Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-03-12
BRITISH AUTHOR
SAYS CAVE MAN
IDEA PURE MYTH
Tales of Club Tap on Head
and Drag by Hair to Den
Without Foundation.
SAME IN PAST AS NOW

prehistoric ancestor, that he lived In
cave and carried big club. His method
Of getting married was to approach the
woman Of his choice quietly from be-
hind, tap her on the head with his club
and drag her by the hair to his cave.
The matrimonial method of the cave
nan seems to have made an immense i'm
preston on the imaginattons Of all who
are educated enough to have heard OF
the cave man at all. If you have habit
Of kissing girls in the face of such oppo-
sition as they may offer, you are imme-
diately denominated a cave man. Even
the gladstone fapper knows all about
the cave man. 1t is quite common to
hear her say that she likes the cave man
methods
Probably the popularity Of the cave
man as an historical character is due
to that free and-easy slap-dash way of
his, which most of US secretly admire,
but are unable to practice by reason Of
conventions, the police and little things
like that.
Be that as IT may, Mr.. Chesterton sim
ply makes the point that there may
never have been any cave man ut all.
You know all about the cave man, but
how do you know that any such creature
actually existedf Have you studied the
evidence Of his existence as carefully, for
example, as you would study a bill which
you suspected of being padded? You
have not. You have taken the existence
Of the cave man on trust You have seen
him cartooued In the comic papers, you
have even read novels about him. And
he appeals to your ina gination. There
fore, you assume that he did exist. But
If you looked into the actual evidence
OF his existence, you would find that It
consisted II a few scattered bones. and
great many rather speculative conclu-
sions which the professors have deduced
therefrom. AS for his habit Of hitting
Indies over the head with club, it is
based on practically nothing. except, per-
haps your own secret yearning to do
likewise Mr. Chesterton thinks ii In
herenUy improbable that the cave man
ever batted 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 re-
luctaut as TO require such treatment
CHESTERTOS,
FAMOUS JoURNALIsT.
At this point 1t might be well to pause
and explain who MIR. Gilbert Keith Ches-
terton IS. He is a famous English jour
ualist 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 II has become quite the
custom for English authors TO make
pilgrimage to America ana recruit their
finances by a lecture tour As Mr.. Ches-
terton remarked. the American people
have a positively heroic capacity for Civ
ing and receiving lectures. He might
have added that they have an Unsuitable
curiosity as 70 what celebrities look like
and sound Ike. for Ii is that curiosity,
rather than a real interest In ideas,
which recruits the audiences OF British
lecturers. In this respect MT Chesterton
gives an especially large moneys worth.
For he is one OF the largest and most
picturesque men that the race has ever
produced This statement may be an
advertisement for him, but It does not
make any difference. because his aud
fences are as large as his auditorium will
hold anyway. native lecturer in this
country may sometimes have to address
good many empty seats. but let one
come from England. let him but wear
the label European" or still better. the
label British" and he will Immediately
rival. the movies and the folHes.
With the rise OF America as patron
OF lecturers and buyer of books these
distinguished visitors have become dis
Greet and even complimentary. They do
not blurt out their disparaging ideas
about America ir the crude way that
Dickens did, for example. They may
try to improve us, but they do SO very
gently. SO gently that often we do not
realize what they are driving at.
Thus, Mr.. Chesterton lectures on the
the ignorance Of the educated. Whether
he considers that there is a special mes
sage for America IN that lecture we do
not know. But certainly this is a cOun-
try Ia which the educated display their
ignorance profusely.
IGNORANCE OF
THE EDUCATED.
Mr.. Chesterton speaks in a tone OF
gentle irony, and makes his points In a
somewhat roundabout fashion, so that
most OF his hearers, while mildly en-
J0ying his witty Illustrations, never
catch the main idea at all. The main
idea seems to be that m0stof us who
consider ourselves educated really know
nothing at all. 1t would add greatly to
our dignity and sincerity If we could
grasp the one simple fact that In spite
of all our education we are abysmalIy
ignorant.
You have gone to school, you have
gone to college you are called an ed
ucated man. Therefore, you consider
yourself competent to pass upon almost
any subject that comes up. You express
nnal and definite views on literature and
art and Bolshevism and New Thought
ana the League of Nations. Occasionally
you will admit sort of ignorance.
Il don't know anything about music"
you win say, but l know what l like"
But you say it in a way that implies
that what you like must be the last word
in taste and judgment.
Now, Mr.. Chester challenges you to
pause and consider how much you really
know about anything. You lave definite
opinions about fiction. Have you ever
studied 1t? Do you really read any
thing but the magazines and the best
sellers? Is there actually any reason to
believe that your opinion of a book is
worth a whoOp to any one?
And so of politics. art, music and
science. What are these glib opinions of
yours actually mased upon? What books
have you read on these subjects? II
called upon to write down all that you
knew about one of them, how much cou;d
you write, and what would the screed be
worth?
Mr.. Chesterton expresses the opinion
that the ignorant peasant, who some
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