The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-03-01

Washington, D. c., March 1.-The
cave NAH is a myth in the opinion
Of Mr.. Chesterton. !
You, of course, know all about
the cave man. You know that he is
your prehistoric ancestor. that he
lived in a cave and carried . big
club. His method of getting mar
ried was to approach the woman of
his choice quietly from behind, tap
her on the head with his club and
drag her BY the hair to his cave.
The matrimonial method Of the
cave man seems to have made an
immense impression on the imagin-
atoms of all who are educated
enough to have heard of the cave
man at ali. II you have a habit
of kissing girls in the face Of such
opposition as they may offer, you
are Immediately denominated q
cave man. Even the gladstone flap
per knows all about the cave man.
1t is quite common to hear her say
that she likes the cave man meth
DDS.
Probably the popularity of the
cave man as an historical character
is due to that free-and-easy-dash
way Of his, which most of us Sc
cretly admire, but are unable to
practice by reason of conventions,
the police and little things like that.
Be- that as it may. MIR. Chester
ton simply makes the point that
there may never have been auy
cave man at all. You know all
about the cave man, but how do
you know that any such creature
actually existed? Have you studied
the evidence of his existence as
carefully, for example, as you
would study a bill which you sus-
pected Of being padded? You have
not. You have taken the existence
of the cave man. on trust. You
have seen him cartooned in the
comic papers. you have even read
novels about him. And he appeals
to your imagination. Therefore
you assume that he did exist. But
if you looked into the actual evil
Gence of his existence. you would
find that it consisted of few scat
tered bones, and great many rath-
er speculative conclusions which
the professors have deduced there
from. AS for his habit of hitting
ladies over the head with a club,
it is based ON practically nothing,
except perhaps, your own secret
yearning to do likewise. Mr.. Ches-
terton thinks it inherently improb-
able that the cave man ever bat
ted ladies over the head. And the
reason he thinks it 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 Gilbert
Keith Chestertbn is. He is fam
GUS English journalist and author
who has recently been touring this
country and giving lectures, as have
so many other more or less emf
nent Englishmen Of late.
Since the war it has become
quite the custom for English auth
ors to make pilgrimage to Amer
lea and recruit their finances by a
lecture tour. AS Mr.. Chesterton re-
marked, the American people have
positively heroic capacity for Civ
ing and receiving lectures. He
might have added that they have an
Unsuitable curiosity as to what
celebrities look like and sound like,
for It is that curiosity, rather than
a real interest in ideas. which re-
cruits the audiences of British lee
turers. In this respect Mr.. Ches-
terton gives an especially large
moneys worth. For he is one OF
the largest and most picturesque
men that the race has ever produc-
ed. This statement may be an
advertisement for him, but it does
not make any difference, because
his audiences are as large as his
auditoriums will hold anyway. 4
native lecturer in this country may
sometimes have to address a good
many empty seats, but let one come
from abroad, let him but wear the
label European" or still better,
the label British" and he will i'm
mediately rival the movies and the
follies.
With the rise of America as a