“The fascination of children lies in this: that with each of them all things are remade, and the universe is put again upon its trial.”

With G. K. C.’s characteristic wit, he explores in this essay the virtues of baby-worship, as adults are invited to see the world anew through the eyes of children. Furthermore, argues G. K. C., an appreciation of our youngest humans “forces us actually to remodel our conduct in accordance with this revolutionary theory of the marvellousness of all things.”

This essay is one in a series titled ‘The Defendant’, first published as a collection in 1901, after the individual essays were published in The Speaker. Here, a selection of these essays has been reissued by Voices of Today for a new generation.