Evening star., 1928-04-07

Most human beings have an intense
desire to see celebrities. They will
stand herded in long. packed lines
along curbs IN order to catch even
glimpse Of great men.
Perhaps they are right. Humanity
has great deal OF pratical common
sense packed away in its usual actions.
One can never be sure that the people
are not right.
There are some who believe, however.
that the surest way to miss seeing"
great man, celebrity. literary
lion." or famous parsonage, is to seek
him out In person.
These feel sure that the natural
turn of events ought to be relied upon to
bring one in contact with the great.
that If the roll of chance does not so
eventuate,. then fate has decreed that
the twain shall never meet.
This is not so much a belief in fate
as divine certainty that this rush.
ing about In search of greatness is
futile. Greatness and littleness do not
mix except when they do, of course)
Besides. the greatness OF g--at men
is something which goes forth from
them as a sort of incense, a natural
atmosphere, something like fog. en-
veloping the far and the near. the
great, the near-great, and the rest
of us.
The best part Of great men is what
they do to our minds and hearts, The
very fact that we have natural desire
to look at them, or shake their hand,
shows beyond any doubt whatsoever
that the magic OF their greatness al
ready has got in its work
The stir in our hearts. the urge in
our minds--these things are, in truth,
the very great man himself, in so far
as he has any legitimate relation to us.
The rest of him belongs TO his friends,
his associates.
AS for ourself, we would not walk
across the street to look at the great
est man In the world. whoever he may
be. In fact, we would deliberately re-
frain from doing SO.
Shall We run the risk of finding that
our hero has wart on the side OF his
nose. and is Just little bit boorish?
This great novelist, whose name is
in every ones mouth-had we not bet
ter let him remain perfect, as he Is in
our Imagination, rather than pin him
down to earth. as a scientist might
bug under microscope?
After all that is just what most
people do when they go out of their
way to force themselves upon those
whom circumstances. ability or her
itage. or combination of these, have
brought TO the top OF the human
heap.
No gaping spectator consciously does
this. ii is true. any more than he gen.
orally takes out pencil and paper TO
jot down items under the heading:
Defects In My Hero"
Man has natural inclination to-
ward a leveling process. Like water,
he tends lin the mass) to smooth him
self out Whole nations have under
taken this experiment on q wholesale
scale.
Might one dare to say that the gem
erality of mankind heartily. though
secretly, resents great men?
With one side OF their mouth they
applaud, with the other they detract.
One eye glitters in praise, the other in
envy One large ear is open to every
word that lauds and magnifies. the
other superstretched to catch a syllable
of caiumny. One leg advances to stand
on tiptoe, the other Is slightly raised to
place an imaginary kick on the illus
trious seat of the trousers OF the great
man. One arm Is raised high 10
Heaven in a gesture CT supreme enthusi-
aSm, the other has at its end fist with
fingers clenched ever SO slightly, ready