The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1915-02-16
CHESTERTON SLASHES
SOME LIVING ACTHop>
But Has Some Kinder Sayings Co.,
corning Others.

(AlSGIuO1i Ol- JOIlI-bI6nOn In Al
York Morning Telegraph
Cecil Clesterton, the young gla5
tor in many s~anguinary arenas. VT.
discovered yesterday morning al M
Prince George Hotel calmly rest,
after his honorable conhict VI
George Sylvester Eiereck, the lor.+
pillar Of the German Empire, al III.
Cort Theatre On Sunday evenine.
Cecil Chesterton became famo-y
some two years ago when in & Sc.
ries Of daring articles in his paper
the Eye Witness, he uncovered tbs
story Of h Marconi scandals. ANA
placed the stigma Of the most cues
tionable conduct. to say the least OF ill.,
upon three Of the leading and act.v,
members of the British Governmen-
1t was a far better kind of conf5c+
the Waste Ground The attack ",
directed against the Goliaths Of Gree
Britain.
Cecil Chesterton became the icono-
clast Of British hypocrisy. He is suit
quite a young man, probably of tia
| kline which in New York would h.
described as "typically British" Il is
a misleading phrase. But il MAY
stand. But his wit is too nimble ana
too sure to be purely Saxon. lie is
| outspoken and frank, and has the
| courage to form opinions and Openly
| register them.
And then, yes, it is true. he be-
lieves in literature as a motive force
and as a refexive medium. He be-
lieves-Would that we all couId-that
literature can stir to national acton
or at least, mirror that action. o.
this point many of US are Laodicaan~
that is to say cO~nStitutionally skep-
teal or Indifferent. 1t is difficult h.
believe when o see an English foot
ball crowd Or wool exchange that such
people are in any way finely touched
to fine issues by Chaucer or Brownins
or that a London audience yelling or
a ragtime sons would be in any way
moved or Influenced were some goo
gifted Organ-voice' OF poetry to chan
to them again.
But Mr.. Chesterton believes. He IS
constitutionally a believer. Belief is
a force far more powerful than skep
ticism. Men and women are far more
inclined to range themselves abou-
the positive than the "it might be.
which implies the "it isn't"
1t was between the puffs Of MS
pipe that the sturdy fighter and mer-
CHESS and audacious journalist con
WINGED me that he believed. | had
asked him to trace the trend of Eng
lish literature from the time he was
Al1lCl SSlCO Ill IL 10 Tie present UdN.
When | first became interested IN lit
~erature," said he, I'VE were in the pc
rlOd Of the Decadents. I am speaking
Of the period extending from 1897
onward"
t But what the term meant | could
not tell. Mr.. Chesterton, however
! told me yesterday. "In the early
nineties the forces Of religious and
s democratic progress had exhausted
| thpYocQlNo and fhoro uoro NO q ranC
. feelings to excite the imagination OF
!. the artist. Now a number of men,
of whom Oscar Wilde was the leader
had the insight to recognize that j
number of enthusiasts heretofore
q operative in national life were mani
mate, extinct He had no conviction:
except perhaps one, which you viii
d find expressed in his volume OF Par
ables.' He looked upon the world q
,e a place Of desolation and %disappoint
ment. But he did not put even thu
conviction into his comedies, whicl
n at the time I am speaking of Wer'
lourishing and were Representative Q
the taste Of the period.
Having then no 'enthuSiaSrnS. Il
Is the pure sense of the word, he an
his followers fell back on the cele
- bration Of the beautiful and the keel
emotion Of beauty.Ifor their creed. .
course, Oscar Wilde was a mar OF &c
n MUS, as was Ernest Dawson. But ther
"a were also a number of followers
acolytes n imitators, who were nc
men Of genius. h then, was n
epoch Of Decadent and Decadence.
d. CLEARING HOUSE STATEMENT.
New York, Feb. 13-The Statement
IT the actual condition Of clearing non
banks and trust companies for the wee
shows that they hold $139, S73,33O reser'