The Tucumcari news and Tucumcari times. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1907-1921, 1909-02-13

OF the births OF great men. To he
sure the average American is apt
to forget that anybody else except
Abraham Lincoln and George
Washington were born this month,
and from the amounto OF enthusiasm
attending the great Americans re-.
collection is not to be wondered at.
And vet there were others, and
some OF them as famous though in
a different line. For example
Charles Robert Darwin, was born
the same day as Lincoln, to wit:
next Friday, the T2th OF February.
IL Is not much wonder that the
fact is overlooked by the average
man. Darwin had the misfortune
to be born in England. He had
nothipg to do with the hell OF war,
and never became president or
advanced farther IN official lite
than to become treasurer oil the
local Episcopal church. While
some have had the temerity to call
him a great liberator, he neither
struck the shackles from a million
slaves or laid the foundation OF a
world power. He had to do with
\ principal which involves a period
OF time beside which the antiquity
OF the pyramids and even the
mountain ranges are but a breath,
the theatric appearance OF the sol.
der and the teacher and the poll
tician no more than flashlights on
tie eternal screen.
The character OF Darwin was
interesting in the extreme. Like
Mendelssohn he was another one
OF the February great who was
born with a golden spoon in his
mouth. and OF a class by himself,
there we're no flashes OF youthful
genius, no adolescent hint oil the
power TO be. On the contrary,
he was considered to be a dull lad
in the main, with a consuming
tondness Tor the towling piece and
the fishing rod in preference 10 the
books. To put 1t charltably he
was slow to learn, and Tor many
years very unwilling to learn.
Peoples instincts were then very
much as they are now and his folks
considering him worthless for any
thing else, were minded TO make a
preacher out OF hun, and until they
gave it up in disgust he gave them
some sleepless nights. There was
nothing mean about the bov, like
millions OF others, he was simply
no good. His early Indifference
to books compelled the use OF a
private tutor when II came time to
enter Cambridge. OF his life at
college little can be said so far as
accomplishment is concerned, but
great deal is due it, for it was
here that the boy had a great
awakening at the hands OF Profes.
Henslow, the eminent botanlst.
Wiser than all the rest, he saw the
true bent OF the boy, and it was
through his influence that he was
inclined to science, and the whole
current OF his lite vas changed.
II was no, all done at once. It
took years OF deep study to even
start him az that, but at last he
was chosen through the influence
OF Henslow as the chief OF the ex.
petition to study the fauna and
fora OF South America. This ex-
cursion resulted in two things, the
permanent invalidism OF the man
and the beginning OF the studies
that resulted in the theory whic h
set the world ahre and drew down
upon his indifferent head the scath-
ing criticism OF the church and the
larger part OF the world OF letters.
IL was all owing to his book on
The Organ OF Species" publish
ed in 1859, which swept agide the
story OF Genesis, so tar as 4 re-
lated to life, as rot and rubbish.
The Darwinian theory, to put i,
plainly, was that man is not a
special creation, but a develope,
ment from the humblest forms oil
lie. II teaches that in a million
OF years, man was evolved iron
next to nothing, passing in millions
OF years from a crude cell OF doubt
full classification through man,
forms down to the human that ex
listed when history began.
IL is all a myth that he laugh
that man evoluted from a monkey
more is the pity. A dozen case.
could be cited in this town tina
would absolutely satisfy an
reasonable person not only OF tn
correctness OF the theory, but als'
OF the fact that there are occasional
undoubted reversions to the arbo
real type. II is real pity lookinI
at il from this light that this popu
lar misconstruetion OF the Derwin
ian theory was not the belief OF th'
great thinker. IL would be 81
easy Of proof.
Naturally. such a theory, iron
such a source, and at such a time
made = profound impression upol
the thinking world. II can not b.
said that II was gladly received
Quite the contrary. Some OF tn