There is nothing occult in the suggestion that the worrier cultivate a fad.
Its object is to interest him in something outside of himself and of the
monotony of his accustomed round. If it seems to him too much trouble to
enter upon the details of the fad there is all the more reason for freeing
himself from such mental inertia.

How shall we set to work to acquire a fad, without special opportunity or
education, and with but little time at our disposal? Suppose we take the
study of botany as an illustration, not necessitating class instruction.
This useful study may be made also a charming fad, and one not beneath the
notice of so learned and busy a man as Sir Francis Bacon, who found time
and inclination to write an essay "Of Gardens," in which he mentions by
name and shows intimate acquaintance with, over one hundred distinct
varieties of plant life.

Sir John Lubbock (the Right Honourable Lord Avebury) in "The Pleasures of
Life," says:

"The botanist, on the contrary--nay, I will not say the botanist, but one
with even a slight knowledge of that delightful science--when he goes
out into the woods, or out into one of those fairy forests which we call
fields, finds himself welcomed by a glad company of friends, every one with
something interesting to tell."

There are two ways of cultivating botanical as well as other knowledge;
namely, the passive and the active. The passive method is to let someone
inform us; the active is to find out something for ourselves. The latter is
the only effective method. Suppose we start with the wild flowers: