PAINTING AS A PASTIME

The hardcover edition of this book was published in the United States in 1950 by The McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc. This new Cornerstone Library edition is a complete and unabridged reprint of that original hardcover publication, and is published by arrangement with Odhams Press Ltd., of London, England.

The essay "Painting as a Pastime" is reprinted from Sir Winston Churchill's book Amid These Storms (copyright, 1932) by permission of the publishers, Charles Scribner's Sons, N. Y.

CORNERSTONE LIBRARY PUBLICATIONS Are Distributed By Affiliated Publishers A Division of Pocket Books, Inc. Rockefeller Center 630 Fifth Avenue, New York 20, N.Y.

Many remedies are suggested for the avoidance of worry and mental overstrain by persons who, over prolonged periods, have to bear exceptional responsibilities and discharge duties upon a very large scale. Some advise exercise, and others, repose. Some counsel travel, and others, retreat. Some praise solitude, and others, gaiety. No doubt all these may play their part according to the individual temperament. But the element which is constant and common in all of them is Change.

Change is the master key. A man can wear out a particular part of his mind by continually using it and tiring it, just in the same way as he can wear out the elbows of his coat. There is, however, this difference between the living cells of the brain and inanimate articles: one cannot mend the frayed elbows of a coat by rubbing the sleeves or shoulders; but the tired parts of the mind can be rested and strengthened, not merely by rest, but by using other parts. It is not enough merely to switch off the lights which play upon the main and ordinary field of interest; a new field of interest must be illuminated. It is no use saying to the tired 'mental muscles'—if one may coin such an expression—I will give you a good rest,' 'I will go for a long walk,' or 'I will lie down and think of nothing.' The mind keeps busy just the same. If it has been weighing and measuring, it goes on weighing and measuring. If it has been worrying, it goes on worrying. It is only when new cells are called into activity, when new stars become the lords of the ascendant, that relief, repose, refreshment are afforded.

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