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