A QUESTION AND ITS ANSWER.

King Country Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 49, 27 September 1907, Page 3

A QUESTION AND ITS ANSWER.

._ [By " W.B."]

I have been asked : " What is Evolution ? " This question implies no ignorance per be but rather that many latterday discoveries, and their terms are not quite understood by the man in the street. Evolution then in its scientific sense may be construed : A changing growth outwards from a centre, and each growth a greater perfection than that which preceded it. And in an ethical sense: An increasing perception of the relative position and duty of man to his fellow, which long ages of unscruplous possession and oppression by creed hierarchies and wealth have denied the ignorant, the weak, and the honest. And in a general sense: A combined advance along all lines of elevation of thought, alleviation of pain and distress —a conception that the benefits accruing from labour shall be in such distribution that the burden of one be the burden of all, and the allround happiness of man. I will illustrate Evolution by the simplest symbol to hand —a child. From the instant of its birth it is surrounded by a set of conditions to which it must uncompromisingly accommodate itself or die. To that end it is supplied with organs in a state of embrionage; that is they are undeveloped: its lungs are so fashioned that it cara inhale enrichments from theair tovitaliseits blood; its stomach is a laboratory where are distilled _ all those "tender juices" which in time " shall be hardened into wood." As the child feels its strength its first attempt at locomotion is a crawling on hands and knees, and as its backbone changes from grissle into bone, it ventures an upright position, and in short laps, attended by frequent falls, exercises its ligaments and_ tendons, and draws a household audience to admire this wonderthing. During its growth it develops an appetite which relishes everything it can lay its hands upon : from earthworm casts to path-gravel, and requires a constant supervision lest it consume too much of these confections. Every moment of its existence is an Evolution from a central imperfect self, toward the artificial standards of custom and fashion which have evolved from previous generations, thus: when its mother because of her "custom" of cleanliness places the child in a bathtub, the probabilities are that as it is not of the fish family, it will resent the incongenial contact of water, and mark its disapproval by a series of howls, which though supremely irritating are yet part of Evolution's expedients to perfect its laringial formation. But as the mother cannot disregard the calls of " custom," and callous to all appeal repeats the bathing process, it will presently get inured or used to and acquire a liking therefore; especially if the mother has diligently distracted its attention with promises, meaningless noises, and miniature waterfalls squeezed from the bath sponge, or may be artful falsetto calls to pussy to come and be bathed, and other ridiculous inanities, yet necessary adjuncts loan Evolution from a grubby brat to a sweetly clean and kissable everybody's pet. As the child ages, a law of Nature endows it with an incurable curiosity, so that everything at all smashable, or the mother values, has to be placed beyond its reach ; hence the origin of the old familiar household motto: " Don't touch ! " and to memorise its importance, that far-too-infrequent smack, which, though painful, is a token that Evolution cannot expand to its proper limits without some pain, and the result is very beneficial.

But Evolution is also a matter of degree and bounded by its opportunities, and as Nature insists that her decress be handed on, she permits them to form steps to a further and wider expansion, hence, man sends his child to school to perpetuate and extend his own experience. But for some subtle not-yet-analysed reason his child abhors school with an abysmal loathing, and with an intelligence, if otherwise applied, might discover the origin of life, evades that school as a quite unwarranted infliction ; and that the bird-nest and fishing absolutely require no higher Evolution ; and much cane and supless bed is necessary before it can taste and assimilate the beauties of the path leading to this higher Evolution. But investigate its secrets as we may some elusive secrets Evolution keeps to itself: Why about the period when the pipe-voice of the child changed into the coarser guttural of the man, does the half-grown creature suddenly assume a dictatorial tone of knowledge, and aspersively rebut the wisdom of its elders as " d rot; " and with the airy freedom of the wind-tossed fluff answer back impertinent absurditities ? And when the old folks, with a minatory loudness, insist upon compliance with experience dearly bought do these unfledged bantlings retire unvanquished muttering hotly : " Doddering old idiots ? " Why is this so ? For no matter how often the downlipped seer's sandfounded castles topple down, it was never his fault! And when the old folks rest in their oblivion, and grey hair and hard experience transfered to fresh heads pause to review their life's mistakes, why do they sigh and, murmur : " The old folks were not so I foolish after all ? "

And why when the mating season arrives and the lads and lasses blush when they meet; and they stand before their glasses and curl, and primp, and preen, ahd call these mumming antics " Love ?" And when they have chosen partners, and introduce their choice to the parental presence as: "Miss GolcondaTompkins," Or: "Mr Very Niceman." And the old folks wag a wiser head, and see untold discrepancies, and of a wider wisdom disapprove? Why do these fancy muddled martyrs straightway disregard grey-haired pantology and mate : and yet a season later, finding the weak links in the chain, sit them down in ashes, scrape their sores with wail and potsherd, and swallow rue and sorrow ? And it is here that Evolution fails ! Here meets its doughtiest antagonists! And from this invulnerable battlefield retires defeated \