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CHAPTER III
SOCIAL DIVERSIONS AND DISTINCTIONS
With a race that has so thoroughly mastered
the art of living, and not merely
working or vegetating, the question of diversion
is of paramount interest. In the fashionable
world, sport monopolises the better part of
man's hours. This is an overseas passion,
adopted with frenzy and fervour. M. Rémy de
Saint Maurice has given us the odyssey of the
record cyclist in an amusing and humorous
book, Le Recordman, where we see the wealthy
idlers of France in awed adoration before the
prowess of the racing-wheel. The champion
cyclist raises storms of emotion wherever he
runs, be it in Paris or in the provinces. When
he returns to his native town, all the authorities
come to meet him and do him honour.
The French race is essentially a conversational and not a sporting one. It has a natural predilection for the amenities of life, and we feel how inappropriate is this present craze for rude and unsocial games. You need only watch a French-
