The Pleasures of Life by Sir John Lubbock
page 146 of 277 (52%)
page 146 of 277 (52%)
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After a gallop over the downs, a row on the river, a sea voyage, a walk by the seashore or in the woods "The blue above, the music in the air, The flowers upon the ground," [6] one feels as if one could say with Henry IV., "Je me porte comme le Ponte Neuf." The Roman proverb that a child should be taught nothing which he cannot learn standing up, went no doubt into an extreme, but surely we fall into another when we act as if games were the only thing which boys could learn upon their feet. The love of games among boys is certainly a healthy instinct, and though carried too far in some of our great schools, there can be no question that cricket and football, boating and hockey, bathing and birdnesting, are not only the greatest pleasures, but the best medicines for boys. We cannot always secure sleep. When important decisions have to be taken, the natural anxiety to come to a right decision will often keep us awake. Nothing, however, is more conducive to healthy sleep than plenty of open air. Then indeed we can enjoy the fresh life of the early morning: "the breezy call of incense-bearing morn." [7] "At morn the Blackcock trims his jetty wing, 'Tis morning tempts the linnet's blithest lay, All nature's children feel the matin spring Of life reviving with reviving day." |
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