THE PLEASURES OF IGNORANCE

BY ROBERT LYND

LONDON

GRANT RICHARDS LTD.

ST MARTIN'S STREET

1921

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY THE RIVERSIDE PRESS LIMITED

EDINBURGH

TO JAMES WINDER GOOD

CHAPTER PAGE

I. THE PLEASURES OF IGNORANCE 11

II. THE HERRING FLEET 19

III. THE BETTING MAN 29

IV. THE HUM OF INSECTS 40

V. CATS 51

VI. MAY 61

VII. NEW YEAR PROPHECIES 70

VIII. ON KNOWING THE DIFFERENCE 82

IX. THE INTELLECTUAL SIDE OF HORSE-RACING 91

X. WHY WE HATE INSECTS 102

XI. VIRTUE 114

XII. JUNE 123

XIII. ON FEELING GAY 132

XIV. IN THE TRAIN 141

XV. THE MOST CURIOUS ANIMAL 149

XVI. THE OLD INDIFFERENCE 158

XVII. EGGS: AN EASTER HOMILY 167

XVIII. ENTER THE SPRING 176

XIX. THE DAREDEVIL BARBER 186

XX. WEEDS: AN APPRECIATION 195

XXI. A JUROR IN WAITING 205

XXII. THE THREE-HALFPENNY BIT 215

XXIII. THE MORALS OF BEANS 224

XXIV. ON SEEING A JOKE 233

XXV. GOING TO THE DERBY 243

XXVI. THIS BLASTED WORLD 253

Acknowledgments are due to "The New Statesman," in which all but oneof these essays appeared. "Going to the Derby" appeared in "The DailyNews."—R.L.

I

THE PLEASURES OF IGNORANCE

It is impossible to take a walk in the country with an averagetownsman—especially, perhaps, in April or May—without being amazedat the vast continent of his ignorance. It is impossible to take awalk in the country oneself without being amazed at the vast continentof one's own ignorance. Thousands of men and women live and diewithout knowing the difference between a beech and an elm, between thesong of a thrush and the song of a blackbird. Probably in a moderncity the man who can distinguish between a thrush's and a blackbird'ssong is the exception. It is not that we have not seen the birds. Itis simply that we have not noticed them. We have been surrounded bybirds all our lives, yet so feeble is our observation that many of uscould not tell whether or not the chaffinch

...

BU KİTABI OKUMAK İÇİN ÜYE OLUN VEYA GİRİŞ YAPIN!

Sitemize Üyelik ÜCRETSİZDİR!