The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1912-06-04
C~HESTERTON AND THE
SPIRIT OF ROMANCE
s pu%enaciOus Journalist and Author
Who Takes Arms Against the
Forces of Despair.
BY GEORGE SUMMEY. Jr., North
Carolina A. & NJ. College.

british journalism today is Gilbert
Keith Chesterton. A journalist by
training, a relentless critic of present
journalism, and a Journalist today in
Spjte of his conspicuous success in
u,rtry and fiction and criticism, G.. K.
is a writer of international i'm
r~ort4nce. Whatever n may think
nf his unsystematic philosophy, Of
ms m~addening CleverneSS, Of his al
,ared fondness for idle paradox, of
MS senSatiOnally reactiOnary attitude,
h.. is by no means to be ignored. Like
me magic trinities Of initials r. l.. S.
and q. &, s.. the initials G. K. G. are
becoming familiar wherever modern
English books are read.
The writings Of Mr.. Chesterton, IN
loss it be some of the long stories,
never leave any reader old. They
may please, or irritate, or offend, or
bawIlder. but they always make one
think. For CheSterton is always en-
tprtaining, brilliant, concrete, good
tempered, and dogmatic, and always
be!li@erent.
His mission in life has been to
sneak for two things: the man
# life. and the value of that which
is old. Just now his special hobby
is the 10Y and energy of life as Op-
oosrd to the profound ~skepticism n
fatjrue Which he considers character
,stic of the age; but he continues
with undiminished enthusiasm his
war for tradition against the moderns
for Roman Catholic orthodoxy, for
the peoples traditional pleasures Gin
clualng drink and f~estivals), n for
old ideals rather han for progress"
The truth is says G.. x. c.,
all feeble spirits naturally live in the
future, because it is featureless; it
is "a soft job; you can make 1T what
you like" The army of the advanced,
ne hints elsewhere, is IAN army
which advances in all directions"
For what he has to say, Mr.. Ches-
terton has achieved a most admirable
style. He has a sufficient and man
agctble vocabulary, and an unsur-
passed power of energetic, concrete,
memorable phrasing. He even knows
we'll, though he will not use it, the
art of compression.
His sentences and paragraphs are
pointed. sparkling, various, and i'm
petuous, He prefers a light and agile
scntence-type. within which he find
it possible to employ with remarkable
vigor and effectiveness his favOrite
tricks OF epigram, anticlimax, and
paradox. BY means Of concrete,
houely and often grotesque figures
and illusions. which may fash al,
oyer the world within a single para
graph, Mr.. Chesterton keeps his read
erS constantly eXpectant.
Life and Personality.
Gilbert Keith Chesterton was borr
thlrty-eight years ago last week, or
the 10Th of May, 1874. at Camden
Hill, k~ensington, England. He grew
UP In an educated middle-class fam
Ny, his father being a surveyor ane
later an estate agent. So far as The
family attended church in CT. X. c.:
boyhood, it was at Bedford Chapel
whore the minister was the Rev. Stop.
ford Brooke, a literary critic Of SOM
note.
MI. CheStcrtOn never attended
university, but had some years of ex
eellent training at st. PauIs School
whore he won the Milton Prize TO
poetry, founded a Junior Debatins
Club and wrote for a s~choolboy'
journal, The Debater." He left ST
IauFs in 1891, at the age Of seven
teen, and studied drawing for a tern
or 50 1T the Slade School; but it ap
pears that he shrank from the har'
work which a serious pursuit Of ar
Would have demanded. At any rate
ne has for the last eighteen or tWent
years made drawing a side-issue an
4 recreation. He produces drawing
IN immense quantity, but his bes
energies rave been given to writing
-Iter serving an apprenticeship L
4 Publishing office, he was discovere'
oy his friend Mr.. Lucien Oldersha,
ana urged to send articles to the pres:
a suggestion which resulted first l
some contributions to the BOOkma.
ana the Speaker. Then, in 1900. h
was engaged by the Daily News don
don), to which paper he has ever sine
contributed weekly signed article:
He has also for some years write
weekly articles for the Illustrate
LONDON News. During the same yea
Nl9oO) in which he entered journal
ism, he was married to Miss France
Blogg.
Al the age Of thirty-eight, M
1hesterton is one Of the best-know
men IN london. Familiar details ar
ais lmmense size. his abundant griz
lied hair. his energetic laughter an