The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-06-04

MS powerful voice, his
ms pugnaclty, his prodigal produce
non VI StorleS, essays, lectures. and
poems, and in his dogma and practice
or the JOY Of life. He is SO incurably
romantic that he is even said to have
mad the habit of carrying a revolver
ana a sWordstick, in preparation for
adventures which he might meet in
the heart Of London.
MI. CheSterton is a democrat in
sympathies, being convinced that vul-
gar notions are valid notions. and
mat common people possess COM
mon sense. In politics he is a Lib
eral. according TO Mr.. Holbrook Jack
son, or, II one prefers to believe Mr..
cecil ChestertOn, a Tory of the
seventeenth or early eighteenth CEN
Jury, born out Of his due time That
any one should find a coherent poll
tlcal philosophy in the works of Mr..
thesterton is a thing not to be ex-
pected. The safest assertions which
can De made are that he is not now
a socialist, though he was at one time.
ana That since the Boer war he has
been an ardent foe Of imperialism.
Mt. Chesterton is a man of positive
opinions and tastes. Some Of his
1aFOrlte diversions are the mad imp
of modernity," teetotalism and yege-
tarlanlsm, freak religions, British i'm
perialism and the tWo-power stand
ard, anonymous journalism, the dukes
ana the English land system. contem-
porary Calvinism, French short
stories, %eugenics, Nietzsche. the Zeit-
geist, Darwinism, p%edantry, the dis
NAL wine of Puritan determinism,"
seriousness, and modern German
philosophy. Among his admirations
and affirmations are humility, the
Catholic church, the French Reyolu-
ton, the games of childhood, festi-
walls n ~pageantry, democracy "a
thing which he does not find present
IN England), food and wine, fighting,
the dignity Of the physical senses and
desires, truisns, and romantic litera-
ture Of all sorts from old ballads to
penny ~dreadfuls.
The Critical Biographies.
Mr.. ChestertOn has written three
spectacular critical works, every one
Of them controversial, suggestive,
original, unsystematically philosophi-
cal, and entertaining. A further
characteristic is the absence Of pedan-
try and Of conventional dignity.
G.. K. C.'s first critical biography
was Robert Browning" in the ia
nous and hitherto uniformly digni-
fed English Men of Letters series.
, This was Chesterton's introduction
into literature as opposed to journal
, ism, being a serious book with an
index, yet a brilliant one. The later
; critical studies, those of Shaw and
: Dickens, continue the tradition OF
l bri1liancy, but are sparing of bio
graphical details and are not ever in
5 dexed.
! In George Bernard Shaw the
author begins his rough study, as he
: calls it, with an excessively clever
introduction in five lines: Most peo-
pie either say that they agree with
Bernard Shaw or that they do not
understand him. I am the only per
son who understands him, and 1 dc
Y not agree with him. The note Oh
: ultra-cleverness thus ounded at the
4 beginning is too high to maintain,
e yet the author manage to say some
8 very amusing things. for example
that Shaw is a puritan. and that his
: ideals are %'strict, h%ygienic, and even
e one might say, old-maidish." For in.
formation about Shaw, as opposed t6
a flashes Of Chesterton metaphysics anC
critical standards. one will DO bet
ter to read DR.. Archibald Henderson:
r George Bernard Shaw: His Life ant
G Works. book which, if not SO en-
9 tertaining as G. K. C.'s, is for mos
{. readers a more valuable work.
G.. K. C.'s remarkable introduction!
n to the Dickens volumes in Every
mans Library led inevitably to TIL
d critical biography of Charles Dickens
published in 1906. The author de
votes one chapter to suggesting tha
y the place Of Dickens "in nineteenth
d century England will not only be higl
g but altogethera the highest. Som
st Dickens characteristics which G. K. c
emphasizes are his active and use
n full optimism against a vivid back
d ground Of evil. and an 'incomparabl'
hunger and pleasure for the vitalit,
$, and the variety. for the infinite &c
n centricity Of existence" "Thackeray'
n creation" he says, was observation
le Dickens's was poetry, and is therefor
l. permanent" The special ground
e which Mr.. Chesterton has for his be
s. lief hat Dickens will finally dominat
nineteenth century England are frs
d his genuine c~reativeness. and secon'
II his having done something special IL