxation to which he can look
forward with impatience because he has planned it, and because he has
compelled seemingly more urgent matters to give way to it; and look
forward to it he must, tasting it in advance, enjoying it twice over!
Thus may the appetite for pleasure, the ability really to savour it,
be restored--and incidentally kept in good trim for full use when old
age arrives and he enters the lotus-land. And with it all, when the
hour of enjoyment comes, he must insist on his mind being free;
expelling every preoccupation, nonchalantly accepting risks like a