The Washington times., 1922-10-01
BY C. k. CEIESTERTON-.
MiSte "ESQue Tommy Gets i'm Front of FatherTe
of Master i'm Many Ways Much Higher One Than That of Esquire
Easier TO Make Rows Than Rules HE Points Out. .,

VuE' ~ -
vert his ferocity into more fruitful
social work. And I should sugses,
that it might be diverted. no;
against those who refuse tn &c
dress us as squires. but against
those who refuse 10 treat us as
citizens. ..'....
AMUSINGLY ENGLISH.
But there Is something much
more queer In the business. We
might pardon people who insist on
being punctiliously right; but these
people are punctiliously wrong.
There is something ,amusingiy Eng.
lish about being very exact about
things that are entirely inexact.
A nobleman of older times might
have been very strict about the
blazonry of his coat-of-arms: a
knight might have been very
strict about the terms and titles OF
his order Of knighthood. But we
are not In the least strict about
the title of Esquire.
Most Of the people who most se-
verely insist on II have no right
to It at all. 1t is a concession given
by the general good humor and
good fellowship which are the vir-
tues Of England. But the unrea.
son which is the vice Of England
makes people proceed to treat a
gift as II 1t were right. and to be
bad.tempered about something that
has its whole origin in good TEN.
per.
The old original meaning Of an
Esquire has entirely disappeared.
1t really represented the rank be-
low knighthood, which was gen
orally 'expectant Of knighthood.
The Squire in Chaucer. for in.
stance. q bound to the service Of
then knight In Chaucer. The
clerk who was attacked H. a
somewhat demented manner by
the sensitive gentleman Nigh:
very well have retorted by asking
that humble squire from what
might he expected the accolade
when he had won his spurs. l do
not think that Chaucer's knight
would have given 1t to him. ex-
cept after an apology to the clerk.
As q matter Of fact. the title
OF Mister 10 IN many ways q
much higher one than that OF
Esquire. Mister is, Of course,
merely a corruption Of the digni.
fled and dominant word Master.
1t seems strange that one Of the
strongest words in the world has
become one Of the weakest wnrds
In the world. Yet this has been
done merely by the changing Of a
single vowel. But such changes
make all the difference In the
magic influence Of words; as any
one can see by making the sub
sttution in the modern use Of
this particular word.
II we were reading some sensa.
tional romance, and cams 70 the
passage about the mortal peril
Of Sir Marmaduke: with one
vigorous movement he mastered
the maddened steed," the effcc'
would certainly be weakened II he
only Mustered 1t. In those new
novels in which a suburban hus-
band models himself on q myth
cal character called q Cave-Man,
and is admired for being master
ful, 1t would never do II he were
merely misterful.
Curiously enough. we retain the
stronger word for the weaker
party; we apply It to the little
boy and not to the grown man.
Tommy is a strong and stately
master, while his father remains
a miserable mister.
MISUSE OF TERM.
But II is none the less true that
the word itself, whatever our mis-
use Of it, really does stand for
mastery. 1t stands for something
infinitely more powerful and I'm
portant than the fine shade of
feudal etiquette which Is all that
is represented by esquire. The
word master really belongs to the
great world Of the medieval
guilds. A master was a man who
had produced q masterpiece.
Let Mr.. Jones and Mr.. Smith
congratulate themselves on the
thought that they are supposed to
have produced masterpieces. More
over. the title really implied that
a man was the master Of his own
work, Of his own tools. of his own
shop, of his own full status in
society.
The title of squire did not really
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