Things are often not what they seem

If I were to start a local chapter of the American Chesterton Society, I would have the members bring their favorite quote and find out where they first heard about him.  But, on the second meeting we would have read at least one Father Brown story - "The Scandal of Father Brown", which is the title story of the fifth collection.

Reading any Father Brown mystery is a  good introduction to Chesterton because 'they are often not what they seem'.  Yes they are good mysteries, but there is a lot more going on than detection.  Paradox (Chesterton's favorite literary device) abounds, but it is used in a broad, easy to grasp manner.  His defense of the permanent things (marriage, family, orthodoxy) is evident, as it is in all he writes.

"The Scandal of Father Brown" has the typical Chestertonian theme 'things are not often what they seem' going on many different levels at once.  The story is a mystery about the disappearance of an American heiress.  As the mystery unravels, GK manages to fit in a number of other themes:   prejudice and how a civilized person deals with it; the American cult of celebrity; modern dysfunctional views of marriage; the effect of media on the lives of people; the irresponsibility of the press -  and how it all ties together and fits in with the mystery.  This is accomplished in  nine very entertaining pages.

Now, I may be prejudiced about this particular story because I have just finished reading it.  Perhaps it would be better to start with the  first collection "The Innocence of Father Brown" where we have a little theology thrown in:  "I want you to give them back, Flambeau, and I want you to give up this life.  There is still youth and honor and humor in you;  don't fancy they will last in that trade.  Men may keep a sort of level of good, but no man has ever been able to keep on one level of evil.  That road goes down and down."

It would be a hard choice except that "Scandal" ends with a great addendum that illustrates one of my pet peeves.  I can't stand it when false accusations against anyone are made, because they are always out there and can't be retrieved :

"I must ring up my paper and tell them I've been telling them a pack of lies."

 Not much more than half an hour had passed, between the time when Rock had telephoned to say the priest was helping the poet to run away with the lady, and the time when he telephoned to say that the priest had prevented the poet from doing precisely the same thing. But in that short interval of time was born and enlarged and scattered upon the winds the Scandal of Father Brown. The truth is still half an hour behind the slander; and nobody can be certain when or where it will catch up with it. 

The garrulity of pressmen and the eagerness of enemies had spread the first story through the city, even before it appeared in the first printed version. It was instantly corrected and contradicted by Rock himself, in a second message stating how the story had really ended; but it was by no means certain that the first story was killed. A positively incredible number of people seemed to have read the first issue of the paper and not the second.

 Again and again, in every corner of the world, like a flame bursting from blackened ashes, there would appear the old tale of the Brown Scandal, or Priest Ruins Potter Home. Tireless apologists of the priest's party watched for it, and patiently tagged after it with contradictions and exposures and letters of protest. Sometimes the letters were published in the papers; and sometimes they were not. But still nobody knew how many people had heard the story without hearing the contradiction.

It was possible to find whole blocks of blameless and innocent people who thought the Mexican Scandal was an ordinary recorded historical incident like the Gunpowder Plot. Then somebody would enlighten these simple people, only to discover that the old story had started  afresh among a few quite educated people, who would seem the last people on earth to be duped by it. 

And so the two Father Browns chase each other round the world forever;  the first a shameless criminal fleeing from justice;  the second a martyr broken by scandal, in a halo of rehabilitation.  But neither of them is very much like the real Father Brown, who is not broken at all;  but goes stumping with his stout umbrella through life, liking most of the people in it;  accepting the world as his companion, but never as his judge.

There would be plenty to discuss from just one short story at my imaginary local chapter meeting.  It would be a good beginning.  One story - and a beer mug.  Dale Ahlquist, the president of the ACS says that the main equipment for a starting a chapter  is a Chesterton Beer Mug.  I'm all for that - I LOVE ROOT BEER!

Warning:  If you decide to read "Scandal" be forewarned that there are every type of racial and ethnic slurs coming out of the mouth of an American.  This used to be typical, but I think we have improved on that front and people are not used to hearing those things any more.  However, the way Father Brown handles the prejudice is instructive.