Page:Hardwicke's Science-Gossip - Volume 1.pdf/18

2 solace, any mental enjoyment, any feeling of manhood elevated in the pursuit of ornithology or entomology, and he will answer you with a smile, as if he doubted whether any one could ask such a question in earnest; and immediately, as he answers, he inquired, "What is your hobby?"

Should you have a friend addicted to the habit of bringing home bits of wild flowers in his hat, mosses in his pocket, or occasionally be caught with a flat, brown, japanned sandwich box, when you know that he never carries sandwiches out in it, but will be seen to bring home many strange things in it,—ask of him, as he plucks petal from petal—as simple girls are wont to do, in the hope of unsolving thereby some hidden mystery of the future—ask of him whether the pursuit of his study of plant-life, of wild flowers, of mosses, does not give an interest to every half-hour's stroll along a hedgerow or into a wood, which it would not otherwise possess; whether it has not given to him a new sense; whether it has not unfolded to him a new world; whether, in fact, he is disposed to relapse again into inanition; and the chances are that he will ask you, good-humoredly enough, in return, "What is your hobby?"

But, above all, can you not purchase for yourself a Microscope? One that will answer all your purposes can be supplied you for a moderate sum. What you will do with it depends much upon yourself and your own inclinations. What you can do with it, is more than we have space to tell. Within that instrument lies the revelation of a world equally variable and populous,—nay, even more variable and populous,—than that which is revealed to the unaided eye of man. If you only know as much of the world of nature as you can see with your naked eyes, you have never seen half what you might have seen, and really know nothing of the greatest marvels in all Nature's handiwork. Some of the wonders of minute life, as seen through this medium, will continually be presented to the readers of these pages; but all that we can ever hope to do, will be but as a drop of water from the ocean, and can only serve to indicate the direction which those may pursue who are in search of a "hobby."

If already these, or any similar pursuits employ your moments, few though your moments of leisure may be, you will need no solicitation on our part to continue such a course. The pleasure derived from the pursuit of knowledge; the power obtained by the possession of knowledge; the vigour imparted to the mind, the recognition of an object in life, besides the mere toil for "daily bread," all exert their influences in one direction. And, unless we are much mistaken, few indeed are the instances in which, having mounted a hobby of his own, the rider is disposed to be unhorsed. This is especially the case where the "hobby" costs but little to keep, and when it partakes of a mental character.

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VERYBODY involuntarily shudders at the name of a snake. Very few possess courage enough to attempt staring one out of countenance, or staying to count the number of scales on its head. Fancy oneself deeply intent, with nose unusually low, seeking the ruddy wild strawberry on a sunny hedge-bank, and even whilst smacking the lips with the relish of the tart little fruit but lately conveyed there, about to pluck another yet larger and redder, when lo! beneath our very fingers glides the sleek, attenuated form of the reptile—ay, within ten inches of our depressed nose. Under such circumstances, should we