Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1916-08-16


| bulls below from the professor The
audience began to anticipate 1t and to
roar with delight when it came. The
packed benches of students Joined in,
and every time Challenger's beard
opened. before any sound could come
| forth. there was a yell of Question"
| from a hundred voices and an answer
| ing counter cry of Order! ana
"Shamer' from as many more. Wal
dron. though hardened lecturer and
! strong man, became ratified. He
| hesitated, stammered, repeated him
self, got snarled in long sentence and
| finally turned furiously upon the cause
of his troubles.
This is really intolerabler' he cried,
| glaring across the platform. Il must
/ ask you, Professor Challenger, to cease
| these ignorant and unmannerly inter
ruptions.'
There was a hush over the hall, the
! students rigid with delight at seeing
| the high gods on Olympus quarreling
among themselves. Challenger levered
his bulky figure slowly out of his chair.
Il must in turn ask you. Mr.. Wal
| dron," he said, Ito cease to make as
sertions which are not in strict &C
cordance with scientific fact"
The words lloosed a tempest
shame. Shame" Give him a hear
ing Put him outr' shove him off
the PLATFORM Fair play" emerged
from a general roar OF amusement or
execration. The chairman was on his
feet tapping both his hands and bleat-
ing excitedly. Professor Challenger
i
peaks above his clouds of inaudible
mutter. The interrupter bowed, smiled,
stroked his beard and relapsed into his
chair. Waldron, very flushed and war
like, continued his observations. Now
and then as he made an assertion he
shot a venOmous glance at his oppo-
nent. who seemed to be Slumbering
deeply, with the same broad, happy
smile upon his face.
At last the lecture came to an end.
I am inclined to think that it was a
premature one. as the peroration was
hurried and disconnected. The thread
of the argument had been rudely
broken, and the audience was restless
and expectant. WaldrOn sat down.
and after chirrup from the chairman
Professor Challenger rose and advanc
ed to the edge of the platform. In
the interests of my paper l took down
his speech verbatim.
Ladies and gentlemen" he began
amid a sustained interruption from the
back. 4 beg pardOn-ladies, gentle
men and children. l must apologize. ]
had inadvertently omitted a conSid
cradle section of this audience" CTu-
mutt. during which the professor stood
with one hand raised and his enOr-
nous head nodding sympathetically as
if he were bestOwing a pontitical bless
ing upon the Crowd) Il have been
selected to move a vote of thanks TO
Mr.. Waldron for the very picturesque
and imaginative address to which we
have just listened There are points
in it with which l disagree, and it has
been my duty to indicate them as they
arose. but none the less Mr.. Waldron
has accomplished his object well, that
object being 10 give a simple and in
teresting account of what he conceives
to have been the history of our planet. |
Popular lectures are the easiest to lis
ten TO, but Mr. Waldron' Chere he
beamed and blinked at the lecturer
will excuse me when / say that they
misleading since they have to be grad
ed to the comprehension of an ignorant
audience. Qronical cheering1 Pop
ular lecturers are in their nature para
site" (Angry gesture of protest from
Mr.. Waldron.) They exploit for fame
or cash the work which has been done
by their INDECENT and unknown breth-
rem. One smallest new fact obtained
in the laboratory, one brick built into
the temple of science. far Outweighs
any secondhand exposition which
passes an idle hour. but can leave no
useful result behind it. l put forward
this obvious reflection not out of any
desire to diSparage Mr.. Waldron III
particular, but that you may not lose
your sense of proportion and mistake
the acolyte for the high priest" cat
this point Mr. Waldron whispered to
The chairman, who half rose and said
something severely to his water ca
rafe.) But enough of thisr' loud |
and prolonged cheers.)
Let me pass to some subject of
wider interest. What is the particular
point upon which l. as an original in
vestigator, have challenged our lectur- !
er's accuracy? 1t is upon the perma-
nence of certain types of animal life |
upon the earth. l do not speak upon
this subject as an amateur nor, may |
add. as popular lecturer, but I speak |
as one whose scientific conscience |
cOmpels him to adhere closely to facts |
when l say that Mr.. Waldron is very |
wrong in Eupposing that because he |
has never himself seen a so called pre-
historic animal therefore these crea- |
lures no longer exist They are in. |
deed, as he has said, our ancestors, |
but they are, if may use the expires. |
sion. our contemporary ancestors, who |
can still be found, with all their hid
eous and formidable characteristics, |
if one has but the energy and hardi-
hood TO seek their haunts Creatures