Page:Under Dispute (1924).pdf/282

 lectual by-path leads to this central theme. Most firmly do I believe with "the little Queen-Anne man" that

and how shall we reach him save through the pages of history? It is the foundation upon which are reared the superstructures of sociology, psychology, philosophy and ethics. It is our clue to the problems of the race. It is the gateway through which we glimpse the noble and terrible things which have stirred the human soul.

A cultivated American poet has said that men of his craft "should know history inside out, and take as much interest in the days of Nebuchadnezzar as in the days of Pierpont Morgan." This is a spacious demand. The vast sweep of time is more than one man can master, and the poet is absolved by the terms of his art from severe study. He may know as much history as Matthew