k coat; a genius out of two sonnets and half a dozen cocktails; a
dramatic "star" out of a lisp and a giggle; a two-column news story out
of the fragment of a fact; a multitude out of three men and a band; a
crusade out of one man and a press agent; a novel out of the trimmings
of earlier novels; a reputation out of an accident; a captain of
industry out of an itching palm; a philanthropist out of a beneficent
smile and a platitude; a critic out of a wise look and a fountain pen;
and a social prophet out of pretty small potatoes. I need not allude
here to the process of making mountains out of molehills, beams out of
motes, and entire summers out of single swallows.

But mind, I do not mean that I was ever sceptical about the canals.
Indeed, I have always admired the way in which their existence was
demonstrated. There have always been two ways of proving that something
is true. One way is to bring forward sixteen reasons why, let us say,
the moon is made of green cheese. The other way is to assume that the
moon is made of green cheese and to answer sixteen objections brought
forward against the theory. I have always preferred the second method,
because it throws the burden of proof on your opponent. There is no
argument under the sun that cannot be refuted. Obviously, then, it is an
advantage to let your opponents supply the argument while you supply the
refutation.

Neglect this precaution, and you are in difficulties from the start. You
contend, for instance, that the moon must be made of cheese because the
moon and cheese are both round, as a rule. True, says your opponent, but
so are doughnuts, women's arguments, and, occasionally, the wheels on a
trolley car. The moon and cheese, you go on, both come after dinner.
Yes, says your opponent, but so do unwelcome visitors, musical
comedies, and indigestion. Then, you say, there is the cow who jumped
over the moon. Would she have resorted to such extraordinary procedure
if she had not perceived that the moon was made of cheese from her own
milk? Well (says your opponent), the cow might merely have been trying
to gain a broader outlook upon life. And here you are thirteen reasons
from the end, and your hands hopelessly full.

Now compare the advantages of the other method. You adopt a resolute
bearing and declare: "The moon is made of green cheese." It is now for
your opponent to speak. He argues: "But that would make the moon's
ingredients different from those of the