THE NON-EXPERT

Evening Star, Issue 22454, 26 September 1936, Page 2

THE NON-EXPERT

[Written by Mauy Scott, for the ‘ Evening Star.’] Some ingenuous person is reported to have said that Shakespeare’s plays were nothing but a stringy of quotations. Tho same criticism might bo applied to Pope. If one comes across an heroic couplet, smart, witty, eminently quotable, the chances are a hundred to one that it is Pope’s. The sentiments seem to me to be often enough of tho trite and obvious order—“ What oft was thought, but ne’er so well express’d ” —but then perhaps I am prejudiced, for I must confess that 1 do not appreciate tho heroic couplet, that Pope’s work docs not greatly appeal to me, and that I find hi? personality singularly unattractive. Nothing has been more often quoted than that old tag about A little learning is a dang’rous thing; . Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring.

It is the favourite quotation of every schoolmaster, beloved of professors, parents, and all whose sad duty it is to improve the minds of the young. Experts swear by it and art connoisseurs would be lost without it. One and all combine to hurl it at the head of the dabbler. It is very ungrateful of them, for where would they be without tho dabbler and the ignoramus? I speak with feeling, because lately it has been my fate to spend some time in the company of experts—of which particular brand I shall not say, lest a libel action be my undoing. Yet they would have no grounds for offence, for I listened to their talk with the greatest interest, and from it camo to certain conclusions. The first is that we should not begrudge to experts their manifest superiority; they need some consolation, for they have rather a dull time, simply because they are experts. They take things. as a mere matter of course that are a source of terror and wonder to your amateur. “It’s all in the way of business,” says the soldier, yawning prodigiously as ho fills in his report with doings that would make, the fortune of any writer to the 8.0. P. “ There’s nothing wonderful in that,” remarks the mountaineer, as ho tolls tales that send the icy wind of imagination whistling through your hair “It was a nice, simple little 0p.,” smiles the doctor negligently, as he details to his colleagues feats of surgery that seem to the horrified outsider to approach black magic. They have to talk like that because they are experts. If they displayed any of the enthusiasm of the ordinary mortal, they would immediately fall from their high estate; a hint of excitement would reveal the fact that they were not as omniscient as they pretended. They have drunlk deep of the Pierian stream and are the greater, but not the gayer, for the draught. That is why a crowd of experts talking together are as uninteresting as a guide book. But, give them the splendid spur of an interested but ignorant audience, and they become transformed at once. They descend to your level, and their talk gains in interest what it loses in technicality; their very condescension is a human quality. A little learning may he a dangerous thing to the individual in the audience, but to the lecturer or talker it is an attraction, a veritable godsend. That is why experts cease to he dull and become charming when they are talking, not to their equals, but to their inferiors. There is a stupid idea that you should not encourage people to talk shop. As a matter of fact, every man talks better on his own subject, particularly when he is condescending to a lower intelligence. I have heard people Seriously maintain that you should not lead a teacher to talk about his school, a doctor about his patients, a lawyer of his cases. If you follow this ridiculous rule you will miss a lot of pleasure in your contact with the expert, for naturally you will see.and hear him at his best when he is most interested. It is not merely pathetic to see_ a crowd of teachers heroically refraining from discussing shop and talking about politics, a knot of farmers avoiding tho subject of fixed prices and painfully discussing education, a couple of cooks refusing to exchange recipes and babbling of the weather —it is a wanton waste of good social material. All they need is an amiable fool for a listener —such a fool, for example, as I am proud and happy to be—and they will one and all mount their hobby-horses and career joyously along the road to conversational success. This talk of Pope’s about “ a little learning ” is really merely the expression of bis 'own gross egotism. What would, become of "the experts if there were no amateurs to show off to? When you are inclined to regret your ignorance on certain topics, take always this comfort to your soul; you provide the ideal audience, and where would our most gifted talkers be without that. Given a human interest in people and their hobbies, you need not be ashamed of having drunk no deep draughts of their learning; your sipping has left vou with a splendid legacy—tho Ignorance that serves as a perfect toil to the learning of others. Nor need these experts be all oi the intellectual order. Have yon ever heard a really accomplished housewife laving down the law to a tyro at the game? Or has it been your envious lot to listen to a traveller describing his journeys? The other day a muchtravelled man actually had the effrontery to say to me, a wistml stay-at-home, “ You get bored to death by these endless trips across the world when it’s been your job for years. J retorted passionately, Then all I can sav is that you experts lose a lot ol fun. Give me the chance of even one trio and I should not complain of boredom He looked at me with surprise that changed to interest and presently he began to talk. At the end of an evening filled with the most enchanting travellers’ tales, he suddenly retreated once more into his expert s shell and. when I thanked him. said merely, “ There’s nothing in it, really. You led me on to prattle.” But I had bad my reward, one that falls often to your lot if you will encourage the expert to talk onJus own subject, not try to inveigle him into discussing yours. Nor will he despise vou for your little learning; rather Will he cherish the memory of an audience that for a time showed linn his own subject in a newer, more interesting light. Of course you could not expect Pope to look at it like that; lie was essentially an intellectual snob, must always be in the limelight himself was insanely jealous of another s pre-eminence. In spite of Pope’s scorn, the world likes the intelligent ignoramus. However, we profess _to despise tho expert’s habit of talking shop we selves not averse to irivin’g injiHKpn-" whenever we can doing so. The in most of us, and we down the law to anyto receive it grate-

fully. The person who does not resent instruction is a tremendous social asset. Conversation will not run dry in the presence of his intelligent questions, whether they be upon the proper management of a gas stove or upon the reform of the League of Nations. Moreover, he is that delightful creature, one that seldom knows boredom. Life to him is filled with pleasure and excitements that no expert can experience. He may not have drunk deep of the Pierian stream, but he has paddled about in it very happily, and at least learnt to appreciate the prowess of his superiors.