The Washington times., 1937-02-04

and seemed to be making more
intensive survey of his visitor.
L beg your pardon" he said,
with deliberation, Il must have
misunderstood"
For an instant, Newell debated
the adviSability of letting the mat
ter rest there, but the cavernous
eyes insisted on integrity. They
did not pry. 1t was rather as II
they entreated.
There was no misunderstand-
ing" he found himself confesSing.
II did tell the young lady that my
name was Parker There are
reasons why I have"
"You need not explain" inter-
posed the Dean, unless it COM
forts you to do so. I dare say your
reasons are not dishonorable, else
you would not have confided your
real name Tell me why you
wanted to see me-"
There was something peculiarly
intimate in the tone of the low
pitched voice, something almost
paternal; not the slightest hint of
a reserved suspicion or a sup
pressed curiosity. Paige felt him
self in the presence of a powerful
personality whose scrutiny of him
was not that of parlor photogra-
pher but rather that of radio
logist.
Thank you, sir" said Paige
gratefully, drawing his chair a
little closer. Il came to see you
about your-about the address you
delivered here yesterday morn
ing You talked about the
terms of a stabilized life. The idea
attracts me. 1 wondered if you
might not be willing to pursue the
subject little farther for my per
sonal benefit. I am quite in need
of it."
"Now-apropos the stability-it
would be quite simple, at least for
healthy minds, to manage ones
own machinery if it we're not for
the confusion of ones environment
and the uncertainty Of other mems
decisions What we most need
to drill into ourselves is that we are
essentially alike, and that-in the
problems of each are
the problems of all. This is the
first requirement Of any man who
hopes to achieve poise-stability
. If you want better informa-
tion on the matter, I suggest a
painstaking study of the Sermon
on the Moupt-and the poems Of
Walt Whitman"
The Dean sat in silence for
while; then, stirring from his
reverie, he asked gently, Have
been answering your questions
at all?"
do you think that we evolved
from something pre-human, Dean
Harcourt?" queried Paige, not
quite sure whether the question
would fit into the thoughtful
churchman's picture of the valiant
pilgrimage.
We've been a little inclined to
impose on that word human"
replied the Dean. Its the arbi-
trary names we assign to things
that fog our thinking. We've al
ways done it; have gone to war,
again and again, over words and
names. You may recall that in
the legend reporting the creation
of Adam, the first thing that he
did, after surveying his surround
ingS, was to name everything in
sight. That has been our chief
occupation ever since-naming
things, and getting into trouble
with one another over it. It's
very difficult to fix the day when
the remote cave-ancestors of Pithe-
canthropuS achieved the right to
be called human according to
our present valuation of that
word. It's as difficult as to define
the exact moment when an un-
born child may be properly re-
ferred to as human being. Per
haps we might do clearer think
ing if we permitted ourselves to
speak of degrees of 'humanness.
Paige found himself heartily en-
joylng Dean Harcourt's technique
of clearing away the brush before
stating his views.
Now - our chief trouble in
thinking about evolution is that
we fail to understand that it is
going on today This creature
with the irresistible desire to rise
is still evolving. His physical re-
adjustmenst to meet the impera.
tive demands of new climates,
new soils and radically altered
modes of existence, seem to have
been completed. But that does
not mean that his evolution is fin
ished.
TO Be COntinued)
Copyright, 1897, by Lloyd c. Douglass.
kNy