Evening star., 1932-03-18
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

were overlooked by our political gentle
man who set himself up as weather
prophet and then got angry because he
failed.
that his pretense had been discovered.
No one in this world likes to be caught
Of ANYTHING. It is another curious
trait in human nature that man Is
reaxonablv well satisfied even If he
realizes his bluff is seen through just
so long as it is not called.
4
We have the pretty spectacle Of able
men speaking learnedly on subjects
about which they know nothing, and
such are the conditions OF modern life
that few dare to say a word in opposi-
ton to them.
Nobody of any intelligence at all is
fooled In the least, however. Shoe
maker, stick to thy last" Is an old. old
saying one as applicable today as when
! it was coined.
Alexander Pope wisely pointed to the
necessity for tasting deeply OF learning
II one is to set ones self up as moni-
tor Of mankind.
In a world of such diversity as this
displays a superficial acquaintance will
not do II one is to rush In where
angels fear to tread" If one is going
to be an oracle, one must train for
oracleship.
II one insists on displaying universal
knowledge, one must do more than
make chance remarks in the hope that
time will bear them out.
* y
Modern life has demonstrated one
thing to a nicety-that the specialist in
any line has a better chance than he
who might be called "diffusist."
A scattering of forces does not per-
init that concentration of mind and
effort which makes for success in any
walk of life
But if this is true, 1t is equally so
that narrowing ones work has re-
along the line.
II a man concentrates on the manu-
facture Of automobile engines, what
right has he to expect people to con-
slider him a philosopher?
His general ideas as to life and liv-
Ing may be on a par with those Of most
men, but that they are any better, and
especially any truer, Is an entirely diff
ferent thing.
Surely It is this inner realization
that specialization does tend to narrow
ones very life and viewpoint that i'm
pels many an otherwise sensible fellow
to mistake success for authority to
speak forth views on any and every
thing.
What still sticks in the craw Of the
honest observer is that such men will
not admit, even to themselves, that
others may understand their failings
and their lack of universal knowledge.
Why should they mind their failings
being pointed out to them? Surely no
human being Is so foolish in this world
as to believe that any one man In this
day and age can make even a pretense
to knowing it all"
Perhaps at some time in the dim
past, when mankind had reduced life
and living to a scheme of things, fairly
uniformly held the world around In
civilization, there might have been men
OF such mental grasp that they had a
right to pretend to universal knowl-
edge" as such.
The widening OF the horizons of
science has left that time In the past.
The palpable evidences on every hand
OF specialized knowledge in the form
of machines, engines, chemicals, utili-
zation Of laws of physics, of universal
laws, leaves the mind Of the individual
staggering under the weight Of all there
Is to know. II David could stand in
amazement before the wonder Of life,
so can We Of today; and that very life
today presents many aspects Of which
he was ignorant, so that our wonder Is
all the greater and our sense of ulti-
mate Ignorance all the mightier. How
wonderful are the works Of Thy hands
o Lord" Is even truer today than
when David sang