l things: the
things that recur; they are as old as springtime, as old as
daybreak--as old as Youth.

CHAPTER X

Who is G.K.C.?

THE BOER WAR--and the whole country enthusiastically behind it. The
Liberal Party as a whole went with the Conservatives. The leading
Fabians--Bernard Shaw, Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Webb, Hubert Bland, Cecil
Chesterton and the "semi-detached Fabian" H. G. Wells--were likewise
for the war. Only a tiny minority remained in opposition, most of
whom were pacifists or cranks of one kind or another. To the sane
minority of this minority Gilbert found himself belonging. It is
something of a tribute to the national feeling at such a moment of
tension that (as an American has noted) "Chesterton was the one
British writer, utterly unknown before, who built up a great
reputation, and it was gained, not through nationalistic support, but
through determined and persistent opposition to British policy."*

[* _Chesterton_, by Cyril Clemens, p. 20.]

In his _Daily News_ column a correspondent later asked him to define
his position. Chesterton replied, "The unreasonable patriot is one
who sees the faults of his fatherland with an eye which is clearer
and more merciless than any eye of hatred, the eye of an irrational
and irrevocable love." His attitude sprang, he claimed, not from
defect but from excess of patriotism.

It is hard to imagine anything that would clarify better the ideas of
a strong mind than finding itself in opposition. This opposition
began at home, in argument with Cecil. Later the two brothers would
agree about most main issues, but now Cecil was a Tory democrat,
Gilbert a pro-Boer, and what was known as a little Englander. The tie
between the two brothers was very close. As the "Innocent Child"
developed into the combative companion, there is no doubt that he
proportionately affected Gilbert. All their friends talk of the
endless amicable arguments through which both grew. Conrad Noel
remembers parties at Warwick Gardens during the Boer War at which the
two brothers "would walk up and down like the two pistons of an
engine" to the disorganisation of the company and the dismay of their
parents. It was at this time that Frances, engaged to a deeply
devoted Gilbert, found even that devotion insufficient to pry him and
Cecil apart when an argument had got well under way.

"I must go home, Gilbert. I shall miss my train."

Usually he would have sprung to accompany her, but no