THE LOST SENSE

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 117, 14 November 1930, Page 15

THE LOST SENSE

WHAT AILS SOCIETY?

A WOULD WITHOUT WONDER

"The fault with existence is that wo are too busy living to live,'' writes Mr. Ken Alexander in the "Now Zealand Railways Magazine." "Wo are bored, bilious, blase. . . . The days of Wonder went with whiskers aud whatnots. There is a kick in Old Man Wonder. A child is happy as long as it is imbued with a sense of wonder; when it ceases to wonder it is no longer a wonder. Of course, there arc people who regard babies as mere instruments of torture, but the wise know that the man who is 50 per cent, child is 100 per cent. man. Knowledge is power, dear reader, but what is power? We-arc open to be searched.. "On the other hand, Wonder is a lack of definite knowledge which makes conjecture a pleasant pastime, and frees the mind from the limitations of Fact. Too many facts make a man a mere factotum. I'll wager that a lot of people lost a lot of fun and excitement when it was proved that to fall over the edge of the earth was impossible. The chief kick to be gained from ocean travel before the days of enlightenment must have lain in the danger of overshooting the terminus and prolonging the voyage ad iufluitum, even if the passenger did lose the benefit of the pink portion of his ticket. Nowadays the most one can anticipate from a circumnavigation of the globe is that he will make his point of departure hia point of arrival. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but too much is more than enough. Too many facts make man a bore. The flavour of wisdom lies not in the coie, There's meat in conjecture and virtue in An/iiothTng, I'll warrant, is just what it seems. The proof of the pudding is all in the And "not' in the knowledge of spices and Let'highbrows deny it, and egotists thunThe pl'nm in the pie of existence is - WONDER.