Feb. 20.
Most people, whether they jeare to confess it or not, hanker ter fame of one sort or another. There is a kind of fasination in being known by name to thousands or tens of thousands of one's fellow men, hich has in it an irresistible appeal to most of us, and no doubt if people were to tell of the secret thoughts of their hearts, we might be surprised st the large number of men and women who would like nothing better than to find their doings recorded at frequent intervals in the daily press and to know that, snugly reposing in the editorial office, was a full account of to emerge in print the moment they shuffled off this mortal coil, Yet when we come to analyse the subject we find it difficult to define exactly what we mean by being famous. Human life to-day is so complex and men's Jachievements 0 many and various, that a person who is famous in one walk of life and whose name and achievements are well-
Inowh to his fellow workers in shat particular sphere may be quite unknown to those whose interests lie outside this department of human ae Ir one vity. were to enumerate the winner th the Nobel Prize from the date its inception, it is doubtful whether the man in the street would recognize more than one or two out of the whole list.
Yet each of these men is or was outstanding figure in his own walk of life, Nevertheless in some respects it is easier to-day to acquire renown than it was in any period of the world's history, The main reason of this, of course, is the energy and enterprise of the journalist, who is ever on the look out for anything that will interest the public,. 'The result is that in many instances fame alights upon men's shouldfers in very curious, and one might almost say' fortuitous ways. Scores of scientists, for instance, might spend years on valuable researches and no one ut their fellow scientists know cither their names or works, Another man makes a discovery in some branch of science which is of interest {o the average an, and immediately the power the Press spreads his fame yom China to Peru. He has ved fame, though he may be no more deserving of it than the others. On the other hand there are walks of life in which outstanding personalities cannot help achieving what we so glibly call an international reputation, apparently quite ordinary person, who in normal circumstances would gone have through life unknown to the world at large, may through Jsome particular talent or eccentricity become one of the firs* rank of film "stars" at a salary that would make a Prime Minister or a successful commercial man turn green with envy. Added to the financial gains is the renown that the cinema carries with it Yet fame certainly does not always carry wealth in its train and vice versa great possessions not always indicate renown, One has only to look through the list of wills in the London imes" and see the number of men who have left large fort-uries and yet searcely one of whom is known to the general Public. A local reputation they
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.