Arizona republican., 1921-03-02

 fore you assume that he did exist. But if you looked into the actual evidence of his existence, you would find that It consisted of a few scattered bones, and a great many rather speculative con clusions which the professors have de- duced therefrom. As for his habit of hitting ladies over ene head with sxcept perhaps your own secret yearn- ing to do likewise. Mir. Chesterton thinks it inherently improbable that the cave man ever batted ladies over the head. And the reason he thinks it 1 improbable is that he cannot believe the ladies have changed that much since the Stone Age. He doubts that they were ever so reluctant as to re- quire such treatment.
 The Influx of Genius
 At this point it might be well to pause and explain who Mir Gilbert keath Chesterton is. He is a famous English journalist and author who has recently been touring this country and giving lectures, as have so many other more or less eminent Englishmen of 1 late.
 Since the war it has become quite the custom for English authors to make a pilgrimage to America and recruit [ their finances by a lecture tour As MT. Chesterton remarked. the American ] people have positive heroic capacity f Tor giving and receiving lectures He 1 might have added that they have an unsuitable curiosity as to what cele- brities look like and sound like. for it is that curiosity, rather than real interest in ideas. which recruits the audiences of British lecturers. In this respect Mir. Chesterton gives an es- i pecially large moneys worth. For he l is one of the largest and most nictur- esque men that the race has ever pro- 1 duced. This statement may be an ad- Fersisement for him. but it does not l make any difference beca,,sa bie audiences are as large as his a,,dttors Ium will hold anyway. A native leo turer in this country may Sometimes | nave 10 address a good many ennntI, i seats, but let one come from ahroad l let him wear the label European. or i still better, the label British and he the folIies. Si'0'
 With the rise of America as . n..ror ot lecturers and a buyer, of hooks
 these distinguished visitors have ha- come discreet and even comn1imen. tary. They do not blurt out thei,. die. paraging ideas about America in tbs crude way that Dickens did. for ox> ample. They may try to improve ns but they do so very gently So eeptIv that often we do not realize what tbey are driving at. Thus, Mir. Chesterton lectures on tbe ignorance of the educated Whetber he considers that there is a snecial message for America in that lecture we do not know. But certainly this is country in which the educated dis play their ignorance profusely.
 Mir Chesterton's Message
 MT Chesterton speaks in a tone ot gentle irony, and makes his points ir a somewhat roundabout fashion. SC
 that most of his hearers, while mildly
 enjoying his witty illustrations. never
 catch the main idea at all The mair
 Idea seems to be that most of us, who
 consider ourselves educated, really Know nothing at all. It would ado
 greatly to our dignity and sincerity il
 we could grasp the one simple fact
 that, in spite Of all our education, we
 are abysmally ignorant.
 You have gone to school; you have
 gone to college: you are called an edu- cated man. Therefore, you consider
 yourself competent to pass upon al- most any subject that comes up YoI
 express final and definite views or literature and art and Bolsheviki anc New Thought and the League of Ma
 tlons. Occasionally you will admit { sort of ignorance
 don't know anything about mu-
 SIC you will say, but I know what iIhe; But you say it in way that thphes that what you like must be the
 last word in taste and judgment. Now, Mr. Chesterton challenges you
 10 pause and consider how much you ->aIy know about anything. YoI
 nave definite opinions about fiction
 1taVe you ever studied it? Do you
 really read anything but the maga
 zLhes and the best sellers? Is there actually any reason to believe thar your opinion of a book is worth (
 whoop to anybody?
 And so of politics. art, music ana sclence- What are these glib opinion.
 of yours actually based upon? Wha. l books have you read on these sub ' Jects2 If called upon to write dowr . all that you knew about one of them how much could YOU write. and wha. would the screed be worth?
 Mr. ChestertOn expresses the opinio, 5 that the ignorant peasant, who some times cannot even read or write. i very important to civilization. perhap the best part of it. Why? Recaus, } the peasant at least knows what h, knows and also what he does no , know. He knows some things abou } birds and beasts and stars and tree . and he can tell you about these in ar