Non-Fiction > Books > London, 1878 - Inland voyage

The Royal Sport NatUique. 25
to tolerate perforce. And these Royal Nautical
Sportsmen had the distinction still quite legible
in their hearts. They had still those clean
perceptions of what is nice and nasty, what is
interesting and what is dull, which envious old
gentlemen refer to as illusions. The nightmare
illusion of middle age, the bear's hug of custom
gradually squeezing the life out of a man's
soul, had not yet begun for these happy-star'd
young Belgians. They still knew that the
interest they took in their business was a
trifling affair compared to their spontaneous,
long-suffering affection for nautical sports. To
know what you prefer, instead of humbly saying
Amen to what the world tells you you ought to
prefer, is to have kept your soul alive. Such a
man may be generous ; he may be honest in
something more than the commercial sense ; he
may love his friends with an elective, personal
sympathy, and not accept them as an adjunct